NY Jets: 5 questions about Week 8 with a Kansas City Chiefs expert

The NY Jets will face a vastly superior opponent when they take on the Chiefs in Week 8.

The NY Jets are set to take on arguably their most difficult opponent of the season when they travel to Arrowhead Stadium to square off with the powerhouse Kansas City Chiefs.

We all know how this game is going to go.

The Jets enter this game 0-7 as the unanimous worst team in the NFL. And prior to last week’s semi-competitive loss to the Buffalo Bills, they were on pace to be arguably the worst team in NFL history.

The offense is abysmal, the defense isn’t much better, and it’s difficult to find any silver linings with this Jets team. The Chiefs, on the other hand, are quite the opposite.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more talented team in the league. From the coaching staff to the players, there are very few weaknesses in the Chiefs’ organization.

The contrast between these two teams is something fierce. And that’s not just the sentiment shared by Jets fans — Chiefs fans feel the same way.

To better gain some insight into the minds of Chiefs fans, we teamed up with Matt Conner of Arrowhead Addict to understand how Chiefs fans are feeling heading into this expectedly lopsided matchup.

As anticipated, Matt doesn’t give the Jets much of a chance either. Here are the results of our discussion.

Le’Veon Bell’s motivation facing the NY Jets

1. What role do you expect Le’Veon Bell to play in this game and do you think he will be playing with any extra motivation?

“I’m sure that Bell would love nothing more than to be the primary outlet in the team’s offense this week for 60 full minutes. However, in the name of professionalism, I’m pretty sure that Andy Reid will scheme something up for Bell on occasion but while keeping this one straightforward. Bell is 1A in the run game alongside Clyde Edwards-Helaire on an offense that also feeds Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and more. As for motivation, it makes sense that Bell would have this date circled on his calendar.”

How can the Chiefs avoid a letdown against the NY Jets?

2. The Chiefs are going to win this game. But what is the one thing they must do to avoid a letdown performance against a vastly inferior opponent?

“For the most part, Chiefs fans have acclimated to the role of favorite fairly quickly and the bar for this season to ‘run it back’ was set this past offseason, so anything less than a dominant four quarters will frustrate the fan base. That’s good because it seems this team is hungry. Both Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes — e.g. someone on each side of the ball — gave direct quotes to reporters about taking the Jets as seriously as anyone else. It also didn’t sound like teamspeak. This locker room is dialed in, and no one will be mailing it in here, including the coaching staff.

Side note: The Chiefs offense hasn’t had a coming out party since, of all games, the contest against the Baltimore Ravens. Ever since then, they’ve put together impressive quarters or an impressive half here and there. Mahomes is having the quietest MVP season of any of the contenders. He’s due for a monster game at some point, and the fans are hungry to see it (something along the lines of 400 yards, four touchdowns). Mahomes doesn’t have to a superhero anymore for this team to win, but it’s fun when he puts on the cape from time to time. Maybe he’ll sport it again on Sunday.”

What positional matchup between the NY Jets and Chiefs is most concerning?

3. Is there any positional matchup that concerns you in this game?

“None. It was a social media exercise this week for Chiefs fans to guess how many Jets starters would be able to do the same on the Chiefs. It wasn’t a pretty answer. History will tell the tale of this offense’s potential, but the defense is also much better than the casual fan realizes. From Tyrann Mathieu and Juan Thornhill in the secondary to Chris Jones and Frank Clark up front, it’s just hard to believe the Jets can create any real mismatch to steer the game’s outcome.”

What weakness could the NY Jets exploit?

4. If the Jets want any shot at remaining competitive, what is one weakness that they could exploit?

“The run defense has been pitiful. Per Football Outsiders, using their defensive DVOA metric, the Chiefs rank No. 5 in pass defense and No. 31 against the run. (The Dolphins are the only worse team.) This is partially due to offenses going to the run to eat up the clock, along with the Chiefs emphasis to avoid giving up the big play. Some yards are going to be there for teams. However, the Chiefs have also struggled to stop the run even when they know it’s coming at times and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see K.C. give up some big gains in the run game. That’s true against any opponent.”

Final predictions — how many points will the Chiefs beat the NY Jets by?

5. Final predictions for the game. How many points do the Chiefs win by?

“The spread is by 20 or so, but I think it goes down worse than that. If the Chiefs sounded playful in practice this week, I might be worried about a relaxed effort here, but Andy Reid has this team focused. Chiefs by 35, 38-3.”

Thanks again to Matt for taking the time to talk with us this week. Here’s to hoping the Jets could pull off the impossible and actually make semi-competitive this week.