The Kansas City Chiefs continue their revenge tour with a rematch against the Cincinnati Bengals, who outplayed the Chiefs back in Week 15 to win 34-31. The two clubs will square off with the winner claiming the AFC and a ticket to the Super Bowl.
This is nothing new to the Chiefs, hosting their fourth straight AFC Championship at GEHA field at Arrowhead Stadium. On the other hand, Cincinnati is treading waters they have not been in since quarterback Boomer Esiason was leading the way back in 1988.
But don’t let this new-look Bengals squad fool you. They’ve shown they go toe to toe with the very best this season and even lit up Kansas City, as previously mentioned.
Quarterback Joe Burrow threw for 446 yards and four touchdowns in that Week 15 matchup, and his former LSU teammate Jamar Chase was at the forefront of his passes. Chase burned Kansas City’s secondary like a Thanksgiving turkey, reeling in 11 catches for 266 yards and three touchdowns.
But things will be different as the Chiefs enter this weekend. Kansas City has never lost to the same team twice in a season in the Mahomes era. No doubt, they’ll look to continue that trend on Sunday.
The Chiefs will for sure be making game plan adjustments to combat Burrow and this dangerous Bengal offense. But an extra edge always helps, and that’s where the crowd that will be packing Arrowhead comes in.
Burrow downplayed the effects Chiefs fans can have on a game and the cadence of visiting offenses, comparing them to college crowds inside the SEC conference earlier this week.
While I’m not here to debate that there are some very rowdy venues in the SEC and throughout the college ranks, because there are, but fans who’ve been to Arrowhead Stadium know the atmosphere there is an entirely different animal.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones, who played in the SEC for Mississippi State, gave his take on Burrow’s comments over this topic during weekly media availability on Thursday.
“Arrowhead does have a staple in the NFL (but) the college atmosphere is a little different also,” he started. “I can definitely see where [Burrow] is coming from, coming from Mississippi State, [but] NFL Stadiums, we definitely have the best fans and the best stadium, hands down,” said Jones.
“I think it’s the loudest stadium. I think people, the decibel meter, people will be hyping it up by putting speakers in their stands and everything,” he chuckled. “Arrowhead doesn’t have to do that because the fans stay loud, the fans stay screaming, we have dedicated fans, we have fans that spend their Christmas and Thanksgiving here at the Stadium, tailgating. I mean, when you have a group of individuals that are dedicated and put their all into it, their support is heavy. So I understand where [Burrow] is coming from, but Arrowhead is something special.”
The noise that the Chiefs faithful create is deafening, and they’ve got a proven track record that they can cause communication issues for opposing offenses, which can be an issue for visiting offensive line units that can’t hear when the quarterback snaps or doesn’t snap the ball. False starts and delay of game penalties could pile up for Cincinnati if the crowd is loud enough.
The reason I bring this up is because there’s data behind this. The Bengals’ offensive line was arguably the worst entering the postseason and is still the worst out of the four teams left standing on Conference Championship weekend.
In fact, Cincinnati’s o-line ranks sixth in the NFL for most false start penalties called on the road this season.
This can be a huge advantage that could help the Chiefs disrupt any momentum that the Bengals can establish with Burrow under center. It’ll also force the second-year QB to hold the football longer, allowing Kansas City’s pass rush time to get to him and force him to make mistakes.
Otherwise, the AFC Championship could turn out a lot like the Divisional against the Buffalo Bills last week.
While the Chiefs and Bengals are almost mirrored images of each other on paper, the Arrowhead crowd has a chance to be the x-factor that helps give their team the edge needed to punch their ticket to SoFi Stadium in February.
