The Sports Xchange

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After missing 15 games last season, Derrick Johnson was back in his familiar spot at inside linebacker in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2015 season opener in Houston. Johnson finished the victory over the Texans with eight tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass deflection.

“I was kind of like a high school kid, just jumping gaps here and there; I wasn’t reading like I should,” Johnson said of his comeback performance. “But as I settled down throughout the game, I played a lot better. This game hopefully I can start faster than I did when I started last week. This is the home opener so this is going to be big.”

Thursday night against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium, Johnson will be on the brink of establishing his name at the top of the franchise’s defensive record books. The former first-round draft choice out of the University of Texas is just seven tackles away from 1,000 for his career.

“I thought about it last year a lot,” Johnson said. “My main focus now is helping the team win and that record will get broken while I’m doing that.”

With a seventh stop, he will break the club record of 999 tackles that’s been held by linebacker Gary Spani (1978-86) for nearly 30 years.

“It’s a mark of professionalism and consistency; linebackers, that’s what we are supposed to do – make tackles,” said Spani, who works in the team’s front office handling special events. “He’s just been consistent and it’s been fun to watch him grow.”

Head coach Andy Reid said Johnson was one of the most consistent players week-to-week that’s he’s coached in his NFL career with Green Bay, Philadelphia and Kansas City.

“You find guys that have done it as long as him, you go, ‘Yeah, you know what, he’s one of the better ones I’ve coached,'” Reid said. “All the linebackers are different. They kind of all put their own stamp on how they play. Derrick is a smart player, he’s a downhill player and he’s able to get small. He’s a good-sized guy and he’s able to get small and low and be very effective. He’s pretty elusive in there.”

Over his career, Johnson has been selected for three Pro Bowls, but he has played in only three games in the playoffs and that’s kept his national profile at a low level. Over the years, few inside linebackers have made as many plays as Johnson. In 139 games, he’s totaled 993 tackles, 23.5 sacks, 11 interceptions with three returns for touchdowns, 20 forced fumbles and seven recovered fumbles.

Making plays is something Johnson has done since his college career with the Longhorns where in his senior season he set an NCAA. Single-season record with nine forced fumbles.

“I can remember studying him in college and he’s always been a very active, instinctive linebacker,” said defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. “I remember thinking, ‘Man, this guy is really active, he’s got this instinct and he’s very sudden, really sudden in-line and he can jump underneath a block and make a great play.’ Anybody can do that, but he seems to have the really good instincts to not be wrong very often.”

Sutton compared Johnson to one of his former pupils when he was coaching linebackers with the Jets.

“One guy that I had who was pretty good at it was Jonathan Vilma,” Sutton said. “Jonathan could slice in there and it was the same thing; he was very quick in-line. That’s what you need, because that opening is only there for just a mini-minute and bam, you’ve got to make that decision or that door shuts.

“We have no drills to teach that, I can tell you that. That comes with the player. I think he’s one of those guys who, I know if you’re on offense, he has to be a pain in the rear because he can do those things that you say shouldn’t happen.”

–When the Chiefs announced on the first day of training camp on July 28 that nose tackle Dontari Poe had undergone surgery on a ruptured disk in his lower back, there were concerns that the Pro Bowler would miss half the 2015 season or more.

Poe did not practice or play in any of the preseason games. But when the regular-season bell was rung, he was ready. Poe saw action on 32 plays in the regular-season opener against Houston. That was nearly 50 percent of the defensive downs.

“We wanted to keep him right around that area for that game” said head coach Andy Reid. “He did a nice job in there for a guy that has practiced for a week or so.”

Poe was given credit for two tackles against Houston, but he was able to push the pocket backward in the middle of the pass rush, helping the Chiefs pick up five sacks against the Texans.

Getting that middle push will be very important against the Broncos and the not very mobile quarterback Peyton Manning. In the first four years of his career, the 2011 first-round draft choice played in more than 95 percent of the defensive snaps. Will Poe’s playing time increase?

“We’ll just see,” Reid said. “I don’t necessarily have a number count for you, and I probably wouldn’t give it to you if I had one.”