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When the Kansas City Chiefs faced the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football in Week 15, there was a player sporting a Kansas City uniform that had also worn a Chargers uniform for a long time.
Defensive end Melvin Ingram, who was traded to the Chiefs on November 2, was a draft pick of the then-San Diego Chargers. As a first-round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Ingram spent nine seasons with the Chargers before departing this past offseason to join the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now in a Chiefs uniform, the veteran pass rusher has a bit of a revenge tour in Weeks 15 and 16, as Kansas City faced the Chargers and then take on the Steelers the following week.
The 34-28 overtime victory for the defending AFC champions against Los Angeles had major implications tied to it for the Chiefs, who retained the AFC West lead with a win and kept their chances of obtaining the No. 1 seed in the AFC alive. This is in large part due to Ingram, who, while having a significant impact on the field during the game, said one word before the game started and another after regulation that guided the Chiefs to the win.
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Ingram Wins 2 Coin Tosses vs. LA
During pregame, Ingram was chosen as the player to represent Kansas City for the opening coin toss. With the option to choose heads or tails, Ingram opted for the latter, and the Chiefs won the coin toss, choosing to defer until the second half.
Then in overtime, Ingram went out for the coin toss again, chose tails for the second time and won. The Chiefs chose to receive the football, and ended up winning the game with a walk-off touchdown by Travis Kelce.
“We were able to have the ball last. My hat goes out to Melvin Ingram for winning two coin flips, and here he comes back to a team that he loved for all those years,” head coach Andy Reid said during his postgame press conference on Thursday, December 16. “He had an opportunity to put on the uniform of his rival, one of the rivals, and do such a nice job for us.”
Ingram’s Impact Since Being Traded
Outside of his extreme luck with coin tosses, Ingram’s impact on the Chiefs defense has been significant since joining the team.
In six games played for Kansas City this season, Ingram has recorded three quarterback hits, one sack, and one tackle for loss. While those stats may not impress anyone, what is impressive is his 79.3 overall grade by PFF, which ranks fifth-best among all the Chiefs defenders this season.
Ingram’s strong play has led to a rebound by a Kansas City defense that was one of the worst in the league through the first half of the regular season. Heading into the game against Los Angeles, the defense was allowing just 11.2 points per game since Week 8, which ranked second in the NFL. While they did give up 28 points to Los Angeles in Week 15, they were also without three of their top defenders — defensive tackle Chris Jones, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, and linebacker Willie Gay.
Despite not having those players, the unit still managed to force two turnovers by way of an interception and a fumble at the goal line, and managed to have three fourth-down stops against the high-flying Chargers offense that went for it on fourth down five times in that game.
The defending AFC champions will look to extend their win streak to eight games when they take on the Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 16 on Sunday, December 26.
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