Chiefs VS St. Louis Pre Game

The Kansas City Chiefs (8-5) travel to St Louis to take on the Rams in a battle for The Govenors Cup.  Surprisingly, The Chiefs lead the AFC West and the Rams are tied with Seattle for the lead in the weak NFC West.  Neither team was expected to be serious threats in the respective divisions, yet both teams enter this game hoping to increase their chances of a playoff berth.

Cassels leadership showed more with him sidelined.  Nobody thought Cassel was the teams MVP at the beggining of the year, but thats exactly what he is.  With Cassel sidelined last week the Chiefs looked hopeless and the offense was stuck in mud.  Cassel is engine to this offene.  He's fifth in the NFL in passer rating and that undermines his value to this club.  With Cassel back the Chiefs can atleast expect more than 67 yards of total offense.

Chiefs need stars to shine.  Charels and Bowe played terrible last week.  No other way to say it.  Big games are when a team needs its best players to shine and these two stars fell out of the sky.  In order for the Chiefs to bounce back these two need to carve up a St. Louis defense thats giving up 123 yards rushing per game and allowing 230 yards passing.  The key will be to strike early on offense as the Rams birght spot is holding offenses to 33% conversions on third downs. 

Defense needs to dig in and earn a reputation.  Right now the Chiefs defense is solid, not great, in any one area.  Some weeks the run defense is good and the pass defense is shaky and vise versa other weeks.  The Chiefs need to put their heels in the ground and keep the plays in front of them.  No big plays, limit yards after contact and force the Rams to settle.  Forget turnovers, the Chiefs need to limit yards.

These games are what they wanted, no they have to finish what they started.  The Chiefs haven't played meaningful December football in a long time.  Well, these last 3 games are as important for the franchise as anything in recent years could be.  Win and your in the playoffs and your rebuilding job is a dashing success.  Lose and have questions arise about where the team is headed.  This is where good teams start to prove their metal. 

Scoring shouldnt be a problem for either team.  The Rams and Chiefs are light years ahead of where they were projected to be and both have key pieces in place on offense and defense.  The Chiefs, at this point, are better overall so look for them to get the stops they need when they need them.  It's not ging to be pretty but the Chiefs get the win 27-24 in a game that comes down to the wire.