Scouting the Chiefs: Week 2

The Chargers will play their second straight AFC West game in Week 2.

The Bolts and Chiefs will meet in Kansas City on Thursday night, with kickoff at 5:15 p.m. (PT).

We chatted with Matt McMullen, who covers the Chiefs for Chiefs.com, to get a preview of the game.

The Chiefs offense was humming in Arizona. What clicked early on for that group? Is it as simple as having No. 15 at quarterback?

MM: I really believe that the Chiefs’ ability to integrate so many new players into their offense so seamlessly on Sunday gets back to the unofficial workouts that Patrick Mahomes hosted in Texas way back in April. The entire offense worked together pretty relentlessly outside of just the standard offseason training program for months, and the fruits of that labor were evident against the Cardinals. Mahomes found nine different pass-catchers in the game while leading the offense to 33 first downs and 488 total yards. They averaged 7.4 yards-per-play and were six-for-six in the red zone. The Chiefs haven’t had depth like this at pass-catcher in a long time, and with so many weapons now available at Mahomes’ disposal, it’s much more difficult to identify where the ball is headed.

Which Chiefs defensive player stood out to you in Week 1?

MM: Several players had noteworthy games, but I’ll go with rookie defensive end George Karlaftis. He recorded six pressures in the game and seemed to be around Kyler Murray all day long. In fact, Karlaftis was one of three Chiefs to tally at least six pressures against the Cardinals, joining Chris Jones and Mike Danna.