KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As rookie cornerback Joshua Williams sat in his locker after the Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime win Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, he searched up the tackle for a loss he made in the second quarter against Derrick Henry.
“I’m looking at it right now,” Williams said. “That was a nice little play to make, but that’s what the coaches expect and what they prepared me for. I’m just happy I was there and able to make that play.”
Williams’ slick open-field tackle was one of the few highlights for the Chiefs’ defense in the opening half.
Tennessee gashed Kansas City’s defense for more than 200 yards in building a 14-9 halftime lead, but the Chiefs turned the tables in the second half and overtime, allowing only 22 yards on 27 plays.
“Appreciated the way the defense played,” coach Andy Reid said. “We were bringing it, bringing it, bringing it. They tuned it up the whole second half.”
Derrick Henry had nine carries for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half, but he only had 23 yards on eight carries after halftime.
Still, that dwarfed the rest of the Titans’ offense, which ran 19 plays for minus-1 yard when Henry didn’t get the ball.
“We started off a little sloppy tackling-wise, a couple bad fits here and there led to some explosive runs,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “We were able to settle down, get back into the zone of playing Chiefs defense and stopping the run, and have a way better second half.”
Certainly, it helped that Ryan Tannehill missed his second straight game, rendering Tennessee one-dimensional.
Backup Malik Willis only completed 5 of 16 passes for 80 yards, but outside of three big first-half plays — 56- and 24-yard runs by Henry and a 48-yard pass from Willis to Chig Okonkwo — Kansas City’s D dominated.
“With the exception of the two long runs, I thought they played well the whole time,” Reid said. “He (Henry) got us a couple times. That guy’s going to be a future Hall of Famer. He’s going to bust a couple on you.”
Penalties played a big role in the Chiefs’ first-half struggles as well, but the Titans managed only one first down during the final 35-plus minutes.
“We had to make adjustments, quit shooting ourselves in the foot and just play fundamental football,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said.
Kansas City’s defense impressed despite missing starting end Frank Clark, who was serving a one-game suspension for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.
“I miss my guy; can’t wait ‘til my guy comes back,” Jones said. “... We had a lot of young guys to step up — Malik Herring, George Karlaftis. (Veteran) Carlos (Dunlap), we’ve got him on a snap count, but we were able to extend him a little bit in critical situations.”
Three of the Chiefs’ top five tacklers — Khalen Saunders (six), Dunlap (four) and Mike Danna (four) — were defensive linemen.
Saunders had a sack in overtime, while Dunlap had 1 1/2 sacks, including a combined sack with Jones to help close out the victory in overtime as well.
“Khalen Saunders made a lot of big plays tonight,” Jones said. “We’ve got a lot of depth in the room, a lot of young guys in the room who Coach Cullen asks a lot from. I’m proud of those guys.”
