This KC Chiefs’ defense is answering doubters with increasingly impressive performances
The surging Chiefs defense previously faced the likes of the New York Giants and an Aaron Rodgers-less Green Bay Packers squad. Solid performances in those games were met with some skepticism.
Sunday night’s matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders presented a test, especially given the caliber of quarterback across the line of scrimmage.
But with a convincing 41-14 win at Allegiant Stadium, lingering doubts about the Chiefs’ defense might have been put to rest.
“It took us, obviously, more than a couple of weeks to kind of start the communicating, seeing what teams are trying to do against us,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “But we got some good coaches, and then the guys we got on our team, they’re all-in.”
The Raiders entered the game averaging 394.5 yards, sixth in the league, but nothing went right for them Sunday night.
Las Vegas converted just one of nine third-down attempts and totaled only 299 yards of offense. The Raiders’ 14 points were 10.5 below their season per-game average.
Carr, who entered the weekend averaging 320.6 yards per game, managed just 261 against the Chiefs.
Kansas City had two sacks and four quarterback hits, an interception and a fumble recovery. Safety Daniel Sorensen picked off Carr’s errant pass, while Mathieu recorded the fumble recovery after cornerback Rashad Fenton punched out the ball from Raiders wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed totaled a team-high six tackles, adding a tackle for a loss and a quarterback hit. Defensive tackle Jarran Reed recorded two tackles and his first sack in a Chiefs uniform.
“Everybody had a piece of this, so I thought the defense really played well,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
Sunday night served notice to the rest of the league, and a national prime-time audience, that the Chiefs may finally be coming around.
And the defense will have a part in how the rest of the season plays out now that it’s turning the corner from its early season struggles.
“We knew were going to get there and we still feel like we can be much better,” Mathieu said.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 1:10 AM.
