Sunday Night Thriller: Chiefs Hold Off Falcons for 22-17 Victory

The Chiefs’ record was pushed to 3-0 with a tight 22-17 win against the Falcons in Sunday Night Football.

With a 5-point deficit, the Falcons had some late shots at scoring but just couldn’t pull it off. The Cousins had four minutes left in the game but weren’t able to connect with Kyle Pitts or Drake London in the end zone from the Kansas City 6-yard line. While referees might have called defensive pass interference on safety Bryan Cook at the moment Pitts was thrown the ball, there was no flagging incident.

That moment, the Falcons could have diminished Kansas City’s advantage to just two points. Head coach Raheem Morris chose to go for it, but it was unsuccessful.

After the Kansas City offence went three plays with no completion, the Falcons again found themselves in possession with help from some costly Chiefs defensive penalties. An illegally applied hands penalty allowed Atlanta to obtain a free first down. Then there was the likelihood of a make-up call for defensive pass interference as Ray-Ray McCloud touched Trent McDuffie, but McDuffie was marked with a penalty. Kansas City’s 22-yard line was reached by a horse collar tackle that advanced the Falcons.

But on third-and-1 with 1: It was 03 o’clock when Tyler Allgeier was blocked just before reaching the sticks. On fourth down, linebacker Nick Bolton—who had just left the contest with a back issue—hurled himself through the line, bringing down Bijan Robinson for a 3-yard setback, which essentially ended the game.

In order to eat up time on the clock, quarterback Patrick Mahomes had to arrange some imaginative kneel-downs, considering that Atlanta still had two timeouts left. On one of them, he managed to get his foot tangled in the turf slightly and had to shake it to free himself. After the game, Mahomes said that he felt fine.

Also Read: Big Blow To The Chargers! Justin Herbert Is In A Walking Boot, Know His Injury Update

With four drives of at least 11 plays, the Chiefs dominated time of possession for much of the contest, with the final tally coming in at 34:57 to 25:03. Kansas City collectively outpaced Atlanta by 34 to 31 in yards, had 22 first downs to Atlanta’s 19, and converted 6-of-14 on third downs while Atlanta managed to convert 2-of-9.

It was a 7-0 lead for the Falcons when London scored on a 14-yard pass to end their opening drive. The team did not score, however, after a former Broncos safety, Justin Simmons, picked off Mahomes for the sixth time.

Mahomes’ 13-yard touchdown pass to Rashee Rice brought the score to a tie of 7-7. While Robinson’s 1-yard touchdown moved the Falcons ahead 14-7, Atlanta didn’t put points on the board again for the rest of the game.

While Harrison Butker flubbed his first extra point since 2022 during the second half, he did manage field goals of 53, 44, and 21 yards, putting the Chiefs ahead 16-14 midway through the third quarter. Then receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who was a key player for Kansas City in the team’s 2022 Super Bowl run, caught his first touchdown of the season with 1: With 16 seconds left in the third quarter, the visitors took a 22-14 lead.

Atlanta’s only points of the second half came from Younghoe Koo’s 54-yard field goal scored early in the fourth quarter. That figure tied a career high for the kicker.

Mahomes completed 26 out of 38 passes for a total of 217 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception, in the final match. With 12 receptions and an impressive 110 yards, Rice led the team with a TD. Tight end Travis Kelce caught four receptions for 30 yards.

Without running back Isiah Pacheco, rookie Carson Steele had a team-high 17 carries, earning 72 yards. He also caught a 2-yard pass.

On the other side, Cousins was 20-of-29 passing for 230 yards, including one touchdown and one interception. In London’s case, he had six catches for 67 yards with a touchdown, while Darnell Mooney had every one of his eight targets for 66 yards. Robinson succeeded with only 31 yards on 16 carries but managed two receptions for 21 yards.

Currently at 3-0, the Chiefs will play the division-rival Chargers in Los Angeles next weekend.

The Falcons, 1-2, will host the Saints, their division rival.