The New York Giants come to Arrowhead to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. For the 2-5 Giants, this looms as a major potential stumbling block, a tough-looking road-matchup against the two-time defending AFC champs. But with the Chiefs stunningly in last place through 7 games, maybe it’s less the impossible matchup than it seemed at one point. A 27-3 loss to the Titans on Sunday was a hard pill to swallow for the Chiefs, as things look a little rough through 7 games. The Giants, meanwhile, scored a 25-3 win over the Panthers on Sunday. Can the Chiefs start showing us that they’re the Chiefs again? Or are the Giants catching fire and a legitimate threat to the Chiefs on MNF?
Are the Chiefs Really in Trouble?
First of all, it might not just be a souring of the KC formula for success responsible for this 3-4 start, as they do have legitimate problems. Patrick Mahomes is without his lead back in Clyde Edwards-Helaire, along with a few key members of the offensive line. Travis Kelce seems like he’s been playing dinged up almost all season. Tyreek Hill has had nagging injuries. Along with some key setbacks on the other side of the ball, like the absence of key lineman Chris Jones, the Chiefs really aren’t at full-power. Now with Mahomes being checked for a concussion in the last game—it just all adds up to a disheartening personnel situation.
They still have a lot at their disposal. And while these stretches of inglorious play perhaps open up a crease for a team like the Giants to have a chance in Arrowhead, there is also a level of urgency with the Chiefs that they normally wouldn’t have for a home-spot against an out-of-conference road-Giants squad. In last place in the AFC West, the Chiefs have to snap out of this. And not that a lack of urgency is what led to their 3-4 start, but an over-abundance of it in this spot could do wonders.
- Get more details: NY Giants at Kansas City 11/1/21 Match-up Stats
Giants Turning Things Around?
That might be hard to say based on one win. But a 25-3 win over the Panthers really took some people aback. They are dealing with a lot of injuries of their own. With Saquon Barkley out, along with a bulk of the Giants’ receiving talent, their outlook against Carolina looked bleak. But Carolina was in knots all day and the Giants got the win. Still, leading up to that was just one win in six games. So let’s not get too crazy about where they truly stand in this equation.
Still, the Chiefs defense is toward the bottom of the league and those problems don’t go away from week 7 to week 8. If some key pieces of the Giants’ air-game can file back into rotation, like exciting rookie Kadarius Toney, Kenny Golladay, and Sterling Shepard, it’s not that hard to envision QB Daniel Jones taking it to a Chiefs’ defense that has struggled to find answers. Barkley could also be back. And this type of offensive variety can potentially wreak havoc on a Chiefs’ defense that threatens to undermine this entire football operation.
Not So Fast…
It could be very unfortunate for the Giants this week that they catch this road-game right at the crux of Kansas City’s make-or-break game of the season. This is Kansas City’s fork-in-the-road moment, as a 3-5 record in this division and top-heavy conference would put a serious hurt on their prospects this season. The Giants can show a spark on a given week. They have a lot of tools on offense with a pass-defense that might be pretty good this season. At the same time, both their offense and defense have been squarely bottom-half units this season. And if the Chiefs can’t make it happen here, it would really be a damning indictment on a team that was the Super Bowl favorite in the preseason.
