Three overlooked Chiefs who deserve game balls after finishing off Falcons in Week 3

During the first two weeks of the season, it felt like the game balls given out by Arrowhead Addict were a little too obvious. This week we're switching it up and giving game balls to a few unsung heroes who might have been overlooked in the aftermath of such a high-profile thriller.

We all know about Nick Bolton's game-saving tackling or Rashee Rice's reliable pass catching. What we want to do is highlight a few names that have been lost in the shuffle, and we'll start with a specialist who came up big.

Game Ball #1: Matt Araiza

Instead of offense, defense, and special teams game balls, we're simply giving out three game balls to some overlooked players who had huge impacts with their performance. In this first player's case, he deserves special attention for a single play.

Matt "Punt God" Araiza was only called upon thrice in Atlanta, but it was when attempting his second punt that he made one of the most clutch plays of the Chiefs' win over the Falcons. With 11:31 to go in the fourth quarter, Araiza received an extremely high snap at his own 25-yard line that likely would have bounced near or into the end zone for a safety.

Luckily, Araiza's athleticism came out and he nabbed the ball out of the air before sending a 52-yard bomb of a punt down to the Falcons' 10-yard line. Even better, the Falcons' return man Avery Williams was tackled by Jaden Hicks in a way that caused him to fumble the ball.

The play would eventually be overturned due to Williams' elbow hitting the ground, but it doesn't matter. Araiza's safety-saving play kept the Falcons from gaining momentum, which was vital since they ended up turning the ball over on downs on each of the next two series.

Game Ball #2: Felix Anudike-Uzomah

The former Kansas State superstar has been ascending slower than most of Chiefs Kingdom was hoping or expecting, but with the absence of Charles Omenihu, he has slowly but surely started to show up in big spots.

Anudike-Uzomah did so late in the second quarter when the Chiefs were down 14-10 and hoping to get the ball back before halftime. It's largely because of Anudike-Uzomah (FAU) that they were able to thanks to a free shot on Kirk Cousins at the two-minute warning.

Anudike-Uzomah only ended up playing 23% of the defensive snaps, but he made his presence known on nearly every snap—none more so than the play that not only ended with a boost of momentum for the Chiefs, but also a flag on Atlanta's Bijan Robinson for kicking the ball out of bounds to save a scoop-and-score.

The momentum shift was felt all the way to halftime, largely sparked from FAU's huge hit on the former Vikings' quarterback as well as a hit from our next game ball winner...

Game Ball #3: Turk Wharton

The only turnover that Atlanta committed, outside of their two final drives ending on downs, was an interception with 37 seconds left in the first half. While most people will focus on the player that made the interception, Chamarri Conner, and the lateral back to Jaylen Watson for extra yards, it's actually all thanks to the fifth-year DT Turk Wharton.

Wharton, who played in every game for the Chiefs last season for just the third time in his career, had himself a game and it climaxed there near the end of the first half when he pushed the right guard backward before reaching his arm out towards Cousins'.

The play caused an interception, a lateral and eventually three more points for Kansas City before the teams headed back to the locker room. That would be the beginning of three straight drives that ended with points. Some could say it started with Wharton's performance in the trenches with under one minute to go.

Both Wharton and Anudike-Uzomah may have had bottom-three PFF grades at the end of the game, but they still made two of the biggest plays of the games, both of which created huge boosts of adrenaline to Kansas City and huge shots in the chest to Atlanta.