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Factoid

Vic Fangio

Fangio faces KC for 9th time in five years

Philadelphia had about the best defense in the league during the regular season – first in yards and 2nd in points allowed. They also have Vic Fangio, who tangled plenty with Kansas City when he was coaching in the AFC West.

Fangio, recall, was the head coach of the Broncos from 2019 to 2021. He was the defensive coordinator at Miami in 2023. So he’s seen Patrick Mahomes eight times in the last five years.

Not a lot of success in terms of wins and losses. Kansas City won all eight of those games. But Mahomes didn’t tend to put up big numbers in those games – including just 10 touchdown passes.

One of those games, recall, was the Thursday nighter back in 2019, with Mahomes leaving with an injury after a quarterback sneak. If we look at just his seven full games, an average of 251 passing yards on 63 percent passing, with 9 TDs versus 2 interceptions. Not terrible, but not up to what he tends up to put up against most.

MAHOMES AGAINST VIC FANGIO
YearOppResultCmpAttYdsTDIntSkRushing
2019at Den.W 30-61011761001-2
2019H Den.W 23-327343402133-11
2020at Den.W 43-1615232001030-0
2020H Den.W 22-1625403181014-26
2021H Den.W 22-915291840114-12-1
2021at Den.W 28-2427442702019-54
2023N Mia.W 21-1420301852026-24
2023H Mia.W 26-723412621002-41

With a lot of these wins tending to be more of the methodical, workmanlike variety, I don’t see a lot of big numbers by the field players. I see four noteworthy games in those eight contests, and three of them were put together back in the 2019-20 seasons, when Kansas City was a lot more explosive than it is now.

The only other big game by an individual player was by Rashee Rice in the playoffs last year, but he won’t be playing in the Super Bowl. (KC, on the other hand, will be relying primarily on three wide receivers who didn’t appear in any of those previous games – Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown and DeAndre Hopkins.)

Kansas City hasn’t tended to run for a lot of yards against Fangio defenses. Isiah Pacheco ran for 89 and 66 yards in the two games against Miami last year (including one in Germany). But only one other running back has run for more than 54 yards against a Fangio defense (LeSean McCoy, back in 2019).

K.C. FIELD PLAYERS AGAINST VIC FANGIO (2019-2023)
YearSiteResult PlayerRushingReceivingPPR
2019Den.W 30-6WR Tyreek Hill0-0-03-74-116.4
2019Den.W 30-6WR Mecole Hardman0-0-02-28-110.8
2019Den.W 30-6TE Travis Kelce0-0-06-44-010.4
2019Den.W 30-6RB LeSean McCoy12-64-02-12-09.6
2019Den.W 30-6WR Demarcus Robinson0-0-03-31-06.1
2019Den.W 30-6RB Darrel Williams2-1-02-5-02.6
2019Den.W 30-6RB Damien Williams9-7-02--1-02.6
2019Den.W 30-6FB Anthony Sherman2-7-00-0-0.7
2019Den.W 30-6TE Blake Bell0-0-00-0-0.0
2019K.C.W 23-3TE Travis Kelce0-0-011-142-025.2
2019K.C.W 23-3WR Tyreek Hill1-1-05-67-223.8
2019K.C.W 23-3WR Sammy Watkins0-0-03-49-07.9
2019K.C.W 23-3TE Blake Bell0-0-02-41-06.1
2019K.C.W 23-3RB Spencer Ware7-26-02-9-05.5
2019K.C.W 23-3RB Darwin Thompson8-38-01-1-04.9
2019K.C.W 23-3WR Demarcus Robinson0-0-02-21-04.1
2019K.C.W 23-3WR Mecole Hardman0-0-01-10-02.0
2019K.C.W 23-3RB LeSean McCoy6-16-00-0-01.6
2020Den.W 43-16WR Tyreek Hill0-0-06-55-117.5
2020Den.W 43-16RB C. Edwards-Helaire8-46-11-17-013.3
2020Den.W 43-16WR Mecole Hardman1-13-02-57-09.0
2020Den.W 43-16TE Travis Kelce0-0-03-31-06.1
2020Den.W 43-16TE Nick Keizer0-0-02-36-05.6
2020Den.W 43-16RB LeVeon Bell6-39-00-0-03.9
2020Den.W 43-16WR Marcus Kemp0-0-01-11-02.1
2020Den.W 43-16RB DeAndre Washington3-5-01-2-01.7
2020Den.W 43-16WR Demarcus Robinson0-0-01-4-01.4
2020K.C.W 22-16TE Travis Kelce0-0-08-136-127.6
2020K.C.W 22-16WR Tyreek Hill1-30-06-58-014.8
2020K.C.W 22-16RB LeVeon Bell11-40-02-15-07.5
2020K.C.W 22-16WR Sammy Watkins0-0-04-35-07.5
2020K.C.W 22-16WR Demarcus Robinson0-0-02-39-05.9
2020K.C.W 22-16RB Darrel Williams6-38-01-5-05.3
2020K.C.W 22-16WR Mecole Hardman0-0-01-15-02.5
2020K.C.W 22-16TE Nick Keizer0-0-01-15-02.5
2021K.C.W 22-9RB C. Edwards-Helaire14-54-03-28-011.2
2021K.C.W 22-9RB Darrel Williams5-20-03-60-011.0
2021K.C.W 22-9TE Travis Kelce0-0-03-27-05.7
2021K.C.W 22-9WR Tyreek Hill0-0-02-22-04.2
2021K.C.W 22-9WR Demarcus Robinson0-0-02-21-04.1
2021K.C.W 22-9WR Byron Pringle0-0-01-14-02.4
2021K.C.W 22-9WR Mecole Hardman0-0-01-12-02.2
2021K.C.W 22-9FB Michael Burton1-3-00-0-0.3
2021K.C.W 22-9WR Marcus Kemp0-0-00-0-0.0
2021Den.W 28-24WR Mecole Hardman1-10-08-103-019.3
2021Den.W 28-24RB Jerick McKinnon5-24-03-26-114.0
2021Den.W 28-24TE Travis Kelce0-0-04-34-113.4
2021Den.W 28-24WR Byron Pringle0-0-05-56-010.6
2021Den.W 28-24RB Darrel Williams7-17-03-30-07.7
2021Den.W 28-24WR Demarcus Robinson0-0-03-19-04.9
2021Den.W 28-24RB Derrick Gore7-30-00-0-03.0
2021Den.W 28-24WR Tyreek Hill0-0-01-2-01.2
2021Den.W 28-24WR Josh Gordon0-0-00-0-0.0
2023Ger.W 21-14RB Jerick McKinnon1-2-02-22-110.4
2023Ger.W 21-14WR Rashee Rice0-0-02-17-19.7
2023Ger.W 21-14RB Isiah Pacheco16-66-00-0-06.6
2023Ger.W 21-14TE Noah Gray0-0-03-34-06.4
2023Ger.W 21-14WR Skyy Moore0-0-02-33-05.3
2023Ger.W 21-14TE Travis Kelce0-0-03-14-04.4
2023Ger.W 21-14WR M. Valdes-Scantling0-0-02-22-04.2
2023Ger.W 21-14WR Mecole Hardman0-0-03-10-04.0
2023Ger.W 21-14WR Justin Watson0-0-02-15-03.5
2023Ger.W 21-14WR Kadarius Toney0-0-01-18-02.8
2023Ger.W 21-14RB LaMical Perine1-1-00-0-0.1
2023K.C.W 26-9WR Rashee Rice0-0-08-130-127.0
2023K.C.W 26-9RB Isiah Pacheco24-89-11-(-1)-015.8
2023K.C.W 26-9TE Travis Kelce0-0-07-71-014.1
2023K.C.W 26-9WR Justin Watson0-0-02-20-04.0
2023K.C.W 26-9RB C. Edwards-Helaire7-21-01-5-03.6
2023K.C.W 26-9TE Noah Gray0-0-01-20-03.0
2023K.C.W 26-9WR M. Valdes-Scantling0-0-01-8-01.8
2023K.C.W 26-9WR Richie James0-0-01-6-01.6
2023K.C.W 26-9WR Mecole Hardman1-(-4)-01-3-0.9

With Kansas City nowadays, I don’t think it’s an offense that will be putting up big numbers. Its strength is instead its ability to come up with the necessary clutch plays in the fourth quarter, when the game is hanging in the balance.

—Ian Allan

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