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Kansas City Chiefs pass rush needs to step it up

KANSAS CITY, MO - SEPTEMBER 22: Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones (95) sacks Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) in the second quarter of an AFC matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs on September 22, 2019 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO - SEPTEMBER 22: Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones (95) sacks Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) in the second quarter of an AFC matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs on September 22, 2019 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense was putrid last season, but at least the pass rush came through most of the time. That hasn’t necessarily been the case this year.

The Kansas City Chiefs led the NFL in sacks last year with 52 and while their defense was eventually their undoing in the AFC Championship Game, typically the pass rush came through in the clutch when a sack was needed.

The Chiefs followed up an impressive year for the pass rush by trading Dee Ford to the 49ers and releasing Justin Houston, who eventually hooked on with the Colts. They traded a first round pick for Frank Clark of the Seahawks and hoped that Chris Jones would continue his dominance from a season ago.

So far, the results haven’t been all that great.

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The Chiefs currently sit tied for 16th in the league with four other teams in total sacks with seven on their resumé, according to NFL.com. While they’ve notched at least one sack in every game so far, the pass rush needs to up the ante if this team wants to get to the Super Bowl this season, especially the big name guys like Clark and Jones, who haven’t been much to write home about so far.

Clark went without a sack through his first two games, not getting his first as a Chief until this past week. While it was good to see him finally get after the quarterback, he’s getting paid a lot of money, so hopefully those sacks start piling up for Clark.

Jones also has just one sack so far, but has four quarterback hits to his name. He’ll be looking to get paid this offseason, so that’ll be motivation for Stone Cold Jones to get back to that 15.5 sack level he was at a year ago.

This past week the Chiefs faced Lamar Jackson and at times, the Chiefs looked downright pathetic trying to get after him. They sacked the elusive Ravens quarterback three times, but should have had him on the ground way more times. Time and time again they’d let him slip away and make a play, keeping the Ravens in the game longer than fans preferred.

If the season goes the way we all think it will (with the Chiefs and Patriots playing each other in the AFC Championship Game for the right to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl), then pass rush is going to be huge for this team. We saw how easily Tom Brady marched down the field and scored near the end of the game and the defense couldn’t get a hand on him. That can’t happen again.

Pass rush was key in the Chiefs getting to that point last year, but Brett Veach made a bold decision to move on from their two best pass rushers and roll with the unknown.

The most interesting part of all of this has been that Emmanuel Ogbah has stepped in and become the pass rushing threat for the Chiefs. He has 2.5 sacks through three games and is the guy fans have started to rely on when a sack is needed.

The defense doesn’t have to be perfect moving forward, but the pass rush has to improve if this team wants to take down the reigning champs from a season ago.