Hot In The Desert

By : Mike Rifkin

The Kansas City Chiefs opened up the 2022 season with a 44-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The Chiefs offense had 488 yards for the game and averaged 7.4 yards per play. Patrick Mahomes had himself quite the season opener against his former college coach Kliff Kingsbury going 30-39 for 360 yards, five touchdowns with a Rating of 144.2. Mahomes is now 5-0 in season openers and has thrown 18 touchdowns and ZERO interceptions in those games. Mahomes may not have Tyreek Hill anymore but he still has Travis Kelce who had 8 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. New receivers Juju Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes- Scantling combined for 10 catches and 123 yards. Running Back Clyde Edwards – Helaire had 74 total yards and two receiving touchdowns. The Chiefs defense had three sacks. Now the Chiefs will be on a short week and take on division rival Los Angeles Chargers at home. Last year the teams split the series each winning by six points on the road. 

Dating back to last season the Cardinals have now lost six of their last seven games including the playoffs. Kyler Murray who got a massive extension this offseason went 22-34 for 193 yards and two touchdowns, much of that came after the Chiefs had put the game out of reach. Going into the game the Cardinals had a long list of players missing wether due to injury or in the case of DeAndre Hopkins who is serving a six game suspension for violating the NFL’s PED policy. Marquise Brown who was acquired at the draft from the Ravens had four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown in his Cardinal debut. 

Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said after the game “They beat us in every way, there is no denying it, no hiding from it. We didn’t execute in any phase and they played at a high level.” Here is my thing on the Kingsbury quote he doesn’t deny it or is hiding from it but did he not expect the Chiefs to play at a high level? The Chiefs have won the AFC West five straight seasons and have been in the AFC Championship game the last four seasons. That seems like a team you should be ready for. Now I was very critical of both the extensions for Murray and Kingsbury, and they could have made a statement in the opener but they laid a flat egg. They need to respond quick because they will play another AFC West opponent this week when they go to Vegas and play the Raiders and their old friend Chandler Jones.