On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs saw their attack combine it all with a new batch of guns starting to fade.
Everything about the Kansas City Chiefs can be summed up in one play.
3rd and 11th, 12:24 left, leading 28-23 against a fierce San Francisco 49ers defense at Levi’s Stadium. Patrick Mahomes wasn’t looking for a first descent, he wanted the rear ripper.
Backed by perfect protection, Mahomes took a deep plunge and raised a perfect rainbow for future Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who beat out former Chiefs Cornerback Charvarius Ward for a gain of 57 yards. Three plays later, Mikol Hardman scored his third goal of the day, effectively ending the Niners.
For Mahomes, the newcomer’s pivotal third can be trusted. You made the difference.
The Chiefs hit San Francisco at 44-23, moving to 5-2 in farewell week. But the outcome was less important than the route it took to get there.
Chiefs make use of a large selection of receivers by Patrick Mahomes
Valdes-Scantling had three grabs for 111 yards. JuJu Smith-Schuster, signed to a one-year deal this off season, led all receivers with seven catches and 124 yards with a touchdown. The duo joined All-Pro’s Travis Kelsey to form a dynamic trio for the Mahomes, giving him a depth of goal he hasn’t achieved since Kansas City won the Super Bowl in 2019.
With seven games, Smith-Schuster is on his way for 1,200 yards, while Valdes-Scantling is looking at 897 yards, a career high at over 200. Kelce hasn’t slowed down at age 33, running at 1,343 yards, which would be the second-highest total On his playing days.
And while only an idiot would suggest offensively is better without Tyreek Hill, it takes the same idiot to say that Kansas City isn’t more efficient this season.
Hill scored 1,239 yards on 7.8 yards per goal last year, with teams doing everything they could to keep Hill and Kelce down with little to no angst.
This season, Smith Schuster averages 10.3 yards per goal, while Valdes-Scantling averages 10.0 in the same stat. Kelsey averaged 8.4 years with Hill in 2021. That number has jumped to 9.2 this season.
Then there is Mahomes, who takes advantage of a deeper room despite Hill’s loss. Mahomes tracks throws for 5,243 yards and 49 touchdowns, which puts him in the MVP race. That’s despite playing three of the defenses that ranked fifth in playtime, including the Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and San Francisco.
Coming out of the farewell, the timeline opens up dramatically for the high-octane heads. Kansas City has home games against the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars before playing the game against the Los Angeles Chargers in a major tag team match. After that, the Chiefs will be important favorites in every single one of their affairs, except for what must be a fantastic mile against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 13.
The Chiefs are beginning to make their stride, showing depth they haven’t enjoyed in years.
One Sunday play tells the story, and it’s a terrifying one for the rest of the league.
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