Chris Jones, defense guide Chiefs to first win of season against Jaguars

Ben Arthur

AFC South Reporter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Chiefs are nowhere close to being a well-oiled machine to start 2023. They’ve had too many missed opportunities, and their execution has been clunky. Take your pick in the first couple weeks of the season: penalties, dropped passes, turnovers.

But in the season debut for star DT Chris Jones, Kansas City saw its defense guide the team into the win column. 

“I’m an offensive guy,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “but that was a beautiful thing defensively.”

The Chiefs beat the Jaguars 17-9 on the road for their first victory of the season. It came by stopping the Jaguars offense, one of the league’s most high-powered units. 

Trevor Lawrence, in Year 3, started to come into his own as a franchise quarterback the second half of last season. And this year, the Jaguars added Calvin Ridley to a pass-catching corps that had three players post more than 70 receptions last season — tight end Evan Engram and receivers Christian Kirk and Zay Jones. It’s a group that scored 31 points in its season opener. It’s a group on the ascent. 

It’s the same unit Kansas City held touchdown-less, despite the fact that Jacksonville had just two offensive penalties and reached plus territory seven times.

The Jaguars played a key role in their own ineptitude, but the Chiefs’ defense held firm when it needed to. 

Three Jacksonville drives reached the red zone, including its last two possessions. The home team ran 13 plays inside the 20. They went nowhere, with the Chiefs forcing the Jaguars into field goals with stout run defense and smothering pass coverage. 

Lawrence went 0-for-7 passing in the red zone, the most red-zone attempts without a completion in 17 years, according to ESPN Stats & Information. 

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Jones, who missed Kansas City’s…

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Publish date : 2023-09-17 23:07:46

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