Kansas City Chiefs defense still underrated in title defense
Everyone talks about Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill when the conversation turns to the Kansas City Chiefs. Few remember the defense is pretty damn good in its now right.
Last season, Kansas City struggled mightily on the defensive side in the early going. The defense was one of the worst by most metrics against the run, highlighted by almost 400 total rushing yards allowed against the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans in consecutive weeks during a. pair of losses in October.
Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?
However, the team gelled coming out of its bye week. In the final five games of the season, Kansas City allowed a paltry 10 points per contest, winning all five while ranking first in points allowed over said stretch. In the postseason, the Chiefs limited Deshaun Watson, shut down Derrick Henry (16 carries, 69 yards) and forced Jimmy Garoppolo to go 3-of-11 for 31 yards and an INT in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
While the acclaim isn’t there, the star power is. Kansas City boasts a collective of talent most teams envy, headlined by Pro Bowl defensive end Frank Clark — who notched five sacks in three playoff games — and a pair of All-Pros in defensive tackle Chris Jones and safety Tyrann Mathieu
On Friday, talented second-year safety Juan Thornhill talked to reporters, expressing his feelings about the team’s forgotten other half and why they came together late in 2019. Per ESPN:
Read: NFL Owners in Tough Spot If They Oppose Player Protests
“At the beginning of the season we were trying to learn the defense. We were trying to figure out how to play together, trying to figure out what were guys’ strengths and weaknesses. Midway through the season we started to click because guys started to know.
“I didn’t know what [Mathieu] was good at and I didn’t know what he was bad at. Once we started playing a few weeks together we started to get that feeling that ‘OK, I know he’s going to do this.’ We started making more plays because we were confident in what our teammates could do.”
Kansas City doesn’t need the defense to be great, even if that’s the goal. Instead, it simply needs to be stout in the red zone, opportunistic in creating turnovers and getting pressure on quarterbacks in the many obvious passing downs they’ll face.
The Kansas City Chiefs may have an unbelievable offense, but the defense is the key so many overlook.
