Kansas City Chiefs: Four things we learned in Week 8 win vs Jets

Defense settled in

It was a rough first half for the defense, as the Jets didn’t punt once in the first two quarters. They were able to move the ball pretty well and while Chiefs fans didn’t doubt the reigning Super Bowl champs, not being able to slow down one of the league’s worst offenses was troubling to say the least.

Even with the sloppy first half, the defense pinned its ears back on third down in the red zone and forced New York to kick three (and attempt four total) field goals. More importantly, adjustments were made in the second half and the Chiefs defense didn’t allow the Jets to score any more points.

While the defense did eventually settle in and find their groove, they won’t have this kind of luxury in the playoffs when the competition is much tougher. But for now, against a team like the Jets, this kind of performance will suffice.

Regression of run game

After an electric game against the Bills two weeks ago, the rushing attack of the Kansas City Chiefs has fallen off. KC totaled over 100 yards last week in Denver, but the run game was nowhere to be found against one of the worst run defenses in the league.

The Jets had allowed over 100 yards rushing in all but one game prior to their match-up versus the Chiefs and it was a little concerning that KC couldn’t run the ball well at all. To be fair, they didn’t really try much, as they had just 20 carries on the day.

Many thought Le’Veon Bell would go off on his former team, but the newcomer totaled just seven yards off of six carries. Clyde Edwards-Helaire had six carries for 21 yards, which led the team. In total, Kansas City carried the ball 20 times for just 50 yards.

The run game didn’t need to be great on Sunday, but it would have been nice to see Edwards-Helaire and Bell get theirs against a team like the Jets. But hey, whatever works, right?