Thursday Night Preview – Week 15 – Kansas City Chiefs @ Los Angeles Chargers

Week 15 is upon us, and for most of you that means the start of Fantasy Football Playoffs! Congrats to you if you made it, and BOO to you if you didn’t! Hopefully you didn’t wind up in last place, and if you did, hopefully your league’s punishment isn’t too rough!

Now let’s get into the game that will kick off most league’s playoffs, as the Kansas City Chiefs head into SoFi Stadium to play the Chargers, in what should be an awesome AFC West Divisional Rivalry matchup. The Chiefs are 9-4 and the Chargers are 8-5, so this game could go a long way in determining the eventual winner of the division and will also likely shape the AFC Wild Card race.

And with all these playoff implications on the line, both in Fantasy Football and the NFL, COVID is RIPPING through the league. Fortunately for these two teams, they have both remained largely unaffected for this coming week, and Keenan Allen has been elevated back to the active roster after sitting out Week 14. So as we head into Thursday, the Chargers should have their full complement of receivers, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Jalen Guyton, Jared Cook, Donald Parham, etc. As always, Justin Herbert will be under center and slinging the rock all over the field.

The Chiefs, similarly, should have their full receiving corps. Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson, Josh Gordon, and of course Travis Kelce. Pat Mahomes will look to get Kelce back on track, as he has truly had a down year (a down year for him means he’s TE2 and his 158+ half PPR points would be good for about WR15 on the season).

While both offenses seem to be the driving force behind both of these teams, the defenses for both have stepped up greatly in the last few weeks. KC has really cranked it up a notch, after having been one of the worst units the first few weeks of the season, they now find themselves in the Top 10 in almost every measurable category. The turnaround for them has been nothing short of astonishing, so the Chargers will have a steep hill to climb if they want to win this one. However, we’ve seen them take on top tier defenses with some success in the past, so could be more of the same tonight. One thing that should help them greatly, is Chris Jones, one of the elite defensive linemen in the league is out with Covid for this one.

On the flip side, I’ve talked about this a lot lately in my start sits and on the podcasts, but LA has been playing a ton of Cover 2, with two high safeties and blanket coverage underneath, while creating some pressure with impressive wrinkles on their D-Line with various stunts and creating confusion on the offensive front. If they can do this again against KC, they should stand a good chance to pull out the W, as we’ve seen Mahomes struggle this year when teams have succeeded in getting some pressure in his face.

As for the running games, the main focus is likely on Austin Ekeler, who was dinged up last week and has not practiced much this week, though it is said he is expected to play tonight, though he may have limited snaps. If his workload is at all limited, it’s surely a cause for concern for fantasy owners, who have come to expect a 20 point game from him more often than not. If he’s on the field less than his full workload, and Justin Jackson or someone else takes some snaps, I would be panicked. However, I think if he heads out there and plays well, I think they’ll throw the “limited snap” talk right out the window and ride the hot hand, because the Chargers need this win and that likely begins and ends with Ekeler’s success.

For the Chiefs, they have a much more convoluted backfield situation. Clyde Edwards-Helaire appears to have his starting job back, but in the blowout against the Raiders last week, garbage time touches seemed to go to Derrick Gore instead of him, and Gore looked great. Then you have the constant looming threat of Darrel Williams, who refuses to go away. If you’re in fantasy playoffs and you’re carrying any of these guys, you’ve likely found a mix you’re happy with, and my only advice would be not to stray from what got you there. If CEH has been your guy, trot him out there again. If it’s been Williams in your flex all year, do it again. If you’ve been playing Gore… well I’m not sure how you made the playoffs but good for you! This falls firmly into the category of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. And I really believe tinkering is the cause of death for a lot of fantasy teams. So stay the course and keep the W’s rolling!

So to highlight for you quickly:

Obvious starts in this one are: Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Justin Herbert, Pat Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce.

Starts with a tempered expectations: Austin Ekeler, Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Streamable players/fringe flex plays: Josh Gordon, Jared Cook, Darrel Williams, Justin Jackson

There you have it! The Week 15 tilt on TNF looks like it should be a good one, likely one of the best of the year. Tune in and hopefully watch your fantasy teams get out to a big lead early in the week. And don’t forget, we have Saturday football this week, so SET YOUR LINEUPS EARLY!