Fresh from a Superbowl run, the Kansas City Chiefs began very well the 2020 season. With their first win against the Houston Texans, the defensive side of the ball showed consistency in the game.
After a rough start in 2019, the defense slowly began to gel around midseason. Tyrann Mathieu instantly became the leader of the defense and everyone found a special place and role.
And after this offseason, some observers were wondering if the defense would keep growing this year.
On Thursday night against the Chiefs, Deshaun Watson was been under constant pressure. On 14 pressured dropbacks, he completed one pass for six yards, threw an interception, and was sacked four times. A nice performance to say the least for the defense.
To be fair, Watson is not the best quarterback in the pocket but the pressure the Chiefs put on him on Thursday clearly paid off. The defensive line really held on. Chris Jones and Frank Clark showed their skills, combining for 11 pressures and three of the team’s four sacks.
However, if the defense against the run was still not the best one out there, the secondary has been stellar.
And if Clyde Edwards-Helaire stole the show on the offensive side of the ball, another rookie made the best of this Thursday night football. His name is L’Jarius Sneed, rookie cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs. He was targeted very often during the game. After all, going after a rookie could be a good idea, except in this case. And the Texans understood quickly Sneed was not going to be the weakest link of the Chiefs secondary.
And as a plus, the defensive star, safety Tyrann Mathieu went on a blitz and forced a turnover. Phenomenal effort and performance through it all. After the game, Mathieu was not satisfied with the defense though. It looked like the defense let loose during the fourth quarter allowing the Texans to score thirteen points with a total of 145 yards, and let’s say that the Landlord did not appreciate.
“I’m pissed off,” Mathieu proclaimed in his post-game press conference. “I felt like we played fairly decent, up until the last couple stretches in the fourth quarter, started giving up big plays, big chunks. Things that we weren’t necessarily doing throughout the game. In my mind, we have a lot more work to do. If we would’ve held those guys to seven points, it would’ve been a much better feeling. Those guys scoring 20 leaves a bad taste in our mouth. We got a lot of work to do. I’m looking forward to next week.”
Maybe, his over motivation was because the Texans were his former team but I really think he has exceptional work ethics and he could not stand giving away points without a very good reason. His frustration showed on screen as well, with Steve Spagnuolo visibly trying to calm him down.
With the loss of Alex Okafor, Khalen Saunders and Charvarius Ward during the game, let’s hope the defense will not lose any of Thursday night sparkle.
The Chiefs defense deserves credit for a good game in Week 1. They kept the Houston Texans at bay and had a fairly good advance in the fourth quarter. But there is still room for improvement to be one of the best defense of the league. Mathieu will make sure it happens, hammering on social media that the Chiefs defense is still underrated. He has 15 games to prove his point and we can’t wait.
