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Not quite the defensive turnaround fans have been waiting for, the Kansas City Chiefs’ last win against Philadelphia was a high-scoring affair that saw the team get back to .500 on their season. There is still work to be done to consistently contain their opponents on Sundays, but the Chiefs’ defense was able to get a few crucial stops that propelled the team to victory in spite of conceding 30 points.
Veteran safety Daniel Sorenson played a big role in stopping the Eagles’ offense in Week 4, recording nine tackles in the game to shut down Jalen Hurts. The shaky start to his season in which he had missed more tackles than any other NFL defender, seems to have given way to the characteristically solid play that has made Sorenson a household name in Kansas City.
Sorensen spoke to reporters before the Chiefs’ practice session on Wednesday, and he told them that the defense’s team-first mentality was a major factor in getting the stops late in the game necessary to beat Philadelphia.
“It’s a collective effort, always,” Sorenson said. “I think we did put some pressure on the quarterback, got him uncomfortable back there, scrambling around. It comes down to mentality. That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about, everybody kind of just baring down and that’s what we were able to do last week.”
Miscommunication on basic defensive alignments and adjustments have plagued Kansas City’s defense in every game this year. It doesn’t bode well for their chances at winning close games against elite opponents in the meat of their schedule. Sorenson allayed concerns that the unit would continue to struggle with the little things, saying they’re still working on that part of their game every day in practice.
“We’re going to go out here today and tomorrow and Friday and put in work and hammer away at it,” He explained when asked about mitigating the miscues. “Each week you expect to improve and that’s what we talk about is chase improvement. So, we’ll identify areas that we need to get better at, and there’s lots of them honestly, and we’ll just keep chipping away at it like we always do and then continue to improve week in and week out.”
Though the defense doesn’t have much more time to fix the problems that should’ve been addressed in training camp, Sorenson made it clear that they’ve got a big test this weekend against the Buffalo. Something of a rivalry has developed between the Bills and Chiefs, with Kansas City coming out on top in two of their last three meetings.
“We got to see them twice last year,” Sorenson told reporters. “[We] got very familiar with their personnel for the most part, same guys. So, a few additions with [Emmanuel] Sanders and things like that. I think we know who they are, and it’ll be a great matchup. We’re excited to compete against them. They’re a great football team. They’re coming into Arrowhead, so it’ll be a fun game. It’ll be really exciting.”
The matchup against Buffalo will be a chance for Kansas City to get back above playing break-even football, but the Bills won’t be an easy team to get a win over on. Another rock-solid performance by Sorenson could prove to be the difference against a potent offense quarterbacked by Josh Allen and headlined by the top-end receiving talent that will need to be shut down if the Chiefs want to come out of the matchup on top.
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