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After a tough loss at home against the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs will turn the page and look ahead to Week 7 and the San Francisco 49ers.
It’ll be KC’s first road outing since the dominant performance in Tampa Bay and after a 2-1 start away from Arrowhead, the Chiefs will look to keep things rolling against a Niners franchise that they beat in the Super Bowl to the end of the 2019 season.
The two sides have not played each other since, and former Kansas City cornerback Charvarius Ward had a message for his new fanbase ahead of the rematch.
Ex-Chiefs’ Charvarius Ward Warns 49ers Fans Before Week 7
Ward took to Twitter after the 49ers were upset by the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6.
“Please don’t allow no red & yellow jerseys in Levi’s Stadium next week Faithful,” he voiced. “Fill it up in Red & Gold.”
The former 43-game starter and Super Bowl champion in Kansas City must remember how well Chiefs Kingdom travels based on this warning for Niners fans. It’s also a revenge game for Ward and you can bet he’s motivated to prove that he’s earned every penny of that $40.5 million contract that San Francisco offered him.
Remember, general manager Brett Veach did not do the same.
Ward is off to an excellent start with his new franchise according to Pro Football Focus. The cornerback has held opposing wide receivers to a 51.9% catch rate when targeted, with 178 yards against and one touchdown. He’s also been credited with seven pass breakups and one interception.
Against the run, Ward has been even better with an elite 91.9 grade in that department and nine big-time “stops” on PFF. He has yet to miss a tackle on the season, with an 87.6 tackling mark.
There’s no doubt about it, Ward has lived up to his payday so far, but the Chiefs have also done well replacing him with draft picks Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams. The first-round talent, McDuffie, should finally make his long-anticipated return in San Francisco.
Chiefs Need to Get Healthy at Cornerback
Before Rashad Fenton and McDuffie were both ruled versus Buffalo, the conversation had centered around benching the veteran in favor of the two rookies (Watson and McDuffie). That ended up happening in a sense — just not by choice.
Two rookies did start at cornerback alongside nickel L’Jarius Sneed but it was Watson and Williams who got the call with Fenton sidelined and McDuffie still one week away.
The result was 11 catches allowed between the pair of youngsters, and 18 allowed by the cornerbacks if you add Sneed to the tally. All things considered, the yardage totals were somewhat modest — Williams’ 93 yards against was the team leader and Watson was second with 62 — but Williams was attacked in the red zone with two touchdowns allowed.
It’s a relatively obvious observation that the Chiefs need to get healthy at cornerback. Whether that means starting Fenton or McDuffie in Week 7 is another debate, but both would be an immediate upgrade over Williams.
On the bright side, the 49ers are not known for their passing attack. San Francisco has always been a run-first offense under Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo has not thrown for 300 yards yet this season. His best performance in terms of total yardage actually came in Week 6, although he also threw two interceptions while playing from behind.
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