Orlando Scandrick says this Chiefs team is “special”

Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Orlando Scandrick is 31 years old. He’s playing in his 10th NFL season — the first nine of which were with the Dallas Cowboys.

A player of Scandrick’s age isn’t as fast or athletic as he was when he was 21. That’s a given.

But it’s also a given that Scandrick has wisdom. Before coming to the Chiefs, he spent his whole career on a consistently good football team — one that went to the playoffs in multiple seasons. He knows a lot of NFL players and knows a lot about the teams for which they play.

To put it another way, he’s not only been around the block, but he also knows about what happens on the other blocks in the neighborhood.

So when Scandrick talks about the Chiefs team for which he is now playing — as he did after Sunday’s 30-14 victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars — we should pay attention.

“I feel like we have something really, really special,” he said. “I have been in the NFL a long time and I have never been around a team with the kind of infectious spirit like this. This is a team that comes to work every day and tries to get better, and just embraces every challenge.”

He was asked about the five takeaways the Chiefs got against the Jaguars offense — the last of which was his own end-zone interception that ended Jacksonville’s final drive.

“It was a long time coming. Turnovers come in bunches. We talked about that all week. We talk about touching the ball in practice and carrying it over to the game, and I think this was just the beginning of what is to come.”

Fellow defensive back Kendall Fuller had similar thoughts when speaking about safety Jordan Lucas and his 49-yard interception return on Sunday.

“They always say things that you do in practice, that happens in the game. [Lucas] was in practice during the week flying around and making plays. It shows up on Sunday.”

“I think it was coming,” Fuller said. “I think the main thing is just coming out with energy. I think how we were just flying around, having fun, making plays. It was definitely coming.”

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes — who doesn’t have the direct experience that players like Scandrick have, but spent much of his childhood around professional athletes like his father — spoke about Dee Ford’s strip-sack of Blake Bortles immediately after his first interception of the season.

“It shows what kind of team we are in every phase of the game,” he said. “We can win games with everyone on this team. It’s not just the offense, it’s not just the defense, it’s not just special teams. We’re a unit, and we believe that.”