Chiefs Win the Wildcard Going Away

Laddie Morse

It was the coldest game in the history of Arrowhead Stadium. It was also one of the coldest NFL games ever, but it turned out to be a romp for the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-to-7. Did it look like a clean victory? Far from it, however, a win is a win.The Miami Dolphins came to town with high hopes of upsetting our beloved Chiefs but no. Except for one long TD pass to ex-Chief Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs defense blanked the Dolphins. A friend of mine said, “McDuffie, Sneed, Karlaftis… YOWZA, Bolton, Jones, ALL OF THEM” and that exactly tells the story of this one. The Offense may have provided some assistance, but the real story of this win was once again, the Defense.

On offense the tush-push was re-invented by Chiefs running backs Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Isiah Pacheco. Wide receiver Rashee Rice came through with a 130 yard game and TE extraordinaire Travis Kelce added his 71 yards while QB Patrick Mahomes had a 23-of-41 outing and came away with zero sacks. CEH fumbled late but it was too late for the Dolphins to do anything about being behind by 19 points.

Probably the biggest statistical difference in the two teams was a look the first downs. K.C. had 25 of them while Miami could only come up with 13. Third down effeciancy was a problem for the Dolphins as well only being able to convert on one out of twelve while K.C. converted on six of fifteen. Now, don’t get too excited that the Chiefs had 15 third downs, but could only convert on six of them, because it’s the third downs that made a huge difference in this game… and having them in the first place.

Miami won the opening toss and elected to defer so they could get the ball first after the half. That didn’t work out so well for them because the Chiefs marched right down the field when they first possessed the ball and score a TD pass on a crossing pattern from Patrick Mahomes to Rashee Rice from the eleven yard line (0:10):

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Another player who scored a TD was RB Isiah Pacheco. Here’s a look at one of the best runs he’s ever had and one of the best runs ever. Pop takes a direct snap and goes around the left end to score, but it’s his head down attitude that keeps him moving forward (0:42):

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Mike Edwards INT

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George Karlaftis Also Had a Good Game

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Patrick Mahomes Helmet

Patrick Mahomes was driving the Chiefs in the Red Zone and took a shot from the Dolphins DeShon Elliott who broke his helmet. Here’s a look:

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Mahomes didn’t want to leave the field so after he was informed by a referee that his helmet was broken he went to the sidelines and exchanged helmets, but the team didn’t score and they had to end up kicking a field goal.

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Rough Referees

The referees were once again a regrettable part of the game. An uncalled penalty on defensive holding on the Dolphins defense was so blatant that the Arrowhead boo-birds were out in full force.

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This fan may be referring to the penalties called on Jawaan Taylor. Taylor needs help that I’m not sure the Chiefs coaches can give.

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Special Teams

Harrison Butker

Butker made Field Goals of: 28, 26, 32, and 21 yards. You may know that I dislike Field Goals because it often represents failed dives. However, his FGs helped win this one. The question is… will a FG approach help K.C. win in the future when their future is all Playoff opponents?

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Player of the Game

Rashee Rice

The Game Ball goes to… Rashee Rice. Rice was the major difference in this contest. He was even compared to Jerry Rice by one of our noted blogger last night. Personally, I believe he has a long way to go before he reaches the Jerry Rice level or status, but he’s on his way with this game. His 130 receiving yards led this game. Tyreek Hill, one of the notable best wideouts in the NFL, had only 64 yards. Rice also averaged 16.3 yards per catch and even though TE Travis Kelce was good, he only had 71 receiving yards, plus Rice had 8 catches while Kelce had 7. Rice may still be a rookie, but he’s playing like a seasoned veteran.

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Quote of the Game

From Lisa Foxx:

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“All of our playmakers stepped up tonight.

This is what we’ve been missing and I’m glad

we finally got it back.

Now, we just gotta keep it going.”

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Tweet of the Game

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Go Chiefs!

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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