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<\/p>\nKansas City\u2019s players and coaches preview Week 5\u2019s matchup against Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
In Week 5, the (2-2) Kansas City Chiefs step into a \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d matchup with a chance to prove that Week 4\u2019s 37-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens wasn\u2019t just a bounce-back, but the start of something sustainable. Their opponent will be the (3-1) Jacksonville Jaguars \u2014 a team that may not carry the same postseason pedigree, but has quickly become one of the league\u2019s hottest teams.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey\u2019re playing good football \u2014 and they\u2019re coaching well,\u201d head coach Andy Reid said of the Jaguars on Thursday. \u201cYou can see the guys are listening to them and doing what they want. My hat goes off to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Sunday\u2019s win, the Chiefs looked like contenders. Finally getting the protection he needed, quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw four touchdown passes. Wide receiver Xavier Worthy returned from a shoulder injury to claim five catches for 83 yards. But can they do that against a Jaguars defense that thrives on forcing mistakes?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey catch the ball well, first of all, and they\u2019re disciplined in their lanes on their zone drops,\u201d said Reid. \u201c[They\u2019re] opportunistic on tipped balls \u2014 and then they\u2019ve stripped out a couple of balls. They go after it; you have got to make sure you\u2019re aware of that as you play them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacksonville leads the league with 13 turnovers \u2014 including an NFL-high nine interceptions. While Mahomes has been careful with the football \u2014 he\u2019s thrown just one pick, which was during Week 2\u2019s 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles \u2014 he knows he must be even sharper on Monday night.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey\u2019re causing the turnovers,\u201d Mahomes said of the Jaguars\u2019 defense. \u201cIt\u2019s not like the turnovers are just happening. They\u2019re punching the football out, tipping passes, intercepting when they get their hands on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be a great challenge for us. We have to make sure we\u2019re fundamentally sound as well. We can\u2019t give them any opportunity, because they\u2019re capitalizing on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensively, Kansas City will be tested by a Jacksonville offense that excels at running the ball: it\u2019s fourth in the league with 144 rushing yards per game. Jaguars head coach Liam Coen leans heavily on various kinds of misdirection to stress opposing defenses. Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal notes that this puts a premium on defenders staying focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat really sticks out is their use of pre-snap motion,\u201d he observed. \u201cWhether it\u2019s jet motion or just moving guys across the formation, it\u2019s really [about] having good eyes \u2014 and every single person has to be on the same page. If you get a jet guy \u2014 and then somebody\u2019s swapping back \u2014everybody\u2019s got to be in their right gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen they\u2019ll throw in a counter pass or something like that. So it\u2019s just guys having good eyes, discipline in their technique, and trusting each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Chiefs, this matchup is not just about climbing above 0.500. It\u2019s about building upon last week\u2019s success. While he knows there is still plenty of room for improvement, Mahomes believes that beating the Ravens clearly showed what the team can be. The challenge is carrying that momentum into Jacksonville \u2014 and succeeding against a defense that is built to punish mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot to learn,\u201d he said. \u201cEarly in the first half, there were some of those drives that stalled out like we had been doing earlier in the season. We\u2019re trying to find ways to execute \u2014 especially earlier in football games \u2014 to build leads.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I\u2019ve always said, when you build a lead with [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] calling the defense, it really unleashes him to go out there. We\u2019ll continue to work at the little things fundamentally and try to all be on the same page, so that we can execute at a higher level early \u2014 and then keep that momentum through the rest of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kansas City\u2019s players and coaches preview Week 5\u2019s matchup against Jacksonville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs"],"yoast_head":"\n