I wouldn't say they lack a defense, they had quite a few players out with injury yesterday. They have the ability to play good defense if healthy. Not sure if those guys will be back or not by our game. I thought I saw that Ramsey will be back. We've done pretty well against him but he's still a quality corner if close to 100%.

Yeah I'm fascinated to see how we defend Tyreek.

I want it on record that it's bad juju to put the incorrect team in the "Let's talk about" thread. Ain't no easy W's in this league, hell we almost lost to the 1-11-1 Houston Texans last year.

The hex has been applied, we're going to play a barnburner against the Donks now

I think the Chiefs want that 1 seed, and will fight for the tie breaker.

It’s certainly possible. It’s a lot easier for an offense to make halftime adjustments than on the fly in the second half.

This is effectively a playoff game. The Dolphins and the Ravens are the only teams on our heels, but the Dolphins are the only team between the two that we can own the "head to head."

Andy Reid dials it up.

Look at the schedules of those 2 teams though.

Chiefs get to 14 wins they'll have the 1 seed by 2 games.

Guns blazing in the regular season game and guns blazing in the playoffs. Two aggressive game plans aren’t mutually exclusive. Spags has been around a long time & this defense is versatile. I can easily see a scenario where the game plan is equally aggressive vs. Miami & in the playoffs, but in different ways. (Available defensive personnel & opposing offensive personnel will also play a role in the game plan.)

Our schedule has four brutal games left.

I feel like the Raiders two games, the Packers, the Patriots, and the Chargers are all slam dunks.

But the Dolphins, Eagles, Bills and Bengals games are going to be battles. I don't know if we're going to go 4-0 there. 3-1 is more likely. 2-2 is not beyond consideration, considering that the Bills have had our number for a couple years, aside from a coin flip in the playoffs.

Eh, I'd say the Eagles and the Bengals maybe.

The other 2 are paper tigers at the moment.

Players and coaches have mentioned it's a thing in the past... comments about opening the playbook in the offseason and so forth. I thought it was really obvious in the Raiders game last season.... after struggling with some shitty teams, it was clearly a tuneup for the postseason run.

It's obviously a far cry from "intentionally let them score a bunch of points" and as far as yesterday, I don't think the Chargers' offense was amazing in the first half. Punt, FG, a big play after converting a couple 3rd and longs, another big play. Outside of those two big plays, they were already making the Chargers work for first downs.

My theory is the vanilla thing might be less so this season given they're trying to figure stuff out with the receivers... and maybe they do even simplify things for that reason, who knows. On defense, there could easily be a few wrinkles they hold back.

"Vanilla" might be a bad word for it as it's not like they implement a 1995 Madden playbook... a few wrinkles here and there, not running a certain play from a formation they show all year, etc. Doesn't have to mean it's drastic or they're trying to lose or anything reeruned like that.

Agreed.

The first two months of the season is what's been brutal... bring on some real games, FFS.

you're not wrong