The Kansas City Chiefs were able to leave Florida victorious on Sunday, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars in a close, grinding-out game. The offense wasn’t its usual explosive force for the second consecutive week, but the defense was reliable and halted multiple Jaguars drives.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is best known for his work on the offensive side of the ball, which was very complementary to the effort on defense. He spoke during the postgame press conference highly about the unit and the job of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in preparing for the game.
“Defensively great to have Chris Jones back. He obviously influenced the game in a positive way for us,” Reid explained. “(Trent) McDuffie nice (job). I mean, I can go on there—the guys, I thought on defense just battled, Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) had a phenomenal game plan. His coaches did a great job there.”
Jones contributed one and a half sacks in his return to the field, and the defense held the Jaguars out of the end zone while facing multiple red zone attacks. Reid also acknowledged the extreme heat conditions both teams battled through as real feel temperatures hovered around 98 degrees throughout the day.
“But my biggest takeaway is I thought our defense did a nice job,” said Reid. “So and then the offense battled through it and so on. But you had the elements, you know, we all felt that all you guys felt as though you have the elements that you gotta fight through. And you know, you’re not walking in the park here. It’s both teams are battling through some heat and humidity.”