How the Chiefs’ pass rush dominated the Texans in Divisional round

The Chiefs defense recorded eight sacks on Saturday.

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Houston Texans 23-14 in the Divisional round of the AFC playoffs. The No. 1 overall seed in the AFC put on a dominating defensive performance, and the team’s pass rush showed up big when it was needed the most.

A combination of good individual performances and well-timed blitzes from defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo saw the Chiefs record an outstanding eight sacks, and punch their ticket to the AFC Championship game.

Karlaftis closing it out

George Karlaftis had the best performance of the day for the Chiefs, finishing the game with three sacks, all of which came in the fourth quarter of the game. His first was on a critical fourth-down play, that the Texans desperately needed to keep their season alive.

Earlier in the game, the Chiefs had struggled some to create a pass rush against quarterback CJ Stroud. The Texans had effectively used the running game and play-action passes to keep the Chiefs’ rush honest. On the few traditional drop-back passes that the Texans did run, they were quickly blown up by Chris Jones and Charles Omenihu.

By the time the fourth quarter had rolled around, the Texans had found themselves down by eight points in an obvious passing down — fourth-and-10. Spagnuolo had waited to bring the blitz, but he did so at the right time, and it gave Karlafits a free run at the quarterback.

With Jones on one side of the line and Karlaftis on the other, the Chiefs also walk up linebacker Nick Bolton and safety Justin Reid around the line of scrimmage. This causes the Texans to go to full slide-right protection.

At the last second, safety Jaden Hicks walks up inside Karlaftis and takes off after Stroud on the snap. The running back steps up to take Hicks but whiffs, and this leaves Karlaftis one-on-one with the tight end.

Stroud feels the pressure and starts to drift away, but Karlaftis quickly turns the corner on the tight end and shows off some impressive short-area bursts to chase down Stroud.

This stop got the Chiefs off the field, but it wouldn’t be the last big play of the quarter for Karlaftis.

The Chiefs would take a field goal mid-quarter to put themselves up two scores. With little time left, the Texans were forced to throw the ball without help from the play-action game, and Karlaftis wasted no time getting back after it.

On the snap, the tight end gives a little, but for the most part, this is a one-on-one for Karlaftis. Slowly working his way around the tight end, Karlaftis hesitates for a moment and then quickly accelerates around the right tackle with the help of a well-timed rip move.

Stroud tries to escape, but Karlaftis wraps him up and ensures he doesn’t get anything. This play would set the Texans back and take critical time off the clock, but they did manage to move the ball down the field and set themselves up for one final crack at the endzone.

On third down, Karlaftis would make another sensational play, cementing his legacy for one of the all-time postseason performances in team history.

The Texans’ offensive line goes full slide to the left, leaving the running back and tight end to account for Karlaftis. On the opposite side of the field, Chris Jones bullrushes Laremy Tunsil into the pocket, causing him to scramble.

On the opposite side, Karlafits fights through the tight end and then easily goes through the running back.

As Stroud steps up to avoid the pressure from Jones, Karlaftis smacks him for his third sack of the game. A play later, a blocked field goal would dash any hopes that the Texans would have of coming back.

Jones and Omenihu

Karlaftis stole the show with his late-game domination, but before that, Jones and Omenihu had been setting the table.

Both players were under constant harassment from double team blocks and the full attention of the Texans blockers, but when given one-on-one opportunities, they did not disappoint.

In one of the first true drop-back passing situations of the game for the Texans, Jones would come through.

Jones quickly gets off the line of scrimmage, and as the right tackle tries to throw his strike, Jones swats the hands down and bends the arc into the backfield. Stroud tries to escape, but Jones uses his long arms to bring down the quarterback and force a fourth down.

What makes this play interesting is that pre-snap, the Chiefs show the line of scrimmage walkup players. With the extra bodies on the line of scrimmage, this likely prevents the pass protection from sliding toward Jones, opening up the one-on-one situation for him.

With Jones drawing the offense’s attention for most of the game, Omenihu was also able to get a favorable one-on-one matchup as an interior rusher.

The Texans slide their protection toward Jones and also provide a tight end chip to help out Tunsil. On the opposite side of the line, Omenihu has a favorable matchup against the right guard and wastes no time getting busy.

With a lightning first step and hand swipe, Omenihu blows by the guard and times his hit on Stroud perfectly, knocking the ball out and recording the sack.

With the duo’s combination of versatility and the ability to dominate plays, Jones and Omenihu could be the best pass-rushing tandem left in the playoffs.

The bottom line

The defense also saw contributions from Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Tershawn Wharton, and Chammari Conner, who all recorded sacks.

It was a group effort for the Chiefs, and they will need to build on this performance headed into a highly anticipated matchup against the Buffalo Bills. Against an elite quarterback like Josh Allen, the defense will need all hands on deck, and the pass rush must continue to find ways to dominate.

Jones, Karlaftis and Omenihu can turn any game upside down, and the Chiefs will need them to do so to win on Sunday.