By Nate Taylor, Josh Kendall and Mark Puleo
The Kansas City Chiefs win with consistency, but the consistent style of those wins has been far from flashy: Dominant defense with late-game stops and an offense that does just enough to win.
After allowing a first-drive touchdown, the Chiefs’ stingy defensive line ravaged Atlanta’s offensive line for the rest of the night, bottling star running back Bijan Robinson and putting constant pressure on Kirk Cousins. The Kansas City offense capitalized in the middle quarters as Patrick Mahomes repeatedly found Rashee Rice to string together long third-quarter drives and hit the final frame with a lead.
In the fourth, the Chiefs defense held Atlanta out of the end zone twice on late drives despite field-long marches to the red zone. With just over four minutes to play, a Cousins dart to Kyle Pitts in the end zone drew heavy contact from Chiefs defender Bryan Cook on a play that appeared to warrant a pass interference, but no flag was thrown. The Falcons turned the ball over on downs the next play, and saw their final drive end on a failed fourth-down attempt again in the final minute.
Chiefs defense stars once again
Similar to last week, the Chiefs’ defense, led by coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, sealed the team’s victory to improve its record to 3-0. Twice in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs denied the Falcons on fourth-down snaps inside the red zone. Spagnuolo unleashed all-out blitzes to force Cousins into incompletions in the end zone.
The Falcons’ final possession ended when they couldn’t gain the necessary rushing yards on short-yardage plays to continue their potential game-winning drive. On a 4th-and-1 play, linebacker Nick Bolton, who left the game earlier with what appeared to be a hip or lower back injury, tackled Robinson behind the line of scrimmage for a three-yard loss. When the Chiefs needed such a performance, their defense held the Falcons to just 17 points, the fewest points they allowed this season. — Nate Taylor, Chiefs beat writer
Explosiveness still lacking from Kansas City offense
The Chiefs’ offense is still very much a work in progress through three games of the season. Mahomes hasn’t been able to take as many deep passes as he or coach Andy Reid would want because the left tackle position, with new starter Wanya Morris, has been somewhat of a liability. The Falcons often forced Mahomes and the Chiefs offense to matriculate the ball downfield with drives that needed 10 or more plays.
In the fourth quarter, Mahomes didn’t get the help necessary to continue the Chiefs’ drives to keep the ball away from Cousins. Tight end Travis Kelce couldn’t secure the ball on a pass in the middle of the field that would’ve been a first down, with the ball knocked out by safety Jessie Bates III. The Chiefs’ next drive ended after just three plays when rookie receiver Xavier Worthy stopped running his crossing route, a third-down incompletion that forced the team to punt. The Chiefs were fortunate to win despite going scoreless in the fourth quarter. — Taylor
Falcons held, then lost, the possession battle
At one point in the third quarter, Kansas City led the time of possession battle 30:33-12:46 and had run 63 plays compared to Atlanta’s 26. The Falcons were able to balance out those numbers some in the fourth quarter by running 30 plays on their final three possessions.
The Chiefs ended up running 72 plays to the Falcons 56 and outgaining Atlanta 349-311. — Josh Kendall, Falcons beat writer
Cousins hit big milestone
Cousins quietly hit a career milestone by reaching 40,000 regular season passing yards, becoming the fifth-fastest player in NFL history (153 games) to hit that mark. Cousins, who played in Washington and Minnesota before coming to Atlanta in the offseason as a free agent, finished the game 20 of 29 for 230 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He has 40,097 yards in the regular season in his career. — Kendall
Atlanta’s O-line bit by injury bug
The Falcons’ good injury luck may have ended Sunday night. Atlanta lost starting right tackle Kaleb McGary (knee) and starting center Drew Dalman (ankle) in the second quarter. The extent of the injuries was not immediately known, but neither returned to the game. Storm Norton finished the game at right tackle, and Ryan Neuzil took over at center. — Kendall
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
