KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. He also covers the Chiefs on game days as our digital reporter. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Dak Prescott burned the Chiefs’ defense time and again on third down.
The Dallas offense went 9 for 16 on third down (56.3%) Thursday against Kansas City, 15% better than Steve Spagnuolo’s unit had allowed on average.
But it wasn’t simply that the Cowboys had so much success on third down, it was how they did it during a 31-28 victory in the Chiefs' first Thanksgiving Day game in 19 years.
“Just a bunch of penalties, man,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said. “As a team, we’ve got to fix what we can fix on that.”
If only it were that simple.
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Sure, Chiefs got flagged for four defensive pass interference penalties and had another declined, giving up five of the Cowboys’ 23 first downs by penalty, but none of those came on third down.
Nope, the bigger issues centered around the pass coverage and pass rush, which failed to produce a sack and remains overreliant on the blitz to generate pressure.
The Chiefs fooled Prescott with a blitz on the game’s initial third down.
Safety Jaden Hicks got a free run from Prescott’s right, forcing him to fade to his left and underthrow an intermediate out route to George Pickens.
Jaylen Watson sank deeper in his drop for an easier interception, which led to a Rashee Rice touchdown two plays later and all seemed right in Chiefs Kingdom, but the good vibes wouldn’t last.
Kansas City, which hadn’t forced a turnover in its three previous games, never managed another takeaway and Prescott, who finished 27 of 39 for 320 yards with two touchdowns and that pick on the opening drive, carved up Watson and fellow cornerback Trent McDuffie like a Thanksgiving turkey.
When Dallas found itself in third-and-7 or longer, Prescott bested the blitz time after time, going 7 of 7 for 101 yards with five first downs in those situations.
CeeDee Lamb, who finished with seven catches for 112 yards and a touchdown, beat McDuffie three times on third-and-long on Dallas’ second drive alone.
Lamb totaled 42 yards on those three catches, converting third-and-7 and third-and-9 before scoring a 15-yard touchdown on third-and-10.
McDuffie’s day only got worse. He was flagged for defensive pass interference three times while covering Lamb, allowing 55 yards in penalties.
“You’ve got to stay aggressive against those guys,” Reid said. “There’s no other way to do it. ... They’ve got some physical receivers — big, strong, physical guys — and that’s the way they were playing. In return, my guys were fighting.”
McDuffie, who hadn't allowed more than. 38 yards in any prior game this season, wasn’t alone on the struggle bus.
Pickens converted three third downs against Watson — including one that resulted in a declined pass-interference penalty, one that set up the go-ahead touchdown and another that iced the game in the closing minutes.
In addition to the pass interference that was declined earlier in the game, Watson got flagged for DPI on the game-ending drive as Dallas ran out the clock.
The Cowboys went after linebacker Nick Bolton, too, converting on third-and-7 and third-and-10 with throws to tight end Jake Ferguson in the first half, but it was Lamb and Pickens, who also caught a two-point conversion, who did most of the damage.
Something had to give in a matchup of one of the NFL’s top receiver tandems against one of the league’s best corner duos, but few would have predicted such a landslide win for Lamb and Pickens — who combined for 13 catches, 200 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion receiving while also forcing four penalties for 59 yards.
“I’m not always going to agree with the call, but the calls are made,” Reid said. “... It’s not the way I saw it, but it’s the way they saw, the officials saw it, so they made the calls.”
Kansas City’s run defense has been lauded for bottling up some of the NFL’s best running backs, but they’ve also shut down the opponents’ top receiver(s) in recent weeks.
Alec Pierce and Michael Pittman Jr. combined for only six catches for 53 yards, though Pittman did score a touchdown, last week for the Colts.
The Chiefs limited Courtland Sutton to four catches for 59 yards a week earlier in Denver, while Khalil Shakir managed seven catches for only 43 yards two weeks earlier in Buffalo.
It was the same story during Kansas City’s three-game win streak in October — Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown racked up nine catches for only 45 yards, while Las Vegas’ Tre Tucker had five catches for 33 yards and Washington’s Terry McLaurin managed only three catches for 54 yards.
Earlier in the year, New York Giants star Malik Nabers managed just two catches for 13 yards and Philadelphia's AJ Brown had five catches for a meager 27 yards.
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