It’s one of those contests where people are apt to say, “We’ll know a lot more after tonight’s game.”
Often, that statement is used in reference to one needing to know more before they have a pick on the game. We have had enough games already played to know all about the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars who square off tonight at EverBank Stadium. If we need to know how tonight’s game is going to go before we pick it, that is another story.
There is no reason to pick the Chiefs tonight … unless you consider they win these games consistently and come into action tonight with one less victory and one more loss than the Jaguars. That is a problem if you think Jacksonville is the play tonight.
For the Jaguars to win in front of their home fans we would need the night to end with Jacksonville having a league matching best record of four wins against a single loss and the Chiefs dropping to a losing mark of two and three.
Okay, that may not happen, but with the Jaguars you get a team that has a defense that is playing lights out and grabbing turnovers like low hanging fruit. A good defense is really a good thing to have if you want to win consistently in the National Football League. To complement their defense tonight they are getting more than a field goal on the point spread. That more often than not spells a winning combination.
But before you run off to bet on the Jags, know this. The Chiefs have a good defense too, and surprisingly it has been their offense, before last week’s explosion for 37 points against the Baltimore Ravens, that has been suspect. All World Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is working behind a porous offensive line and has limited skill players to take advantage of his extraordinary skills.
Both of tonight’s combatants are getting a lift based on teams they are chasing in their division races. Like a race car drafting a lead car, when a team is in front of another squad in their race it motivates the second-place team. The Jaguars need a win tonight to match the four victories the Indianapolis Colts have already notched in the AFC South Division. The Chiefs are chasing two teams in the AFC West, both the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers have won three games this season, the Chiefs could match their records with a victory tonight.
While Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league, Jacksonville signal caller Trevor Lawrence came into the league with the fourth highest quarterback ranking among NFL scouts in the last fifty plus years. Lawrence was number four, the three college quarterbacks to enter the NFL with higher scouting reports were John Elway, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.
All three of those players would have been Hall of Fame inductees if only Luck’s career wouldn’t have been shortened by injuries.
Lawrence has not lived up to the credentials he entered the league boasting. Elway, Manning and Luck did, is there still time for Lawrence to put together a Hall of Fame career?
Yes.
Will he?
If that is to be, he would need to shine under the lights tonight while battling a sure future Hall of Fame enshrinee. If he can outduel Mahomes in this one and move his Jags to four and one behind rookie head coach Liam Coen he will take a step towards Canton.
If he doesn’t, well that has been his history up to now.
To wager on this game we would have to know … what a lame line.
We know this, the Jaguars appear a good bet but dropping the Chiefs to a third loss on the season appears the short straw.
We’ll know more after tonight’s game.