Whenever there's a statistic or record that's followed with the tag of "in more than a decade," particularly when talking about a playoff performance, that's pretty impressive.
For the Kansas City Chiefs, the 30-0 shutout of the Houston Texans on Saturday was the first shutout in a playoff game in more than a decade.
"I guess it's a good deal," safety Eric Berry said of the feat after the game. "We wanted to come in and get a win. We wanted to come in and dominate."
We're talking about the best teams in football and one of them can't put a single point on the board because the other team is beating them at every level of the defense.
That's what happened on Saturday.
The domination by the Chiefs defense started in the trenches. Allen Bailey, Jaye Howard, Dontari Poe and Mike DeVito led the way by controlling the line of scrimmage and getting pressure on Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer throughout the game.
"Any time you can get to the quarterback and put pressure on him or make him uncomfortable in the pocket, you can create turnovers," linebacker Justin Houston said after the game.
"I think we did a good job, but the interior guys did a great job."
The 5 turnovers made the difference in the game, but they were only possible because the guys up front controlled the running game.
Besides one play in which running back Alfred Blue got loose for 49 yards (which accounted for 22 percent of the Texans total offense), the rest of the day belonged to the guys up front for the Chiefs.
There was so much talk going into the game about the pass rush from both teams, highlighting Houston, Tamba Hali and Dee Ford for the Chiefs.
They made impacts and affected Hoyer inside of the pocket, but it was the interior guys who were cleaning up the mess and racking up the sacks.
Howard finished with 1 sack and Bailey with 2, one of which also led to a fumble, as he put left tackle Chris Clark on skates and drove him back into Hoyer's arm. That caused the fumble and Poe recovered.
With all that pressure and the fact that the score basically made the Texans offense one-dimensional as the game grew on, the situation lent itself to guys pinning their ears back and getting after the quarterback.
When a team has a defensive coordinator like Bob Sutton dialing up the kind of talent the Chiefs have on defense, the result is something that hasn't happened in more than a decade: a goose egg.
"It's not a surprise to us," Houston said. "We're on a mission. We've had the same goal since day one."
Arguably the biggest of the 5 turnovers for the Texans came inside of the 5-yard line of the Chiefs, and it ultimately became the best opportunity for the Texans to put points on the boar
Just one play after J.J. Watt attempted a run out of a special goal-line package, which also featured another defensive player in nose tackle Vince Wilfork, Hoyer faced a second-and-goal from the 3-yard line. The result of that gimmicky play was a loss of a yard.
On second down, it was Poe's pressure up the middle that made linebacker Josh Mauga's end of the deal much easier.
"It was just a bad decision," Hoyer recalled of that interception. "I've got to be smarter about that play. I saw (Alfred) Blue flash and I've got to know better than you know - someone at my feet, just be smart and throw it out of the back of the end zone.
"It was a dumb decision. It definitely took points off the board and that's on me."
His decision put the ball right into the hands of Mauga, who was standing on the goal line and then returned it 20 yards and got the Chiefs defense out of harm's way.
"Our defense has been a rock for us this season," rookie receiver Chris Conley said after the game on Chiefs Rewind. "They've been consistent in every game. They've been able to step up and make big plays even in situations where it looks like the other team is about to score.
"That was evident today keeping them off the scoreboard. Props to those guys."
That would be the only time the Texans offense got inside of the red zone.
"We were just aggressive," rookie cornerback Marcus Peters said. "We wanted to go out there and just play our style of football. We wanted to get after the quarterback and make our plays in the backfield."
Peters has continued to make plays in the backfield and was singled out during the week by Texans star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who then even went as far as letting Peters know during pregame warmups that he wanted to match up with him.
The result was one of the lowest yardage totals of Hopkins' season.
The recent style of football for the Chiefs has now resulted in 11 straight wins, and Saturday's victory broke an eight-game consecutive losing streak in the playoffs.
But the current players aren't focused on that, and they didn't let any of that talk all last week get in the way of what they're trying to accomplish.
"That's the past," Houston said. "This is the future and we're trying to make history."
Postgame facts and stats from the Chiefs Wild Card victory over the Houston Texans
CHIEFS WIN FIRST POSTSEASON GAME IN 22 SEASONS: Today's 30-0 win over the Houston Texans snaps an eight-game playoff game losing streak spanning 22 seasons. The Chiefs last postseason win was also in Houston as Kansas City beat the Oilers 28-20 in an AFC Divisional Round matchup. The Chiefs extend their winning streak to 11 games after entering the playoffs on a 10-game streak.
CHIEFS SHUTOUT TEXANS: The Chiefs held the Texans scoreless marking the first time in franchise history the club has shut out an opponent during postseason action. The last time a team was shutout in an AFC Wild Card game was when the New York Jets beat the Indianapolis Colts 41-0 on Jan. 4, 2003.
DAVIS LONGEST KICKOFF RETURN NFL HISTORY: RB Knile Davis returned the opening kickoff 106 yards, marking the longest kickoff return in NFL AFC Wild Card postseason history and the second longest in overall NFL postseason history. Baltimore Ravens WR Jacoby Jones returned a kickoff 108 yards in Super Bowl XLVII. Davis' kickoff return is the first kickoff return touchdown in postseason action since Seattle WR Percy Harvin's 87-yard kickoff return in Super Bowl XLVIII. In two playoff games, Davis now owns three touchdowns, which ties Marcus Allen and Mike Garrett for most touchdowns in postseason play. Both Allen and Garrett had three touchdowns in the six playoff games they saw action in.
SANTOS HITS POSTSEASON FRANCHISE LONG: K Cairo Santos converted two 49-yard field goals and a 33-yard field goal. He set a postseason franchise record as 49 yards is the longest converted field goal in a playoff game. K Jan Stenerud held the previous mark as he hit a 48-yard field goal in Super Bowl IV. Santos' three field goals ties the franchise best mark achieved by three other kickers. Santos recorded touchbacks on all seven of his kickoffs in today's game to set a franchise record for most touchbacks in a playoff contest. Santos ranks first in Chiefs postseason annals recording a perfect seven of seven on touchbacks.
BAILEY & POE COMBINE IN SACK-FUMBLE: DL Allen Bailey logged his first sack during postseason play while forcing a fumble by QB Brian Hoyer, which was later recovered by DT Dontari Poe, also a postseason first in his career. Bailey added another sack for a loss of five yards to give him 2.0 sacks in today's game, which marks the ninth time in playoff franchise history a Chiefs player has recorded 2.0 or more sacks in a single postseason contest. He finished the 2015 season with 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. Poe has one other fumble recovery in his career.
HOWARD TAKES DOWN HOYER: DL Jaye Howard recorded his first career postseason sack as he took down QB Brian Hoyer for a loss of seven yards in the second quarter. Howard had a career-high 5.5 sacks during the 2015 season.
FOUR TEAM INTERCEPTIONS: The Chiefs had four interceptions in today's game, which is the second most ever recorded in a playoff game and the fourth time the Chiefs have recorded four or more INTs in a single playoff game. The last time the club had four interceptions in postseason action was vs. the L.A. Raiders on Dec. 28, 1991 in an AFC Wild Card matchup.
BERRY LOGS FIRST PLAYOFF INT: S Eric Berry intercepted a QB Brian Hoyer pass in the first quarter to mark his first interception during postseason action. Berry had two interceptions in 2015 regular season action.
PETERS LOGS FIRST PLAYOFF INT: CB Marcus Peters intercepted QB Brian Hoyer and returned it two yards to mark his first interception in his first playoff game. Peters finished the 2015 season with eight interceptions, a mark that tied the NFL best as well as tied the Chiefs rookie record.
MAUGA INTERCEPTS HOYER: LB Josh Mauga intercepted QB Brian Hoyer at the Chiefs 2 yard line and returned it 20 yards, marking his first interception during postseason play. Mauga had two interceptions in 2015 returned a total of 70 yards.
SMITH ADDS INT: CB Sean Smith recorded his first playoff interception and returned it 13 yards. He had two interceptions during the 2015 season.
CONLEY SCORES FIRST PLAYOFF TD: WR Chris Conley capped an 11-play, 89-yard drive with a nine-yard connection with QB Alex Smith, marking his first playoff touchdown in his first career postseason action. Conley scored one touchdown during the regular season vs. Pittsburgh.
SMITH CONNECTS FOR 10th CAREER POSTSEASON TD: QB Alex Smith hit Conley on a nine- yard pass to give him his 10th postseason touchdown. In four playoff games, Smith has 80 completions on 133 attempts for 1,009 yards and 10 touchdowns. In two playoff games with the Chiefs, Smith ranks third for both pass attempts and completions. His 77.0 completion percentage (17 completions on 22 attempts) is a franchise best in postseason action.
PRECISION PASSING STREAK: With five pass attempts today, QB Alex Smith extended his postseason passing streak to 119 passes without throwing an interception to own the longest streak in NFL postseason history. Earlier this season Smith threw 312 passes without throwing an interception, giving him the second longest streak in the NFL during regular season play.
KELCE RECORDS 100+ RECEIVING YARDS: TE Travis Kelce had eight catches for 128 yards, to become the eighth player in Chiefs history to record 100 or more receiving yards in a playoff contest. His eight catches tie the top mark by a Chiefs pass catcher in postseason history. He is the fifth Chiefs players to record eight catches in a single postseason game. His 128 yards rank third in Chiefs postseason history.
WARE RUNS IN FIRST PLAYOFF TD: FB/RB Spencer Ware ran in a five-yard touchdown, marking his first career playoff touchdown. Ware led the team with six rushing touchdowns in 2015.
