AFC West Rivalry Showcases Two Teams With Much To Prove

Are you ready for some football? How about some announcers forced to refer to players by their full names? The best games of the NFL’s opening weekend bring us two Mannings and five Johnsons, but there’s still only one Houshmandzadeh.This is a repeat of the final game of the 2005 regular season, but the circumstances are much different. Last year, the Bengals were resting their starters in preparation for the playoffs, and Kansas City walked all over them, 37–3. Cincinnati has a lot more on the line this time: The Bengals want to show the entire league that quarterback Carson Palmer is fully healthy after a postseason knee injury.Palmer certainly looked healthy in the preseason, which means the Bengals will once again have one of the league’s best, most balanced offenses. They have a great quarterback, one of the league’s top offensive lines, and two outstanding star receivers in Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Rudi Johnson (running behind fullback Jeremi Johnson) has been the most consistent running back in the league over the past two seasons, with 1,454 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns in 2004 and 1,458 rushing yards with another 12 touchdowns in 2005.The Bengals are sure to score points, but they may not score as many as fans expect. After years of poor performance, there are many trends pointing to an improved Kansas City defense this season. The Chiefs’ defense was better in the second half of the 2005 season, which often carries over to the next year. They were stronger in the red zone than elsewhere, which tends to carry over as well. The Chiefs have plenty of young talent in the front seven from recent drafts, including sophomore linebacker Derrick Johnson and rookie defensive end Tamba Hali. And in the secondary, former Jets cornerback Ty Law, who made last year’s Pro Bowl on reputation rather than performance, is still a major upgrade over the departed Eric Warfield.The problems for Kansas City this year are actually on offense, where the Chiefs have many older players and very little depth. Their vaunted offensive line was hit by the dual retirements of left tackle Willie Roaf and right tackle John Wellbourn, and Kyle Turley, the player replacing Roaf, has not played a down since 2003 because of injuries.Unfortunately for the Bengals, they are ill-equipped to take advantage. Cincinnati has almost no pass rush, and ranked 30th last year in sacks per pass play. The Chiefs line should handle the Bengals without help from tight end Tony Gonzalez, which means he should be going out on plenty of pass patterns — and taking advantage of a Bengals defense which ranked 27th in defending passes to tight ends for two straight seasons.The Bengals are also missing middle linebacker Odell Thurman due to a four-game drug suspension. Thurman excels in pass coverage, and before drafting him, the Bengals were one of the league’s worst teams at defending passes to running backs; with him, they were the league’s best. With Thurman gone, Chiefs superstar running back Larry Johnson may get to catch a few passes — when he’s not getting the opportunity to bulldoze one of the league’s worst run defenses.The Bengals may end up with the better record at the end of the season, after injuries expose Kansas City’s depth problems. But right now, particularly at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs present a terrible matchup for Cincinnati. Kansas City won’t gain 537 yards like they did against the Bengals second-stringers last year, but they should start the year with a victory.Mr. Schatz is the editor in chief of FootballOutsiders.com.

AFC West Rivalry Showcases Two Teams With Much To Prove

AFC West Rivalry Showcases Two Teams With Much To Prove

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