5 Reasons The Saints Will Beat/Won’t Beat The Chiefs

The New Orleans Saints return to action this Sunday, and it’s time to take a look at five reasons why they will win, and five reasons why they will lose.

The Saints, who are currently 2-3 on the year, will be on the road to take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Kickoff time is scheduled for noon.

5 Reasons The Saints Will Win:

1)—Drew Brees: Brees leads the NFL in passing yards-per-game, averaging 335.4, and is coming off a game against the Carolina Panthers in which he threw for 465 yards and 4 touchdowns. Kansas City has a very good defense, and he likely won't throw for those numbers against them, but in the Chiefs two losses, to the Texans and Steelers, their defense allowed 568 combined passing yards, to go along with 6 touchdowns. You can see doing enough damage to the Chiefs' defense so that Kansas City just won't be able to do enough, offensively, to keep up.

2)—Kansas City lack of pass rush: The Chiefs have only 7 sacks this year, which ranks 31st out of 32 NFL teams. Teams that can't/don't get to Brees normally regret it.

3)—Saints secondary matches up pretty well with Chiefs receivers: Kansas City is not a team that relies on big plays from their receivers. That's a good thing, considering New Orleans is still banged up in the secondary, playing without starting corners Delvin Breaux and P.J. Williams. The Chiefs just don't get a lot of big plays from their wide outs. In 2014, a receiver didn't score a single touchdown for them, and then last season, Jeremy Maclin, their top receiver, had only four catches of more than 30 yards.  This season, the Chiefs are averaging 243.2 passing yards an outing, which ranks 20th in the league.

4)—October: Sunday will mark the third game of October for the Saints, which is big, considering the Saints have lost 7-consecutive September games, dating back to 2014, while fairing pretty well in October. They’ve gone 1-9 over their last 10 games in September. On the other hand, the Saints have been pretty good in October, going 11-3 over the last three seasons, including a 4-1 October record a season ago, after an 0-3 start, as well as a 2-0 record this year.

5)—Chiefs lose every other week: Kansas City won in week one, lost in week two, won in week three, lost in week four, and then won in week five. That means this week is their turn to lose.

5 Reason the Saints Won’t Win:  

1)—Injuries: Sure, every team suffers their share of injuries, but the Saints have had more than their share. Most of the year, they’ve been without the services of defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins, linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, and cornerbacks Delvin Breaux and P.J. Williams, while offensive lineman Terron Armstead has missed the last three games, and offensive lineman Andrus Peat left last Sunday's game late in the first half with a groin injury. Ellerbe, Armstead, and Peat are still questionable for Sunday, and that could be big, especially Armstead and Peat. The bottom line is they just aren’t deep or talented enough to withstand too many injuries.

2)—Opportunistic Chiefs defense: Kansas City leads the league in interceptions, with 9, and are paced by second-year man Marcus Peters, who leads the NFL with 5 interceptions, after totaling 8 last season as a rookie. As a team, the Chiefs are +5 in turnover ration, which places them tied for 4th in the NFL.

3)—Travis Kelce: The Saints have had less than stellar play at linebacker and safety in recent years, and opposing tight ends have torched them at times because of it. Kelce is a good one, and could be a match-up problem for the Saints. This season, he leads Kansas City in receptions, with 25, after catching 67 and 72, respectively, in 2014 and 2015. Anytime the opposition has a quality tight end, and the Chiefs do, you should be concerned if you're a Saints fan.

4)—Brees playing outdoors. Look, it's not like Brees has been bad playing outdoors, and it's not like almost any quarterback would take a little bit of a hit, playing outdoors, as compared to indoors, and away, as compared to playing at home, but their is a difference for Brees. Over his career, Brees has a quarterback rating of 102.7 indoors, compared to 90.1 outdoors. This season, Brees has a QBR of 114.3 indoors, compared to 82.8 outdoors, and that's against two teams (Giants and Chargers) with non-winning records.

5)—Playing the Chiefs on the road: The Saints are 1-1 on the road this season, after only going 2-6 away from New Orleans last year. The Chiefs, meanwhile, are 2-0 at home this season, after going 6-2 at Arrowhead Stadium a season ago. Kansas City has also won their last 8-consecutive home games.