Chiefs have redeemed their biggest struggle from Week 1 with back-to-back dominant performances in one key area
They were too talented to stay down for long.
Many were concerned about the Kansas City Chiefs’ secondary after Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert posted 318 passing yards and three touchdowns against the unit in Week 1.
Fortunately, Kansas City’s secondary bounced back in a big way the following week against the Philadelphia Eagles, allowing only 101 passing yards and zero TDs to QB Jalen Hurts. It carried that momentum into Week 3’s 22-9 victory over the New York Giants, surrendering just 160 passing yards and zero TDs to QB Russell Wilson, while also intercepting him twice.
Chiefs secondary shut down Giants’ passing attack on Sunday night
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said forcing turnovers was a point of emphasis this past week after not getting any during the fist two games. According to Next Gen Stats, the Chiefs’ secondary had a lot of success against the Giants’ passing attack with two-high safety looks.
After the game, coach Andy Reid praised his secondary not only for snagging a couple of picks off of Wilson, but also for shutting down star wide receiver Malik Nabers.
“I love the interceptions, man,” Reid said. “Turnovers are a beautiful thing. And they’ve (the Giants) got good receivers. Number one (Malik Nabers) is the real deal. He’s as good as there is in this league, so for us to be able to put the clamps on him a little bit, that’s not an easy chore. He’s a heck of a football player.”
Linebacker Nick Bolton said the familiarity the Chiefs’ defense has with Wilson helped them be prepared.
“We understand when he gets going, he’s a momentum guy,” Bolton said. “He’s going to keep throwing the ball deep, keep finding checkdowns for explosive (after the catch). I think early in the game, keeping him from having those explosive plays kind of helped us as we kept going. We did a great job of mixing up looks today. We all know how gifted he is when he has some time to prepare. Having familiarity with him obviously helped us out a lot.”
Just one week ago, the Giants’ offense totaled a whopping 506 total yards against the Dallas Cowboys, with Wilson throwing for 450 yards, and Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson each going over 100 yards receiving. It seems safe to say that the Week 1 performance by the Chiefs’ secondary was an anomaly, and we can expect the unit to continue being a strength of the team.