Jets-Chiefs Preview: Breaking Down the Kansas City Numbers

With Jets-Chiefs coming up this Sunday, here’s a look at some of the most notable numbers surrounding KC’s 6-5 AFC West leaders.

12.0 - PPG average for Kansas City over the last three games, all losses. It hasn’t been against world-beating defenses, either, with their opponents in the span being the Giants, Bills, and Cowboys, all in the bottom half of the league in defensive DVOA.

14th - Kansas City’s rank in defensive points per game, in spite of some uninspiring numbers across the defense. Defensively, the Chiefs are 20th in passing yards per attempt, 27th in rushing yards per attempt, 26th in sack rate, and 24th in percentage of opponent drives ending in turnovers. So what gives? How is KC a top half scoring defense if they can’t do anything at an average level? Can it be their red zone defense? Well, that unit is just 17th in preventing touchdowns. You might have to give the offense and special teams some credit. KC opponent drives have the 4th worst average starting position in the league.

1234 - The total amount of scrimmage yards for rookie running back Kareem Hunt, a third round steal who has been very good on the whole. He is the very youngest player currently placed in the top 20 of scrimmage yards, has a higher yards per attempt average than all players with as many carries, and has only fumbled the ball once. However, all six of his touchdowns came in the first three weeks of the season, and Hunt is averaging just 43 rushing yards per game on 2.9 yards per carry over the last four weeks.

0-4 - The Chiefs’ record when scoring 17 points or fewer, with three of those losses coming in their last three games.

70.6 - Receiving yards per game for Travis Kelce, most among tight ends (barely ahead of Rob Gronkowski’s 70.2). Since 2015, the Chiefs are 11-3 when he goes for 90 yards or more.