Chiefs' L'Jarius Sneed just showed the world what he can do after elite performance
It's pretty clear that the Minnesota Vikings' best player, Justin Jefferson, is one of the best receivers in the league. But some may have forgotten that based on the way he played against the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs fans have to get used to this, and it may take some time, but Kansas City is […]
It's pretty clear that the Minnesota Vikings' best player, Justin Jefferson, is one of the best receivers in the league. But some may have forgotten that based on the way he played against the Kansas City Chiefs. Chiefs fans have to get used to this, and it may take some time, but Kansas City is a defensive team in 2023-24.
The Chiefs have some very good players on that side of the ball; most of them just don't get the attention they should because of the polarizing guys on offense, and that's fine. In fact, it may be better for the Chiefs' defense to stay "underrated."
One of the guys who orchestrated the shutdown of Jefferson on Sunday is a guy who has been looked at as underrated. Most people know the name L'Jarius Sneed, but not many know how good he truly is. In a way, he showed that on Sunday.
Chiefs' L'Jarius Sneed just put on elite performance
The Chiefs matched up Sneed with Jefferson for a lot of the game. Their game plan was simple: put their most physical cornerback on the Vikings' best player and frustrate him.
Safe to say, it worked.
"We tried to get LJ [L'Jarius Sneed] on him," defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said Monday. "It wasn't every snap, and it wasn't every call that we had, and I thought he did a really good job being aggressive. We knew he would also be put in the slot because they had done that prior to, and that was a reason for playing Trent [McDuffie] more in nickel than he had in the previous game. So we got two of our best guys on what was definitely their best guy. And I thought, overall, we did a good job of containing him. He's a game wrecker, and we just didn't want him to wreck that game."
Sneed is having a pretty good year overall when it comes to coverage. On 30 targets, he's allowed 14 completions, and his opposing passer rating when targeted (60.0) isn't bad either, as it comes as a huge career improvement.
He shared snaps with McDuffie on Jefferson, but most of the work was Sneed. According to Pro Football Focus, Sneed held Jefferson to three targets, two receptions, and 14 yards, with six yards after the catch.
The Chiefs love being physical on the outside, and a big reason why is because of what Sneed brings.
"We believe in that philosophically to be a press coverage team, and LJ does it as good as anybody," Spagnuolo continued. "And the thing about LJ is he loves challenges. He wants to go against their very best. That's why we do it. When you have a guy like that, that you have the confidence you can put him on their best guy, I think the other ten guys rally around if they see it. We would have liked to have fewer points on the board there, but I thought overall, LJ did a really good job."
Sneed locked Jefferson down. He showed that the Chiefs' pass rush can be good, as Chris Jones, who wants to add Frank Clark, is one of the best in the business, but the pass defense as a whole, in terms of the secondary, should not be overlooked.
The crazy thing is that most think McDuffie will be much better than Sneed. Either way, the Chiefs have something special brewing on defense.
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