Four Takeaways From the Chiefs' 44-21 Win Over the Cardinals
The Kansas City Chiefs opened their 2022 season by heading to Glendale for a Week 1 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, and it was obvious from the very start of the game that the team was on a mission.
Jumping out to an early lead and never looking back, a clear halftime advantage ended up parlaying itself into a comfortable win for the reigning AFC West champions. With the victory, Kansas City begins its 2022 campaign with a 1-0 record and will be looking to keep that good momentum going on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Here are four takeaways from Sunday's game.
1. No Tyreek, no problem for Patrick Mahomes
Ever since the Chiefs traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins way back in March, talk began to swirl about how Kansas City's offense would look without him. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes caught a lot of that shade, as many national media didn't trust Andy Reid's unit to remain as effective this season. A 21-for-28, 223-yard, three-touchdown first half from Mahomes led to things getting off to one heck of a start. He then continued to dominate into the second half as well. Overall, Mahomes did a good job controlling the game and still looked like the same player who normally contends for the "best quarterback in the league" title every year. It's early, but no Hill was no problem for the Chiefs in Week 1.
2. The Chiefs' running backs look different now
Clyde Edwards-Helaire broke off some nice runs on the Chiefs' first drive of the game and totaled 34 rushing yards on his first four attempts. By the end of the first half, he'd already recorded a pair of touchdowns in the receiving game as well. Jerick McKinnon made multiple noteworthy plays, and rookie Isiah Pacheco came on very strong in the fourth quarter as well. Ronald Jones, who has a near-1,000 yard season under his belt, wasn't even active for the game. If the Chiefs' running back group improves its performance from a year ago, that would be a major boost for Reid's offense. Things got off to a more than solid start in Arizona.
3. The Chiefs' defense showed promise
Not many units throughout the entire NFL experienced a greater degree of change than Steve Spagnuolo's defense did this offseason. Whether it be the additions of defensive ends George Karlaftis (draft) and Carlos Dunlap (free agency), the release of linebacker Anthony Hitchens signaling a changing of the guard to younger players or the almost entirely brand new secondary, so much looks different for the Chiefs now than it did in January. It didn't seem to matter much, though, as Spagnuolo's young and athletic group allowed just a single score through three quarters. There's plenty for the Chiefs' defense to work on moving forward, but it passed the initial test.
4. Injuries are the worst
Any amount of injuries in sports is unfortunate and despite coming into Sunday's game with a mostly clean bill of health, the Chiefs were unable to maintain that throughout their season opener. In addition to kicker Harrison Butker hurting his ankle, quarterback Patrick Mahomes's left hand/wrist area and cornerback Trent McDuffie's hamstring — among others — got varying degrees of banged up against the Cardinals. While not everyone missed time and not everyone will miss time moving forward, dealing with a short week coming up makes this a less-than-ideal set of circumstances for Kansas City. Injuries, no matter the severity, are the worst.
