Chiefs’ defense needs to show improvement and gain health

Cornerback Steven Nelson got knocked from the game when Falcons tight end Austin Hooper leaped and bumped him in the head with his knee on the way to a touchdown reception.

Adding injury to insult defined the night for the Chiefs’ starting defense.

When the starters had finished at halftime, the Chiefs had surrendered 241 yards, 14 first downs and two touchdowns.

The Chiefs were frustrated. On one Falcons drive, Atlanta sealed off the Chiefs defenders on third and 4 for a 9-yard run. At that point, Chiefs coach Andy Reid took a timeout and spoke with defensive end Chris Jones.

“There was some miscommunication,” Jones said. “That happens. It’s the preseason.”

When Jones returned to the field, he called his teammates together. Didn’t help. On the next snap, Schaub perfectly executed a play-fake — safety Leon McQuay bit hard—for a 6-yard gain.

The drive ended with the Falcons’ second touchdown.

“We started off slowly,” outside linebacker Dee Ford said. “We did OK but we have to do better against the run. That will give us opportunities to get off the field.

“But preseason, it’s not a big game plan. We made some plays here and there, just not enough.”

The Chiefs have played the preseason mostly shorthanded on defense. Safety Eric Berry, nursing a sore heel, didn’t dress for the second straight week.

Inside linebackers Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens didn’t play. Neither did end Allen Bailey. All sat with injuries, as did Nelson after the first series. After the game, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Nelson had suffered a concussion.

As he did in last week’s opener, Justin Houston played the first series only.

“I’d like to tell you that was our ones, but we’re short a few guys,” Reid said. “It was a great experience for some of these young guys. Man, they got in there and they battled. They did a nice job of that. All in all, a better performance all the way around as a team.”

The Chiefs lost another player in the game on Friday when inside linebacker Terrance Smith suffered an ankle injury.

They’d already lost another player earlier this week, when safety Robert Golden asked for his release a week after Daniel Sorensen went down with a tibial plateau fracture.

For the second game, the Chiefs’ starters didn’t produce a takeaway or apply any pressure on the opponent’s passing game. Ryan and Schaub mostly had their way as Houston, Dee Ford, Breeland Speaks and Tanoh Kpassagnon, not to mention the Chiefs’ defensive front, failed to get to the pocket.

That’s two preseason games without a sack in the first half from a defense that finished 24th in that category last season.

In these two preseason games, the Chiefs’ starters have played a total of six series. They’ve ended in three touchdowns, two on fourth-down stops in the red zone, and one punt.

But the Chiefs came up with a big defensive play from their reserves Friday. Linebacker Ben Niemann, an undrafted free agent looking for a roster spot, picked off a Kurt Benkert pass in the fourth quarter and returned it 26 yards for a touchdown, helping the Chiefs win the game 28-14.

“I just dropped back and saw the quarterback looking at the running back,” Niemann said. “He overthrew and gave me a gift right there.”

Friday’s fourth-down stops shouldn’t be overlooked. The Chiefs rose to the occasion by forcing a Ryan incompletion on fourth and 2 from the 20 with Kendall Fuller defending Calvin Ridley.

In the second quarter, rookie Derrick Nnadi and linebacker Ukeme Eligwe teamed up to drop Ito Smith for no gain on a 4th-and-1 at the 8.

“There was good and bad,” Fuller said. “We definitely have to do a better job getting off the field on third downs. But to come up the stops, we manned up and kept them out.”

Those count too. And the missing personnel, especially Berry, matters. But the Chiefs made several offseason decisions to improve the defense. They moved on from linebackers Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali, traded Marcus Peters and brought in players like Fuller, Hitchens and tackle Xavier Williams. The object was to get younger and quicker.

But Friday’s game reinforced the reality that this defense is a work in progress.

This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 9:07 PM.