6 ATLANTA 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: 1. THE ATYPICAL PATRICK MAHOMES 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. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes passes the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during the first quarter of Sunday night’s game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Dale Zanine Imagn Images 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. 2. THE ENDING PROVIDED BY NICK BOLTON 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. MORE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS COVERAGE News, analysis and storylines from the Chiefs’ road win over Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night. → 5 takeaways from the dramatic nail-biter → How KC graded out — and the night’s best player → What we learned from the road win → 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. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney is tackled by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton during Sunday night’s game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Brett Davis Imagn Images 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. 3. THE TRAVIS KELCE DEVELOPMENT 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 games. Kelce downplayed the start to his season during his podcast this past week. The Falcons, though, were the league’s worst team in defending the middle of the field over the initial two weeks of the season, 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. Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice scores a touchdown past Atlanta Falcons cornerback Dee Alford during Sunday night’s game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Dale Zanine Imagn Images The Chiefs’ offense is a different beast when Kelce is not one. They opened the second half with some intention of targeting him — including on the first play. Later in the half, he dropped a key third-and-short pass. That forced the Chiefs to punt. 4. RASHEE RICE’S USAGE One of Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s best strengths as an offensive coach is utilizing what individual wide receivers do best. I realize a compliment for the wide receivers 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.