Tennessee Titans get rare opportunity on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs
KANSAS CITY — Every time Tennessee Titans (5-2) take on the Kansas City Chiefs (5-2) in recent years, the contest lives up to the hype. The two clubs will face off on Sunday Night Football in Week 9 for all the world to see. It gives Tennessee a rare opportunity. The last time the Titans had […]
KANSAS CITY — Every time Tennessee Titans (5-2) take on the Kansas City Chiefs (5-2) in recent years, the contest lives up to the hype. The two clubs will face off on Sunday Night Football in Week 9 for all the world to see.
It gives Tennessee a rare opportunity.
The last time the Titans had the chance to take on this kind of opponent, they all but threw up on themselves. A 41-7 nationally televised ass-kicking at the hands of the Buffalo Bills (6-1) is not something Mike Vrabel's team took lightly. Veterans Kevin Byard and Derrick Henry presided over a players-only meeting in the aftermath.
All Tennessee has done since then is rattle off five straight wins.
Beating the Chiefs would be a signature win
That is something that the Titans lack thus far in the 2022 season.
If Vrabel, Henry and Co. can pull it off, it will strengthen their position considerably in the AFC's playoff picture. They catch Kansas City at a particularly tough time at the halfway point. The Chiefs enter Sunday's game coming out of a bye week, where coach Andy Reid is at his best. In 23 seasons as an NFL head coach, Reid has complied a 20-3 record in games immediately following his teams' bye.
"Andy Reid is good for football," Vrabel said earlier this week. "He loves football. The relationship that he has with his players is something that I would love to emulate. He is very consistent. Some of these same plays are plays that he ran when I played against him. There is just a consistency, but also a willingness to always push forward and take advantage of his personnel. He is a Hall of Fame football coach."
Kansas City will be the highest quality opponent that Tennessee has seen this season.
While Buffalo holds the conference's best record, the Chiefs have been the more complete team. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 25 of his 34 attempts (73.5%) for a season-high 423 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and a 132.4 rating in a Week 7 rout of the San Francisco 49ers. The Kansas City star has 33 career games with 300+ passing yards, surpassing Hall-of-Famer Dan Marino (32 games) for the most-ever by a player in his first six seasons, per NFL Research.
Titans defense can hang with Mahomes
Mahomes, however, has played the Titans enough to know how much respect their defense deserves.
"Last year we weren’t ready, and they beat our asses," said Mahomes of Tennessee. "So we got to make sure that we are ready to go and that it’s going to be a physical matchup. We’re going to have to go out there and play our best football. This is a team that is a lot better than I think a lot of people out on social media and in media – they don’t really talk about them."
The Chiefs were flatly embarrassed when they traveled to Nashville in 2021.
The Titans bullied Kansas City in a 27-3 victory last October. Tennessee's defense forced three turnovers and totaled four sacks, while Henry rushed for 86 yards and completed a touchdown pass to tight end MyCole Pruitt. Currently, the Titans defense has been operating at an even higher level.
In beating the Houston Texans on the road last week, Tennessee put together a fourth consecutive outing in which the Titans defense had at least three sacks and an interception while holding the opposing offense to 65 rushing yards or less. Tennessee became the first team in the Super Bowl era to put together that kind of a streak to four games in the same season, per the team's PR.
Changing the narrative is never easy. The Chiefs certainly plan to make the Titans earn it.
Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.
