On Friday night, the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 2-0 in the preseason following a 17-10 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The exhibition matchup was a Texas Tech reunion between quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his former college head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who now mans the Arizona sideline.
Mahomes played for a little over a quarter in the first half, completing 10 of 18 passes for 78 yards and an interception. The 2018 MVP led two 15-play drives but failed to punch his way into the end zone.
The first drive resulted in a 24-yard field goal by Harrison Butker and the second resulted in a poorly thrown ball that was picked off by Cardinals defensive back Byron Murphy Jr.
Both of Kansas City’s touchdowns were delivered from two of their backup QBs. Veteran Chad Henne threw a 17-yard pass off his back foot to Mecole Hardman, who readjusted to catch the under-thrown ball by his fingertips for the score.
Hardman’s circus catch in the second quarter was pretty much his lone highlight of what was another lackluster performance, overall. The former Georgia product caught four of eight targets for 39 yards and the Chiefs’ first touchdown of the game.
In the second half, Kansas City’s second TD of the night came from standout undrafted rookie Shane Buechele. Buechele was the better of the four passers that played tonight for the Chiefs, completing 9 of 11 passes for 115 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
Wide receiver Byron Pringle had another incredible showing on Friday night, catching four passes for 63 yards.
On the ground, running backs Derrick Gore and Darwin Thompson were both impressive in the trenches. Both were given eight carries and both averaged 6-yards per rushing attempt. Gore finished with 58 rush yards, while Thompson ran for 49 yards.
Kansas City’s starting offensive line played the majority of the first half and was just as impressive tonight against Arizona’s front seven as they were last week against the 49ers.
Kansas City’s defense was also just as impressive through all four quarters.
In the first half, the Chiefs defense held Arizona to just 79 yards of offense. Quarterback Kyler Murray struggled during the Cardinals’ first three offensive drives of the game, completing only one of four passes for two yards and scrambling for eight rushing yards.
Defensive end Chris Jones netted one of three sacks made during the first 30 minutes of play. Jones now has two sacks in roughly three-quarters of play since returning to his DE spot this preseason.
The Chiefs tallied 5 total sacks tonight against Arizona, one of those was recorded by newly acquired defensive tackle Jarran Reed.
The Kansas City secondary played a sticky man coverage, leading to several passes being batted down to force Arizona to go three and out on multiple drives. They also did a good job closing in on the ball before it got to its intended target.
Defensive back Juan Thornhill made an incredible interception on a diving catch with 30 seconds left in the first half. The play put an abrupt end to what was a promising offensive drive by Arizona.
Meanwhile, starting corners Charvarious Ward and L’Jarius Sneed made some big-time stops, especially on third down, that prevented potential chunk plays from materializing.
Defensive back Mike Highs also made a textbook defensive play in the first half, deflecting a pass that would’ve been an Arizona touchdown.
The Cardinals picked its first score of the night late in the third quarter off of a 22-yard Matt Prater field goal to close the deficit to seven points. Midway in the fourth, third-string quarterback, Chris Streveler dropped a 20-yard dime to tight end, Ross Travis, in the end-zone for the touchdown.
Kansas City will wrap its preseason schedule next Friday when they return to GEHA field at Arrowhead Stadium to host the Minnesota Vikings.
