KC Chiefs’ Chris Jones on rematch with Bengals on Sunday: ‘It’s gonna be a battle’
The Bengals’ game-winning drive earlier this month against the Chiefs covered 74 yards in 15 plays and took a touch over six minutes. Add in plays wiped away by penalties, and Cincinnati snapped the ball 19 times.
And on the final play, Evan McPherson kicked a 20 yard field goal as time expired and gave the Bengals a 34-31 victory in Cincinnati.
It was a barn-burner and Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones is prepared for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium to be the same. Jones also noted the Bengals ran six plays from the Chiefs’ 2-yard line or closer, not including two when Cincinnati was running the clock down.
Two of those six plays, both on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, featured a Chiefs stop. But the first didn’t count because of penalties on both teams.
The second was nullified by a flag on the Chiefs and gave the Bengals a first down, allowing them to bleed the clock and kick the field goal.
Not called on the final series in the shadow of the end one: a false start by Cincinnati’s left guard.
So the game really could have gone either way.
“I learned the day they played us, it came to a critical situation at the end, goal-line stands, couple of bad calls. It’s gonna be a battle,” Jones said Thursday. “That’s what I know for sure: it’s gonna be a battle.”
The Bengals had 475 yards of total offense, and while Jones sacked Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow twice, Burrow threw for 446 yards. Six of the Bengals’ final seven drives of the game ended with points (four touchdowns, two field goals).
Jones said watching tape of the game has been beneficial.
“We’ve seen things that we got beat on the first game,” Jones said, “and we were able to prepare better for them and correct our errors and mistakes.”
Jones also is expecting Arrowhead Stadium to be a full-throat, and he did his best to fired up fans by ending his news conference with a scream: “Let’s go! Whooooo!”
This story was originally published January 27, 2022 at 4:00 PM.
