Chiefs thin at safety

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —It doesn't take injuries to a couple of veteran safeties to summon visions of long touchdown runs by Jacksonville's Maurice Jones-Drew against the Chiefs on Sunday.

The Chiefs already were capable of allowing long runs with Jarrad Page or Jon McGraw in their starting lineup. They've allowed a run of more than 35 yards in each of the past three games.

But the odds that the elusive Jones-Drew, one of the league's rushing leaders, could burn the Chiefs in Jacksonville seem to improve because neither Page nor McGraw will play.

DaJuan Morgan will make his first career start instead, and the Chiefs are a little nervous about having someone so inexperienced starting on their last line of defense.

"We'll have to see how he reacts in game situations," strong safety Mike Brown said. "I have a lot of confidence in DaJuan. He's been doing a great job in practice and is really (eager) to play.

"But practice and games are sometimes different."

One thing seems certain: Morgan and the Chiefs will see plenty of Jones-Drew. He gained 177 yards and scored twice in last week's game against Tennessee, but he carried only eight times.

At one point, Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard switched the play call at the line of scrimmage from a run to a pass. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio this week stripped Garrard's ability to change the play call.

"We took that privilege away or that ability away and said, 'Look, just hand it to him and let him run the ball,' " Del Rio said. "(Jones-Drew) was getting 22 yards a carry. If we could have gotten him a few more carries, that would have been good for us. I like the times Maurice had the ball in his hands. I think he's an exciting player."

The Chiefs have played against two other runners currently ranked in the top 10 in rushing yards, Brandon Jacobs of the Giants and Ray Rice of the Ravens. But it's Jones-Drew, sixth in yards with 640 and leading in touchdowns with 10, who has their attention.

"It's hard to defend greatness sometimes," Brown said. "He makes a lot of people miss, and not just one guy will bring him down. I believe he's the No. 1 guy as far as missed tackles in the league. You saw what he did last week when he got into the open field. There wasn't anybody bringing him down.

"Something that we've definitely harped on in practice is that we've got to get a lot of people to the ball. It seems like all of his weight is from his knees to his waist. He's probably going to make some plays, but we've just got to make sure he doesn't get those big gainers where he scores. If we can cut him down to where his longest run is 10 or 15 yards, I think we've done a pretty good job."

The Chiefs drafted Morgan in the third round last year with one of the picks acquired from Minnesota in the Jared Allen trade. He's played mostly on special teams since then.

Morgan is a big hitter, but the Chiefs weren't certain they could trust him to not only line up in the proper place but also make sure his teammates were doing the same. One of the responsibilities of the safeties is to make sure the defense is properly aligned, and that's been a problem on some of the long plays the Chiefs allowed this year.

"They've got to quarterback the defense," coach Todd Haley said. "Mike Brown does a great job of that, and he'll help DaJuan in that area, take some of the pressure off him. He still has to communicate and know what's going on. I feel comfortable with where he's at."

The Chiefs had little option but to go with Morgan this week. He and Brown are the only healthy safeties. Reserve cornerback Maurice Leggett is an emergency safety this week.

"It's an area of concern for us," Haley said. "We've been cross-training some of those corners to be alert in an emergency situation if we were to have something happen. It's tenuous to say the least, at least for this week."

If he plays well, Morgan could move into the long-term picture at safety. Page is out for the season with a calf injury, and Brown and McGraw are both at least 30.

"Most of all, it's just playing ball and cutting loose," Morgan said. "When you go into games worried about not messing up, then it becomes the opposite. I don't want to play like that. I know what I'm doing."