Kansas City Chiefs Will Get Back on Track Against Jacksonville Jaguars

With the mid-point of the NFL season nearing, the Kansas City Chiefs sit comfortably alone in first place of the AFC West. A spot where they control their own destiny.

This week, the Chiefs return to Arrowhead to face a declining Jaguars team.

Jacksonville was murdered on Monday Night Football last week by the Tennessee Titans, 30-3. Although the Jags are currently 3-3 on the season, they are indeed one of the worst teams in the AFC. Sure, they upset the Colts at home, but the only other victories they currently hold are against Denver and at Buffalo.

The Chiefs will end a two game skid this weekend, following two road losses to Indianapolis and Houston.

The reason is that Kansas City has the NFL's number one rushing offense, going against Jacksonville's 19th ranked rush defense. Also, the Jaguars don't possess an offense the caliber of the Houston Texans.

The best rushing duo in the league today, Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones, has been fantastic to this point. Although at times it seemed that Charles deserved more carries, Jones has been the consistent work horse that NFL fans has seen over the last five years.

Quarterback Matt Cassel grew up enormously against one of the worst pass defenses in football last week. He made the correct reads, the ball came out on time and he was deadly accurate on most of his throws. Although he couldn't convert the 3rd down pass to tight end Tony Moeaki that would have sealed a Chiefs win, Cassel should never have been put in that situation.

Even after the disastrous pass interference call on Brandon Flowers, the blame of that game falls on the shoulders of offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis.

It was 3rd and 2, with just over two minutes left in regulation, and instead of running the ball with a play-maker like Charles, or bruiser like Jones or, at the very least, squeezing what was left of the clock before the two minute warning, Weis decided to toss up a risky pass to Moeaki, which in turn fell incomplete.

Play calls like that need to be worked on over the course of a season and Weis has been inconsistent to say the least.

As the Chiefs welcome the Jaguars to town, only one thing should be in focus for the Chiefs defense. That is shutting down Maurice Jones-Drew and getting after the quarterback.

Jones-Drew has been a true threat since he entered the NFL. Despite his 5'7" height, he is one of the games best players. To this point of the season, MJD only averages 3.9 yards per carry, yet the Jaguars rank 6th in the league in rushing, with help from power back Rashad Jennings.

The 6'1" Jennings is a great change of pace to Jones-Drew and if he can land a starting role somewhere in a year or two, he could become possibly the next Arian Foster.

The Chiefs have to start getting more pressure on the quarterback, particularly from guys not named Tamba Hali.

Although Hali leads the NFL in QB pressures, the rest of the team has had a difficult time in pass rush. Guys like Glenn Dorsey and the return of Tyson Jackson, should help in that regard.

They may play the 5-tech position in a 2-gap read defense, but at some point the defensive line will have to help out with pressures as well.

The problem for Jacksonville is they might be starting a quarterback who hasn't thrown an NFL pass in five years. Yes, Todd Bouman, who has somehow stayed in the NFL for over a decade, despite being a career back-up, will likely get the start.

Bouman is probably their worst case scenario as both QB's Garrard and Trent Edwards are unavailable due to injury. All I can say to the 38 year old fellow is good luck.

Jacksonville's defense is rebuilding and as the Chiefs know, rebuilding is not as fun as it sounds. They currently rank 27th overall and 28th against the pass. Their only true pass-rush threat is LB/DE Aaron Kampman and he will be facing the best pass blocking offensive line in the NFL. The Chiefs have only allowed 4.0 sacks on the year and two of those came from mistakes by Cassel, not the offensive line.

This game will be determined by which team wants it most, wins the turnover battle and plays the best defense.

If Jacksonville plans on having a chance, they will have to score at least one special teams touchdown and win the ground game by a net of 100 yards.

Arrowhead will be rocking once again come Sunday. The red and gold faithful should leave pleased.