KANSAS CITY Eric Fisher Jersey , Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs had the Cardinals‘ Josh Rosen seeing red last week.As in a whole lot of red jerseys right in his face.The Chiefs sacked Arizona’s rookie quarterback five times in their 26-14 victory. They hit him 13 times, forced a fumble and generally made life miserable on a cold afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.No wonder Rosen was asked quite sympathetically how he felt after the game.Probably like he went through a trash compactor.But that performance by the Chiefs’ much-maligned defense was closer to the norm than anything special this season. They already have 31 sacks to match their total from all last season, even though their highest-paid player and top pass rusher, Justin Houston, has missed four games to injury.That puts the Chiefs in a tie with Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Green Bay for the NFL lead.“Defenses right now are stretched in the National Football League. You’ve seen it every week,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “To be able to get the pressure that we did on the quarterback (against the Cardinals) was a huge part of it. Stepping up with big plays when needed.”The Chiefs struggled last season to pressure the quarterback, and there was little reason to think that would change this season. They brought back most of the same cast, though Tamba Hali stepped into retirement after an unproductive year and rookie Breeland Speaks took his spot, and defensive coordinator Bob Sutton was retained after coming under intense scrutiny.But the Chiefs did make a couple of other important changes to the coaching staff, replacing their longtime linebackers coach Gary Gibbs with Mark DeLeone and Mike Smith. DeLeon handles the inside guys and Smith handles the outside linebackers, and by splitting up the duties both of them are able to give more one-on-one time to their players’ skill-specific needs.The progress is easiest to see in Dee Ford, the Chiefs’ former first-round pick who had battled injuries and inconsistency his first four seasons. The Chiefs picked up his fifth-year option — that was no guarantee — and he has flourished when it comes to getting after the quarterback.He has nine sacks to trail only the Rams’ Aaron Donald — who will be on the field against Kansas City on Monday night — and the Vikings’ Danielle Hunter. His total is also tied with J.J. Watt, Myles Garrett and Von Miller Demetrius Harris Jersey , leaving the always-upbeat Ford in some pretty select company.“I don’t think anyone in this league can block him coming off that edge one-on-one,” said Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt, who has tried several times with little success in practice.Ford isn’t just getting sacks, though. He has also hit the quarterback an astounding 20 times and has four strip-sacks to give the Chiefs the ball in some crucial situations.“Every week, that’s really what we preach. When you pressure the quarterback, mistakes happen, turnovers happen,” Ford said. “This is just our way of playing defense.”The Chiefs’ Chris Jones has seven sacks, including one in six straight games, and fellow defensive tackle Allen Bailey has a career-best five. Houston only has three sacks because of injuries, but he was back to near-100 percent against the Cardinals, picking off Rosen at the line of scrimmage.“Just hitting the quarterback, affecting him in any type of way,” Jones said. “Helping the back-end guys out — we affect the quarterback with tips Cameron Erving Jersey , overthrows. They could be incomplete passes or interceptions. We kind of complement each other.”Indeed, the Chiefs’ aggressive pass rush has been doubly important after their secondary had to go through some growing pains. Kansas City traded away top cornerback Marcus Peters, star safety Eric Berry has been out all season with a heel injury, and fellow safety Daniel Sorensen only recently returned to the field after breaking his leg in training camp.In other words, it has been a mishmash of next-man-up lineups in the defensive backfield, putting even more pressure on the guys up front to help them out.“We say every week that we’ve got to be willing to win the game however it presents itself, whether it’s on offense, defense or special teams,” Ford said. “Defense actually met this week and that’s one thing we spoke on: Let’s take it to another level. We can’t really rely, especially late in the season, off of a lot of points from our offense.“They’re tremendous,” Ford added by way of clarification, “but we can be tremendous also, and the same goes for special teams. Once we play like that as a unit Reggie Ragland Jersey , this team can be really great.”NOTES: SS Eric Berry (heel) and C Mitch Morse (concussion) did not practice Thursday. … Reid said the change in venue for Monday night’s game from Mexico City didn’t change his preparations. “Other than going to a hotel in Los Angeles,” he said. “That’s about it.” ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Thousands of Chiefs fans chanted Tyreek Hill’s name as he pranced toward the practice field for the first full-squad workout of training camp Saturday, the first time the star wide receiver has practiced with his teammates since the AFC title game.Hill thumped his chest, signed autographs, high-stepped across one practice field and played to the fans just over a week after the NFL said he would face no punishment from a messy offseason situation.The two-time All-Pro was suspended by the team during the NFL draft when audio surfaced of his then-fiance, Crystal Espinal, accusing him of hurting their 3-year-old son. But a criminal investigation and subsequent league inquiries failed to find enough evidence to support the claims.When the NFL announced last week it would not suspend Hill this season, the Chiefs wasted little time in confirming he would report to camp on the campus of Missouri Western State University.“Looked like he did some good things. He had a couple nice grabs, fast, quick, all of that,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He had a couple deep balls that he had to go get and he got them.”Hill was not available to speak to reporters, but quarterback Patrick Mahomes — who kept hitting him with a series of deep downfield throws — certainly sounded glad to have him back.“I thought it was good. I thought as a whole Jarvis Jenkins Jersey , the whole offense was rolling,” said Mahomes, the reigning league MVP. “We were really connecting on a lot of deep balls and intermediate throws. That’s a big part of our offense.”The overwhelmingly positive reception that Hill received on the practice field of the Division II college came just months after a public outcry to banish him from the league entirely.On the tape, only parts of which were aired on a local TV station, Hill talked about the way he punishes his son while also making threatening comments toward Espinal. The team immediately suspended Hill from all team activities, including voluntary summer workouts and its mandatory minicamp.At the time, Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said he was “deeply disturbed” by the audio.The full conversation, secretly recorded in a Dubai airport, aired months later on a local radio station. It put the initial audio in greater context: Hill not only denies hurting his son, he also said that he never hurt Espinal during a 2015 incident in which he pleaded guilty to domestic abuse.Hill was kicked off the Oklahoma State team following the incident and wound up at West Alabama.He had largely steered clear of trouble after the Chiefs took a significant risk by taking him in the fifth round of the 2016 draft. Hill also became one of the top returners and wide receivers in the NFL, earning a pair of All-Pro nods and three trips to the Pro Bowl while shattering a series of Chiefs records, including yards receiving in a season with 1,479 this past year.The Chiefs and representatives for Hill were discussing a long-term contract when the audio of Hill first broke. Those talks were shelved and it remains unclear to what extent they have resumed.“I had a good visit with him earlier this week,” Hunt said Saturday. “It was a very frank conversation Daniel Sorensen Jersey , talking to him about his responsibility as he comes back to being a Kansas City Chief.”Hunt declined to discuss the specifics of the conversation, but the chairman did say he stood by his comments about the initial audio. “I thought there was some inappropriate language in that tape,” he added, “and I’m sure Tyreek wishes he could have it back.”Also showing up for practice was defensive tackle Chris Jones, who skipped the offseason while angling for a new contract. He’s hoping to parlay his 15 1/2-sack performance last season into a massive payday, but the two sides appear far apart as he enters the last year of his rookie deal.“Most guys in that position, there’s a lot of outside noise that dictates what they do,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “For him to be here, that says a lot about his character and who he is as a person. … I could tell it’s not necessarily about money. It’s also being back in line with his boys.”NOTES: FS Armani Watts hurt his ribs during a running test earlier Saturday and was placed on the non-football injury list. … CB Bashaud Breeland cut his thumb early in practice. He was replaced by D’Montre Moore, who made the most of his opportunity by picking off a pass.