Go here for this week's Rushing Matchups.
Top 3 Passing Matchups
As the playoffs go further along, the amount of great passing matchups becomes limited. The purpose of this section is to determine the best rushing matchups for this week, but we may still have a strong stance on their defense as a whole. Please refer to the chart at the bottom for the team grades as if this was a normal week.
Kansas City vs Jacksonville
The Chiefs should be fully ready coming off of a bye this week as Andy Reid is one of the best coaches against the bye of all time as he is 22-3 career when he has an extra week to prepare for his opponent. Mahomes and the Chiefs passing offense has had a historic season throwing for 5,250 yards. Bt from a fantasy perspective, this offense can cause a headache because they do such a good job targeting open receivers rather than forcing it to a single receiver. Travis Kelce was the only 1,000-yard receiver with 1,338 yards, but even he had a somewhat disappointing finish to his season as he did not score a touchdown in his last six games, which was the longest drought of his career since 2016. One bright spot in the red zone and a reason Kelce may have struggled was Jerick McKinnon. McKinnon has been a red zone machine as he has eight receiving touchdowns over his last six games and now leads the team in red zone opportunities (carries+targets) with 36, surpassing Kelce, who had 32. At the wide receiver position, the two snap leaders continue to be JuJu Smith-Schuster as well as Marquez Valdes-Scantling, but Kadarius Toney had been seeing a consistent role over the last three games and could be a player that could see an expanded role with the bye week given that he joined the team mid-season.
The Jaguars are a rebuilding defense that, like most rebuilding defenses, has some cornerstone pieces and some pretty significant holes. On the season, the Jaguars allowed the sixth-most passing yards to opposing quarterbacks, including a 331-yard, four-touchdown performance in Week 10 against Patrick Mahomes II, who they will square off against once again this week. The bright spot of this secondary has been second-year cornerback Tyson Campbell has developed into one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL, but it’s the other corners and safeties that leave areas for improvement. Slot corner Tre Hendon and Darious Williams have both struggled at defending the pass this season, while safety Rayshawn Jenkins is one of the worst pass defenders in the NFL this season and has contributed to the Jaguars allowing the fourth-most yards to opposing tight ends on the year. This is a defense that has allowed 11 quarterbacks to throw for 250 yards or more and is one that Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes II, and the rest of this passing offense should have a fairly easy time throwing against once again this week.
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