Defense quiets Chiefs' offense in red zone
Adam Jones leaned into a reporter's notebook and looked down at the numbers: 10, 23, 33, 36, 27, 24 and 11.
Those numbers were significant, as they marked the points on the field where the Kansas City Chiefs opened a series with a 1st-and-10 inside Bengals territory.
"Didn't get in," he said, his hair shaking with emphasis.
Jones leaned back on his stool and half smiled underneath the flat pink brim of his hat.
With such prime field position earned after gouging the Bengals defense for 426 yards, the Chiefs offense could not move the ball into the end zone. The total number of yards gained on those series' Jones looked at? Thirty-five.
The total point total? Twenty-one.
As in seven Cairo Santos field goals in a 36-21 Cincinnati Bengals victory Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
"They are a good dink and dunk offense," said Jones, who finished with one tackle before having to leave game due to a groin injury. "A couple plays we gave away but we try not to let people score. If they don't score, they don't win the game."
To a man, the Bengals defenders weren't thrilled that Alex Smith threw for 386 yards and that Jeremy Maclin caught 11 passes for 148 – but when it was crunch time, those playmakers were holding their helmets while Santos swung his leg.
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"It's plays that we can't take back but at the same time we're that good of a defense to come back in the huddle and regroup and refocus and go out there and hold them to three," Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga said. "If we can hold them to three, that's a win to us."
And in those moments, when a touchdown at any point could have swung the momentum – or the score – to the Chiefs' favor, the Bengals defense made tide-turning plays.
Domata Peko recorded two sacks. Wallace Gilberry expertly played a reverse for a loss of eight yards. Vincent Rey also had a tackle for loss. They helped force 15 yards of Chiefs penalties.
"It was negative plays," Smith said of why the Chiefs couldn't score a touchdown. "For right now, without seeing the film, you've got to stay ahead of the chains down there and it was penalties, it was negative plays, a sack, and all of a sudden you've put yourself in 2nd-and-17 and it's going to be tough versus a good run defense. They're not going to let you throw it downfield."
Jones felt that, in such tight quarters, the Bengals had a physical advantage over the Chiefs offense. And to capitalize on that, his teammates felt they rose to the occasion with no room left go give.
"When your back's against the wall, you know you have no choice but to fight," Dunlap said. "There's only one way out, and we're not going to let them in."
To a man, that was the mantra, the feel that was in the defensive huddle each time the Chiefs knocked on the door.
"It is will and also the mentality of bending and not breaking – that's the type of defense I think we have," Peko said. "Sometimes there are going to be times when we struggle and we'll have some bend in our defense, but we're not going to break, man. That's what we did in the red zone today. We just talked to each other and said we're not going to let them in."
