Sports Time Radio

When the NFL schedule was released there was a lot of anticipation for the Week 9 match up that had the Green Bay Packers at the Kansas City Chiefs. Unfortunately for football fans there have been a couple of things that have taken the shine off of this game.

Surprisingly coming into this game the Chiefs are just a .500 team at 4-4. There could be a lot of reasons for Kansas City’s slower than expected start and most people seem to think that the other NFL teams have figured Patrick Mahomes out, but yet no one has actually explained what that means; so I’m not sure I buy that as an actual reason. Now Mahomes has had his issues this season. Through 8 games Mahomes has thrown 10 interceptions and has fumbled the football 5 times; so that 15 turnovers Mahomes is responsible for this season, but is that figuring him out?

Is it possible that the fact that the Chiefs have almost no running game at all that might be a bigger issue. I know it sounds like an easy explanation and with Mahomes being a big name in the NFL you want to out the blame on him in some way, shape or form, but he can’t win games by himself and with zero support from the running game that leaves a lot on his shoulders.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire is actually the Chiefs leading rusher with 304 yards even though he’s only played in 5 of the teams 8 games this season. Edwards-Helaire was Kansas City’s 1st round draft pick last season and was looked at as a player who would be able to provide a solid running game for the Chiefs, but unfortunately he’s been unable to stay healthy in his first two NFL seasons. Edwards-Helaire is clos to returning from his injury, but you have to wonder just how long it will be before he gets hurt again and misses playing time.

Without Edwards-Helaire Darrel Williams has taken over as the Chiefs main running back, but hasn’t found much success. Williams has carried the football 65 times through 8 games and has scored 4 rushing touchdowns, but he managed just 230 yards and is averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Williams is in his 4th season; all with the Chiefs, but this is the most he’s ever carried the football. Getting Edwards-Helaire back is obviously a good thing for the Chiefs, but it would also help Williams who couldreturn to his role as more of a change of pace running back.

On Monday ight against the New York Giants the Chiefs found some success in the running game behind Derrick Gore, but it’s difficult to tell if or what that might mean going forward. Gore had the first 11 carries of his NFL career against the Giants. He ran for 48 yards and scored a touchdown. Gore also caught 1 pass for 7 yards in that game. If Edwards-Helaire is unable to comeback this week against Green Bay maybe Gore can give the Chiefs some type of ground game for the Packers to have to look at.

Of course the elephant in the room for this game is the current situation with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. I’m sure you know by now that Rodgers tested positive for Covid-19 and won’t be playing in this game. There’s been a lot of talk about this situation since it was announce and Rodgers himself finally said more about it yesterday on the Pat McAfee show, but after listening to his side it seemed as though he was just making excuses for himself. You’ll have to go and find it online and see what you think about what Rodgers had to say.

No matter what you think about being vaccinated or not Rodgers has put his team in a terrible position and it may cost them a game. It’s one thing to decide not to get the vaccination, but when you have quite a few other people depending on you it might be something you’d want to do for them and to avoid a situation like this. With Rodgers being who he is you know that none of his teammates will come out against him, but behind closed doors there might be some different feelings about this situation.

With Rodgers out that means that Packers fans will get to see their future starting quarterback as Jordan Love will be Green Bay’s starting quarterback against the Chiefs tomorrow afternoon.

Don’t forget that during the off season drama with Rodgers he and the Packers worked it out so this would be his last season under contract with them and in that agreement the Packers aren’t allowed to use the franchise tag on him. It’s almost 100% guaranteed that if Rodgers decides to play next season he’ll be taking snaps for a different NFL teams next season.

As for Love he was the Packers 1st round pick in the 2020 draft; a move that bothered Rodgers as well. Love appeared in the first game of the season for the Packers and did go 5 of 7 for 68 yards in Green Bay’s blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, but tomorrow will be the first time he’ll be a starter.

The Packers vs. the Chiefs has a scheduled 3:25 p.m. start time and you’d have to think that Fox will show the game nationally; so that means that will get Joe Buck and Troy Aikman calling it. If that’s the case it will be interesting to see how many times they manage to work Rodgers name into their call.

The betting line for this game changed greatly after it was announced that Rodgers wouldn’t be playing. The last line I saw had the Chiefs favored by 8 points and the over/under on the game being 48 points. Now I don’t know how accurate these lines will be when you read this as they change almost minute to minute, but that’s what I saw a little earlier this morning.

So let me know how you think this game will go tomorrow. If you where betting on this game would you take the Packers and those 8 points? Or do you see the Chiefs winning by more than that? I’d also be interested to know how you think Love will do in his first NFL start.

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