This player might’ve been the Chiefs’ lone bright spot against the Titans last season
Few Chiefs can look back on last season’s game against the Tennessee Titans with a smile.
The Chiefs’ 27-3 blowout loss marked the fewest points scored by a Kansas City team during the Andy Reid era. And Patrick Mahomes has not been part of a more lopsided loss.
Tennessee scored on its first five possessions, forced three turnovers — two by Mahomes — and dropped the Chiefs to 3-4, two games behind the division leader at the time. It was a truly bleak day for nearly everyone involved with the Chiefs.
Everyone, that is, except for one player: Linebacker Nick Bolton came to play that day, recording 15 tackles, four for losses. Those remain his career-best marks. That effort wasn’t enough to stem the tide that day, but Bolton, in his rookie season out of Mizzou, was a major presence for the Chiefs for the first time.
“I’m hopeful it’s repeatable,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said this week.
Bolton was moved to middle linebacker for that game because of an injury to Anthony Hitchens and made the most of the opportunity. That’s where Bolton is playing full-time this season, and he’s off to a solid start. His 70 tackles lead the Chiefs and he shares the team lead with six tackles for loss with Chris Jones. Bolton also has two sacks.
He’s coming off a 10-tackle game against San Francisco and his 45 solo tackles rank second in the NFL. Against Derrick Henry and the Titans Sunday evening at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Bolton could be in for another big outing.
QBs excluded, here are some other players to watch in Sunday’s game:
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce
Since his four-touchdown game against the Raiders, Kelce hasn’t found the end zone. (He had a touchdown called back because of a penalty against the 49ers.) This could be a Kelce-type game: The Titans rank 24th against the pass. Kelce has never been on a team that defeated the TItans in the regular season. He’s 0-4 with one touchdown reception against Tennessee.
Chiefs defensive end Carlos Dunlap
With Frank Clark beginning his two-game suspension, the Chiefs will have to get more snaps from their other defensive ends — like Dunlap. The 13-year NFL veteran has played as many as 58% of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps twice this season. He has two sacks to show for it, leaving him two away from 100 for his career.
“I’ve had a couple of games now with a chance to do it and we want to get that done,” he said. “That’s not my sole goal, but that’s just a milestone and something that I told my dad that I was going to do, so it’s important to me to get that done.”
Titans running back Derrick Henry
What are a running back’s peak years? Most believe they come during the player’s first contract period — the fresh-out-of-college seasons.
But Henry, in his seventh year in the league, shows little sign of wear and tear. He’s averaging 4.5 yards per attempt, a tick below his 4.8-yard career average, and leads the NFL in rushing attempts (166) and yards per game (107.9). He’s also on pace to have the best receiving season of his career.
Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse
An undrafted rookie from Colorado State, Stonehouse is off to a great start. He was named AFC special teams player of the month for October. He averaged 51.7 yards on 20 punts.
The Chiefs have had issues with punt returns this season, and special teams coordinator Dave Toub said during the week that rookie Skyy Moore may not get the first-team return duties this weekend.