(Best Madden ever to this day, btw ^^)
WELCOME EVERYONNNNNE to the sold out Hartford Civic Center your phone or laptop for this special Thursday edition of everybody’s favourite terrbily named twice-weekly Canadian NFL article, the Fleetwood/Matt NFL picks.
I am Matthew Ederer (Miami Dolphins fan lol), joined by my associate / roommate / 2015 Humber College Improv Award winner Fleetwood Brown (Cleveland Browns Fan lolol). What we lack in football knowledge, we make up for in pure, uncut, weapons-grade depression.
ONTO THE PIQUES
Kansas City Chiefs (4-2, 3rd in AFC) @ Denver Broncos (2-4, 10th in AFC)
Matt – The Chiefs are banged-up and reeling, fresh off two consecutive losses to inferior teams. Denver runs the heck out of the ball, which is a major weakness for KC, which may not be able to do much anyway with their quarterback injured.
God help me, I think I’m going with Joe Flacco tonight.
The blueprint seems to be out on how to beat this Kansas City team – play a run-heavy, stinky, sloggy football game, and try to take the ball out of Pat Mahomes’ hands. Over the past four games, KC has allowed 190 rushing yards per game and 8 total rushing TDs. The Chiefs have allowed a 100-yard rusher in all four of their last four games, and Oakland’s Josh Jacobs went for 99 yards in the 5th.
This bodes well for the Broncos, who are the only team in the NFL so far to have two RBs record 400+ yards from scrimmage. Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman have comprised an underrated “Lightning & Thunder” tandem for Denver, or more accurately, “Thunder & Faster Thunder”. Both players are efficent runners who are hard to tackle — Freeman because he’s 6’1 240, Lindsay because he is a ball of hatred who moves like he’s still angry that he wasn’t drafted. While Lindsay puzzlingly appears to be more of the goalline back (Royce Freeman has recorded the 87 touches this season without scoring a touchdown, most in the NFL) either player could go off tonight.
Football is a game of matchups, and this is a tremendous matchup for the Denver Broncos. Pat Mahomes’ ankle issues will only add to Kansas City’s injuries woes. The Chiefs are missing three starters on offensse with OT Eric Fisher, OG Andrew Wylie, and WR Sammy Watkins sidelined. DT Chris Jones and DB Kendall Fuller are also out for Kansas City.
One minor factor giving me pause here, is Joe Flacco’s entire career start-to-finish, Especially the portion spanning 2013-19. However, Flacco has proven capable as a game manager and the Kansas City defense has so many holes that you could have made some kind of bad Shia LeBoeuf joke about it five years ago.
Matt’s Pick – Denver Broncos
