Tag: chris jones chiefs defense

The Chiefs’ defense is good again, and Chris Jones is the main reason why

The Chiefs’ defense has enjoyed a serious uptick since Chris Jones moved back inside, and Jones had a career day against the Cowboys.

In the first half of the 2021 season, the defending AFC champion Chiefs had a serious defensive problem. One of the many issues is that the pass rush wasn’t happening, and that coincided with the decision to move defensive lineman Chris Jones outside to more of a traditional edge-rush position. Jones grabbed two sacks in the season opener against the Browns, but there was a pretty decent drought after that — Jones came into Sunday’s game against the Cowboys with just three sacks and 33 total pressures. Jones missed Weeks 5 and 6 with a wrist injury, and the time off gave defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo the time to make the right choice — putting Jones back inside for the most part where he belongs. In Weeks 1-4, Jones played 181 snaps at end or outside linebacker, and just 19 snaps at defensive left or right tackle. In Weeks 7-10, Jones played 84 snaps outside, and 74 snaps inside.

Is it a coincidence that the Chiefs had won three of the four games since Jones’ return and placement where he should be? Not really. And was it a coincidence that in the Chiefs’ 19-9 win over the Cowboys and their usually tough offense, Jones had a banner day on the inside?

Not at all. Jones exploded in this game for a career-high 3.5 sacks (which should have been four solo sacks), two tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits. He also deflected a pass that led to Prescott’s game-sealing interception…

…forced a Prescott fumble on one of his sacks, and recovered a Prescott fumble on Frank Clark’s Prescott sack. It was Jones’ best game since his epic performance in Super Bowl LIV against the 49ers — one that should have resulted in Jones winning the MVP award for the game.

Why Chiefs DL Chris Jones should have been MVP of Super Bowl LIV

This time around, it was all about the pressure, and how the Chiefs applied it. Spagnuolo and the Chiefs knew that blitzing Dak Prescott is usually a recipe for disaster — Prescott came into this game with a preposterous 16 touchdowns and just three interceptions against the blitz — and the Chiefs had allowed 10 touchdown passes to just one interception when they blitzed opposing quarterbacks this season. In this game, while the Chiefs showed a lot of pre-snap blitz looks, putting up to eight defenders up at the line, they never brought more than four defenders on any of Jones’ four sacks.

And on Jones’ fourth sack of the day, he just vaporized Cowboys guard Zack Martin, who hadn’t allowed a sack since Week 1… of the 2020 season.

The Chiefs’ defense is definitely back — not at a top-5 level, but good enough to keep the Chiefs in contention, and as long as Patrick Mahomes and the offense can stay solid on that side of the ball, it’s all good.