Chiefs' defense dominates in win over Jaguars

The Kansas City Chiefs (1-1) defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1) in week 2, 17-9.

The Kansas City Chiefs managed to end Sunday’s week two matchup in victory formation from the Jacksonville Jaguars one-yard-line. With just over two minutes left in the game on a third and six, Patrick Mahomes hit Skyy Moore in stride deep along the right sideline to gain 54 yards on the play. 

With the Jaguars being down to two timeouts, the Chiefs needed just one first down to seal its first win of the season. Two carries from Isiah Pacheco for 11 yards moved the Chiefs to 1-1 on the season, defeating Jacksonville 17-9 in what was somewhat of a sloppy game at times. 

“ … You play bad and win it's a lot better than playing bad and losing,” Mahomes said. “I was glad we found a way to get a win at the end of the day, but obviously a lot of stuff that we have to get better at.”

Much was noted about the wide receiver woes last week, but the same ones who struggled with drops showed up to produce this week. Moore led the team in receiving with 70 yards and also hauled in his first-ever regular-season touchdown. Kadarius Toney caught every ball that came his way, tallying five catches for 35 yards.

There were two gaping holes last week against the Detroit Lions with the absences of Chris Jones (holdout) and Travis Kelce (knee). This week, they made their presence felt and gave the Chiefs a sense of stability in key moments.

Kelce did not necessarily have a big day but he did find the endzone on a third down down in the red zone. Key third-down conversions were something Kansas City lacked last week. Kelce finished the day with 26 of the 305 that Mahomes threw for on Sunday. The Mahomes-Kelce connection was their 47th touchdown as battery-mates, which gave them the most in team history, passing Len Dawson and Otis Taylor. 

“Honestly, just the fact that (Kelce) played, I mean, it surprised me because that's a scary injury,” Mahomes said. “I mean, he didn't look good there for a little bit but he battled over those extra days. He was in the facility rehabbing, and to get himself out there and able to play, it talks about the competitor that he is and the teammate that he is. So having him out there not only he makes plays, but helps everybody else. Gets other guys open, so truly just a great teammate to even be out there on this field.”

Jones finished the day with one and a half sacks and one batted pass on limited snaps. The real telling story in all three of those plays is that they all happened on third or fourth down. None were more important than a third-down sack combination with rookie Felix Anudike-Uzomah that forced a Trevor Lawrence fumble that rolled out of bounds. 

“I figured (Jones) would be able to play about half a game,” Reid said. “We shuttled him in and out. He did a great job. Listen, I mentioned this before, over the years here he's learned to keep himself in shape. When I saw him at practice he was moving around pretty good and endurance seemed good. I felt comfortable that he would go in and be able to do his thing. Maybe not to that level. That was a heck of a job by him.”

On the next play cornerback L’Jarius Sneed covered Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley like a glove in the back of the endzone to force an incompletion on fourth down. That defensive stop is what gave Mahomes, Moore and Pacheco the ability to chew over four minutes off the clock to close out the game. 

The Chiefs did not take the most straight and narrow path to victory, however. The Chiefs were up 7-6 at halftime even after turning the ball over three times. A muffed punt from Richie James deep in the Chiefs' own territory led to three of those points. 

The offensive line also struggled with plenty of false starts and holding penalties. The Chiefs managed to lose the penalty battle 12-2, as well as the turnover battle 3-1 and still come away with the victory. 

“Just too many procedure penalties, turnovers,” Reid said. “We'll get that taken care of. That's not the heat. That's us needing to take care of business. We normally don't do this, so, you know, it got us today. We're not a big penalty team, and offensively we're -- we're not a big penalty team, and surely not the turnovers.”

A lot of the reason for that is the Chiefs played dominating defense for the second straight week. Last week the Chiefs only allowed 14 points to a high-powered Detroit Lions offense and this week they held another strong offense to zero touchdowns. 

Nick Bolton led the team in tackles with eight, flying all over the middle of the field. George Karlaftis registered his first-ever multi-sack game. The defensive backfield played sticky defense, limiting Lawrence to 216 yards and a 54 percent completion percentage. 

“You know, I'm an offensive guy, but that was a beautiful thing defensively,” Reid said. “ …  Defensively great to have Chris Jones back. He obviously influenced the game in a positive way for us. McDuffie, I mean I can go on and on (about) the guys on defense. Steve Spagnuolo had a phenomenal game plan.”

This was the seventh straight victory over the Jaguars, a streak that started back in 2010. That moves Mahomes, whose birthday was Sunday also, to 4-0 against the Jaguars. Next week, the Chiefs will face off against the Chicago Bears (0-2) at home in GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium at 3:25 CDT.