Patrick Mahomes heats up MVP race and other Chiefs lessons learned in Week 8

Let’s take a look at the lessons we learned about the Chiefs after Week 8’s win over the Jets.

Week 8 of the NFL season treated fans to an endless dish of Chiefs delights. The Patrick Mahomes air show returned as the Kansas City Chiefs thumped the New York Jets by a final score of 35-9.

Now, the Jets have the worst record in the NFL, so I doubt many Chiefs fans are exactly jumping for joy the way they did after the victory over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3. However, there are still a few key takeaways worth diving into, even though the win was pretty much expected.

Here are some lessons we learned from the Chiefs’ victory over the Jets.

Run defense responds

Now, it goes without saying that we can’t read too much into this victory, but progress is progress, and the run defense, a unit which has struggled for much of the season, was stellar on Sunday. They held the Jets to 3.7 yards per carry average, and the longest run they allowed on the day went for 9 yards.

This is a far cry from the 177 rushing yards allowed by the Chiefs defense against the Denver Broncos last week. And while it’s too early to proclaim the run defense improved overall, we can surely appreciate the work of Steve Spagnuolo, who continues to address and correct defensive weak points on a game-by-game basis.

The addition of Tershawn Wharton has been a positive one and is notable here. He oozes energy, and plays with impressive decisiveness. The young defensive tackle has quietly compiled a praise-worthy few weeks of performances.

We should keep an eye on this unit moving forward to determine whether this week was more a mirage, or if the run defense is shoring up at this midpoint of the season.