The Kansas City Chiefs squeaked out a victory against the winless Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday.
A big part of the reason the Chiefs were able to hang on was the play of their defense. KC has been very good against the run all season but they have struggled at times giving up yards through the air.
Chiefs’ DE Shaun Smith explained a little bit about the team’s defensive identity following Sunday’s win.
Like I’ve been saying all year, we’re a defense that bends but doesn’t break,” said Smith. “We’re playing good football right now, (defensive coordinator) Romeo (Crennel) is putting us in good positions and guys are making good plays – S Eric Berry, back-to-back weeks with interceptions, he’s coming along as a rookie, getting. We’re getting better overall as a team, special teams, offense. We won, that’s all that matters. I don’t care if we gave up 500 yards, at the end of the day, was to get to 2-1 and we got to it.”
Smith seems to be reading from the Todd Haley handbook here. Smith, like his head coach, talks about the team being 2-1. This is an obvious reference to Haley’s system of breaking down the season in to quarters. Still, despite the tunnel vision Haley is trying to instill in his players, Smith knows the significance of the Chiefs overall record.
“This is football,” said Smith. “It’s almost the beginning of November, this is the type of football you want to see – cold-weather game, stop the run, we ran the ball real well today. It was just a good, complete team effort.”
Smith is right. The Chiefs are entering November atop the AFC West and once the weather starts to get colder, the Chiefs will be well positioned if they can run the ball and stop the run.
“That was a long game, five quarters. I’m just proud to be a Chief. I’m excited, I’m happy we found a way to win.”
It may not have been pretty but for now, the Chiefs will take their 5-2 record.