The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense has been a force to be reckoned with this season, and with five games remaining on the defending Super Bowl champions’ schedule, the unit doesn’t have any margin for error.
In Kansas City’s latest win, a 19-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Black Friday, the Chiefs relied on their defense to stymie Aidan O’Connell during a two-minute drill that nearly ended in disaster at Arrowhead Stadium.
But, a heroic effort by fan-favorite linebacker Nick Bolton on the Raiders’ final drive made all the difference. The former Missouri Tiger recovered a fumble with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter that ultimately led Kansas City to victory.
Bolton earned a game ball from the experts at Pro Football Network for his outstanding contributions in the Chiefs’ Week 13 win.
Here’s what PFN had to say about their decision to recognize Bolton:
“No matter your thoughts on the Raiders’ false-start-that-wasn’t on Las Vegas’ final offensive snap of Week 13, someone in Silver and Black still should have jumped on Aidan O’Connell’s fumble.
Nick Bolton did instead, which is why he gets a Game Ball for the latest escape act from the Chiefs.
Bolton’s fumble recovery capped another solid game for the Chiefs’ fourth-year linebacker, who led all players with 10 solo tackles (including one for loss) in the Chiefs’ Black Friday divisional tilt.
The two-time defending champs are now 10-0 in one-score games. Sustainable? Probably not. But there’s a very good chance that record would be 9-1 if Bolton weren’t on the field Friday.”
Stay tuned to see if Bolton can replicate his stellar performance against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 14 as Kansas City makes its push for the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.