Kansas City Chiefs earn tough ninth win over Arizona Cardinals
By Rylan Stiles
The Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in Arrowhead Stadium and came away with yet another win.
The ninth win of the season was much tougher than expected for the Kansas City Chiefs, who struggled to put away a lowly Arizona Cardinals team in a 26-14 win at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday.
The Cardinals came in with only two wins on the year in nine total games so far, but perhaps the very opening of the game served as an omen. For the first time all year, the Chiefs lost the opening coin toss as the Cardinals elected to defer.
That is when Patrick Mahomes opened the game with two completions on three attempts, both to Tyreek Hill, with the last one going for a 37-yard touchdown. It finished off a three play, 75-yard drive that took all of 56 seconds.
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The Cardinals, coming off their bye week, responded with a great opening drive . Arionza went on a run of 12 plays for 75 yards, taking 5 minutes off the clock. That drive ended when rookie quarterback Josh Rosen dumped it off to David Johnson to go nine yards into the end zone and tie the game back up.
The Chiefs came back and posted three more points to take a 10-7 lead when Harrison Butker nailed a 45-yard attempt. After the Kansas City Chiefs defense stood tall, the Chiefs offense returned to the field. This time for a nine-play 73 yard almost five-minute long drive. It ended with again Patrick Mahomes finding Tyreek Hill from fourteen yards out. Hill celebrated this touchdown by jumping into the CBS camera well and manning the camera after the score. That touchdown earned Mahomes the most passing touchdowns in a single season in Chiefs history.
Coming out of the halftime break down 20-7, the Arizona Cardinals went on another nice 12 play drive this time for 61 yards and seven minutes. Again, David Johnson capped off the drive with a one-yard dash into paydirt. That was all of the points scored in the third quarter, as the Chiefs entered the fourth clinging to a 20-14 lead.
After another Kansas City Chiefs punt, with 12 minutes to play in the fourth, linebacker Justin Houston picked off a screen pass to set up the offense with great field possession at the 30-yard line. Spencer Ware capped the short drive with a three-yard touchdown. The team elected to go for two and did not get it so it made the score stand at 26-14 with ten minutes to play. Thanks to the great field position, it was another quick drive lasting just four minutes.
The Chiefs pass rushers came up big on Sunday, especially at the end as Dee Ford sacked Josh Rosen on fourth and a country mile with just over two minutes left. It was Ford’s first sack, but not due to ineffectiveness, as Ford was held around four times during this game because of the amount of pressure he put on Rosen. Ford earned four QB hits today to continue his great season.
The Chiefs sacked Josh Rosen five times, the more eye-popping number is five on the other side of the box score. Kansas City also saw Patrick Mahomes get sacked a season-high five times today. That has to be cleaned up despite the Chiefs battling injuries up front. Life does not get easier with Ndaumukong Suh, Aaron Donald, Dante Fowler, and company showing up next week in Mexico City.
Up next for the Chiefs, the long-awaited, much-anticipated matchup against Marcus Peters and the L.A. Rams on primetime on Monday Night Football. That matchup will be the last one before each team heads into their respective bye weeks. What a better way than that to head into Thanksgiving weekend?
For the lowly 2-7 Cardinals they will host the basement-dwelling Oakland Raiders next Sunday.