4 Things to Watch for on Monday Night Football

By: Josh Shippen

Monday Night Football has a great doubleheader today. The Bills and Chiefs meet to battle in what will become an instant AFC classic, and the Cowboys and Cardinals of the NFC come out fighting, both with unproven quarterbacks. Today I will be outlining for you what you need to specifically look for in these games.

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Let’s begin…

How well does Andy Dalton fare with incredible surrounding talent?

The Dallas Cowboys recently lost their star quarterback to a gruesome injury, which brought in former Bengals starter Andy Dalton. The constant Dalton argument has been that he only plays as good as the talent around him. This game will be a great example of whether that holds true or not. Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb are the best three pack you could ask for at WR, and Ezekiel Elliot is an All-Pro talent at RB. No excuses this time Dalton, if the Red Rifle fails to produce that’s bad news for Dallas.

Is Josh Allen reliable in big games?

Josh Allen looked like an MVP front runner in the beginning of the season, and frankly still does look great, but Allen had a pretty startling recession against the Titans. What I dearly wish to happen is for Josh Allen to show that he is not a continuation of Lamar Jackson, blowing out anyone worse than him and then losing brutally to anyone better. It’s not that these games are even close, Jackson and Allen have both gotten destroyed in close games. If Allen can rally his team to beat Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, that shows a new level for Josh Allen as not only a player, but as a team that can rally his team to a win against dominant teams.

Does Kliff Kinsbury start to wise up and play Chase Edmonds?

I will take the fall for totally misjudging Kenyan Drake. I thought Drake would be a transcendent talent in 2020, maybe a top 5 running back even, but he has been average to mediocre. Chase Edmonds has been second banana to first David Johnson, and now Kenyan Drake. Edmonds has had some great games in his young career, and deserves to get a chance to start over Kenyan Drake, or at least share the carries. I am going to watch Edmonds closely tonight, but I think we will all see Edmonds as the better player.

Will the Chiefs offense move at full speed?

Obviously the Chiefs are a great team, but they have not been moving at the same mind-blowing pace that they have been over the 2018 and 2019 season. Mahomes has been great, but he hasn’t been #1 the whole year which is an upset. The running game has been really good, but the Chiefs are not primarily a run team. If Mahomes, Hill, and Kelce are at full performance, they could beat the Bills without even trying.