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Mahomes made it his third straight game with an interception to open the season but Rashee Rice’s 110 receiving yards and a touchdown propelled his team to a 3-0 start.
The Falcons got the ball back with 2:26 remaining in the game but couldn’t find a go-ahead score in front of their home fans.
Bijan Robinson was stopped on a 4th-and-inches deep in Kansas City territory with less than a minute left and Kansas City was then able to kneel the clock out.
‘It was a team effort, that’s how this season’s been,’ Mahomes said after the game on NBC. ‘We’ve been in these moments before.’
It was another quiet night for Travis Kelce as the tight end had just four catches for 30 yards, though that was the second-highest figure on the Chiefs.
The performance came without girlfriend Taylor Swift in the stands after she had attended the Chiefs’ first two games of the season.
The game also featured another officiating controversy, as safety Bryan Cook was not called for pass interference on a pivotal fourth quarter 3rd-and-5 despite wrapping his arms around Kyle Pitts and not facing the ball while it was midair.
The pass fell incomplete and then Atlanta were unable to convert a 4th-and-5 with 4:08 remaining – rendering their 15-play, 83-yard drive fruitless.
The two-time defending champion Chiefs have now won their first three games by a combined 13 points.
Mahomes threw for 217 yards while Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins was 20 of 29 for 230 yards with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Drake London.
Refs let the Chiefs get away with a lot of contact on this pass to Pitts. Falcons end up turning it over on downs. #KCvsATL pic.twitter.com/rSFnM2tIb8
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) September 23, 2024
Carrying on the momentum from their last-minute stunner at Philadelphia, Cousins and the Falcons took the opening kickoff and quickly drove 70 yards for a touchdown.
Cousins completed all five of his passes for 66 yards, including a 14-yard scoring toss to Drake London – who also caught the winning score against the Eagles. London wound up all alone in the end zone on a busted coverage by the Chiefs.
Three games into his third season, London became the fastest player in Falcons history to reach 150 career receptions.
Mahomes responded with a long drive of his own, taking the Chiefs 75 in 17 plays but failing to come away with any points. Going for Noah Gray in the end zone, Mahomes was intercepted by Justin Simmons – the fourth pick of the season for the Chiefs star quarterback.
But Mahomes bounced back from that miscue to push Kansas City all the way to the end zone. A 13-play, 79-yard possession ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Rice.
The Falcons reclaimed the lead on Robinson´s 1-yard touchdown run, which was set up by Cousins´ 50-yard pass to Kyle Pitts.
But Atlanta´s offensive line took a pair of hits when right tackle Kaleb McGary and center Drew Dalman both went out with injuries. With a pair of backups joining their ranks, the guys up from struggled to keep the pressure off Cousins, who was sacked twice and hit 10 more times as he threw, spending much of the night picking himself off the turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
One of those hits resulted in a wobbly pass that was picked off by Chamarri Conner, setting up Butker’s 44-yard field goal that sliced the Falcons´ edge to 14-13 at halftime.
Butker put the Chiefs ahead to stay on a 21-yard chip shot in the third quarter, and Kansas City stretched the lead on Mahomes´ 13-yard touchdown pass to Smith-Schuster late in the third quarter.