National Football League

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

Published Sep. 17, 2023 7:07 p.m. ET

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 season-opening loss to the Lions amid his contract dispute with the Chiefs, made his presence felt in his return: 1½ sacks, three pressures and a pass breakup. According to Next Gen Stats, he played 31 snaps, including just seven against the run.

"Just to be able to make that impact on a game after not being in training camp," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of Jones. "You can work out as much as you want [away from the team]. To be able to come to Jacksonville, where it's hot and humid, and just dominate against a great team, it's special. It truly is special. I'm glad he's on our team."

Despite having three turnovers, the Chiefs did enough offensively to make the victory possible.

Late in the second quarter, they converted a fourth-and-2 at the Jaguars' 42 — a Mahomes pass to running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire — sparking a scoring drive capped by a touchdown grab by wideout Skyy Moore.

Briefly, at the start of the second half, Kansas City looked like the offensive juggernaut we've known it to be with Reid and Mahomes. Running back Isiah Pacheco rattled off a 31-yard run on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. Three plays later, receiver Justin Watson beat Jaguars cornerback Tre Herndon for a 34-yard reception. Mahomes capped the series on an extended play, floating a nine-yard pass to star tight end Travis Kelce in the end zone to make it 14-6 early in the third quarter.

Before the two-minute warning, on a third-and-6 holding onto a 17-9 lead in the final period, the Chiefs iced the game, with Mahomes and Moore connecting for a 54-yard catch and run. Herndon, defending Moore out of the slot, slipped when the second-year receiver broke across the field.

Kansas City's 17 points marked its lowest total since Week 3 last season against the Colts, and the team's fewest in a win since Week 9 of the 2021 campaign.

The Chiefs on Sunday had 399 yards of offense, but went just 2-of-4 in the red zone, including 1-of-3 from goal-to-go distance. They also converted on just 30.7% of their third-down attempts (4-of-13).

Their biggest killer: 12 penalties for a loss of 94 yards.

"Too many procedure penalties, turnovers," Reid said. "We'll get that taken care of."

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We've grown accustomed to the Chiefs offense producing fireworks, to routinely producing 30-plus points. In this new season, they're trying to rediscover that. Kelce (four catches on nine targets, 26 yards) had an off performance in his season debut, too.

While the Chiefs will trust the process offensively, they were able to rely on their defense this week.

"It's still early in the season," Kelce said. " What you guys just saw is the second game of bringing all the new pieces together. We're going to keep building. We're going to keep growing. I know we have great leadership, but right now, hats off to the defense for the way they're playing, keeping us in games. We love them for it.

"We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot on offense."

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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