Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense will face a tough opening opponent when they travel to São Paulo, Brazil to face the Los Angeles Chargers on Friday night. The familiar AFC West foe is a formidable opponent — not only because of what it can do in the running game, but also with a dangerous passing game centered around second-year wideout Ladd McConkey.
“They’re disciplined,” Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie said on Sunday. “They do a really good job in the run game. They have some good receivers in McConkey and also some of [the’ new guys that they got — some rookies this year —that are dynamic.”
McDuffie broke McConkey down on Sunday, lamenting that Kansas City only got one look at him in 2024 — making him less familiar than a divisional opponent would otherwise be. On Monday, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo drifted into hyperbole when discussing the threat posed by the Chargers’ top receiver.
“He’s dynamic,” Spagnuolo remarked of McConkey. “It’s going to be hard to put one guy on him. The first slide I put up — I think it might have been last week — I just put up that all 22 have to be aware of where number 15 is. I asked the guys if they knew what I meant by 22. I was talking about 22 eyeballs. [That’s] because [with] the 11 guys, everyone — D-line included — needs to know where he is. We feel that strongly about the way he can affect the game, so that’s going to be a major focus.”
But this year, the Chiefs may have some internal insight regarding the Chargers. Cornerback Kristian Fulton played in Los Angeles in 2024 before joining Kansas City as a free agent in March. Spagnuolo admitted that he has elicited Fulton’s knowledge about his former team.
“We went right to Kristian as we got closer to the game,” Spagnuolo confirmed, “and asked him about all the little things that he saw… It’s like our offense knows us in and out — and hopefully, we know our own offense. We [just] don’t have to play them on game day.
“But as a matter of fact, Kristian spoke briefly to the unit this morning about what to expect from certain guys. We use that intel all the time.”
Friday will mark the Chiefs’ first meaningful action since their disappointing blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. On Thursday, defensive tackle Chris Jones acknowledged the need to put that performance where it belongs — in the past — while cautioning against ignoring the upcoming opponent.
“It’s very important as a player, and as a fan, [to have] something that drives them beyond just personal goals,” Jones explained. “I think that the Super Bowl happened — and you can carry the emotions — but we’ve got the Chargers coming up. So it’s good to have that type of fire going into your first game, but you know we’ve got to focus on the L.A....
