11-28-2022, 05:22 PM
As I have looked forward to this game, my biggest concern has easily been the loss of Awuzie. He was a critical piece of the coverage puzzle that befuddled Mahomes in both second halves of last year's matches, and I haven't been sure how the Bengals would be able to handle him and his weapons with a depleted secondary (even without Tyreek Hill they have weapons galore). However, I am extremely encouraged by Cam Taylor-Britt's performance yesterday. He had the one 50-50 ball that he allowed deep to Burks, and credit to Burks for making that play (quite like Tee Higgins made his catches downfield). Otherwise he was locked in and had his best performance in coverage of the season. He's been tackling well every week, but it wasn't until yesterday that he held his own in coverage too. If he can build on that it will be a huge deal against Kansas City. Obviously they run through Kelce more than anyone else, but we already have answers to that problem (Hilton, Flowers, and Dax). I was worried more about the outside, and maybe that won't necessarily be a disaster.
The pass rush remains a bit of a concern though. Hubbard is the perfect kind of mush-rush edge player to keep Mahomes from extending plays (as seen so beautifully in the fourth quarter of the AFCCG). You still have to generate some kind of meaningful pressure though, and KC's offensive line is better than Tennessee's.
The pass rush remains a bit of a concern though. Hubbard is the perfect kind of mush-rush edge player to keep Mahomes from extending plays (as seen so beautifully in the fourth quarter of the AFCCG). You still have to generate some kind of meaningful pressure though, and KC's offensive line is better than Tennessee's.
