Duffy: Why the Patrick Mahomes-Travis Kelce duo is so difficult to ...

The Kansas City Chiefs' defense, deservedly so, has captured a lot of the praise surrounding the defending Super Bowl Champs (from an on-field, football standpoint at least), but you would be crazy to dismiss the potential threat of one of the most productive pass game combinations in recent memory going into Monday night.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are still one of the most dangerous duos in the league, and their ability to beat you both inside the structure of the play as well as outside makes them so difficult to contend with, despite what some of the raw numbers may say over the last couple of weeks.

Two Sundays ago in Frankfurt, Germany, Kelce caught three passes for just 14 yards in the win over the Miami Dolphins. The week before, in a road loss to Denver, he caught six balls for 58 yards. He hasn't scored a touchdown since October 22nd against the Los Angeles Chargers. Fantasy managers across the world are upset with the lack of production in recent weeks ... but don't let that fool you.

When you compare last year's record-setting efficiency numbers to this year, Kelce is right in lock-step with 2022. Last year, Kelce averaged 2.21 yards per route run. That number is up to 2.45 this year. Last year, he caught 72.3 percent of his targets – this year he's caught 81.1 percent. The raw numbers (receptions, yards, and touchdowns) are all down over the first 10 weeks, but remember that Kelce missed the season-opening loss to Detroit with an injury.

The important thing to note with Kelce is that he is attacking the same area of the field that he always has. The All-Pro has never been a seam-stretcher at the position, threatening defenses downfield. Instead, he made his bones catching passes in the intermediate area of the field. His average depth of target (ADoT) has been under 7.6 (which is right about the middle of the pack at the position) in every year since 2020. The Chiefs have consistently found ways to get him space in that part of the field, and the primary way has been with their various three-level stretch concepts.