The Chiefs looked phenomenal against the Cardinals. The offense could not be stopped putting up 44 points on a solid defense. At the same time, the Chief’s defense locked down an above-average offense and held them to just 21 points with 14 coming in the 4th quarter when the Chiefs had already put the game away.

Chiefs Offensive Notes

The best-looking unit today had to be this chief’s offense. The Chiefs were scoring like it was no problem having 7 out of their 10 positions ending with scores. There were a lot of question marks going into Mahome’s 5th season as a starter. How was the departure of Tyreek Hill going to affect the Chief’s offense and Patrick Mahomes? To be honest the offense looked better without Tyreek. Without having Tyreek on the field Mahomes knew he had to throw shorter routes and be more conservative with the football. Mahomes got the ball to 9 different chiefs players through the air. The Chiefs’ air attack was just no match for the Cardinals’ secondary. Isiah Pacheco, the 7th-round pick out of Rutgers was a huge standout in the pre-season and had a ton of hype going into the regular season. Pacheco was outstanding in the reps he got averaging 5.2 yards per carrying, also he looks outstanding as the Chiefs’ kick returner. Pacheco is an outstanding young RB who I believe will explode this season and become one of the NFL’s top running backs. One of the most outstanding parts of this Chief’s offensive had to be their O-line. The Chiefs O-line held the Cardinals to 0 sacks, and the Cardinal’s D-line is not a bad group. Players like Markus Golden, who had 11 sacks last season,  serve as their leaders. Even though the Chiefs didn’t run that much this matchup the chiefs O-line looked great on the run as well as the pass. This young group of Chiefs linemen will be a great group for the future of the Chiefs organization and Patrick Mahomes safety in the pocket.

Notable Offensive Players

• Patrick Mahomes (30/39 – 360 YDS – 5 TD)
• Isiah Pacheco (12 CAR – 62 YDS – 5.2 AVG – 1 TD)
• Travis Kelce (8 REC – 121 YDS – 1 TD)
• Juju Smith-Schuster (6 REC – 79 YDS – 0 TD)
• Whole Chiefs Offensive line (0 Sacks)

Chiefs Defensive Notes

The Chief’s defense looked really improved from last season. There was a lot of improvement in the run defense department with the addition of George Karlaftis a rookie from Purdue. Also with Nick Bolton, and Willie Gay Jr improving on their run defense over the offseason they held James Connor to just 10 carries and 26 rushing yards. This is great news for the chiefs because they lost a lot of games last year to teams who had a good run game. The standout on defense though had to be Chris Jones. Even though the stat line for Jones was empty he was pressuring the QB a ton. He was making tackles on the running back and getting to the QB very often throughout the game. Another standout has to be Nick Bolton. Bolton had a very good rookie campaign putting up 112 tackles, and 12 tackles for loss, and with the departure of Tyrann Mathieu from the chiefs Bolton stepped up and became the Chiefs’ single caller. To see Bolton get 9 tackles in his first game as Chiefs signal-caller makes me believe he could be the next great linebacker in the NFL. Now even though the Chiefs’ defense played great there are still some improvements we need to see happen. The Chiefs’ secondary was getting beat a bit more than we would like. They gave up a lot of big plays, and a team more consistent can exploit them for this and make their life more difficult. Also, I would like to see more from Frank Clark. Having pressure just from Chris Jones isn’t enough, and Clark was nowhere to be seen all game.

Notable Defensive Players

• Nick Bolton (9 TCK/1 AST)
• Carlos Dunlap (1 Sack)
• L’Jarius Sneed (8 TCK – 1 Sack)
• Juan Thornhill
• Chris Jones

The Chiefs looked outstanding in their matchup. The Cardinals are a good team, but their next game against the Chargers is a really big test pitching them against another Super Bowl contender. Next week will show if the Chiefs are contenders or pretenders.

Injury Update

• Blake Bell TE – Hip (Week 4 – Not Yet Determined)
• Lucas Niang OT – Kneecap (Week 4 – Not Yet Determined)
• Justyn Ross WR – Foot (Out For Season)
• Darian Kinnard OT – (Inactive)
• Joshua Kaindoh DE – (Inactive)
• Ronald Jones RB – (Inactive)
• Trey Smith OG – Ankle (Questionable)
• Trent McDuffie CB – (Questionable)