Kansas City Chiefs: Studs and duds from Week 1 vs. Texans
Stud: DT Chris Jones
The Kansas City defense had a huge impact on the team in 2019 and was a very big reason the club closed the year with six straight regular-season wins and then completed a three-game postseason sweep of the Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones missed the AFC divisional match-up with Bill O’Brien’s club but on Thursday night, picked up where he left off in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV when he harassed Jimmy Garoppolo. Against the Texans, he finished with four tackles and 1.5 sacks and steadily pushed the pocket. Defensive end Frank Clark also had one of the team’s four sacks of Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Dud: Run Defense
Don’t get it twisted. The Chiefs made quite the defensive turnaround a year ago under new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Keep in mind that in 2018 when Andy Reid’s team was busy scoring 565 points — the third-most in one season in NFL history — Kansas City allowed a whopping 421 points.
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This past season, the club overcame a slow start on this side of the ball but when it was all said and done, the eventual Super Bowl champions gave up 113 fewer points (308) than the previous year. Spagnuolo’s unit did finish 26th in the league vs. the run in 2019 and despite Thursday night win over Houston, Jones and company did surrender 118 yards rushing on 22 plays.