Three Things the Chiefs Need To Do For a Win Over the Saints
The Kansas City Chiefs travel to New Orleans for the first time since 2012 to take on a Super Bowl-caliber Saints team.
The Athletic's Nate Taylor joined me to preview the Chiefs and Saints matchup and discuss who will be taking the snaps at quarterback for the home team on today's episode of Roughing the Kicker.
Here are three things the Chiefs need to do to secure a win and erase some doubts.
1. Limit the self-inflicted errors.
The Chiefs turned the ball over four times against a Miami Dolphins team, who will more than likely be in the playoffs, and still won. While it wasn't a comfortable win, if Kansas City can keep possession, the Saints offense won't be able to reasonably keep pace with the Chiefs. It's not normal for the offense to turn the ball over four times in a game and I'm sure they will be hyper aware of ball security heading into a matchup against a solid defense.
2. Force turnovers and get stops.
Nothing can go wrong when you give Patrick Mahomes more chances to score. The defense turned a slight corner last week against the Dolphins but there still needs to be more production for me to have more confidence in them. Production doesn't necessarily need to be turnovers but stops in opportune times. Getting off the field on third downs and keeping the Saints offense at bay while Mahomes cooks will be important for a win.
3. Aggressive play calling from start to finish.
It's paramount for the offense to keep the aggressiveness all the way through. Questions have been raised about the Chiefs' ability to beat teams handily. While most of Kansas City's close games as of late, they could've been different if the outcome of one or two plays had gone differently. With aggressiveness you need a bit of luck and while luck hasn't really been on the side of Andy Reid recently, the offense is due for a bit of good fortune this week.
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