The Monday Night Football game tape is in, meaning Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had an opportunity to watch all 53 of Steve Nelson’s defensive snaps in his return to the lineup against the Denver Broncos.
“I thought he did a nice job,” Reid said. “He made some nice plays early and didn’t have a ton of opportunities after that. It was kind of what I was saying last night. Early, he had a couple real nice plays. He brought some energy there, too. He was fresh and a live wire out there, so he did good.”
53 snaps is 73 percent, so the Chiefs were using Nelson back in his best spot—as a nickel cornerback. He finished with four tackles (two solo) and one pass defensed.
“The plan was to get him in and have him play in the subgroup and that’s what we stuck to,” Reid added. “Then we were just checking with him to see how he was doing as we went, but he seemed to feel OK, looked like he was doing OK. I’m sure he’ll be sore today, but he did a good job yesterday for sure.”
Nelson had core muscle surgery prior to the season and the Chiefs placed him on injured reserve. Monday night marked his first game of the season and he looked good.
The Chiefs are no doubt a better team with Nelson in the lineup rather than without.