How the Chiefs’ defense helped settle Monday night’s battle between MVP quarterbacks
A big games was anticipated on Monday Night Football from the previous two NFL MVPs. Only one of them held up his end of the bargain.
Patrick Mahomes, with four touchdown passes, came up huge in the Chiefs’ 34-20 triumph over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Chiefs’ defense made sure Lamar Jackson did not have a response.
“They accepted the challenge,” Mahomes said of his defense. “Everyone talked about how they were going to run it down our throats the whole game.”
The Chiefs had an answers all night, holding the Ravens to 228 yards, some 166 below their season average.
Some of the Chiefs’ defensive players took to social media afterward to express their, say, satisfaction.
“Oh I thought somebody who ain’t 3-0 said something,” tweeted cornerback Charvarius Ward, with the hashtags #ChiefsKingdown and #RutItBack.
The Ravens had breezed through their first two victories, averaging 35.5 points. And the Chiefs got gashed on the first series Monday as Jackson quickly moved the Ravens into scoring position. But Baltimore settled for a field goal on the drive and the rest of the first half was all Chiefs.
The Chiefs led 27-10 at the break, and the Ravens’ lone touchdown came on a kickoff return. Baltimore’s first-half possessions after their field goal ended with three punts and a fumble.
Jackson finished the game with just 97 passing yards — the first time he’s been held under 100 in a game in his career. He added 83 on the ground, but the Ravens, who entered the game averaging 171 yards on the ground, were held to 158.
“The defense was bearing down against what I consider to be one of the best offensive teams in the league,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That was something special.’”
It started up front. Ends Frank Clark and Tanoh Kpassagnon, and Chris Jones and Derrick Nnadi in the middle, helped contain the Ravens’ running game and only lost contain on Jackson a couple of times.
“You naturally want to charge the quarterback, so keeping contain ends up being a huge thing,” Reid said. “He’s faster than most of the guys on the field. He can go. To stay disciplined takes a lot.”
Discipline isn’t all that’s required when confronting Jackson.
“Patience,” Clark said. “You have to play with patience against a player so fast, so explosive and a guy who can make plays throwing and running the ball.”
The Chiefs were stung by their performance last week against the Los Angeles Chargers. They hung on for an overtime victory, but their sub-standard play seemed to be a motivating factor Monday night.
“I kind of took offense,” Clark said “We didn’t play as well as we could have.”
Add that to hearing all week about the Ravens’ potent offense and Jackson, and the Chiefs seemed to have all the inspiration they needed.
“I feel like we got on them,” Clark said. “And once we did, we didn’t let up.”