Listen To Chiefs at Falcons Sunday on Q-106.7 in Northwest Kansas & Southwest Nebraska and Z-96.3 in North Central Kansas. Pregame 6:00 PM
By Matt McMullen – Chiefs.com Reporter
The Kansas City Chiefs will hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Atlanta for a matchup against the Falcons on Sunday Night Football.
Here are five things to keep in mind heading into game day.
1. Here’s a look at the final injury report for both teams.
The Chiefs have a relatively clean injury report heading into Sunday’s game, and as a result, Kansas City doesn’t feature a single player carrying an injury designation into the matchup.
As for tailback Isiah Pacheco, who suffered a fractured fibula in last week’s victory over Cincinnati, the latest update is that he had surgery on Wednesday and was placed on Injured Reserve. He is out a minimum of four games, and because he’s not currently on the active roster, he won’t appear on the injury report.
In lieu of Pacheco, the Chiefs signed Kareem Hunt to the practice squad earlier this week. Hunt was plenty busy as a member of the scout team over the last several days, but he won’t be elevated for Sunday’s game, according to Head Coach Andy Reid.
Looking at the Falcons, Atlanta didn’t list any player injury designations ahead of Sunday’s game, indicating a clean bill of health.
2. Running back Bijan Robinson is the key to the Falcons’ offense.
Robinson was the No. 8 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, and through two games this season, he’s certainly playing like it. The former University of Texas star has rushed for 165 yards on 32 attempts, averaging 5.2 yards-per-carry. He was also particularly effective in Atlanta’s victory over the Eagles last week, rushing for 97 yards on just 14 carries.
The 22-year-old Robinson averaged 6.9 yards-per-attempt in that game while ripping off four runs of double-digit yardage and breaking three tackles along the way.
He’s been effective, and the Falcons haven’t been shy about using him. In fact, Robinson – who also has nine catches for 68 yards – has been responsible for 48 percent of Atlanta’s offensive advancements this year. In other words, Robinson has touched the ball on half of the Falcons’ offensive plays through two games.
It’s all to say that in order to slow down the Falcons, the Chiefs will have to contain Robinson’s production, and for what it’s worth, Kansas City has been effective against opposing running backs this season.
The Chiefs have held opposing tailbacks to a combined average of just 3.8 yards-per-carry on 30 attempts, and on those carries, Kansas City has yielded just one run of 10+ yards.
Here’s a player-by-player breakdown of that production, with the only outlier being Bengals’ running back Chase Brown, who found some success on limited carries:
Derrick Henry: 13 carries for 46 yards (3.45 yards-per-attempt)
Zack Moss: 12 carries for 34 yards (2.83 yards-per-attempt)
Chase Brown: 4 carries for 31 yards (7.75 yards-per-attempt)
Justice Hill: 1 carry for 3 yards
If the Chiefs can put together a similar performance against Robinson, it would go a long way toward containing the Falcons’ offense as a whole.
3. The Falcons’ play-action passing game will be something to watch.
The importance of stopping Atlanta’s rushing attack is even further amplified by the presence of Kirk Cousins at quarterback, who has historically thrived within the play-action passing game.
In 2022, Cousins’ last full, healthy season for the Minnesota Vikings, he ranked second among all quarterbacks with 203 play-action dropbacks. Additionally, from 2022 through the first eight games of 2023 (before Cousins’ season-ending Achillies injury), he threw 17 touchdowns off play-action – the third-most of any quarterback behind only Josh Allen (21) and Jared Goff (19).
Conversely, on non-play-action snaps during that same span, Cousins threw 15 of his 19 interceptions.
Cousins has simply thrived in play-action situations during his career, but for whatever reason – whether it be adjusting to a new offensive scheme or due to his injury recovery process – Cousins has led a Falcons’ offense that has posted the third-lowest play-action rate in the NFL through two weeks (13.6%). Only Geno Smith (11.8%) and Brock Purdy (12.8%) have tallied a lower percentage of play-action dropbacks so far, but Cousins’ inclusion on this list may be somewhat misleading.
Atlanta ran zero play-action snaps in Cousins’ Falcons debut vs. Pittsburgh, making him the only starting quarterback to do so in Week 1. Last week against the Eagles, however, was a different story. Cousins ran play-action on 26 percent of his dropbacks in that game, completing 5-of-8 passes for 53 yards.
It’s likely the Falcons will continue that trend as Cousins continues to get more comfortable in Atlanta’s offensive scheme, and the Chiefs’ defense will need to be ready for it.
4. Atlanta’s red zone defense has been impressive so far this season.
The Falcons have held opponents to a 2-for-7 mark in the red zone this season, which includes a 2-for-5 figure against Philadelphia last week. Specifically, the Falcons prevented touchdowns last week despite Philadelphia drives that marched to the 9-yard line, the 11-yard line and the 10-yard line.
The week prior, Atlanta lost to Pittsburgh despite holding the Steelers out of the end zone altogether (although they did allow six field goals).
It’s a solid group, but one area they’ve struggled is with missed tackles. Atlanta has missed the fourth-most tackles of any team so far, which partially explains why the Falcons have yielded the sixth-most rushing yards (323) of any team. Specifically, running backs Saquon Barkley and Najee Harris combined for 12 broken tackles against Atlanta, rushing for 165 yards.
The Chiefs’ running game will obviously be without Isiah Pacheco on Sunday, but the opportunity remains for a productive night on the ground.
5. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes can make some (more) NFL history on Sunday.
Mahomes is no stranger to setting records, and he has a shot at another one on Sunday night.
The 29-year-old Mahomes has won 76 career regular-season games as a starting quarterback, matching Tom Brady and Roger Staubach for the most quarterback victories through 100 career starts in NFL history. Mahomes will start the 99th career game of his career on Sunday, meaning that if the Chiefs win, he’ll claim the record for himself.
Mahomes will aim to do exactly that on Sunday night as the Chiefs look remain perfect on the season in a prime-time matchup with Atlanta.
