The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense looks explosive again. After the ground game produced the big plays in Week 1, the passing game got in on the long gashes, with multiple completions for 20-plus yards.
The first of the game came from wide receiver Rashee Rice, who caught a well-timed throw from quarterback Patrick Mahomes off an under-center play-action fake. The gravity of a potential handoff to running back Kenneth Walker opened up the middle of the field, and that wasn’t by accident.
At the podium
on Wednesday, Rice said the big play was set up by what Kansas City put on tape in Week 1.
“[I] had a lot of plays where I would motion down into the line of scrimmage and block for the run game,” Rice said about the Week 1 win. “So it’s just based off that play in the following week, knowing that the team that we played last week would watch film and expect for me to go in that position and block for a running back.”
This clip shows two plays: a Week 1 handoff to Walker and a Week 2 completion to Rice. Both plays present similarly, but on the second, Rice fakes the block and takes off across the field. The Indianapolis Colts defender he sets up to block is clearly fooled by the action, as are the linebackers who stepped all the way up to the line of scrimmage.
It’s the result of the Chiefs’ willingness to run down the throats of a Denver Broncos defense that invited it throughout the season opener. The Colts felt more prepared to stifle Walker schematically, but Kansas City responded by turning up the dial on play-action concepts.
“Our run game has been tremendous this year so far,” Rice said. “It’s going to continue to
grow. I feel like, based off how we’ve been running the ball so aggressively, that it’s going to allow for
defenses to have to come down and play inside the box as well as even when we have play-action plays,
they’re going to have to play the run before our quarterback rolls out to throw the ball and make a play
downfield.”
Rice is in an especially unique position to fool defenders with the run game. Based on his listed size of 6 feet 1 inch tall and 204 pounds, he is the team’s biggest wideout and has been effective blocking defensive backs for Walker and others so far this season.
It’s not the ideal skill set of the de facto No. 1 receiver on the team, but that doesn’t bother Rice. If anything, it sounds like he’s gaining an appreciation for what makes football so great: it’s the ultimate team sport.
“It’s very rewarding,” Rice shared. “I kind of feel like not necessarily an O-lineman, but now I understand what it
feels like to make a great block and not necessarily hear your name get called on the touchdown or
anything like that, but it’s just knowing that you did your job to help the team and to progress down the
field or even score a touchdown, it feels real good.”
