Nick Bolton says Chiefs’ protection ‘starting to heat up’

For the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, reaching the final word purpose this season could rely on how a lot the squad’s protection resembles the Tremendous Bowl-winning unit of final 12 months.

After some troubling moments halfway by way of the season, there are encouraging indicators. The Chiefs have now held 4 consecutive opponents to below 20 factors. After struggling a lot of the season to get turnovers, the protection has eight takeaways over the previous two weeks.

Talking earlier than Monday’s observe, linebacker Nick Bolton credited the staff’s line of defense for the latest enchancment.

“It’s starting to heat up,” he mentioned of the teammates in entrance of him on the sphere. “We’re doing loads of stuff. Up entrance’s sort of serving to us out on the again finish. We’ve gotten loads of turnovers within the final couple of video games, however loads of these come from pressures and them mixing up fronts. And getting stress on the quarterback and forcing unhealthy throws.

“Defensive line — for sure, up front they’re heating up. We’re going to need them in the back half of the year. It starts with them.”

Bolton believes Kansas Metropolis’s protection has struggled to show the ball over as a result of a lot is predicted of every participant individually.

“A lot of our tackles are one-on-one in space,” he remarked. “It’s kind of how our defense is and how teams are attacking us. It’s kind of schematics and how the game kind of falls out, but we’ve got a lot of one-on-one tackles. We love the turnovers and everything, but we need the tackles as well.”

Photograph by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Photographs

All through the season, the Chiefs’ run protection has shined — with lots of the league’s greatest backs behind held below 60 speeding yards in 2024 matchups. Because the beginning MIKE linebacker, the staff’s success in opposition to the bottom recreation is a serious bragging level.

“Going into the season,” he recalled, “we kind of wanted to pride ourselves in having better run defense, and we’ve done that up to this point in this year. I think on defense, especially in the front seven, [we] kind of proud ourselves on that. When the games kind of depend on us to get stops and get them into the third-and-longs and kind of help our DBs out, I definitely love it.”

The advance in opposition to the run ought to serve the staff properly on Wednesday in opposition to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bolton shared what he has taken away from movie research in opposition to his subsequent foe.

“[The Steelers] use tight ends,” he noticed. “They get big when they run the football. Honestly, one of the things that sticks out is [that] they’re not that that much in yards per carry, but [in] yards per game, they’re pretty up there in the league. So, it kind of shows the framework of their team, and they’re going to run the football — whether they have success or not. They’re going to lean on that.”

The Chiefs get a redemption alternative after being embarrassed final Christmas at dwelling by the Las Vegas Raiders. The loss can be Kansas Metropolis’s final for nearly 11 calendar months — outcomes that Bolton believes communicate for themselves.

Photograph by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs

“A lot of football has been playing since that last game,” he said, “and we actually got to play that opponent twice that we lost to last year. For me, personally, I don’t really think about last year. I’ve got an opportunity to go out here and do everything you want to do prior to the season with one win. So, that’s our mindset.”

The one staff to defeat the Chiefs since Christmas of 2023 was the Buffalo Payments, who topped Kansas Metropolis 30-21 in Week 11. Chiefs followers momentarily hoped on Sunday that the Payments may lose to the New England Patriots and permit Kansas Metropolis to clinch the AFC’s prime playoff seed regardless of the outcomes of the final two video games.

It was to not be because the Payments finally pulled out a 24-21 victory over the now 3-12 Patriots. Bolton revealed that the Chiefs have been at work making ready for Pittsburgh throughout the recreation — and that he desires this week to matter.

“We were all watching I think in the first quarter or so,” mentioned the linebacker, “but then we were meeting all afternoon. So, we kind of missed the back half of it, and then Buffalo kind of had took control. Honestly, I want to go win this week. That’s our mindset — regardless of what happened in that last game — I need this one.”