Kansas City Chiefs kickoff NFL season with a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship game

By Calvin Silvers

For the NFL’s season opener, the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs open their title defense against the Baltimore Ravens on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for Thursday Night Football at 7:20 p.m.

The only Chiefs’ player out of practice was wide receiver Hollywood Brown. The mention other eight players, Nazeeh Johnson, Chris Jones, Joshua Williams, Nick Bolton, Wanya Morris, Derrick Nnadi, Joe Thuney and James Winchester are continuing to receive treatment, limited in what they were able to do in practice.

With the Ravens coming to town, everyone is itching to get back on the field.

“They got some of the best players in the league on both sides of the ball, and it’s just going to be a great challenge for us,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “I think everybody’s just fired up to get out in front of Arrowhead and get this season started.”

Players, coaches and fans alike have been waiting since February for the start of a new NFL season, enduring the long months of training camp and preseason contests.

While the Chiefs got the best of the Ravens in the previous AFC Championship, Baltimore loaded their offensive backfield with the signing of Derrick Henry in the offseason.

“They get noted as a running team, they can do everything,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “They got really good wideouts, the quarterback can extend the down, we all know that he’s accurate, I mean, we got a great deal of respect for them.”

Kansas City fielded the second-ranked defense in the NFL last season, building the expectations for that side of the ball. With Lamar’s continued passing attack, the secondary will need to be on their toes, as that’s a glaring issue for the Chiefs’ defense since losing L’Jarius Sneed.

As for who will fill that second cornerback position, the Chiefs still are undecided.

“With the injuries that we dealt with and guys in and out, it was hard to say this is the guy that won the job,” Spagnuolo said. “We mix and match a lot anyway, so there’ll be a lot of that going on.”

The Chiefs did keep rookie defensive back Jaden Hicks, an athlete that could be plugged into multiple positions and schemes for Kansas City. with Spags wanting to mix and match and keep defenses guessing, we could see Hicks, and possibly one or two others, make appearances to keep the rust knocked off.

“I like to get guys some playing time here and there and sometimes you got to do it in key situations and it might be to rest guys because we’re not used to playing 60, 70 plays and also giving guys experience along the way,” Spagnuolo said.

While the injury report still has wide receiver Hollywood Brown listed as out, the team is confident in the six other receivers they kept, as tight end Travis Kelce is already seeing the group more motivated compared to last season.

“I think in terms of confidence, it just seems like the group is more tight-knit,” Kelce said. “You know, everybody’s playing off of each other a little bit more and there’s more discussions in the room.”

After the Super Bowl banner is revealed and the ball is kicked, fans can prepare for six months of football, and the Chiefs hope to conquer their third three straight Super Bowl in that time, something no other team has done.

“I’m excited to play another year of football with a fresh slate,” Kelce said. “Get to kind of prove to ourselves and Chiefs Kingdom that we’re one of the top dogs, that we can play at a high level and it’s exciting.”