Ron Parker’s interception, inspired by his daughter, put KC Chiefs in control Sunday
Chiefs veteran Ron Parker knew people were looking for him to make a play. Not just his cohorts on defense. It went deeper than that. He’d given his word to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and most importantly, Parker had a little girl at home who wanted to see something special from her daddy.
Parker, the safety who is in his sixth season with the Chiefs, re-signed with the team at the end of preseason to help fill the void left by injuries to Daniel Sorensen and Eric Berry. A former Division II college standout who has fought and clawed his way into his eighth NFL season, Parker had never gotten the sweet taste of carrying the ball across the goal line for a score.
That changed in the third quarter of Sunday night’s 45-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, when Parker stepped in front of an Andy Dalton pass intended for A.J. Green and scampered 33 yards to the end zone. Chiefs coach Andy Reid described the first touchdown of Parker’s career as a “turning point.”
But the true inspiration for the play came from an 8-year-old name NaTyia.
“That was a great feeling,” Parker said. “That’s what I was waiting on my whole career. It was crazy — my daughter asked me before before the game like, ‘Daddy. How come you don’t score a touchdown?’ So that one is for her.”
The Chiefs (6-1) carried a 24-7 lead into halftime after a Harrison Butker field goal with eight seconds left before the break. The Chiefs’ offense marched 75 yards on the opening drive of the second half, and running back Kareem Hunt capped it off with a 2-yard touchdown run.
That made it Parker’s turn to make good on the plans he and Mahomes had discussed just before taking the field for the third quarter.
“As we were coming up the tunnel, me and Ron were talking about, ‘Hey, let’s not let up,” Mahomes recounted after the game. “Don’t let off the pedal. Make sure we go out here and try to make plays.’”
On the first offensive play of the half for the Bengals, Dalton made a play-action fake then turned to Green, who had 110 yard receiving in the first half. Parker’s man blocked, which left Parker free to roam and read Dalton’s eyes.
“As a (defensive back) growing up, you want a lead like that and you want to play with an offense like that because you know you’re going to have opportunities to pick the ball off and create turnovers, so it’s a dream come true — just playing with an offense like that and being able to be in them situations lately with the offense score that much points,” Parker said.
Parker saw where Dalton intended to go with the pass and undercut it for his second interception of the season (11th of his career) and the second defensive touchdown in three weeks for the Chiefs. The first also came at home in Arrowhead against the Jacksonville Jaguars courtesy of defensive lineman Chris Jones.
“I was leading the pack,” Jones said with a wide smile. “I see I’m (tied for first) now, but it’s OK. That’s what harp on in practice. You know, we catch the ball and we’re going to turn around and block. We’re trying to get in the end zone.”
Sandwiched around the loss to the defending AFC champion New England Patriots, the Chiefs’ defense has a pair of home games in which they’ve allowed 24 total points, scored a pair of defensive touchdowns and had at least one interception in each of those games.
“We’re doing our job — that’s the main thing out there with all these good offenses, do your job,” linebacker Reggie Ragland said. “That’s what we did. We were gap sound out there today, the guys on the back did what they did. Any time we get a team to (be) one-dimensional, we’ve got a shot at winning.
“With that offense, we’re always going to have a good shot. We do our part, it’s going to be even tougher to beat us.”
Lynn Worthy
Lynn Worthy covers the Kansas City Chiefs and NFL for The Star.
This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 1:33 AM.