As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare for a big divisional matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders this Friday, safety Justin Reid isn’t shying away from addressing the team’s recent dip in defensive performance. Despite their reputation as one of the league’s top units, the Chiefs’ defense has taken a step back these past two games.
However, Reid remains confident that the team can reclaim dominant form.
“The standard is extremely high,” Reid said. “We set the standard high because we know what we’re capable of with what we did last year and what we did in the first half of this year. It’s just about getting back to that standard, getting back to what we do, being aggressive, and being a dominant defense. Teams don’t want to run the ball against us, and the last two games, they found a little bit of success in the pass game, so it’s just about tightening up the screws there.”
From Week 4 to Week 10, the Chiefs held opponents to under 200 passing yards in five of six games. In the one game they didn’t — a game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 7— they allowed just 209 yards while recording three interceptions.
Meanwhile, in Weeks 11 and 12, they have allowed 262 and 249 passing yards, respectively, while also allowing four rushing touchdowns. The Chiefs have always been good at stopping one phase of the game or the other, but these lapses in both have prompted Reid and the rest of the defense to reevaluate their approach.
“Everything’s always a self-scout,” Reid noted. “We always try to bring new plays, but every team has tendencies. We’re the team that everyone in the league has been looking at for the last two years. Offensive coordinators are sharing information and notes on, ‘What did you guys do against the Chiefs? What worked? What did you do here?’ All that is just another good challenge for us to continue to mix things up, self-scout ourselves, see if there’s any things that show up more than once, and try to change things up to present a different look and not give teams the beat on us.”
The Chiefs’ defense will have a prime opportunity to rebound this week against a struggling Raiders team tied for the worst record in the NFL at 2-9. Backup quarterback Aiden O’Connell is expected to start in place of Gardner Minshew, who suffered a broken collarbone.
Additionally, the Raiders have been dealing with injuries to their top two running backs, Zamir White and Alexander Mattison, both of whom missed last week’s game with injuries of their own.
Friday’s matchup also holds extra weight given last year’s Christmas Day loss to the Raiders. In that game, the Chiefs fell 20-14 despite holding O’Connell to just nine completions for 62 yards. The Raiders won by dominating on the ground, racking up 157 rushing yards to hand Kansas City a frustrating holiday defeat.
In an effort not to ruin another holiday weekend, Reid expects the team to be fueled by last year’s loss.
“It’s a divisional game, Reid explained. “The history of this game goes back so far, and I think we have about 90% of the guys that were here last year for that game. That feeling is still there, and we definitely don’t want to repeat it.”
