NFL Week 6 Byes: The Saints and Chiefs face major problems

The Saints and Chiefs must use their bye week to fix some major problems

We’ve reached Week 6 of the NFL regular season and another two teams get their bye week break both of which can use a little regrouping.

The Kansas City Chiefs, sitting at third in the AFC West had a big win against the New England Patriots two weeks ago, but had a letdown against the San Francisco 49ers. For the New Orleans Saints, tied for second in the NFC South, they’ve had injury issues and a surprisingly rough start to the season.

Today we take a look at both teams, what the first portion of their seasons looked like and what to expect after they return from their week off.

One thing is for sure—nobody will be taking a break during the next week.

Oct 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) passes the ball against the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter at Levi /

Kansas City Chiefs (2-3)

Last year the Chiefs were undefeated as they headed into their Week 10 bye. That is not the case in 2014, as this version of the Chiefs has lacked consistency of both sides of the ball.

The signature win for the early portion of the season was the aforementioned win over the Patriots. Not only did the Chiefs beat the Patriots—they obliterated them at every level. Knile Davis and Jamaal Charles moved the ball at will on the ground, Alex Smith played mistake free through the air and the defense harried the New England offense to the point where they pulled Tom Brady and all of Boston spent the next week debating whether the future Hall of Famer was done.

Fast forward to last week when instead of building on the momentum they had from that big win, the team fell flat in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

This is how the season has been for the Chiefs—solid performances followed by duds.

The defense is currently ranked No. 11 by NFL.com, and overall has been playing well, if prone to some collapses. If they can play a bit more consistently and avoid those gaffes, they will keep the Chiefs in games.

It’s the offense which hasn’t been performing. At No. 24, the offense has struggled far too often and are among the lowest in yards per game and have been giving up the ball too much (they are at a -3 turnover ratio as of last week).

It gets a little easier after the break.

The Chiefs travel to San Diego to take on the AFC West leading Chargers, and that will be a tough game, but after that they welcome two weak teams in the St. Louis Rams and New York Jets. The Rams can be tricky but the Jets are a mess, and don’t look to be any better a month from now.

After that, the Chiefs have a tough cross-country game against the surprising (but equally inconsistent) Buffalo Bills and then take on the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks.

There are absolutely tough games on the docket post-bye but most of them are winnable if the Chiefs can pull themselves together and be consistent. The defense can keep them in games, but the offense has to put the points on the board.

Oct 5, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan during the third quarter of a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

New Orleans Saints (2-3)

For most people, if you had told them that after five weeks the New Orleans Saints would be 2-3 and in third place in the NFC South, they would have asked how many Hurricanes you’d had on Bourbon Street.

That’s the reality for the 2014 Saints though, as everything which could be going wrong definitely is. After acquiring safety Jairus Byrd in free agency, the belief was that the Saints would have an even more potent defense than what they had in 2013.

Instead, it’s been a mess. How big a mess? Well, the Saints offense is rated as the No.1 offense in the NFL, and they have three losses.

Yeah, that’s bad.

The currently ranked No. 25 Saints defense took another body blow when Katherine Terrell of NOLA.com reported that Byrd was placed on injured reserve this week. Mind you, Byrd wasn’t exactly lighting up receivers, as he is currently sitting at No. 67 (out of 78) safeties rated by Pro Football Focus.

While the offense has its own issues in the wake of the report by ESPN’s Mike Triplett that Jimmy Graham walked away from last week’s win with a shoulder injury, it’s still playing relatively well.

It’s the defense which is a real issue.

The Saints used to outgun teams when the defense was bad, but they will be facing some franchises who can score as often as they do.

Post-bye, the team heads to Detroit to face a potent Lions offense (and a solid defense), then takes on the Green Bay Packers. It gets a little less frantic when they play the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers, but those are both teams which can hold down the Saints offense.

Ultimately if the Saints are going to get back on track, much less make any headway in the playoffs (if they can manage to get there), they need to fix this defense.

Whether defensive coordinator Rob Ryan can figure out what‘s wrong or not will be the difference in whether this season ends in success or unmitigated disaster.

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