The Chiefs showed the NFL what they’re capable of

This defense has improved

While Steven Nelson was out, the Chiefs defense really stepped up. Outside of all of their penalties, they held Tom Brady to 16 of 36 for 267 yards and 0 touchdowns. That’s a good night if you ask me.

Terrance Mitchell had some bad penalties and started off slow, but had some fantastic plays throughout the game. Brady only threw to whoever Marcus Peters was covering one time. That meant that the other side was the one getting picked on constantly.

Peters has shown enough for the best quarterbacks in the game refusing to throw to his side. Brady tried to take advantage of the other side but Mitchell, even after not playing all preseason, made some great plays. Phillip Gaines had a few struggles but did alright.

The defense did a really good job of stacking Rob Gronkowski Thursday night limiting him to 2 catches for 33 yards on 6 targets. Eric Berry spent most of the night on top of Gronk. Anyone who says that Berry can’t cover, stop.

While Berry is not elite at covering, he played really well against one of the toughest weapons to cover Thursday night. Yes, he had help from the safeties Thursday night, but there were plenty of one on ones that he did really well.

The Chiefs spent the first half of the game using Justin Houston to chip Gronk off the line and drop into coverage. Dee Ford was dropping back into coverage as well, and the Chiefs were sending three guys at Brady.

Houston didn’t really get a chance to actually pass rush till late in the game and when he finally did, he looked like the old Houston. He finished the night with two sacks but could have been three. We saw what this defense looks like with Houston being fully back.

Going up against arguably the best quarterback of all time, the Chiefs defense held strong and came out on top. They had multiple fourth and short stops on the night. Even with all the weapons Brady had, the defense kept them limited.

Although Eric Berry went down with an injury and might be out for a long period of time, I still think this defense can be better than last year. The loss of Berry will no doubt sting, but the safety group is one of the strongest depth on the team. Sorensen and Parker are still back there with second year Eric Murray.