It came down to the wire once again, but the Chiefs pushed their record to 3-0 with a 22-17 victory over the Falcons on Sunday Night Football.
Down by five, the Falcons had a couple of late chances to score but couldn’t get it done. With just over four minutes to go, Kirk Cousins couldn’t connect with tight end Kyle Pitts or Drake London in the end zone from the Kansas City 6-yard line. While officials likely could have called defensive pass interference on safety Bryan Cook on the throw to Pitts, no one pulled out a flag.
At that point, the Falcons also could have cut Kansas City’s lead to just two points. But head coach Raheem Morris elected to go for it, and it didn’t work out.
But after a three-and-out from Kansas City’s offense, the Falcons once again had an opportunity — this time aided by some Chiefs defensive fouls. An illegal use of hands penalty gave Atlanta a free first down. Then there was a potential make-up call on defensive pass interference, as receiver Ray-Ray McCloud initiated contact with Trent McDuffie, but the cornerback was still flagged. Finally, a horse collar tackle moved the Falcons to Kansas City’s 22-yard line.
But on third-and-1 with 1:03 on the clock, Tyler Allgeier was stopped short of the sticks. And on fourth down, linebacker Nick Bolton — who had briefly exited the contest with a back issue — burst through the line to bring down Bijan Robinson for a 3-yard loss, effectively ending the contest.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes had to do some creative kneeling to run the clock out, as Atlanta still had two timeouts. On one of them, he got his foot caught in the turf a little bit and had to shake it off. But Mahomes told NBC’s Melissa Stark after the game that he was just fine.
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 outgained Atlanta 345 to 311, had 22 first downs to Atlanta’s 19, and was 6-of-14…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sunday-night-football-chiefs-hang-034334258.html
Author : ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-09-23 03:43:34
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