Where the Kansas City Chiefs Rank: Week 5

Last week, I posted where the Kansas City Chiefs rank in various areas on offense and defense and it seemed to go over well so I'm going to make this a regular weekly feature. Going forward, I'm also going to highlight those areas the Chiefs have/have not improved in. I want to be clear that these aren't rankings for just this week of football but for the entire accumulated season.

I know league-wide rankings aren't the end all be all of how a team is doing but I think we can all agree that when a team is ranked very low in a lot of categories, that's not good. There isn't any spin for being last in third down percentage two weeks in a row.

The stats that are colored red are categories where the Chiefs dropped in the rankings from the previous week. The non-colored categories mean they either got better or remained the same.

We'll talk offense first and then defense. I'll give you the whole shebang and then I'll pick out some of the stats to talk about specifically.

The previous weeks ranks are in parentheses.

It's all after the jump....

Yards/Game

The Chiefs had a heck of a drop this week in offensive production. Last week, the Chiefs were 30th in the NFL in offensive yards and now we're almost dead last, behind only the Oakland Raiders. Only producing 193 yards of total offense will do that to you.

I repeat: The Chiefs offense is almost as bad as the Raiders statistically.

Kickoff Return Avg.

The Chiefs jumped a full eleven spots this week in this category, almost completely bolstered by Jamaal Charles' 53-yard kick return in the fourth quarter last week. I wanted to mention this stat because it was really only one play that made us jump this far up, so keep an eye on some of these stats.

Third Down Percentage

Unfortunately, you're going to hear a lot about this from me and a lot of AP commenters. The Chiefs were ranked dead last in the league last week in converting third downs and they are dead last this week.

If you want to go by just the number of red boxes, the defense did worse than the offense last week in terms of rankings. The rankings themselves dropped lower than some of the offensive stats but still, like DThomasReigns mentioned, we're not exactly improving.

Yards/Game

It really hurts to see the Chiefs ranked near the bottom of the NFL in this category. I know there are plenty of other variables to factor in besides how many yards the defense gives up but sitting near the cellar isn't going to get us any wins.

For me personally, I look at yards given up, first downs given up and third down stops as my big barometers of defensive success. The Chiefs are not doing well in yards relinquished to their opponents.

First Downs/Game

This is another major stat area where it hurts to see us rank worse. The Giants had 21 first downs last week and they spread them out well - 12 passing and 7 rushing.

Third Down Percentage

Rounding out my trifecta of defensive success, the continue to be one of the worst teams at getting the opposing offense off of the field. What happens you let your opponent convert third downs but you cannot? You suck, that's what happens.

Points/Game

Let's see. The Chiefs' offense is ranked 26th in points per game. They give up the 29th most points per game on defense. I think I found my power ranking average for the Chiefs this week.

Thoughts on where the Chiefs rank?