KANSAS CITY, Mo. — L’Jarius Sneed turned in disbelief, his hands out to his side as he saw the penalty flags hit the ground in the end zone.
Sneed, the Chiefs’ top cornerback, had been locked up with Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jordan Addison running down the right sideline as Kirk Cousins' desperation fourth-down heave fluttered harmlessly to the end zone five yards from anyone.
“I knew it was fourth down and I knew they had to go to the end zone, so I played off at the sticks,” said Sneed, who had eight tackles, two passes defended and a quarterback hit in the game.
Sneed — who’d been matched up with and, for the most part, locked down Justin Jefferson before the latter exited with a hamstring injury — had played a terrific game.
Matched up with Addison, he hadn’t impeded the receiver’s progress to Cousins’ uncatchable throw, so he was perplexed by the flag.
“He was just running with him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He wasn’t grabbing him or pushing him or anything. They were just running down the field and the ball, obviously, it wasn’t catchable. He did a nice job, I thought, shadowing him.”
Moments later, Sneed took his helmet off, still clearly in disbelief, as the officials huddled in the end zone to discuss the play. He should have been flagged for that indiscretion, but game officials picked up the flag for pass interference.
“I thought it was a good call; I think picking the flag up was probably the right thing to do,” said Reid, who credited the game officials for having a conversation and reaching a consensus. “That’s all you ask for."
The missed penalty for removing the helmet will irritate some people, but it merely would have cost the Chiefs some field position during a 27-20 win and wouldn’t have negated the turnover on downs.
“I knew I couldn’t take it off, but I was just caught up in the moment,” Sneed said. “When they told me to put it back on, I put it back on.”
Minnesota got one final crack at tying the game, but Cousins never got to throw his Hail Mary after being swallowed up by defensive end Mike Danna, who now has at least a half-sack in four of five games this season, to end the game.
The Vikings present a tough test for any secondary.
Jefferson, the 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, led the NFL with 128 catches for 1,809 yards last season and entered a Week 5 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs at U.S. Bank Stadium with an NFL-best 543 receiving yards.
He had three catches for 28 yards before leaving the game early in the fourth quarter.
“What do you say about Sneed?” Reid said. “I mean, this is the best receiver in the National Football League, or at least one of them, arguably the best. He went toe to toe with him tonight. Great job.”
In 54 career games entering Sunday, Jefferson had topped 100 yards 27 times — a 50% clip since entering the NFL in 2020.
But Sneed and the rest of the secondary put him in jail for most of the game.
“It’s very challenging, but I love it,” Sneed said. “Challenges, I love to face them.”
Minnesota’s weapons don’t stop there.
Tight end T.J. Hockenson has emerged as one of the top young tight ends in the league, giving the perennially underrated Cousins a pair of elite weapons to go with Addison, a rookie first-round pick and rising star, and a bevy of rock-solid complementary pieces.
But Kansas City’s defense was up to the challenge, limiting Jefferson and Hockenson to eight catches for 79 yards on 14 targets, and allowing only 329 total yards — the second-fewest by Minnesota this season.
“They played exceptional today,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said of the Chiefs’ secondary. “Hats off go to those guys. If we had a game ball today, I’d give it to the whole back end. They held their own, especially against a great wide receiver and a heckuva quarterback.”
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