2 min read • January 28, 2022
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Clyde Edwards-Helaire is healthy and ready to take advantage of Larry Ogunjobi’s absence. Edwards-Helaire had 60 rushing yards on 7 carries last week against the Bills. The shoulder injury is not a concern anymore and he should be heavily involved when the Chiefs choose the run the ball.
The Bengals’ starting strong side linebacker is out for the season with a torn ACL and Ogunjobi suffered a season-ending foot injury in the Wildcard win over the Raiders.
That will likely leave Cincinnati vulnerable to the run and potentially vulnerable to screen passes to Jerick McKinnon, who has caught at least 5 passes in each of the last two playoff games.
Darrel Williams could miss another week with his nagging toe injury, but McKinnon seems to have a firm grasp on the No. 2 running back role.
Last week against the Titans and a less than 100% Derrick Henry, the Bengals allowed 140 total rushing yards. During the regular season, they allowed an average of 102.5 yards per game, which ranked fifth in the league.
The Chiefs ran for 182 yards last week and averaged 115 yards per game on the ground, which ranked 16th in the league.
Cincinnati tied a single-game record last week by allowing 9 sacks to the Titans. Several sacks came as a direct result of Tennessee targeting the two backup lineman manning the right side for the Bengals.
Hakeem Adeniji and Isaiah Prince are starting in place of Xavier Su’a-Filo and Riley Reiff. Su’a-Filo has been out with a knee injury since Week 2 and was recently waived with an injury settlement. Reiff was lost for the season to an ankle injury Week 13.
Cincinnati’s offensive line ranked worst in the league this season, allowing 3.5 sacks per game.
The Chiefs should take advantage of that to limit the Bengals passing attack.
Kansas City’s defense is healthy including Chris Jones, who had 9 sacks this regular season, and strong safety Tyrann Mathieu, who is on track to clear concussion protocol and led the team with 3 interceptions this season.
Check out the matchup fieldview at:
https://sicscore.com/nfl/games/cincinnati-bengals-vs-kansas-city-chiefs
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