It News: Quietly One of the Biggest Games of the Day: Bills vs. Chiefs

September 17, 2012

Quietly One of the Biggest Games of the Day: Bills vs. Chiefs

2012/9/17
From FANIQ

We know the Patriots will be in the playoff picture come December. The same can probably be said about the Texans, Steelers*, and Ravens, but which teams are going to be the ones on the fence when the AFC’s six playoff teams start rounding out? The Bills and Chiefs both had a decent amount of preseason hype, in serious discussion as potential playoff contenders, but disappointing week one performances by the two teams left a lot of NFL watchers with some skepticism. Which team will be able to bounce back more effectively?

The Bills started out last season in dream fashion, only to fizz out over the course of the year. Still, the big addition of Mario Williams over the offseason led a lot of NFL watchers to believe the Bills could be for real this year. Last season, their defense couldn’t stop anyone that came their way. While losing 8 of their last 9 games in 2011, the Bills surrendered 30 or more points 5 times. Williams and the Bills defense disappointed in a big way last weekend, giving up 48 points to a Jets offense that was filled with question marks going into the season.

Then on the offensive side of the ball, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has shown signs of stability at points in his career. He has a talented set of receivers at his disposal, particularly Steve Johnson, but inconsistency has plagued Fitzpatrick’s stint in the NFL so far. CJ Spiller stepped up in a big way last week when veteran Fred Jackson went down, but can he continue to handle the bulk of the carries?

For just about every question you can pull for Buffalo, you’ll be able to equal it with another for Kansas City.

Last season, the Chiefs were all over the map, with low points being 41-7 and 48-3 losses to Buffalo and Detroit to open the season and high points being a 19-14 stunner over the Packers (their lone regular season loss last year) and a 7-3 defensive gem to close the season against Denver. They finished the season with a 7-9 record, but won 3 of their last 5.
The Chiefs figure to have as good a chance as just about anyone in the consistently unpredictable AFC West, which has produced different division winners in each of the last three seasons: San Diego, Denver and Kansas City in chronological order. With a healthy Matt Cassel and Jamaal Charles back in action, could the Chiefs replicate their 10-6 campaign in 2010?

Well last week, it sure didn’t look it. Matt Ryan and the Atlanta offense completely torched the Chiefs and Kansas City gave up 40-plus points for their second straight home (and season) opener. But on the bright side, the offense looked more competent that most of last season and Charles seems to be back to his 2010 self.

There’s a world of a difference between a 1-1 start and an 0-2 one, especially in a conference that has potential to feature an extremely tight playoff race. So which team is going to come out on top in a very compelling matchup today?

*(Brief side note to Broncos fans: Despite Denver decisively beating Pittsburgh this past week, let’s give it a couple more games at least before we move them up a class, or consider moving the Steelers down)