As a reward for getting shanked on Monday Night Football by the Titans, the Jacksonville Jaguars get to head to Arrowhead Stadium to face the number one rushing attack in the NFL.
Awesome.
The Chiefs are a football team built similar to the Jaguars on offense. They run the football and take pressure off of their quarterback, Matt Cassel. The Chiefs are also a football team that have two running backs who they can throw at you. Jamaal Charles is the explosive slasher while Thomas Jones is the tough insider runner. Both shared the workload with a near even split of the carries. Jones has 79 to lead the team, but Charles leads the team with 418 rushing yards on only 66 carries.In order for the Jaguars to stay in this football game, since it appears as if Todd Bouman will get the start at quarterback, will be for the defense to slow the Chiefs running game and force Cassel to pass the football.
One interesting note in the Chiefs running game was the slow start, or slow "to use" of Charles by the Chiefs on offense. I ask ArrowheadPride.com's Joel Thorman about it;
He hasn't been limited that much. It was a bigger deal the first few games of the season, I think. In Week 1, he and Thomas Jones split carries evenly. In Week 2 and 3, it was Jones. In Week 5, it was Charles. In Week 6, it was Jones (barely). Who will it be this week? Just depends on the best match up. But I think the Chiefs have shown that if they feel Charles is the best they'll give him the ball. They just like the setup Charles and Jones brings.
It is a nice dynamic to have, and one Jaguars fans should be familiar with from the 2007 season.
In order for the Jaguars to have a chance in this game however, they'll need to slow them down. They're not going to stop them, but the Chiefs aren't a team that should kill them through the air like others have in the past.