Patrick Mahomes. Travis Kelce. Chris Jones. Those three names are also the three reasons that the Kansas City Chiefs will beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Chiefs best players will also be the top three players on the football field in Jacksonville on Sunday. The Jaguars have a lot of talent on their roster, but none of that talent compares to that trio of All-Pros.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a team on the rise. They have some good position players and one of the best young quarterbacks in the league. In reality, on any given Sunday, either team could pull out the win. That was evident when Chiefs receivers dropped at least three crucial passes to kill drives against Detroit and the much better team lost. This weekend, however, Kansas City should have their entire roster back. When the team is healthy and everyone has signed their contract and is ready to play, this Chiefs team is hard to beat.
Travis Kelce (knee) and Chris Jones back together on the #Chiefs practice field today @KSHB41 pic.twitter.com/TdW6h3zZg4
— Aaron Ladd (@aaronladdtv) September 13, 2023
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3 Players That Will Power the Chiefs to Victory Over the Jaguars
The Chiefs should have beaten the Detroit Lions. Even without two of their best three players, they were three easily catchable dropped passes away from being 1-0. This Sunday, more than likely, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones will make their debuts. When they do, Mahomes, Kelce, and Jones will comprise the best three football players on either team on Sunday. It just so happens that all three players play for the Chiefs.
The Argument for Chris Jones
If the Jaguars were offered Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones for any three defensive players on their team, they would probably take it. Jones is that good and the Jaguars defense is that devoid of stars. While Josh Allen had three sacks in the first game and Tavon Walker added one, neither of them had a productive pass-rushing day. Tyson Campbell is good and may even be really good, but he is a cornerback and he is not even close to a game-changer. Chris Jones changes the entire football game. He gets pressure in the middle, stops the run, and makes every single Chiefs defender better. Chris Jones is probably the best front-seven defensive player not named Aaron Donald in the NFL.
The Argument for Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce is a remarkable tight end who may be considered the best in NFL history once his career is over. Coming into 2023, Kelce already ranked fifth in career catches (814) and fourth in yards receiving (10,344) for tight ends. Despite being in the league for a decade, Kelce is not slowing down. In fact, he achieved career-highs in 2022 with 110 catches, 12 touchdowns, and over 1,300 receiving yards. This was his seventh consecutive 1,000-yard season. Kelce’s postseason stats are even more impressive, as he ranks second only to Jerry Rice in catches (133), yards (1,548), and touchdowns (16). While the Jaguars have some talented receivers and Calvin Ridley is impressive, nobody in Jacksonville can match what Kelce brings to the Chiefs. Even when double or triple covered, Kelce still manages to make plays and create opportunities for others on the field.
The Argument for Patrick Mahomes
This paragraph will be the shortest yet. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL, and it is not even close. In fact, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the only player in the NFL that the Jaguars would, without hesitation, trade Trevor Lawrence to acquire. Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Aaron Rodgers, and Justin Herbert are good players, but Lawrence has more potential than any of them. Mahomes, on the other hand, is head and shoulders above the league. He has incredible potential to be better and has already reached an elite status that maybe only 10 other quarterbacks ever have reached. Mahomes will, if he continues to produce like he has for a couple of years, be considered one of the best to ever play the game.
The Chiefs Do Not Start Seasons 0-2
One of the most overrated ideas in professional sports is a team’s desire to win based on an inflated sense of urgency. It is akin to when announcers say, “One of the keys to winning for ‘Team A’ is to score first.” It is stating an obvious concept (ie. it is better for a team to score first than not to score first) in a way that is supposed to sound profound. Of course, the Chiefs do not want to start their season 0-2. At the same time, every Jaguar player would prefer to begin their season 2-0 rather than 1-1. There is very little evidence to suggest that an overwhelming desire to not lose the first two games is going to push any individual player to perform better than they would otherwise.
At the same time, the Chiefs very rarely lose two games in a row. Since Patrick Mahomes took over starting duties in Kansas City, the Chiefs have lost two consecutive games exactly three times. They have not lost three consecutive games since 2017, the year before Mahomes took over. If the Chiefs start this year out 0-2, it will be the first time since 2014 that they have done so. It is not that the Chiefs do not want to start 0-2, it is the fact that they just do not ever do it. They are too talented and too well-coached. They have Andy Reid, the best quarterback in the NFL, and a good supporting cast. In the game on Sunday, they will also have the three best players on the football field.
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