The Kansas City Chiefs’ pass rush finally found its way back to the quarterback on Sunday, and it showed up in a big way in a 22-6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Kansas City had gone three games without recording a sack, a stretch that even included an extra 10 minutes of overtime in Week 2 without bringing Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones down. That drought ended late in the third quarter against Los Angeles, when Chris Jones and Peter Woods teamed up to sack Justin Herbert with 5:40 left in the period. At that point, the Chiefs were already in control at 19-6.
That play snapped a run that had lasted since the season-opening win over Denver, when the Chiefs got their previous sack from Bo Nix with 8:28 left in the third quarter. Since then, the defense had been chasing a takedown that had been missing for far too long.
Sunday felt like the kind of matchup that could get that streak moving again. Kansas City was coming off its bye, and the Chargers arrived without both of their All-World offensive tackles. The Chiefs’ front took advantage.
George Karlaftis III led the charge. Next Gen Stats credited him with one sack and eight quarterback pressures on 38 pass-rush snaps, a 21.1% pass-rush win rate. Those eight pressures were the second-most in a game in his five-year career, and he also batted down two passes at the line.
The sack total didn’t stop with Karlaftis, Jones and Woods. Ashton Gillotte and Chamarri Conner also got to Herbert, giving Kansas City four sacks in all.
Herbert spent most of the afternoon under duress and finished 23 of 37 for 204 yards and an interception. His QB rating came out to 63.3. The Chargers’ ground game never got going either, with Herbert leading the team in rushing with 26 yards and Los Angeles managing just 73 yards on 22 carries, a 3.3-yard average.
The defensive surge helped Kansas City move to 5-0 and cruise to a relatively comfortable win, even though the offense was uneven for much of the day. The Chiefs still settled for four Harrison Butker field-goal tries, and he made three of them. An extra touchdown or two would have put the game to bed even earlier, but the defense made sure the Chargers never had a real chance to get back in it.
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