By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Chiefs defense stood tall to stop a late drive from the Atlanta Falcons, and the Chiefs are leaving Atlanta with a 3-0 record, defeating the Falcons 22-17 on Sunday Night Football.
While the Chiefs defense came in clutch at the end, it was some defensive confusion that led to the Falcons taking an early lead, a 14 yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Drake London, linebacker Dru Tranquill losing where he was supposed to cover which led to the wide open strike.
A 13 play drive to start the second quarter led to the Chiefs first score of the game, Patrick Mahomes connecting with Rashee Rice on a 13 yard touchdown pass, but Atlanta would need just five plays on the following drive to take the lead back once more, running back Bijan Robinson plowing into the endzone from one yard out to take a 14-7 lead midway through the quarter.
Two field goals from Harrison Butker, one of 53 yards and another from 44 yards away, would give Kansas City a lead at the halftime break. An interception from Chamarri Connor where he would hand the ball to Jaylen Watson set up the go ahead field goal.
After deferring to the second half, the Chiefs would have the opening possession following halftime, and would again use a long 13 play drive to chew up clock, just over five minutes to go 67 yards, but would only manage another Butker field goal, this from 21 yards away.
The following drive the Kansas City defense would force yet another punt, the third of the game at that point from Atlanta, and would use the next drive to extend their lead with another touchdown, taking Chiefs fans back to 2022 as Mahomes would link up with JuJu Smith-Schuster on a 13 yard touchdown pass, pushing the lead to 22-14.
A Falcons drive that carried from the third quarter into the final quarter would narrow the lead to one score, Younghoe Koo hitting a long 54 yard field goal. But after the Chiefs were forced to punt on their following drive, Atlanta would stall on a 4th and 5 at the Kansas City six yard line to give Kansas City the ball back.
The Chiefs however were unable to run down enough clock and would call on Matt Araiza for the punt which placed the Falcons at their own 35 yard line with 2:32 left in the game, leaving Atlanta with a chance to give the NFL one less undefeated team.
The Falcons would put together a well orchestrated drive, eventually working all the way into Kansas City territory and into the redzone after a 2nd and 12 pass from Cousins to London of 11 yards. Facing 3rd and 1 at the 13, Cousins would hand off to running back Tyler Allgeier for no gain, leaving the Falcons to face a 4th and 1 with the game on the line and two timeouts.
But again the Chiefs defense stood tall, as Cousins handed the ball of to Robinson, linebacker Nick Bolton would cut through the line and wrap him up by the ankle, soon dragging him down before the first down and handing possession back to Kansas City, where Mahomes would go on to kneel out the remaining 56 seconds.
Mahomes was 26 of 39 passing for 217 yards and two touchdowns, also throwing one interception. With running back Isiah Pacheco on injured reserve, undrafted running back Carson Steele was the starting running back, rushing 17 times for 72 yards. Rice had 12 catches for 110 yards to go with his touchdown.
The Chiefs are now 3-0 on the young season, with three straight wins that came down to crucial plays, and will look to continue to improve heading into their first AFC West matchup next week. Kansas City will travel to Los Angeles to face the Chargers on Sunday. Kickoff will be at 3:25 pm, with pregame airing at 2pm on Q Country 92.7