Spreadsheet Warriors: Bengals

The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner

The Kansas City Chiefs are 2-0, after having beaten the Ravens and the Bengals in weeks 1 and 2. Both games were far closer than they should have been, but in the end, the good guys win, the bad guys go home, and they all live happily ever after.

Not only have the Chiefs beaten the Ravens and Bengals, but both of those teams also lost their other game of the season, and so two of the top 4 teams in the AFC (as measured by Super Bowl odds) are starting the season 0-2. That gives the Chiefs a 2.5 game lead over them, with the tiebreakers. That’s an incredible start to the season.

Not so great are the injuries our team is racking up. Hollywood Brown injured his clavicle in a preseason game. It did not heal properly, so he had to get surgery on it, and the expectation is that he is out until at least late December. Last week, it looked like that wouldn’t matter, and we’d be able to move the ball at will.

This week, Isiah Pacheco ran roughshod over a depleted Bengals defensive line. Unfortunately, he broke his fibula in the win against the Bengals, and is out 8-10 weeks. Those two players were expected to be major pieces of the 2024 offense, and now we will be missing them for a couple months, and its very uncertain if Brown will return at all.

Ok, enough doom and gloom, lets get to the numbers!!