KC CHIEFS vs. CINCY BENGALS: AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! Who wins? Your predictions?

[Trivers]

Advance to Superbowl or go home.

Chiefs only 1 point favs. Over/under is 47.5. Normally the home field is 3 point advantage.

At Kanas City's Arrowhead. First time in NFL history that a conference championship game was held 5 times in a row in the home stadium.

5:30 CST Sunday game.

Who wins?

Your predictions?

Chiefs MVP of the game?

[O.city]

They've lost 3 straight to this squad and have heard about it all year.

**** all you guys. That place is gonna be a madhouse and they're gonna play with their tits on fire.

There's no god damn way we don't get an "over my dead body" game from Mahomes. Just no chance.

[ChiTown]

KC 27
Cincy 24

[HC_Chief]

Get the running game going with Pacheco; keep the D honest. If they want to drop 8 and take away the pass, gash them on the ground. I suspect we will get away from the RPO, considering Mahomes' ankle, so the running game will need to be deliberate. Grind them up. Once they start creeping up to stop the run, hit 'em through the air. Leverage speedy WRs on sweeps and screens.

DO NOT TURN THE BALL OVER. Turnovers have been the deciding factor against the Bungles.

On D, pressure with front four will be critical. Our DL MUST win in the trenches. Don't bring the LBs on blitzes... keep them off the LOS to fill gaps, else Mixon will gash us.

WRAP UP on tackles! Skip that "drop shoulder and try to punish the ball carrier" bullshit. Wrap them up, hold them in place, allowing teammates to assist and finish the tackle. Stop all YAC (as much as possible).

Chase, Higgins, and Boyd are legitimately the most difficult WR trio we will face all season. Their QB is crazy accurate. Get in Burrow's face, obscure his vision, get hands up in the passing lanes. Put McDuffie on Chase, Sneed on Higgins, Watson on Boyd, and keep safeties deep. Force them to dump off to the TE or swing it out to RBs in the flat. Just do not leave those receivers uncovered to find gaps in a zone!!! Bump & run, physical coverage may slow those bastards down. We need just enough to allow our DL to get pressure. Just make Burrow hesitate... otherwise he will carve us up like he has everyone else.

[ptlyon]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

We always do an 'opponent specific' tailgate so we don't fall in a rut out there. For example, last week was a low country shrimp/crab boil (and it was damn good).

This week we gave up. Cincinnati has nothing worth eating and I'll be damned if I'll soil any of my gear by putting that cinnamon and horse meat flavored gruel in it.

We're probably just going to make burgers or something because nobody in the country has worse culinary options than the goddamn Bengals.

Trying to help a brother out, I thought I'd scan the interwebs for a suggestion. Ya, most of what you find is shit.

Only thing I can offer is there is a large number of Greeks there, so my suggestion would be gyros.

[comochiefsfan]

If Pat was 100% I’d feel really confident.

Now I don’t know.

In a way it’s a little comforting and the pressure subsides a bit.

If it turns out he just doesn’t have it and we get beat then you just kind of say “oh well, tough luck” and move on to next year.

If we win though…this could go down as an all timer hall of fame performance from Pat.

Excited to see what happens.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

What really concerns me about Mahomes ankle is the coverages we'll see in response.

If he isn't a threat to move the pocket and/or run, we're going to see a LOT of man coverage. And this team just doesn't have a ton of guys who excel against Man. Moreover, they can run man without having to commit a spy to Mahomes as a potential running threat.

So you're gonna see not just man coverages, but man with an extra rusher with some fair frequency. And when that guys not rushing, you could see 2-high robber coverages where he looks to create turnovers.

Honestly, the guy I think we truly need back this week, is Mecole Hardman. You put Hardman out there with Toney and both of them can do enough lateral motion and drag routes to mess with some of those man coverages and open up plenty of field.

They can win quickly and find space and when they find space, they're a threat to house one.

We need Hardman back in a big way, IMO.

I'm not counting on Hardman being back. He had complications with his groin yet this past week. Not a good sign of him returning.

I think KC needs to have a few packages sending MVS and Toney intermediate/deep and using the Kelce, JuJu, and McKinnon group underneath.

Watson just hasn't made enough plays so I think Toney on some of those routes to present something different will help. Toney is actually a pretty damned good intermediate sideline receiver.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

What really concerns me about Mahomes ankle is the coverages we'll see in response.

If he isn't a threat to move the pocket and/or run, we're going to see a LOT of man coverage. And this team just doesn't have a ton of guys who excel against Man. Moreover, they can run man without having to commit a spy to Mahomes as a potential running threat.

So you're gonna see not just man coverages, but man with an extra rusher with some fair frequency. And when that guys not rushing, you could see 2-high robber coverages where he looks to create turnovers.

Honestly, the guy I think we truly need back this week, is Mecole Hardman. You put Hardman out there with Toney and both of them can do enough lateral motion and drag routes to mess with some of those man coverages and open up plenty of field.

They can win quickly and find space and when they find space, they're a threat to house one.

We need Hardman back in a big way, IMO.

Against the Jags, Kelce had 17 targets. Toney had 7. Everybody else had 2 max.

That’s the one major advantage we have this week. If Hardman is back then we can use a lot of things in the playbook.

Get your best YAC guys the ball. Kelce, McKinnon, Hardman, Toney. Everyone else should have similar 2 targets max.

[TLO]

Perine is hurt?

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by HC_Chief

Get the running game going with Pacheco; keep the D honest. If they want to drop 8 and take away the pass, gash them on the ground. I suspect we will get away from the RPO, considering Mahomes' ankle, so the running game will need to be deliberate. Grind them up. Once they start creeping up to stop the run, hit 'em through the air. Leverage speedy WRs on sweeps and screens.

DO NOT TURN THE BALL OVER. Turnovers have been the deciding factor against the Bungles.

On D, pressure with front four will be critical. Our DL MUST win in the trenches. Don't bring the LBs on blitzes... keep them off the LOS to fill gaps, else Mixon will gash us. What is Perine's status? He was carted off, so I expect he will be out?

WRAP UP on tackles! Skip that "drop shoulder and try to punish the ball carrier" bullshit. Wrap them up, hold them in place, allowing teammates to assist and finish the tackle. Stop all YAC (as much as possible).

Chase, Higgins, and Boyd are legitimately the most difficult WR trio we will face all season. Their QB is crazy accurate. Get in Burrow's face, obscure his vision, get hands up in the passing lanes. Put McDuffie on Chase, Sneed on Higgins, Watson on Boyd, and keep safeties deep. Force them to dump off to the TE or swing it out to RBs in the flat. Just do not leave those receivers uncovered to find gaps in a zone!!! Bump & run, physical coverage may slow those bastards down. We need just enough to allow our DL to get pressure. Just make Burrow hesitate... otherwise he will carve us up like he has everyone else.

At home in the Wildcard game, Joe B had a QBR of <50 against the Ravens, while Ravens backup Huntley had a +70 QBR. The Ravens got pressure on Burrow and made him look human. That's the key. The Bills did absolutely NOTHING to make Burrow uncomfortable. They were surgically carved up and had no answer for anything they did. Leslie Frasier looked like he was a deer in the headlights.

[comochiefsfan]

Originally Posted by ChiTown

At home in the Wildcard game, Joe B had a QBR of <50 against the Ravens, while Ravens backup Huntley had a +70 QBR. The Ravens got pressure on Burrow and made him look human. That's the key. The Bills did absolutely NOTHING to make Burrow uncomfortable. They were surgically carved up and had no answer for anything they did. Leslie Frasier looked like he was a deer in the headlights.

Chris Jones MUST show up in this game. He simply must.

Otherwise it’s going to be a tall tall order to win this thing.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by kccrow

I'm not counting on Hardman being back. He had complications with his groin yet this past week. Not a good sign of him returning.

I think KC needs to have a few packages sending MVS and Toney intermediate/deep and using the Kelce, JuJu, and McKinnon group underneath.

Watson just hasn't made enough plays so I think Toney on some of those routes to present something different will help. Toney is actually a pretty damned good intermediate sideline receiver.

Yeah, I'd like to have him back but I think you're probably right. Things have just been so quiet on that front and that's never good news on an Andy team.

McKinnon may need to be that plan B guy in his stead. Just a bummer that we'll have to telegraph things a bit by having to play a pretty strict RB rotation based on play design.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

Chris Jones MUST show up in this game. He simply must.

Otherwise it’s going to be a tall tall order to win this thing.

He was really good against Jacksonville, all kibitzing to the contrary.

Jones shows up in every game.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by Hank Hill

Perine is hurt?

Link to this?

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

Chris Jones MUST show up in this game. He simply must.

Otherwise it’s going to be a tall tall order to win this thing.

It's more than just CJ (who has been absolutely phenomenal). This is a design issue for Spags. We have to be able to disguise and design the right D to get pressure on Joe B without completely leaving our DB's on islands. It's NOT an easy task for Spags and this D, but you got to be creative and get pressure on Burrow.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah, I'd like to have him back but I think you're probably right. Things have just been so quiet on that front and that's never good news on an Andy team.

McKinnon may need to be that plan B guy in his stead. Just a bummer that we'll have to telegraph things a bit by having to play a pretty strict RB rotation based on play design.

I wouldn't mind seeing both Pacheco and McKinnon in the backfield at the same time, or even McKinnon in the slot. He's been a really damned good receiver.