KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs just faced one of the NFL’s best running quarterbacks in Josh Allen during an AFC Divisional Round win at Buffalo last Sunday.
But the Chiefs’ defense faces perhaps an even tougher test in the AFC Championship Game against Baltimore’s star quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“We certainly need to defend this quarterback (Jackson) better than we did last week to make things go the way we want,” Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said.
Allen carved up Kansas City for 72 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, but Jackson’s an even more electrifying ball-carrier from the QB spot.
Jackson has led all NFL quarterbacks in rushing in four of his six seasons in the league, including two 1,000-yard rushing performances.
He finished second — behind Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts in 2021 and Chicago’s Justin Fields in 2022 — the other two seasons.
“All of them are unique,” Chiefs safety Justin Reid said of facing a running quarterback. “Lamar’s athleticism is second to none. His strength, his power, the way that he’s able to run the ball, his speed to get around the edge and be able to get north and south, all of those things are a big challenge for us, so we’re going to have to have our P’s and Q’s knocked out, try to contain him in the pocket as much as we can to make sure that we get him on the ground in those times that he does run.”
But facing Allen last week might have been a perfect tuneup for a matchup against Jackson.
“I think there’s a little carryover, for sure,” linebacker Nick Bolton said. “Those guys are both electric with the ball out in space. They’re able to look down the field and still make passes while also escaping.”
Spagnuolo acknowledged that it helps the defense to prepare for one of the league’s elite handful of running QBs in consecutive weeks.
“I think there is something to that,” Spagnuolo said. “The challenge is the same — a quarterback that can throw it, that can run it, that can scramble. It’s like three dimensions instead of two. Some of the things that we normally would put in a game plan for that type of quarterback were in there last week; they’ll carry over to this week.”
Not that he’s going to give up too much about the ways the Chiefs will tweak schemes and coverages to try and account for Jackson’s legs.
“They are different quarterbacks and what we might do to them might change a little bit,” Spagnuolo said. “I don’t want to dive too deep into it. But, if you put the film on, it’s like, ‘Well, how do you defend that?’ There’s some things he does that nobody else does. The best thing we can do is try to contain him as best as we can.”
Spagnuolo said it’s also critical to limit explosive downfield plays in the passing game, forcing Jackson to more methodically drive the length of the field.
Third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun has served as Jackson’s stand-in at practice.
“I think Chris gives us as good a look as we’re going to get during the course of a practice week,” Spagnuolo said.
Jackson has averaged 11 carries for 79 yards in three games against the Chiefs since Spagnuolo became coordinator in 2019.
That’s slightly better than his career average — 11 carries for 66.5 yards per game — but he’s struggled more in the passing game, completing only 56.7% of his passes and averaging 201 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in three games against Spagnuolo-coached defenses.
Jackson, who sat out the regular-season finale, led all quarterbacks with 821 yards rushing in 16 games this season, but he’s also improved as a passer — finishing with career-highs for passing yards (3,678), completion percentage (67.2%) and yards per attempt (8.0).
He posted a QB rating higher than 100 for the second time in his career.
Jackson also topped 100 in 2019 when he won NFL MVP. He’s a finalist again this season.
“He’s going to be the MVP for a reason,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “He goes out there, he leads his team, he scores, he runs, he throws, he does whatever it takes to win, and that’s what the greats do. It will be a great challenge for our defense.”
But is the prospect of facing Jackson keeping the Chiefs’ defenders up at night?
“Quite honestly, no,” Bolton said. “We’ve got 11 guys out there to do their jobs. I think the D-line’s going to go out there and have a great game. Last week was kind of an anomaly for them, but they’ve been out there balling for us for 18, 19 weeks. We’ve got to get back where we were. We’ve got to tackle a little better, but it starts up front.”
Jackson is 1-3 in his career against Kansas City, including a 1-2 mark since Spagnuolo’s arrival, but the Ravens and Chiefs haven’t played since 2021.
This will be the first postseason meeting but perhaps not the last to feature Mahomes and Jackson.
“(Jackson) continues to get better and better every single year,” Mahomes said. “I knew we were going to play in a lot of games like this as our careers go, and I’m sure this will be the first of many.”
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