What have the Tennessee Titans changed since beating the Kansas City Chiefs in November
By Will Lomas
Role reversal
To paint the picture of the last game these two plays, you have to remember that Patrick Mahomes was coming back from an injury and while he probably wasn’t 100% it was a knee injury that probably affected his running ability more than anything.
If their best player on offense wasn’t 100% after his injury, then the best player on defense was. Chris Jones was eased back into the lineup the previous week vs the Minnesota Vikings and then went back to his normal role against the Titans.
On a nice day with sunshine and 65 degree temperatures, those players didn’t have to worry about the cold taking a toll or making them stiff.
However, the Titans are seemingly very healthy at this point and the Chiefs have had a few big injuries. They will definitely miss talented rookie safety Juan Thornhill who was put on IR after the final game of the season.
In the “down but not out” section of the injury report, Travis Kelce had a hamstring issue last week and is probably going to tough it out while Chris Jones missed that playoff game with a calf injury. Both of those injuries are possibly to play through, but doing so in the cold weather is going to be painful and it should affect their performances.
When I say cold weather, I am referring to the fact that Kansas City is supposed to stay around 22 degrees all game long. Not “feels like” that is actual temperatures.
The Chiefs walked into the perfect situation when they came to Nashville, but in terms of health and style it is the Titans walking into a dream scenario on the road this weekend.