Chiefs at Cardinals: 44-to-21, Game Report

Laddie Morse

The Kansas City Chiefs handled the Arizona Cardinals in their own Home Opener easy enough.

First Half Breakdown

When your first 6 possessions 4 scores a PUNT and a FUMBLE (which you recover from), you’ve done really well. Those drives include:

• an 11 Play Drive ending in a shovel pass TD to Clyde Edwards-Helaire

• a 9 Play Drive ending in a pass to Clyde Edwards-Helaire shovel pass

• a 4-yard TD pass from Patrick Mahomes to RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire

• 5 plays and a PUNT

• 1 play and a Fumble by JuJu Smith-Schuster on that play

• 6 plays and a 54 yard Field Goal by the injured Harrison Butker

With the Chiefs leading 23-to-7 at half time, the game was essentially over.

Second Half Breakdown

The Cards had won the toss at the beginning of the game so they elected to kick off and then receive the ball first in the second half. That worked out well for K.C. as they were able to pin a 3-and-out on them on two of their first three drives in the first half. That worked out fine in the second half as well as the Chiefs defense forced a 5-and-out then the offense scored making it 30-to-7 and indeed the game was over. One of our faithful bloggers said, “The Cardinal’s fans started heading for the door,” and I think it was after this TD by K.C..

All you really need to know about the second half is, the Chiefs produced: a Touchdown, a Touchdown, a Touchdown and finally a PUNT.

Final Score: Chiefs 44, Cardinals 21

What I Liked

I couldn’t be happier about the defense producing two 3-and-outs on the Cards first three possessions, to begin the game. The Chiefs won the Time of Possession battle 25:18 to 34:42 and any time this Chiefs offense (with Patrick Mahomes in charge) can get nearly five extra minutes with the ball, they are assured to win.

I liked seeing Patrick Mahomes go off on the Cardinals. Period.

I also liked the fact that the Chiefs offense had 488 total yards & the Cards had but 282.

I like that Patrick Mahomes had a 144.2 QB rating.

I like that Clyde Edwards-Helaire looked like a keeper! He had a great game averaging 6.0 yards per carry on 7 carries.

I liked that DL Tershawn Wharton had 1 sack and 2 QB Hits including a TFL (Tackle for a Loss). I hope this is a breakout year for him!

I liked that the Chiefs defense had 7 Passes Defensed and rookie phenom George Karlaftis had one of those, as well as a QB Hit.

I liked Travis Kelce in this game, and everything he does for the Chiefs.

What I Didn’t Like

First of all, I don’t like injuries, period. Consequently, I didn’t like seeing Trey Smith leave the game with an ankle injury. I didn’t like seeing Trent McDuffie strain his hammy. I didn’t like seeing Justin Watson hurt his chest, and even though I don’t know what that’s all about, I don’t like it.

More than anything, I don’t like that QB Patrick Mahomes landed on his wrist wrongly and had to have it taped up for part of the game.

I didn’t like seeing Harrison Butker injure his ankle on the first kickoff of the game. Like Soldier Field in Chicago, I blame the field conditions, and no field should cause an injury. Period. I’m glad Justin Reid (not Eric Reid, and hey!, when are those darned announcers going to learn the Chiefs player’s correct names?), was able to kickoff for Butker, but he also missed an extra point and I’m glad it didn’t come down to a one point game, but it easily could have. Knit-picking? Maybe.

I didn’t like seeing JuJu Smith-Schuster fumble the ball after catching it. He needs to learn to wrap up the ball and not allow anyone to punch it out. Fortunately that fumble did not lead to points… so all is well that ends well (I suppose).

I also didn’t like seeing Mecole Hardman (and Patrick Mahomes) not connecting on two deep passes. On the flip side, I was happy to see the Chiefs still going long (to Hardman) even though Tyreek Hill is now in Miami. Plus, this signals that we can expect to see more long bomb babies in the future (and some of those will be heavenly connections).

Stat(s) of the Game

5 Touchdown passes for 360 yards. That’s a days work I’d say.

Since everyone has been asking if Patrick Mahomes could win without Tyreek Hill… I guess this game answers that question. Emphatically.

Highlight of the Game

I know, there were plenty of highlights in this game to choose from, but I needed to post this one as I was greatly under the mistaken impression that Isiah Pacheco would be a bust. I was clearly wrong. Boy was I 100% wrong.

Tweet of the Game

Patrick Mahomes was once counting out the number of players who finished in front of him in the top 100 (remember that?)… and now he’s counting the number of TDs he’s thrown in this one game.

Quote of the Game

There are quite a few fans who think Tony Romo has a man-crush on Patrick Mahomes to such a degree that they are willing to say the most outrageous things on Twitter about him (which I can’t even post here). I’ll stick with this quote: “He yawns at pressure.” Yes, indeed, that sounds like Mahomes. Sometimes, you just have to state the facts.

Game Song

Yes, we still need a song to typify the outcome of this game. Here’s my best shot. Just because K.C. seemed to have it anyway they wanted it…

… And the Game Ball Goes To…

It’s hard not to give it to Patrick Mahomes. He had his way in this game and made everyone in K.C. proud of him by showing that he doesn’t need a Tyreek Hill to be great… and more importantly, to win.

Looking Ahead… Quickly

When this Thursday rolls around (in just three days), the Chiefs will be hosting the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium. The Bolts were winners over the Las Vegas Raiders 24-to-19 on Sunday.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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