Why Rashee Rice Was The Best WR On The Field Vs The Dolphins

Rashee Rice's development as a WR may be the key to the Chiefs' offense turning it around in the playoffs.

The Kansas City Chiefs dominated the Miami Dolphins in the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs. The Chiefs’ defense is why they won the game allowing only 7 points and 264 total yards but it was the play of the offense that helped them turn out a rather complete performance. There were still some struggles on the offensive side the ball - mainly in the red zone - but the Chiefs’ offense scored on 6 of 9 true possessions and had their highest total yards since Week 7 with 409.

The Chiefs’ defense had been excellent all season but it was the offense with the big step up for this week and it led to the complete control of the football game. So what changed? Like always, the answer is pretty much everything from quarterback play, to game planning, to an injury riddled opponent, but one player that stood out more than everyone else was Rashee Rice.

Rice ended the game as the Chiefs leading receiver in every category and the Chiefs’ mostly needed him too. Travis Kelce also had great production but was having and up and down day overall. This pushed Rashee Rice into the spotlight even more and he delivered.

Rashee Rice’s Development

Rice finished the game with a season high in yards and targets. He was also the Chiefs’ go-to answer on a variety of high leverage situations which is an incredibly turn around from him being a YAC only weapon to start the year. It’s clear that Patrick Mahomes has trust in him and that’s evident by him getting the Deep Over calls on 3rd and long, the first look on short slants vs heavy pressure looks, and yeah the big, explosive YAC plays are still in the playbook.

Zone Spacing

The biggest thing the Chiefs’ offense has been lacking all year has been reliability. Whether in terms of trust from Mahomes to be in the correct spot, the ability to catch the football, or adjusting to the game on the fly. For much of the year, Rice also fell into the category of contributing to this problem despite the very obvious flashes of potential but down the stretch of the season we began to see a shift.