Arrowhead Pride
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BY PETE SWEENEY
For an undefeated team, the Kansas City Chiefs sure have a knack for drama.
Every once in a while, you see something in the NFL that translates to a Monday morning where you ask yourself that faithful question: was that even real?
On Sunday against the Denver Broncos, the Chiefs didn’t play very well. Denver’s defense had the offense out of sorts, and the protection wasn’t good. On the most critical throws of the game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was uncharacteristically off target.
Kansas City probably should have lost on Sunday. But after a shaky first half, Steve Spagnuolo’s defense answered the call in the second, blanking the Broncos on the scoreboard.
Due to the offensive miscues and a special teams gaffe, the Chiefs needed one final defensive stand to get it done. For the second straight week, it wasn’t to be, and the undefeated season seemed dead and buried.
But suddenly – so suddenly – it wasn’t.
Yes, that really happened.
And I think Andy Reid could believe it.
No, that’s not a typo. In his initial comments after the game, head coach Andy Reid explained how something like that doesn’t just happen.
“I get to see that every day, how we work that block – that last final shot there,” said Reid of Dave Toub’s practice regiment. “We did [block the kick], but it’s also something we work on like crazy. It normally doesn’t work quite like that. But that one, we had a couple different guys – George [Karlaftis] was in there too, I believe. I haven’t had a chance to look at the replay, but it looked like we had a couple different guys in there.”
As you might remember, this wasn’t the first time linebacker Leo Chenal blocked a critical kick. He also did so in the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers to keep the game’s deficit to three.
“Listen, he’s a great athlete,” added Reid of Chenal. “Big, strong kid – plays 100 miles an hour – he does it in practice and during games. [He] plays anywhere and everywhere, never says anything. Comes from good family, he’s got like 40 brothers and sisters, so he’s used to sharing. He doesn’t really care about who gets the credit, doesn’t get the credit. He just goes.”
In actuality, Chenal has 15 half-brothers and half-sisters – and they all had to be smiling on Sunday afternoon.
