A bitter memory helped fuel Chiefs’ Leo Chenal on spy mission vs. Lamar Jackson
In last season’s AFC Championship Game, Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal narrowly missed out on a chance to sack Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson spun from Chenal’s grasp that day and finished the play with a touchdown pass instead.
Chenal carried that moment with him throughout the NFL offseason.
“I kind of took that to heart,” Chenal said. “It’s something that stung me for a long time. So you just build off it it.”
The memory helped fuel Chenal’s energy for Thursday’s season opener against the same opponent at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Chenal was assigned the role of “spy” on Jackson, attempting to contain perhaps the NFL’s most elusive quarterback.
The result? Jackson put up big numbers: 273 passing yards and 122 rushing. But Chenal and Chiefs got the victory, 27-20 in a dramatic finish.
The game ended on the final play when Jackson’s pass to tight end Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone required an instant-replay review.
Touchdown was the original call, but it was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass because Likely’s toe was on the end zone line.
“It could have gone either way there,” Chenal said. “We were prepared to play the two-point conversion, or whatever they wanted to do. But I felt like we could have done better.”
The Chiefs’ defense appeared gassed by the game’s end. Jackson and the Ravens took possession at their 13 with 1:50 remaining and Jackson got them to the 10 with 10 seconds left.
Time for two plays.
On the first one, Jackson missed an open Zay Flowers in the end zone. The second was the shot to Likely.
When Chenal was told he would serve as the spy against Jackson, the second-year pro — one of the team’s top athletes — was thrilled.
“It’s an honor to step up and do that,” Chenal said. “For the coaches to put me in that position knowing full well how dangerous he can be if he gets outside the pocket and scrambles.”
Chenal spied Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills last season and while in college at Wisconsin was assigned to follow Jayden Daniels, when Daniels played at Arizona State before transferring to LSU.
Jackson presents his own set of challenges. He did most of his damage Thursday, as he often does, going off-script. Still, despite surrendering 452 total yards, the KC defense came up with enough big plays to make the difference.
Defensive line star Chris Jones turned the Chiefs’ lone sack into a fumble. That ball was recovered by teammate Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who added a tackle for loss.
Nobody had a better stat line that Chenal, however, with seven tackles, including one for a loss and two passes deflected.
The second one might have saved a touchdown. Late in the second quarter, Baltimore starting from the 7, Ravens running back Justice Hill slipped behind the Chiefs’ linebackers.
But Chenal quickly made up ground and knocked the ball away.
The key to being a good spy: Positioning. The line of scrimmage can be too close, but you can’t be too far back.
“It’s having a good eye and feel for where he’s going to go,” Chenal said.
On Thursday, Chenal and the Chiefs’ defense did just enough to complete the task of keeping Jackson, who is coming off his second NFL MVP season, from finishing at the end.
This story was originally published September 6, 2024 at 12:50 AM with the headline "A bitter memory helped fuel Chiefs’ Leo Chenal on spy mission vs. Lamar Jackson."