Big Blue View
The New York Giants play their home opener in prime time against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. Both teams are winless, as Kansas City lost 27-21 to the Chargers and 20-17 at home against the Eagles in Week 2. The Chiefs are currently 6-point favorites, and the Over/Under is 45.5.
Desperation defines this Sunday Night Football game. Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo, Patrick Mahomes, and Taylor Swift will all be dialed into the affair in a virtual must-win game for both teams. The Giants allowed victory to slip through their fingers after an explosive effort from the offense. The defense allowed 40 points, but played well, at times.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen is under heavy criticism from the Giants’ fanbase for failing to maximize a defense loaded with investment — and for allowing Dallas to reach field goal range with just 25 seconds left, which sent the game into overtime after Russell Wilson’s near walk-off touchdown pass to Malik Nabers.
Although the Chiefs’ offense hasn’t reached its peak recently, stopping Patrick Mahomes remains a daunting task.
The Chiefs’ offense has struggled against two respectable defenses. Much like the Giants, the Chiefs struggled to run the football on offense, with much of their rushing success attributed to Patrick Mahomes’ improvisation in the pocket.
Kansas City uses a running back tandem of Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, and they’ll sprinkle in Brashard Smith. Pacheco has played the most of the three, but averages just 3.1 yards per carry. Hunt averages 3.6 yards per carry. The Giants, however, rank dead last in stopping the run; they’ve allowed 177.5 yards per game in 2025. To be fair, the Giants were much better against the run in Week 2 than they were in Week 1, but they still fell victim to a 30-yard counter touchdown run by Javonte Williams.
Here are some more Giants’ rushing statistics:
Despite Kansas City’s rushing issues, they’re still second-highest in the NFL in explosive rush rate (10+ rush yards), which is primarily attributed to Patrick Mahomes’ scrambling; the star quarterback has 123 yards on the ground with two rushing touchdowns on 13 attempts (9.5 yards per attempt). Mahomes has seven of the Chiefs’ nine explosive runs.
It’s only two games, but the Chiefs are currently 17th in the NFL (tied) with an average of 320.5 yards per game. They’re only converting 34.6% of their third-down attempts, which ranks 26th in the NFL; the Giants are tied for 27th in the league with a 33% rate.
Mahomes leads the NFL in scrambling, first-downs, and is tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns among quarterbacks. Mahomes’ penchant to scramble will pose a problem for Shane Bowen and the Giants, who will likely live in two-high shells.
One reason for Mahomes’ scrambling is due to pressure. According to NFLPro, Mahomes has been pressured in 2.45 seconds on average this season, the 5th-quickest in the NFL, and his quickest in any season since 2018....
