Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley got his seventh win as the Chiefs head coach Sunday defeating the San Francisco 49ers, 31-10, on Sunday.
After the game, Haley explained some of the keys to the game from the Kansas City perspective including first downs, being physical and turning the ball over.
The Chiefs did relatively well in each area. Here's Haley's breakdown.
First downs:
Today, I really felt like first-down was going to be the critical down for us. Some of the other sexier downs get a little more talk and some of the other areas of the field get a little more talk, but I think if you’re playing a team like San Francisco, whose been one of the top teams in the league on first-down through two games on both sides of the ball, that became a real critical down for us. I don’t know the numbers yet, but I feel across the board, both offensively and defensively, that the guys understood that. They played together, they made plays on first-down, which then made other situations much more manageable, across the board. First down was real critical for us.
The Chiefs nearly doubled their passing average on first down for the season and they were a full yard better running the ball on first down than they were coming into the game. Clearly, this was part of the solution on Sunday.
Being physical:
We had to be physical, which we were. I think it’s clear you can see this team likes to run and hit across the board. They don’t mind getting into it a little bit from a physical standpoint. That’s the way it’s got to be. They understand it, our guys understand it, and they’re willing to go out there and slug it out a little bit, which worked to our benefit today.
The 49ers are a tough defense and generally one of the top run defenses in the NFL. The Chiefs had to be physical with them and they were. DE Shaun Smith consistently disrupted running plays to his side while Tamba Hali got three of the Chiefs five sacks. They were definitely aggressive.
Turnovers:
The final thing was turnovers; we turned it over on downs a few times, an interception. We had one down the left sideline that we can’t allow to happen. It was a heck of a play by the corner. That’s one of those that we’re working hard on not allowing to happen. We’ve just got to do a better job in a couple of different areas and not allow that to happen again. That’s a multiple-person error or turnover, in my opinion, without watching the tape.
The Chiefs turned it over once but it didn't hurt them. On the following possession after the Matt Cassel interception, Brandon Flowers returned the favor with an interception and re-installed the Chiefs field position in 49ers territory.
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