Morning Coffee: Mahomes, Chiefs set to kick off redemption tour versus Chargers

The 2025 NFL Kickoff Game lived up to the hype.

It’s remarkable how close we came to the Dallas Cowboys fan base believing they can win the Super Bowl.

CeeDee Lamb is a top 10 NFL wide receiver.

If he didn’t match a career high with three drops, the Cowboys might have upset the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road as the biggest NFL Week 1 underdog at FanDuel.

After all the talk about being better against the run, the Dallas defence held the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley to 3.3 yards per carry.

A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith finished with a combined four catches for 24 yards on four targets.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, the reigning Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts took matters into his own hands with a game-high 62 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

It was his 16th game with multiple rushing touchdowns, extending his own NFL record for a quarterback.

Hurts also became just the seventh QB since 1950 to win at least five straight season openers to start his career.

While Hurts ultimately did just enough to start 1-0, one of my biggest takeaways is how explosive the Dallas offence has the potential to be this season.

Lamb and George Pickens finished with a combined 10 catches for 140 yards on 17 targets.

That duo was a couple of dropped balls and penalties away from potentially leading the Cowboys to an upset with even better numbers.

Dak Prescott went 21-of-34 for 188 yards in his return, going just 4-of-13 on attempts that travelled 10+ yards down the field.

I’d bet that Dak and his receivers are still thinking about what could have been if they connected on a couple more deep passes in last night’s loss.

Next up, Dallas will host the New York Giants in Week 2.

Hurts and the Eagles will travel to face the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl rematch.

The Chiefs begin their season against the AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers tonight in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh has never lost an NFL season opener.

However, Kansas City has dominated this AFC West head-to-head series.

Will Harbaugh lead LA to an upset win over the rival Chiefs tonight?

After kicking off the NFL season with a winner on Thursday night, let’s see if we can double down with another FanDuel Best Bet in Morning Coffee for Friday September 5th, 2025.

Mahomes, Chiefs Set To Kick Off Redemption Tour Versus Chargers

The Chiefs have emerged as the NFL’s gold standard in recent seasons.

Everybody remembers their humiliating loss to the Eagles in the Super Bowl.

Nobody seems to remember them finishing with a league-best 15-2 record and being crowned AFC champions for the fifth time in six seasons.

Patrick Mahomes is 6-1 in season openers.

He’s thrown 21 touchdown passes in seven openers.

Mahomes is coming off the most disappointing statistical years of this career, but he did do enough to win both games against the Chargers last season.

A big part of that equation is that Steve Spagnuolo’s defence was able to hold LA to an average of 13.5 points per game in their two meetings.

In the first meeting, Herbert went 16-of-27 for 179 yards and a touchdown and was sacked twice.

In the second meeting, he went 21-of-30 for 213 yards and a touchdown and was sacked three times.

The Chargers added free agent guard Mekhi Becton, wide receiver Keenan Allen, and running back Najee Harris, then drafted a pair of skill position players in the first two rounds in running back Omarion Hampton and wide receiver Tre’ Harris to bolster their offence this offseason.

LA didn’t have a running back rush for more than 36 yards in either game against Kansas City last season.

Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman must be hoping that Hampton can outperform last year’s backs in tonight’s season opener after the rookie was named their Week 1 starter.

Harris is dealing with an injury so it will be interesting to see what kind of workload Hampton gets tonight.

The Chiefs have won seven straight head-to-head meetings.

Any shot that LA has tonight to pull off the upset will likely depend on the offence’s ability to score more than 17 points.

Meanwhile, redemption will be the focus for KC.

This is the Chiefs’ first game since a humiliating loss to the Eagles in the Super Bowl.

Kansas City will host Philadelphia in a Super Bowl rematch next week, and a Week 1 win over an AFC West rival that they have dominated would be the perfect stepping stone to set up that showdown. The Chiefs won’t have the suspended Rashee Rice back until Week 7.

I think Mahomes will lean heavily on his second-year wide receiver Xavier Worthy as his best option tonight against LA.

In his rookie season, Worthy’s longest reception was this 54-yard touchdown catch against the Chargers in Week 4.

While it took a while for the speedster to hit his stride, Worthy registered at least 65 receiving yards in four of his final five games including the Super Bowl.

In fact, Worthy’s best performance came in the Super Bowl, when he had eight catches for 157 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for more than 50 per cent of Mahomes’ production in that loss.

Coming off a disappointing season in which opposing defences were able to key in on Travis Kelce and the Kansas City rushing attack, it will be vital for Mahomes to stretch the field with Worthy and Hollywood Brown to open space for his other weapons.

I’ll lock in Worthy 60+ receiving yards as a FanDuel Best Bet for tonight’s game.

I’ll also lock in an SGP with Kelce 4+ receptions and the Chiefs to win outright at -101 as a FanDuel Best Bet.

Hopefully, we can move to 3-0 to start the season with a big game from the Chiefs WR1 in Brazil.