It wasn’t great, yet the Chiefs were generally amazing in their 17-10 success over the Cardinals in Friday night’s preseason standoff. The initial three Chiefs quarterbacks drove scoring drives, with undrafted youngster Shane Buechele throwing a second from last quarter score to Jerick McKinnon.
Patrick Mahomes tossed for 78 yards on 10 of 18 passing in three series of work. Mahomes’ first drive finished with a 24-yard field objective; his last drive finished with an interference from Cardinals cornerback Byron Murphy. Chad Henne finished off the half with a 12-yard score pass to Mecole Hardman. Buechele went 7 of 8 for 66 yards while driving the Chiefs to a score on the primary drive of the subsequent half.
It was an inauspicious evening for Kyler Murray and the Cardinals’ beginning offense. In three series, Murray finished only one of his four pass endeavors for 2 yards. Murray was sacked double that incorporated a success from Chris Jones that prompted the Cardinals’ third three-and-out with Murray under focus. With Murray in the game, the Cardinals ran 9 plays for – 1 yards. While the Cardinals set up a couple of late scoring drives, runs of 19 and 11 yards by Derrick Gore fixed the success for Kansas City.
Mahomes finished his initial four passes that remembered two to Hardman for the Chiefs’ first drive. Mahomes couldn’t associate on successive end zone tosses to Hardman, in any case, as the Chiefs’ 15-play drive finished with Harrison Butker’s field objective. The Chiefs walked 61 yards on their third drive before Mahomes was captured by Murphy on third and objective.
Here’s a more critical gander at what happened in the desert.
Why the Chiefs won
Kansas City’s safeguard wouldn’t permit the Cardinals to get into any kind of section with Murray under focus. On the other hand, the Chiefs changed over on a couple of fourth downs on their first drive which prompted Butker’s field objective. The Chiefs likewise benefited from a few major plays. Byron Pringle’s 41-yard get set up Hardman’s score not long before halftime and Buechele’s 36-yard finish to Marcus Kemp assisted set with increasing his score pass to McKinnon. Kansas City likewise partook in a strong execution from running back Darwin Thompson, who had four straight conveys for 28 yards on the Chiefs’ subsequent belonging. He had a 13-yard run on the Chiefs’ first drive of the subsequent half.
After the Cardinals managed their lead to one belonging, the Chiefs controlled the ball for the game’s last nine minutes. The principle impetuses on the drive were Gore (who drove the two groups with 54 yards on eight conveys) and reinforcement quarterback Anthony Gordon, who finished each of the seven of his passes for 42 yards.
Why the Cardinals lost
Arizona didn’t record a solitary initially down with Murray on the field. And keeping in mind that its protection figured out how to stop Mahomes twice in the red zone, they couldn’t copy that accomplishment against Henne and Buechele, who tossed scores on back to back belongings. Arizona likewise attempted to secure its quarterbacks, who were sacked a consolidated multiple times.
Arizona got a strong night from reinforcement quarterback Chris Streveler, who was 5 of 6 passing for 74 yards. He covered off a 12-play, 88-yard drive with a 12-yard score pass to Ross Travis with 9:03 left.
Defining moment
Murphy’s pick seemed to give the Cardinals some force halfway during that time quarter. The Cardinals, nonetheless, neglected to move the ball during Colt McCoy’s first drive, going three-and-out for a fourth consecutive belonging. The groups exchanged punts before Henne drove the Chiefs on a 6-play, 77-yard drive that finished with the game’s first score. Buechele then, at that point drove the Chiefs on a 12-play, 87-yard drive that basically set the game aside.
Play of the game
Wellbeing Juan Thornhill did his best recipient impression when he took out McCoy in the end zone late in the principal half. A previous second-round pick, Thornhill took out four passes during his first two seasons in Quite a while City.
Quotable
“We’ve got to clean some stuff up, get some things right. They kicked our butt for the few drives we were out there. It is what it is. We’ll be better when it counts.” — Murray to ESPN’s Lisa Salters when gotten some information about the Cardinals’ hostile battles
What’s next
The Chiefs will finish up the 2021 preseason next Friday at home against the Vikings. Kansas City will open the customary season with a home game against the Browns in a rematch of the Chiefs’ nail-gnawing win in the divisional round of the 2020 end of the season games. Arizona will wrap up the preseason with a Saturday standoff in New Orleans. The Cardinals will open the ordinary season at Tennessee.
