The Dallas Cowboys expected hat their Sunday showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs would turn into a shootout. What they got instead was a beat down.The Chiefs ongoing revival has not been as much about their still struggling offense as it has their suddenly dominating defense. Defense is not often what you think of when you ponder an Andy Reid-coached team, but the Chiefs four-game winning streak that continued Sunday with a 19-9 victory over Dallas has been a direct result of Steve Spagnuolos transformative work with a defense that seemed to be in tatters early in the season.In the Chiefs JaCoby Jones Jersey first five games, Kansas Citys defense allowed an average of 32.6 points per game, a number no offense could long survive even if performing efficiently, which the Chiefs unit was not. The result was a 2-3 start and a lot of questions asked about the future of the two-time Super Bowl finalists.But since that point, Kansas City has gone 5-1 primarily because its defense has suddenly stiffened, allowing only 14.5 points per game as Spagnuolo began to attack with a revived pa s rush and a secondary that benefitted greatly from the pre sure its front put on opposing quarterbacks.Sunday was a case in point.Dallas was held without a touchdown largely because the Cowboys running game stalled, and quarterback Dak Prescott was under constant pre sure. Prescott was sacked five times, hara sed all day and forced into two Brandon Dixon Jersey interceptions and a fumble. The Cowboys were inside the Chiefs 30 five times but failed to score a touchdown because there was no place to run and nowhere for Prescott to hide. In the end, Dallas punted six times, ended three drives with turnovers and made three field goals. They were made to look, in a word, inept despite being the number-one scoring offense in the NFL coming into the game.Prescotts chief hara ser was defensive lineman Chris Jones, who sacked him 3 times, recovered his fumble after Prescott was rocked by Frank Clark and tipped Prescotts final pa s, leading to a game-clinching interception.It was the second straight week where the Chiefs defense dominated a challenging offense, having shut down Derek Carr and the Raiders a week earlier. In that game, Kansas City allowed only 14 points in a blowout victory, limiting Carr to 206 pa sing yards, no touchdown pa ses and an interception. Thus, against Carr and Prescott, Spagnuolo concocted plans that held them to no touchdown pa ses, three interceptions and an average of 211 pa sing yards.To say the Chiefs have gone from docile to dominant defensively is exactly the point, and if that continues they could well find themselves back in the Super Bowl for the third straight season. It would have been blasphemous to have suggested such a thing a month into the season when their offense was turnover prone and their defense a sieve. But while the offense struggled again Sunday with mistakes and undisciplined penalties against an equally stout Cowboys defense, its defense picked up the slack and dominated an opponent who had scored at Victor Martinez Jersey least two touchdowns in every game this season.If the Chiefs can maintain this level of defensive dominance at the line of scrimmage and begin to get more consistency and reliability out of its offense they will be what theyve been the last few seasons: A tough out. SUNDAY SCHOOL: 5 THINGS I THINK I LEARNED1. The Bills arent ready for prime time yet and neither is Josh Allen. The Bills were the fashionable pre-season pick of many to get to the Super Bowl. But after being taken apart at home by the Colts Sunday, Buffalo is reeling. The Bills started off 4-1 but are 2-3 in their last five games, and Allen has thrown five picks in the last three, two of them for lo ses. They have now lost the lead in the AFC East by a half-game to the surprising New England Patriots and face them in a showdown in two weeks when they appear to be two teams going in opposite directions.2. Dont sleep on the Colts. Indianapolis has emerged as a legitimate AFC threat having won five of its last six with its only lo s an overtime one against the Titans. Indy has a powerful runner in Jonathan Taylor, and his rise has greatly aided quarterback Carson Wentz. With le s pre sure to carry the offense, Wentz hasnt thrown an interception in eight of his last nine games. No wonder. Wentz only had to throw 20 times Sunday for 106 yards because Taylor and a ball-hawking defense did the heavy lifting. That defense forced four turnovers to take over the league lead in takeaways with 25 in defenses most crucial category.3. THEYRE BAAAACCCK. No one really thought the New England Patriots were going anywhere this season despite having invested $175 million in guaranteed money on an influx of free agent talent. Led by rookie quarterback Mac Jones, who was the fifth quarterback drafted in April, expectations were low. But today Bill Belichick finds his team atop the AFC East by a half-game, and his genius reputation resurrected after a one-year hiatus. In two weeks hell face Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen, whom he privately grumbled is le s than some think he is. The Patriots havent won anything yet, but thanks to the Bills poor performance Sunday and the Patriots five-game winning streak the football Al Kaline Jersey world is trembling that the road to the Super Bowl may again lead through Foxboro in January.4. NFL crackdown on taunting continues. Its never good to point fingers at a teammate, but as the Chiefs Clyde Edwards-Helaire found out Sunday the NFL isnt going to tolerate even a single digit pointed in an opponents direction Jackie Robinson Jersey these days. Edwards-Helaire was healthy and on the field for the first time in five games, so one can understand his exuberance when he skirted the edge of the Cowboys defense for a one-yard TD run just before halftime. But when he pointed at one late-arriving Cowboy defender for a moment the officials hit him with a taunting penalty. It seemed like a case of overzealous zebras but didnt seem to bother his teammates, who gathered around him on the sidelines in a dancing celebration. One a sumes it was for the score and not the finger wagging but you never know.5. Theres no QB controversy in Motownyet. Any thoughts that there might be a brewing quarterback controversy with the Lions struggling and Jared Goff injured and performing poorly ended quickly yesterday. Replacement Tim Boyle pa sed for only 77 yards and threw two interceptions in a 13-10 lo s to the slipping Cleveland Browns. THIRD AND 101. The Vikings figured out how to get young receiver Justin Jefferson free from double coverage Sunday. The second-year receiver caught eight pa ses for 169 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bays vaunted pa s defense and was already at 100 yards receiving at the end of the first quarter. Teams keep bracketing him with
