The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills meet this weekend at Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo for a key game as both teams try and get back on track after disappointing week one losses.
The Chiefs fell at home to the Atlanta Falcons in their week one game by a score of 40-24 and the Bills lost to the New York Jets by a score of 48-28. It's safe to say that both teams were extremely disappointed in the results of their first game which makes this week two match-up all that more important.
Here are three keys to a victory for the Kansas City Chiefs.
1. The offense keeps rolling
It'd be really easy to say that the Chiefs top 'key to victory' would be fixing their biggest problem from the week before which in the Chiefs case would be the defense, but that's not the case this time. The Chiefs must continue to click on the offensive side of the ball if they're going to win this game. Matt Cassel threw for 258 yards last week against the Falcons, which is more than he threw in seven of the nine games he played in 2011.
Cassel did make mistakes in that game last week, but if he plays at that level throughout the course of the season the Chiefs will still win a lot of games. The offense needs to stay consistent and put some points on the board while the defense continues to figure it out. It also helps the defense will now have Tamba Hali back as he served his one-game suspension. Hopefully Brandon Flowers, the teams top cornerback, will be ready to play after sitting out last weeks' game and most of training camp with a heel injury.
2. Stop CJ Spiller
Spiller ran for 169 yards in their week one loss to the New York Jets on just 14 carries, that's good for a 12.1 yards per carry average. If the Chiefs can force the Bills in 3rd and long situations by stopping the run first, they'll be in a good spot for Ryan Fitzpatrick to make mistakes. The Bills received some bad news after last weeks' game that they'll be without starting running back Fred Jackson for a few weeks. That means the spotlight falls on Spiller, who thrived in that role last week with his staggering YPC statistic. Tashard Choice is the teams third running back and will likely see some carries along with CJ Spiller.
3. Create turnovers
The Bills turned the ball over four times against the Jets in their opening week loss. Three of those were Ryan Fitzpatrick interceptions and one of those was a Spiller fumble. Even though Fitzpatrick finished the Jets game with three touchdowns and three interceptions, those three touchdown passes were all after the team was down 41-7 late in the third quarter. The Chiefs have to put pressure on him and keep him from being comfortable in the pocket.
Fitzpatrick was plenty comfortable in the 2011 match-up against the Chiefs as he finished the game 17-25 for 208 yards and four touchdowns. The Chiefs will obviously need a better game against him this Sunday if they want to win this game.
If the Chiefs can continue to play well offensively. limit the impact CJ Spiller has on this game and win the turnover battle, I think the Chiefs will win this game.