The Chiefs are the boxer, just trying to reach the bell and their corner.
For Kansas City, the corner is Week 7, when Rashee Rice will return from his six-game suspension after driving 119 mph on a busy Dallas freeway last April, resulting in personal injury and eight felony charges.
After beating the Giants 22–9 on Sunday night to earn their first win of the season, the Chiefs can feel good, but far from whole. The offense was laborious and drives were arduous most of the night, as they averaged only a paltry 4.8 yards per play (before kneel-downs).
Patrick Mahomes made some spectacular plays, including a scramble resulting in a 52-yard pass interference call and eventually a field goal, but he only threw for 224 yards on 6.1 yards per attempt. For Mahomes, the first three games have been the two-time MVP trying to create by himself, evidenced by his 123 rushing yards entering Week 2 to rank 16th in the NFL.
In short, nothing about Mahomes and his charges was pretty. But it was enough. And enough is what Kansas City should be hoping for until Oct. 19, when Rice returns as the Chiefs host the Raiders in the middle game of a three-game homestand.
As early as next week, Kansas City might get Xavier Worthy back from the torn labrum and dislocated shoulder he sustained on the opening drive of the season against the Chargers in Brazil. Without Rice and Worthy, Mahomes has been forced to throw to Marquise Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton and Nikko Remigio.
Thornton has been a pleasant surprise after signing a one-year deal after washing out with the Patriots. He has nine catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Everyone else has alternated from decent to invisible. Smith-Schuster has 115 yards. Brown has 171 yards to match Thornton, but 99 of those came in the aforementioned opener.
Then there’s the curious case of Travis Kelce. In Week 1, Kelce appeared to run his crossing route at the wrong depth and slammed into Worthy, causing his shoulder injury. In the fourth quarter, Kelce slowed down on a red zone route to cause an incompletion instead of an easy touchdown. Against the Eagles in Week 2, Kelce dropped a would-be, go-ahead score, resulting in a tipped interception by Andrew Mukuba.
The good news? Help is on the way for the offense. Rice had 938 yards and seven touchdowns as a second-round rookie in 2023, helping the Chiefs win their third Super Bowl of the Mahomes era. Last season, Rice had 24 catches for 288 yards in four games before sustaining ligament damage in his right knee, ending his season.
More good news? The defense is playing much better after getting run up and down the field by Los Angeles in Week 1. Against Philadelphia, the unit was stout, allowing only 20 points while holding the Eagles to 3.7 yards per play. Facing New York in its home opener, Chris Jones notched his first sack of the year while keeping the Giants in single digits and limiting Russell Wilson to 160 passing yards and two interceptions.
When Rice and Worthy line up together, with Thornton stretching the field, Kansas City’s offense will likely be unrecognizable compared to this month and all of 2024. Still, the Chiefs will need to prove it. There could also be chemistry issues, considering Rice and Worthy have only shared a field for three full games.
But that’s a potential problem Andy Reid and Mahomes would love to have. For now, the Chiefs are 1–2 and although two games back of the Chargers in the AFC West, are in reasonably good shape in the AFC picture.
Kansas City just has to survive to the bell.
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