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On Thanksgiving Day, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered a back-breaking 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys that pushed their record to 6-6.
While the game was full of low moments for Kansas City, the defense’s poor performance loomed large. Outside of the opening drive, the Chiefs’ secondary struggled — and the defensive line failed to put pressure on the Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott.
Kansas City registered only six quarterback hits — and just four were from the defensive line. Prescott completed 27 of 39 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns, delivering the ball to wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens with ease.
It was a rough game for the pass rush — and its lack of success strained the entire defense.
Chris Jones did what he could
A week after he propelled Kansas City to a victory against the Indianapolis Colts, defensive tackle Chris Jones did all he could against Dallas. While he didn’t record a sack, he was the only Chiefs player who consistently pressured Prescott — even though he was double-teamed on half of the pass-rushing snaps he played.
Prescott utilized a quick passing game — featuring multiple slants and other quick hitters — to complete passes to Lamb and Pickens. Kansas City’s defensive backs struggled to guard the larger receivers. It seemed like the only way to force incompletions was when Jones applied pressure.
Of the 17 pass-rushing snaps where Jones was blocked one-on-one, he won eight of them — which is even more notable because for most of the game, the ball was out of Prescott’s hands in less than three seconds.
Less than a week after his heroic effort to rally Kansas City against Indianapolis, Jones once again did his part — but the rest of the team couldn’t come through.
Late in the game, the frustration of the long season (and the short week) boiled over.
Here, Jones is one-on-one against rookie guard Tyler Booker. He tries to win the A-gap — but initially, Booker powers down to block him. Prescott has nothing, so he leaves the pocket. Jones fights over Booker’s block, putting himself in position to stop the quarterback or draw a holding call. Linebacker Nick Bolton is also in pursuit, which should make this an easy stop for Kansas City.
But safety Chamarri Conner leaves the flat to pursue Prescott — which leaves the running back wide open in the end zone. Prescott dumps it down for a score — and afterward, Jones is visibly frustrated with Conner.
Lack of pressure from everyone else
Outside of Jones, no other Kansas City player was able to create consistent pressure. For the defensive line, it was one of the worst games of the season.
Defensive ends George Karlaftis, Mike Danna and Charles Omenihu all failed to create pressure. Outside of Jones, the only Kansas City defensive lineman to put pressure on Prescott for even one snap was nose tackle Derrick Nnadi.
On this play-action look, Jones is double-teamed off the snap, but no one else wins quickly. Nnadi keeps fighting and forces an inaccurate pass.
The defensive line was dormant for the whole game — but this has been an issue for a while.
The team’s inability to create pressure with four rushers has forced Kansas City to rely on blitzing — but on Thursday, even that didn’t work very well.
Sending heat through blitzes has been a hallmark of the Chiefs’ defense ever since coordinator Steve Spagnuolo took over the unit in 2019 — but without blitzers who can consistently win at the point of attack, it has been far less effective this season — and even worse, has become predictable. In the past, the element of surprise has helped to create chaos in critical situations. But now, even that is gone.
Kansas City has many issues to solve — but these defensive problems are the hardest to address. With only five games left to play, there is no magic solution for players who cannot quickly create pressure. This will need to be handled in the offseason.
This season, the defensive line has failed Jones — who, at 31, is finally showing his age. One day, the Chiefs’ star defensive tackle will take his place in Canton. But the wear and tear from carrying the defense — and the high number of snaps he has been playing — have led to a season that hasn’t been up to his usual standard.
Last season, Jones played the third-most snaps of any NFL defensive lineman — and is nearly six years older than both players ahead of him: Karlaftis and the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive tackle Nnamdi Madibuike. The close games (and long playoff runs) have taken their toll — and this season, Kansas City is paying for it.
In the offseason, the team needs a plan to address these pass-rushing issues. Karlaftis is a team leader (and well respected within the organization), but his inability to get quickly get pressure is unlikely to change over time. Omenihu and Danna aren’t likely to return next season, which leaves only a small group of young players with Jones and Karlaftis.
The good news is also the bad news: the offseason is likely to arrive sooner than usual.
