In KC Chiefs’ romp over Cardinals, even Patrick Mahomes says KC defense ‘set the tempo’
The most dazzling development on Sunday at State Farm Stadium was Patrick Mahomes, ho-hum, throwing for five touchdowns and 360 yards in his first game with a radically revamped wide receiver corps in the wake of the Tyreek Hill trade.
The most confounding scene was the wacky twist in the kicking game after Harrison Butker suffered a first-half ankle injury that led to the bullpen call for safety Justin Reid, who just weeks removed from being a kicking novelty act acquitted himself well by making one of two PATs, largely kicking off well and even getting in on a return tackle.
That made for plenty of mesmerizing stuff in the Chiefs’ 44-21 clobbering of the Cardinals in their NFL opener.
Enough to obscure perhaps the most pleasant and surprising display of the day: a cohesive, rapid-closing, sure-tackling and otherwise dynamic defense that muzzled the Cardinals on the way to a 37-7 lead before receding in what defensive tackle Chris Jones correctly labeled “garbage time.”
“They kicked our (gluteus),” Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray said to open his postgame news conference.
More delicately, Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said, “They stymied us, and we didn’t get in a rhythm.”
Not bad for what Jones rated a “C-plus” and “OK” defensive effort, in part because he was chafed by the Cardinals scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns and in part because he was cognizant of missed opportunities (including his early would-be sack of Murray).
“But we got to him,” Jones said. “We affected him in multiple ways.”
And affected the game in multiple ways, too, including a key stop late in the first half that we’ll come back to.
With five new starters, not to mention a herd of other newcomers in the rotation, the Chiefs held the Cardinals to 282 yards overall.
That sum, scratched out in the waning seconds, was just four more yards allowed than the defense’s best effort all last season and was fundamental to a comprehensive win in more ways than you might immediately think.
“They set the tempo; I think that’s the biggest thing,” Mahomes said, later somewhat tellingly noting the impact that has on the offense. “When you play good complementary football, the (opposing) defense can’t account for what we’re going to do. They don’t know if we’re going to run or pass because our defense is playing well.”
This fine first impression will be tested in an entirely different way on Thursday, of course, when the Chiefs play host to Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers.
And this result said something about the Cardinals, as well, including that they were depleted by injuries and the DeAndre Hopkins suspension.
Just the same, the stats and the eye test suggested a meaningful development too, especially given the typical early struggles of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s units.
Last season, for example, the Chiefs surrendered 29 points in the opener on the way to yielding a stunning 163 over the first five games. And the numbers were well-amplified by the plague of bad tackling, communication issues and speed deficiencies.
But don’t take it from us.
“We have a bad history of starting slow and tackling poorly at the beginning of the season,” said safety Juan Thornhill, who had one of the highlights of the game with a lunging pass breakup on the sideline.
Or as Jones put it: “We usually started the year off with 12 or 16 missed tackles in the first game (while) everybody (is) getting accustomed.”
That hardly was the case Sunday, at least not before film reviews. And Jones and Thornhill both attributed that to a renewed emphasis on tackling drills and running to the ball this camp.
Meanwhile, Thornhill also pointed to something easily said and harder done: “Staying together and just playing fast.”
It’s unclear how much of that was from simplification of Spagnuolo’s considerable set of schemes.
Justin Reid would say after the game that the entire playbook was at their disposal, but Thornhill seemed to see it differently:
Spagnuolo “just wanted us to play fast,” he said. “That was the main thing. Didn’t put too much on our plate. Just put us out there and allow us to play real fast.”
They sure started fast, too.
After Mahomes drove the Chiefs the length of the field and hit Travis Kelce for a 9-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive, the defense set about swamping Murray.
A play after Jones almost instantly flushed him out of the pocket, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed sacked him to force a punt. Moments later, the Chiefs were up 14-0.
The Cardinals retaliated with their only meaningful touchdown of the day, but the Chiefs immediately scored again. Soon came the critical stand of the game.
After JuJu Smith-Schuster fumbled and the Cardinals recovered at the Kansas City 42 with just under a minute left in the half, the Cardinals faced fourth and 2 at the 34.
Convert and possibly get into the end zone, then receiving the second-half kickoff, and it was game back on.
But rookie George Karlaftis quickly got in Murray’s grill and forced him to essentially throw the ball away.
Then when the defense relegated Arizona to punting to open the second half, the Chiefs promptly made it 30-7 to effectively put it away.
Not that the late Arizona scores didn’t matter. Especially to Jones, who was demonstrably upset.
“We’ve got to set that tone, man,” he said. “This is a new defense, and it’s about setting a standard.”
It’s also about maintaining it as the competition improves, which it will drastically in just a few days.
But at least there’s traction and a template to work with from here. That’s something that’s been hard to find early for the Chiefs … and something that stood out even among the more flashy elements of the game Sunday.