As the Kansas City Chiefs come to terms with an opening night 27-21 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil, they will likely be haunted by questions of what might have been.
Just before the two-minute warning, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had just taken a sack and faced a third-and-14 from his own 33-yard line. Defensive tackle Chris Jones lined up outside and appeared to have a play, only to see Herbert correctly guess Jones’ inside turn. Herbert would run outside for an easy first-down conversion, allowing the Chargers to spend the final two minutes icing the game.
After the loss, Jones spoke to the media — and took ownership for the play.
“The tackle jumped me,” the veteran recalled if the ill-timed play. “I think we were at even — two threes and two fives. I just should have stayed outside. I blame me. I could have pass-rushed better. I could have had a better pass rush. I could have contained better. Yeah, I blame myself.”
After playing in a standalone game — and with nine days for fans to dwell on the loss before hosing the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2 in a rematch of Super Bowl LIX — the loss will sting for players and fans. Jones cautions against making sweeping generalizations from one game.
“You’re looking at the first game of the season,” he reiterated, “and you can’t judge the team’s success by one game — or even one particular play. We have 16 more games. We have 16 more opportunities to get better. We can watch and make some corrections [and] fix some errors. Plus the self-inflicted errors: offsides, roughing the passer — multiple times, we shot ourselves in the foot. Some of the self-inflicted wounds we can fix and detail that up, and I think we can improve in that aspect.”
Although the Chiefs are no longer reigning Super Bowl champions, Jones does not expect the pressure to let off from opponents. He expects every team’s best shot, and he knows the Chiefs cannot afford performances like Friday’s going forward.
“We’re a high-energy team,” he explained. “We’ve got to go into every game plan like it’s a Super Bowl. Anytime teams play the Chiefs, it’s an opportunity to play a Super Bowl-caliber team and you get to see where your team is at. I think it was kind of flat early on, and we’ve got to start off a little faster as a team.”
Jones declined to elaborate on a much-scrutinized exchange with linebacker Drue Tranquil after Herbert’s scramble essentially ended the game. He did elaborate on what the team’s defensive leaders should focus on going forward.
“I think first eliminating mistakes to beat ourselves,” Jones observed. “Once we eliminate the small mistakes and small errors, we can fix those self-inflicted wounds. Then we can focus on the bigger things — but most importantly, fixing the small details.”
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