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You've probably heard about it so far, but in case you have not invested in professional football and have come across this page, welcome! It's NFL.com, headquarters of the National Football League, I'm calling Nick Shook and I'm here to talk to you about an important football match.
It's between the top two NFL teams on record-breaking wins: the Kansas City Chiefs (9-1) and the Los Angeles Rams (9-1). They are both defending champions and lost first place in the playoffs at the start of the playoffs last year. They will return in 2018 with keen eyes on the buyout and more.
They played like that all season, passing through their opponents and far exceeding the toughest opponents. They each suffer only a setback and they are all favorites to win their respective conferences.
They meet Monday night.
If that were not enough, here are five reasons why you should watch the match on Monday night football.
1. It's the game of the year!
This is not a hyperbole. Consider the numbers below:
The leaders and rams rank at least third in each of these four major attack categories: wins (tie), points per game (leaders rank second, Rams third), total yards per game (second place). rank of the Rams, third leader,) differential (the leaders occupy the first row, the Rams the second). Their meeting is tied for the fifth highest percentage of combined wins between teams in any NFL game played in the 10th week or more since 1970. This century has seen only two games with a higher winning percentage combined: the 2013 Broncos at Chiefs game and the 2007 Cowboys at Packers contest.
Just as juicy: each team suffered only one defeat, and each of these defeats was inflicted on teams threatening them directly for the crowns of their respective conferences. Kansas City sank against New England in a Sunday night thriller and the Rams lost to the Saints during a thrilling encounter in New Orleans. And this is only the fourth game between teams of 9-1 or more since 1970.
Also add the unexpected layer of the game transferred from Mexico to the Rams home in Los Angeles due to the unplayable ground conditions of Estadio Azteca. Supporters of the leaders will complain that the Rams got an unfair advantage, but it was they who sacrificed a home game to play in Mexico City. The emotions are already high. Supremacy (or really the ability to claim it) is at stake.
2. MVP heavyweights meet
They will not be facing each other because they are both offensive players, but for at least a few weeks now, the NFL's most valuable player price debate has focused on two candidates: Todd Gurley and Patrick Mahomes.
On one side, you have the NFL leader in Gurley, who is also effective in the passing game, leading the league in scrum yards (1,390) and touchdowns (17). He is also just the fourth player in NFL history with one or more touchdowns in each of his team's first 10 games, making it literally as valuable as possible.
On the other hand, Mahomes, the second year offensive dynamo who does everything and does it well. Mahomes has mastered Andy Reid's offensive well enough to merit the aforementioned offensive marks – plus his lead in the assists pass (3,150) and touchdowns (31) – and with the weapons with which he works, almost all teams struggle to find ways to stop, regardless of the depth of the season. The quarterback has a gun for an arm, can launch with precision with rarely seen precision of a quarterback at any level and did not hit the wall of recruits or second year that we have seen young stars in the past.
The results of this game – and their performance within it – are well positioned to make a significant impact on this race as we embark on the stretchable race of the season.
3. Marcus Peters confronts his now formidable team
Marcus Peters was a corner phenomenon for the Chiefs, a gem of the 2015 project of former GM John Dorsey. An instant contributor, Peters was quickly elevated to the league's top half-corner with seemingly endless potential. Then 2017 arrived and he collapsed during a late-season victory against the Jets, which forced him to return to the field without socks and to be suspended afterwards. .
Then, just under three years after his selection, Peters was traded between the Chiefs and the Rams, who clearly showed themselves in their current controversial window. Combined with the acquisition of his compatriot Aqib Talib during the off-season, Peters found a new home with a team that really wanted him – but he did not do the best job possible in recent times.
Part of this is a question of how it is used. For example, he was invited to support and run with Michael Thomas of the Saints during the loss to New Orleans, in Week 9, and he was rightly burned by Thomas for a touchdown.
But this week gives Peters an opportunity to take revenge on the team that no longer wanted him. It also presented some odds for some scoreboards, but neither party blinked in this arena. They will remain on the field, where Peters will face a challenge, whether to keep Tyreek Hill or Sammy Watkins. And he will have a chance to have the last laugh.
4. The chiefs pass facing the front line of the Rams
One of Kansas City's recent strengths has been its ability to qualify for the quarterback position. Under the guidance of linebacker Dee Ford, the Chiefs have averaged 3.5 sacks per game in their last four games, reducing the number of points from 28.7 to 17 points. The season has been offensive and is now balanced, strengthening their chances against elite competitors such as the Rams.
For the season, they are tied as a team, nil for fourth place in the QB strokes and equal for the eighth place to go. All brands except the last are better than the Rams, but they bring their own strength to the game: their offensive line.
I've called the Rams to have the best offensive line of the league in the mid-season a few weeks ago, mainly because they've protected Jared Goff well. The group, led by veteran Andrew Whitworth, ranked three of the top five linemen among the top 10 players in Pro Football Focus's position as offensive linemen. If ever there was a group equipped to handle one of the hottest passes in the league, this is it.
5. Familiar Faces Meet: Wade Phillips vs. Andy Reid
It's really a matter of knowing which high power attack is the best, because with the Saints and Patriots, these two teams compete directly for the best unit in the league. They combined to score 68.8 points per game this season, the most points combined per game for a match of Week 10 or later of the Super Bowl era, which is 53 years old. It's been a long time.
Two Wiley veterans wear helmets: head coach Andy Reid and Rams' defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. The two became rather friends when Reid was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillips, the Dallas Cowboys' manager, so this is not a novelty. Rather, it's a clash between a class of coaches who become the old NFL guard, but who have adopted new ideas.
Reid's offense uses all the latest concepts and the offensive of Rams head coach Sean McVay is perhaps the only more futuristic. Phillips 'place is to put an end to Reid' s offense. He has a track record, but has never seen that of a Reid team, ever.
He has 10 weeks of tape to study, but he will have to be one step ahead of Reid, Mahomes and Co. to get the one or three stops needed for the Ram to take the lead and stick to it with their own prolific offense. . And after the match, he'll shake hands with someone he's already seen before. If this will include a smile is left to decide on the ground.
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