Chiefs shut door on Falcons

The Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) defeat the Atlanta Falcons (1-2) in Atlanta, 22-17 with a big performance from Rashee Rice.

The Kansas City Chiefs (3-0) did not make it easy on themselves, but in the end, linebacker Nick Bolton made a tackle to seal the game, giving them a five-point victory over the Atlanta Falcons (1-2). 

After a questionable defensive pass interference that went the Chiefs' way, the Chiefs made a key fourth-down stop after safety Bryan Cook was draped all over Falcons’ wide receiver Drake London. Kansas City did not take advantage however, going three and out, forcing their defense to make Atlanta turn the ball over on downs for the second straight series. 

Well, the Chiefs' defense did just that and even though the Chiefs had not scored since late in the third quarter, they left week three with a 22-17 win as they now look forward to the Los Angeles Chargers (1-2). Head coach Andy Reid knows his team could have made their third win a lot easier had they just got a first down or two coming off the fourth down stop.  

“We need to do a better job offensively on that last drive and not put the defense in that position, but we stepped up on the defensive side. They did a nice job of holding them out of there,” head coach Andy Reid said. 

It came down to a fourth and one with 56 seconds to go. Falcons running back Bijan Robinson took a handoff on an outside zone run to the left where Bolton split the gap to meet him in the only gap there was to run and wrapped up his ankles for his teammates to finish him off. The stop allowed quarterback Patrick Mahomes to take three straight kneels to end the game. Bolton used recognition from a play they ran earlier in the red zone to put himself in a better position to make a play, along with using fellow linebacker Leo Chenal to set the table for him. 

“(I) cheated over a little bit,” Bolton said. “It’s a rule around the locker room, if a tight end blocking 54 (Chenal), he's going to set the edge for you. So, I saw Leo set the edge, I just kind of went off his butt and I made a play …  (Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) had a great call. We put big d-linemen in there, those guys got vertical, and I just shot my gun.”

After being down 14-7 at one point, the Chiefs worked their way to a 22-14 lead after three field goals and a JuJu Smith-Schuster touchdown catch. Wide receiver Rashee Rice took over the game that once seemed like Kansas City would coast to victory. Rice set out to prove once again that he is a wide receiver-one and made his mark on the game by bringing in 12 catches on 14 targets for 110 yards and a touchdown. While Atlanta does have a talented defensive backfield, the Falcons scheme is tailored towards Rice’s strengths. 

“They played a lot of zone,” Rice said. “They kind of gave us a lot of different looks but they were still zone, basically meaning if I got to the other side of the field, as long as I found space in the middle of the field, Pat will be able to find me.”

It was not Mahomes best game, however, after throwing an errant interception for the third straight game. This pick came on the first drive of the game after tallying 15 plays and ended in the hands of old AFC West foe, safety Justin Simmons. Mahomes was targeting tight end Noah Gray on the second and eight after trying to match the Falcons' opening drive touchdown. Along with his touchdowns to Rice and Smith-Schuster, Mahomes finished with 217 yards to go with his lone interception. 

“Obviously, (I) got sped up a little bit but you can't force it,” Mahomes said. “Those are mistakes that you can't make in the red zone, and it seems like I make it to Simmons every time I play him.”

“We haven't played good, really all three games. We've been able to win. I mean, that speaks to the character of the team, the grit … I'll speak, especially offensively, and me myself, I feel like I haven't played very well and that's not a stats thing. I just feel like I'm missing opportunities whenever they're out there; not throwing the ball in the exact spot I want it to be at so, it's about me getting back to my fundamentals, putting our guys in the right position and then we got to execute at a higher level offensively.”

Kansas City did average 4.2 yards per carry with their running backs in the absence of Isiah Pacheco. Undrafted rookie Carson Steele earned his first start of his career and proved the Chiefs' faith in him. On 17 carries he rushed for 72 yards and kept the chains moving all night. Eighth-year running back Samaje Perine also rushed for 25 yards on six carries. 

“Obviously, you lose some of that juice that Isaiah (Pacheco) has. There's not a lot of people that are that fired up after every run and can run like that,” Mahomes said “I thought the guys did a great job and then at the end of the day I think the o-line took it upon themselves to accept the challenge and I mean, if you saw how the game went on those long drives, their defense was staying back and were going to force us to run the football and throw it short and we did that good enough to get the win.”

Tight end Travis Kelce was second on the Chiefs in receiving, albeit for four catches and 30 yards. The Chiefs immediately got him involved in the second half after just producing four yards in the first. Kansas City tried to get rookie Xavier Worthy involved but the Falcons put a cap on him. The Texas product ended with three carries for 13 yards as well as two catches for 17 yards. 

“The respect factor they have for Travis (Kelce) is just unreal,” Mahomes said. “I mean, it's well deserved but we're calling a lot of plays for Travis and it's like two or three people are going to him …  I'm going to try to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he's there and whenever he's open, but I think the more Rashee (Rice) makes plays, the more we're able to run the football, the more we can get Worthy involved, I think that's going to open Travis up more. People are really emphasizing trying to take him away and it's getting other guys open.”

Along with Bolton, who showcased why he is one of the premier middle linebackers in the league by racking up eight tackles in timely situations, second-year safety Chamarri Conner had his second strong showing. He made one of the plays of the game by intercepting Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins after getting pressure from defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton. When Conner picked him off he lateraled it to cornerback Jaylen Watson who took it further into Falcons territory just before the end of the half to close the Chiefs' deceit to one point after a Harrison Butker field goal ensued. Conner led the team in tackles, racking up 10 and also recorded two pass breakups. Wharton had a strong night, registering a batted pass, along with his quarterback hit. 

It was always going to be a part of the Chiefs' game plan to keep pressure on Cousins given his lack of mobility and they accomplished that by totaling 10 quarterback hits. Early on in the game 2023 first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah strip-sacked Cousins, although the Cheifs did not get a chance to recover after the Falcons’ Robinson committed a penalty by kicking the ball out of bounds. Later on in the third quarter defensive tackle Mike Pennel brought down Cousins after getting pressure from defensive end Mike Danna. 

After limiting Derrick Henry and the Cincinnati tailbacks to season lows, the Chiefs continued to keep a strength a strength by holding Robinson to 1.9 yards per carry. On 16 carries, the Chiefs linebackers were on him like glue all night, keeping him to just 31 yards and a touchdown. 

That does not mean Kansas City’s defense was without their woes, after London, tight end Kyle Pitts and wide receiver Darnell Mooney each tallied over 50 yards on 16 catches. London led the way with just  67 yards though, and none were allowed to take over the game completely. 

Overall, the Chiefs were able to outrush the Falcons by over 40 yards and controlled the ball for nearly 10 minutes longer. Kansas City’s offense clicked much better than they did against the Bengals and outgained their opponent for the first time this season, even though Atlanta played catchup with four downs to play on their last couple of drives. 

The Chiefs had no real injuries to speak of and next up, they travel to Los Angeles to take on the 2-1 Chargers. Los Angeles took their first loss of the season on Sunday after getting marred by injuries against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kickoff in Southern California is set for 3:25 CDT.