The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 8 matchup between the Broncos and Chiefs.
Find a breakdown of every Week 8 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Kansas City | Rank | @ | Denver | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -7.5 | Spread | 7.5 | ||
| 26.5 | Implied Total | 19.0 | ||
| 25.4 | 6 | Points/Gm | 21.1 | 19 |
| 15.0 | 2 | Points All./Gm | 31.0 | 31 |
| 66.4 | 8 | Plays/Gm | 55.4 | 32 |
| 60.0 | 5 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 65.0 | 20 |
| 6 | 3 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.6 | 7 |
| 4.9 | 8 | Def. Yards/Play | 6.5 | 32 |
| 40.00% | 24 | Rush% | 39.69% | 26 |
| 60.00% | 9 | Pass% | 60.31% | 7 |
| 38.33% | 8 | Opp. Rush % | 47.03% | 29 |
| 61.67% | 25 | Opp. Pass % | 52.97% | 4 |
- Just 23.3% of the Kansas City drives have failed to achieve a first down or touchdown prior, the best rate in the league. The league average is 33.7%.
- Denver is seventh in the NFL in the set of downs to reach third down (44.1%).
- The Chiefs are eighth in the NFL in the set of downs to reach third down (44.3%).
- When the Chiefs do reach third down, they are converting a league-high 48.9%.
- Denver has allowed a touchdown on 12.9% (4-of-31) of opponent possessions the past three weeks (fourth) after a 47.6% (20-of-42) rate prior (32nd).
- The Chiefs have forced opponents to punt on 43.1% of drives, third in the league.
- Kansas City has allowed opponents to score on 25.0% of their possessions, second in the league.
- The Broncos are averaging a league-low 0.60 points per drive after a takeaway (which includes turnover on downs).
- Kansas City is allowing a league-low 2.6 scoring plays per game.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Patrick Mahomes: Mahomes has been a study fantasy producer this season, but he has been lacking true spike moments.
He has been a top-10 scorer in five games this season, but Sunday was just his second week as a top-five scorer.
He ended last week as the QB2 (33.9 points), throwing for 424 yards with four touchdowns. For good measure, he added another 29 rushing yards.
On the season, Mahomes is averaging a career-high 4.7 rushes for 30.6 yards per game.
Mahomes tore apart a Los Angeles secondary that has been flooded this entire season.
Denver was on that trajectory, but they have regressed toward the mean over the past three weeks.
Denver is still unlikely to be a good defense, but expecting them to be the worst defense in league history was still something that was going to improve over a larger sample.
They have faced Zach Wilson and Jordan Love as part of that sample of holding the past three quarterbacks below the points per game they had averaged entering the matchup, but the other one was Mahomes himself two weeks ago.
Mahomes was the QB7 (17.4 points) in that matchup, completing 30-of-40 passes for 306 yards and a touchdown with an interception.
That said, Denver is still not a pass defense that we fear. They are 29th in the NFL in terms of pressure rate (29.5%), and they just lost another starter with the suspension of Kareem Jackson.
Mahomes is still a front-end QB1 for fantasy, but this is an environment that may not coax out another spike week.
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