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Five things that stood out about the Chiefs’ nail-biting win against the Falcons

sam mcdowell
·5 min read

Patrick Mahomes wasn’t his best. Far from it.

Travis Kelce has yet to take over a drive, let alone a game.

The short-yardage woes are back.

Oh, and here the Chiefs sit, 3-0 just the same.

A team built on a survivor mentality survived once more, beating the Falcons 22-17 on Sunday Night Football in Atlanta.

Let’s get to them: Here are the observations from immediately after the game:

As Patrick Mahomes turned 29 years old last week, the Chiefs published the top 29 highlights of his career. As I watched each one, I wondered how some were so low on the list, before another clip would flash. Oh, yeah, how’d I forget about that one?

That’s all to say this: A lot of highs.

The trip to Atlanta wasn’t among them.

Mahomes was about as inaccurate as we’ve ever seen him — from the opening drive.

On that initial possession, Mahomes underthrew a receiver four times — capped with an interception while targeting Noah Gray in the end zone. Bad throw. Bad decision.

Not a great combo.

He never did settle in, even with a game plan that called him for him to throw the ball short. Of his 39 throws, 31 were less than 10 yards downfield.

Look, Nick Bolton has taken a lot of heat over the initial two weeks of the season, as opposing teams have targeted him in coverage — successfully, I’ll add.

On Sunday, the Chiefs don’t win without him.

News, analysis and storylines to watch in the Chiefs’ Week 3 game against the Falcons in Atlanta.

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→ Download our exclusive game-day poster

Bolton sniffed out the Falcons’ fourth-down play — recognizing the handoff to Bijan Robinson would go wide rather than straight up the gut.

That’s half the work.

The other? The tackle. His specialty.

For all of the Bolton talk, he still does that quite well. Bolton wrapped up Robinson all by his lonesome, the game-sealing stop on a drive in which the Chiefs gave the Falcons three first downs by penalty.

Maybe we shouldn’t refer to it as a development.

It’s ongoing this point.

That’s one, two, three quiet weeks for Travis Kelce.

Kelce had just four catches for 30 yards, giving him just eight receptions for 69 yards through three weeks.

Kelce downplayed the start to his season during his podcast this week.

The Falcons, though, were the league’s worst team in defending the middle of the field over the initial two weeks, per FTN DVOA metrics. In other words, the game in Atlanta represented opportunity.

And yet, not much.

Even if reasonable minds can disagree about its permanence, which the film will help determine, we can’t disagree about its prominence. The Chiefs offense is a different beast when Kelce is not one. They opened the second half with some intentionality to targeting him — including on the first play.

Later in the half, he dropped a key third-and-short pass that would forced the Chiefs to punt.

One of Andy Reid’s best strengths as an offensive coach is utilizing what individual wide receivers do best.

I realize a compliment for the wide receiver room as a whole might be a bit ill-timed.

But this isn’t.

It’s about one.

Rashee Rice is the Chiefs’ go-to option in the offense because Reid has made it so.

Rice had 12 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.

In three weeks, he has seen three teams defend him differently. He’s beaten them all.

A week ago, he tagged the Bengals deep.

On Sunday, it was all short. His 11th catch was the first to travel at least 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

The Chiefs just kept attacking it. Why not?

Rice finished fourth in the NFL last season with 656 yards after the catch. His 8.3 yards after catch per reception was second to only San Francisco receiver Deebo Samuel.

The Falcons gifted the Chiefs three points at the end of the first half by pressing the issue with less than a minute left — though, to be fair, a couple of players ensured they earned him.

Tershawn Wharton hit the throwing arm of Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, prompting a floater than Chiefs cornerback Chamarri Conner camped under for an interception. The Chiefs closed the half with a Harrison Butker field goal.

It’s a theme.

From both players.

A week after being the only guy on the field to recognize a fumble, Conner is becoming a right-time, right-place player, and at some point, it’s not just good fortune. It’s good awareness.

Through two weeks, Wharton had been credited with just one sack but seven total pressures. For reference, his career high is 33, or just a tad more than two per game. It’s a sizable step forward early in a season in which the Chiefs could use someone at his position to take such a step.