Tag: Week 3

Final score: Chiefs defeat Falcons 22-17 in Week 3

The Kansas City #Chiefs defeated the Atlanta #Falcons 22-17 on ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 3.

The Kansas City Chiefs secured their third victory of the 2024 regular season on Sunday Night Football, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 22-17.

Both teams fought hard throughout the game, but Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City’s offense couldn’t quite get into gear against Atlanta’s impressive secondary.

With star running back Isiah Pacheco out due to an injury he sustained against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2, rookie rusher Carson Steele led the Chiefs on the ground with 17 carries for 72 yards.

Kansas City’s defense showed up when it mattered most. Defensive back Chamarri Conner and linebacker Nick Bolton put together fantastic performances, with 10 and 8 combined tackles respectively.

https://twitter.com/Chiefs/status/1838056190254752069

Bolton ultimately secured the win for Kansas City late in the fourth quarter when he tackled Bijan Robinson behind the line of scrimmage on the Falcons’ final offensive play.

Now 3-0, the Chiefs will look ahead to their Week 4 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, who lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-10 earlier on Sunday.

Chiefs vs. Falcons: Patrick Mahomes finds JuJu Smith-Schuster for touchdown

#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes found veteran WR JuJu Smith-Schuster for a touchdown in Kansas City’s Week 3 matchup against the #Falcons.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense has struggled to start the 2024 regular season, and for the first half of their Week 3 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, it seemed that the defending champions would continue the trend.

After Patrick Mahomes threw an interception on Kansas City’s first drive, Atlanta seemed to have an early advantage.

But, when the Chiefs opened the second half with the ball, Mahomes and Kansas City’s passing game finally began to click, and they marched with ease toward the endzone.

At the end of a long drive, Mahomes hit veteran wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster for a touchdown.

Take a look at this video of the perfectly executed catch and score by Smith-Schuster, which was posted by the Chiefs’ official Twitter account:

With the injury to veteran wide receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown, other receivers such as Smith-Schuster will be needed in big spots during Kansas City’s 2024 regular season campaign.

Chiefs vs. Falcons: Chamarri Conner intercepts Kirk Cousins

#Chiefs DB Chamarri Conner intercepted #Falcons QB Kirk Cousins in Kansas City’s Week 3 matchup against Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Atlanta Falcons have the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense right where they want them on Sunday Night Football, but have let the defending champions keep the score within one point heading into halftime.

Kansas City is set to receive the second-half kickoff, and the Chiefs needed the heroics of second-year defensive back Chamarri Conner to help them cut their deficit late in the second quarter.

When Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins was pressured in the pocket during a first-half two-minute drill, he threw an easily interceptible ball in Conner’s direction.

The sophomore defender lept at his chance to make a play, coming away with the rock before handing it off to fellow defensive back Jaylen Watson, who was able to gain a few extra yards on the return.

Kansas City would settle for a Harrison Butker field goal on its ensuing drive.

Stay tuned to see if the Chiefs can complete a second-half comeback at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Week 3.

Good, bad and ugly from Packers’ 30-14 win over Titans in Week 3

The good, the bad and the ugly coming out of the Packers’ 30-14 win over the Titans in Week 3.

The Green Bay Packers earned a second consecutive win without Jordan Love under center on Sunday in Tennessee and could now be in a position to welcome back their starting quarterback for a big-time showdown with the Minnesota Vikings next week at Lambeau Field.

Love can thank the playcalling genius of Matt LaFleur, the calm and cool demeanor of Malik Willis and a swarming defense coordinated by Jeff Hafley for salvaging what could have been a nightmare start to the 2024 season. Instead of starting 1-2 or 0-3, the Packers are 2-1 and swelling with confidence after taking care of business against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans in back-to-back weeks. And Love could be back next week for a visit from the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly coming out of the Packers’ win over the Titans:

The Good

Defensive dominance: For the second consecutive week, the Packers defense stepped up to the challenge of helping a backup quarterback win a football game. On Sunday, Hafley’s defense delivered eight sacks, three takeaways, a pick-six and a fourth-down stop, and the Titans were held scoreless on nine of 11 possessions. The Packers stuffed the run early, built a lead and then harassed Will Levis for seven sacks in the second half.

Malik Willis on third down early: The Packers knew they needed to make a few more plays in big spots against a testy Titans defense, and Willis delivered, especially in the first half. He hit Christian Watson for 30 yards on 3rd-and-6 on the first drive, ran for a pair of first downs on third down to set up a field goal and delivered strikes to Romeo Doubs and Watson to convert third-and-longs on a field goal drive before the half. That’s 13 points off big conversions from Willis. The Packers won by 16.

Even more interceptions: Jaire Alexander produced his first-career pick-six, and Xavier McKinney grabbed an interception for the third consecutive game to start his Packers career. Alexander’s touchdown gave the Packers a 17-7 lead in the first quarter, McKinney’s pick sealed the deal late. The Packers now have seven picks in 2024, matching the team’s total from 2023.

Winning with a backup: The Packers did all the things required of playing winning football with a backup quarterback. No turnovers. Win the line of scrimmage. Explosive plays from playmakers. Defensive dominance. Takeaways. The Packers are winning with a formula that works regardless of who is playing quarterback.

The Bad

Red zone: The Packers are still having issues turning red-zone trips into touchdowns. With just one touchdown on three trips on Sunday, the Packers are now 3-for-11 (27.3 percent) to start 2024. Green Bay had 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line on their second possession but ended up settling for a 21-yard field goal. Late in the first half, the Packers got to the Titans 13-yard line with 1:27 left but ended up kicking a 26-yard field goal as time expired following a third-down sack of Malik Willis. Margins on thin in the scoring area, and the Packers haven’t executed well enough, especially in the run game. Willis did score a 5-yard rushing touchdown on the first drive. The Titans, meanwhile, converted both of their red-zone trips into touchdowns.

The Ugly

Yellow flags everywhere: The Packers were penalized 10 more times on Sunday, and that’s not even counting a few offsetting or declined penalties. Rasheed Walker was flagged for a pair of penalties on one drive, Elgton Jenkins had two holding penalties negate successful runs and Zach Tom got dinged for a procedural penalty. On the Titans’ first scoring drive, Preston Smith was offsides on 3rd-and-8, negating what would have been a drive-ending sack from Rashan Gary. The Titans converted given a second chance and scored a touchdown soon after. The special teams also had a pair of penalties, including one on a punt that ended up costing the Packers 20 yards in field position. The Packers finished with 75 penalty yards, compared to just 15 yards on two penalties from the Titans. Matt LaFleur’s team now has two games in three weeks with 10 penalties.

Chiefs vs. Falcons: Patrick Mahomes hit Rashee Rice for touchdown before halftime

#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to Rashee Rice in the second quarter of Kansas City’s Week 3 matchup against the #Falcons.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense struggled to get in gear against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night, but their fortunes changed when quarterback Patrick Mahomes was able to hit wide receiver Rashee Rice for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Atlanta was up by seven points before the highlight-reel play and had kept Mahomes and the Chiefs’ passing attack in check through the game’s first frame.

After leading Kansas City’s offense down the field on the Chiefs’ first drive, Mahomes threw an interception to Falcons safety Justin Simmons.

On Kansas City’s second drive, Mahomes methodically matriculated the ball into the red zone and was able to find Rice with a touchdown pass to pull the Chiefs within one point.

When Harrison Butker nailed the extra point try, Kansas City officially tied the game.

Expect to see Mahomes continue to look Rice’s way as the Chiefs try to sustain more long drives against Atlanta’s stingy defense.

Broncos’ locker room photo of Bo Nix is an instant classic

This is such a great photo!

Following their 26-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, the Denver Broncos posted four great photos from the locker room on their Twitter/X page, including an instant classic of rookie quarterback Bo Nix:

https://twitter.com/ByJonHeath/status/1837982003238420509

After the game, Nix was asked if he was allowing himself to enjoy his first win in the NFL.

“Well, I’ve got to,” Nix said. “You only get this moment one time and it’s not easy winning games in this league. Our guys deserve this. Our guys have earned this. We have a great team that really battled in there.

“We were one possession away in both of the first two games so, just to do what we were able to do today against a really good football team, it gives us a little bit of confidence moving forward. [It’s] still a long season, but you have to enjoy these wins when they’re here, and it’s a great first win.”

Up next for Nix and Co. is another road game, this time against the New York Jets in New Jersey. The Broncos will practice in West Virginia leading up to the Jets game in Week 4.

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Watch Bo Nix’s postgame interview after his first win in the NFL

“I’m proud of this team, I love these guys,” Broncos QB Bo Nix said after a 26-7 win over the Bucs. “It’s just a great first win.”

Following a 26-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday (the first win of his NFL career), Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was interviewed by Sarah Kustok of Fox Sports.

“Well, we did a great job executing,” Nix said when asked what was the difference on offense against Tampa Bay. “We did really well on first and second down. We finished drives. We kind of made drives go longer with third-down conversions. And then when we got to the red zone, we finally scored touchdowns today. Now, still, we missed a few opportunities with touchdowns but we traded them in for three points.

“We did a better job protecting the ball today and it’s just a great team win. This is us. We came out here, we competed really hard, we played physical. We played four quarters and we ran around and competed. So I’m proud of this team, I love these guys. It’s just a great first win.”

You can also watch Nix’s postgame press conference below, courtesy of the team’s official Twitter/X page:

After totaling 263 yards and scoring a touchdown on Sunday, Nix will look to take another step forward when the Broncos face the New York Jets on the road in Week 4.

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Seahawks suffocate the Dolphins 24-3, improve to 3-0

Seahawks suffocate the Dolphins 24-3, improve to 3-0

For only the eighth time in franchise history – and first since 2020 – the Seattle Seahawks have started the season 3-0 by defeating the Miami Dolphins 24-3 at Lumen Field. It was a rather sloppy, penalty-filled affair from both teams, but in the end the Seahawks took care of business against a team missing their top two quarterbacks.

Seattle erupted to 17 points in the first quarter, scoring on three of their first four possessions. But after that, the gunpowder for fireworks clearly ran out. Their next six possessions went as follows:

  • Missed field goal
  • Punt
  • Punt
  • Punt
  • Punt
  • Punt
  • Interception

The Seahawks did manage to finally break through and ice the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Seattle, backed up at their own two-yard line (more on how they got there, shortly), engineered a 98-yard drive on 11 plays which was capped off by a 10-yard scamper from running back Zach Charbonnet. It was not a sharp performance from the Seahawks, but their offense did more than enough to take advantage of the steller day from the defense.

Why were the Seahawks in need of having to go 98 yards? Because the defense had stopped Miami on 4th down at the two-yard line. In fact, it was the second time Seattle prevented the Dolphins from doing anything in the red zone. Macdonald’s defense suffocated the life from a severely depleted Miami team. Backup Skylar Thompson was knocked out of the game, forcing emergency third stringer Tim Boyle to step into action. Predictably, he did not make much of an impact.

The Dolphins had 12 possessions. Of those 12, six ended in punts, three were turnover on downs, a missed field goal, a made field goal thanks to an interception setting them up in the Seahawks red zone, and a sack to end the first half. Miami was 1-for-12 on third down, and had a whopping 205 total yards on 56 plays.

Seattle maintains their perch atop the NFC West with their 3-0 record, but will face their biggest test of the season in Week 4. The Seahawks will head back to Detroit for the third-consecutive season to play the Lions, who will await them on Monday Night Football.

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Inactives for Chiefs vs. Falcons, Week 3

Here are the players who will be inactive during the #Chiefs vs. #Falcons Week 3 game | From @EdEastonJr

The Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons released their list of inactive players before their Week 3 matchup.

Here are the inactive players for the Chiefs:

  • OT Ethan Driskell
  • OL CJ Hanson
  • DT Marlon Tuipulotu
  • DE Cameron Thomas

Here is the inactive list for the Falcons:

  • RB Jase McClellan
  • DL Brandon Dorlus
  • OL Jovaughn Gwyn
  • OT Brandon Parker
  • DL Ruke Orhorhoro