2024 NFL Wild Card Weekend: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs Are Inevitable

Fangio leaned all the way in and blitzed Mahomes on 48.8% of his dropbacks, the second highest mark of his entire career, per NextGenStats. 

All of the blitzing was not effective. It never has been against Mahomes; the Dolphins game was no exception. While Mahomes only went 10 of 21 against the blitz, he also threw for 123 yards (5.9 per pass), did not turn the ball over and did not take a single sack, according to NextGenStats. Not only wasn’t Mahomes sacked, but he scrambled for 41 yards and two first downs on his only two tries. 

Mahomes had an answer for everything. Neither the freezing conditions nor the unrelenting pressure nor a cracked helmet could stop Mahomes. 

Rashee Rice Delivers in Playoff Debut

That version of Mahomes has been present all year long, though. Whether or not he got enough help to put up the numbers to support it has been another story. 

For most of the season, the Chiefs' pass-catchers were a problem. This was a unit built around Kelce with a bunch of young and/or incomplete role players. Kelce turned in his "worst" season as a pro. Hardly anyone else stepped up to fill the void other than rookie Rashee Rice, but even he was inconsistent for most of the season. The offense still felt like it lacked a true answer outside of "Kelce, please get open somewhere."

Rice may finally have done enough to earn the unwavering faith of Reid and Mahomes. 

Not only did the Chiefs turn to Rice on a shallow crosser on their opening script touchdown, but the passing game became entirely about him after a certain point. Reid started doing all he could to get Rice on the move and unlock his YAC ability. Screens, crossers, slant routes — anything to get Rice rolling with the ball in his hands became the Chiefs' best play. 

Chiefs Receiving Breakdown

Rice finished with 12 targets, eight receptions, 130 yards and a touchdown, all tops for any player in this game. He even had a second touchdown on a screen yanked off the board thanks to a Jawaan Taylor penalty. To the point about his usage, 80 of Rice's yards came after the catch, per NextGenStats. Again, that was most in the game by about double that of anyone else. 

Reid put his young receiver in favorable positions and Mahomes threw at him time and time again. Rice paid them both off with a star receiver performance. For a rookie getting his first taste of playoff football, it was everything you could hope for. 

Chiefs Defense Sends Another Message

The Chiefs defense deserves its flowers as well. A defense that's been suffocating all season long now has the Steve Spagnuolo playoff buff. Usually that boost only took the Chiefs defense from bad to serviceable in the postseason, but now it can take them from great to potentially elite. 

Holding the Dolphins to seven points in the first round of the playoffs was a good start. 

Granted, the weather helped them a good bit. Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa did not appear to be an all-weather quarterback and coach Mike McDaniel hardly trusted him with many opportunities to prove it. 

The game plan was supposed to be about running the ball and using the pass game to generate short YAC chances, but the run game never got going and the YAC opportunities didn't do enough. Miami's only score came on an underthrown heave to Tyreek Hill, a play which maybe no other receiver in the league scores on. 

Weather aside, it became clear in this game how many true impact players this Chiefs defense has. 

Defensive tackle Chris Jones is the ace. Everything the Chiefs do upfront from a pressure perspective runs through Jones. It was Jones' sidekick who took over this game, though. Defensive end George Karlaftis had a mini-breakout game with 1.5 sacks and a slew of plays at the line of scrimmage in run defense. Little by little, Karlaftis continues to come along as a player and put together more of these big-time performances. 

The secondary has a pair of stars, too. 

Cornerback L'Jarius Sneed was robbed of All-Pro honors if we're being honest. A long, mean cornerback who first caught on as a run defender and press coverage pest, Sneed has fully blossomed into one of the league's best outside cornerbacks. 

In the slot, Trent McDuffie has come to personify Spagnuolo's defense. He's quick, he's versatile, and most importantly, he is unhinged when it comes to fitting the run and playing with physicality. He plays with someone who has zero concern for his own body — the mark of all great nickel defenders. 

All of those guys have the capacity to take over drives. Jones has a well-documented history of doing so all by himself on past versions of this team, but he doesn't have to do it alone anymore. That quartet of stars with Spagnuolo pulling all the strings is more than enough to give any offense trouble. 

Victory Reminds What Chiefs Are Capable Of

The Chiefs aren't suddenly the best team in the league again because they won a wild card game. The non-Rice/Kelce pass-catchers may still be a problem, poor offensive tackle play could crop up again vs. healthier pass-rush units and there is no guarantee the run game is stable week to week. 

Reid and Mahomes have earned a lot of benefit of the doubt, but not enough to wash away an entire season of sloppy football with a single win. 

At the same time, a win like this serves as a reminder of what this version of the Chiefs can be at their best. A Chiefs team firing on all cylinders is still the one team nobody wants to face. It's all a matter of getting them to be that team each and every week.