KC Chiefs Believe Defense Can Be a ‘Special’ Unit Following Win Against Denver Broncos

The Kansas City Chiefs' offense logged nearly 400 net yards on Thursday night against the visiting Denver Broncos, but that wasn't the story of the evening. Once again, it was Steve Spagnuolo's defense that had an outstanding game and stole the show.

A year ago, two years ago, three years ago or even prior, that previous statement would have been viewed by many as a joke. Early in the Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes era (established in 2018), Kansas City was known as a team with a high-flying offense and a defense that preferred to stay low to the ground and sometimes spread its wings to elevate late in the year. Six games into the 2023 season, however, it's been a bit of an opposite case.

With Reid's offense sputtering on occasion and generally not finding its groove yet, the defense has been fantastic through the first month-plus of the season. That trend continued in Week 6, with Denver being held to just 197 total net yards and an average of four yards per play. The Broncos' offense amassed just 14 first downs all night long, also turning the ball over three times and losing the time of possession battle 35:49 to 24:11. It was an ugly showing from Sean Payton and Russell Wilson and a brilliant one for Spagnuolo and company, which drew praise from Reid after the game. According to him, there wasn't a ton that the opposite side of the ball could have done much better.

"Well listen, not tonight," Reid said. "I thought they did a nice job. The guys played well. We're doing okay (laughs). You've got to keep getting better, though. I mean, that's how it goes."

In the 2022 offseason, general manager Brett Veach traded superstar wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins and incorporated the draft capital he got in return into a bigger plan for the franchise. The Chiefs made plenty of selections that spring, with players like Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, Leo Chenal, Joshua Williams, Jaylen Watson and others helping chip in as rookies. Several of those players are now high-level contributors in their respective roles as sophomores, with their comfort levels and confidence now riding higher than ever.

This past offseason, in the spring, Veach gave Spagnuolo some help along the margins. At the linebacker and safety spots, he brought in veterans Drue Tranquill and Mike Edwards to help insulate their respective position rooms. Along the defensive line, he added rookie Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the first round. Fourth-round defensive back Chamarri Conner is also worth mentioning. The Chiefs can go with a mix-and-match approach in their plans on defense, and there's more depth now than in years past. Mahomes believes that depth is why Spagnuolo's unit is off to such a hot start.

"It's depth, I think," Mahomes said. "They've done a great job of not only drafting, but getting key free agents and developing guys. We have guys that are starters on other teams that are trying to find a way to get on the football field. When they get on the football field, they're making plays. When a guy like Nick Bolton goes down, we throw in Drue and he can be a star middle linebacker. Same with some of the DBs — we can almost rotate guys in because we have that depth on the defense and they're playing with confidence. And then you've got a guy like 9-5 (Chris Jones) in the middle, he takes up a lot of attention so it lets those other guys get free and the other guys are making the most of it. I'm excited to get Charles (Omenihu) back, I think, this next week."

Coming into Thursday's game sporting a borderline top 10 standing in numerous statistical categories, Wilson had hands down his worst game of the season in Week 6. Posting a passer rating of 46.6 and throwing for fewer than 100 yards for just the third time in his decade-plus-long career, it was a trainwreck of a night for Denver whenever they weren't running the football. Wilson produced an EPA per play of -0.37, which would be the No. 26 average in the league among quarterbacks if extrapolated across all games this season. Broncos passing plays had a success rate of just 39%, which would trail the 30th-ranked New England Patriots under the same assumptions.

Don't take this as a slight against what's been a formidable offense, but the Chiefs' defense has been the team's best unit this year. Spagnuolo is dialing up some of the best plays of his career as a coordinator, and his players are executing at a very high level even without Omenihu in the fold to add some pass-rush juice. That's set to change after Week 6 — yet another win for a Kansas City squad that's won five games in a row. Bolton, who returned to the lineup on Thursday after multiple weeks missed due to injury, is amped up. He, like many others, believes the defense can be special.

"Overall, the defense, I'm excited for it," Bolton said. "We're going [and] keep trending in the right direction. Guys are getting more comfortable with each other, and we're executing the game plan. Guys know everybody's going to be in the right spot at the right time, everybody's flying to the football and the most important thing [is] we're having fun while doing it. If we keep that up every single week, we'll be special."

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