Lots went proper for the Kansas City Chiefs throughout their Divisional Spherical victory in opposition to the Buffalo Bills. They rushed for 146 yards on 6.1 yards per carry. As a unit, their go catchers averaged 12.6 yards per reception. Per Subsequent Gen Stats, Patrick Mahomes accomplished three deep passes in a recreation for the primary time this season. Sunday night was not a 2018 Chiefs efficiency, nevertheless, it was one among their finest showings in weeks. KC’s go catchers have been strong all recreation lengthy, together with the much-maligned Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
He did his job in opposition to the Payments. Valdes-Scantling was introduced in to be a big-play risk for the Chiefs. He caught solely two passes on Sunday, however they have been each for at the very least 30 yards. His crew was down by 4 factors firstly of the third quarter. The Payments hustled their manner down the sphere on the finish of the primary half to take a 17-13 lead. Valdes-Scantling opened the second half with a 30-yard, back-shoulder reception. The Chiefs took the lead 5 performs later.
The Payments responded with an extended landing drive. They ran greater than eight minutes off the clock on a 75-yard drive that resulted in one other lead change. When the Chiefs bought the ball again, Valdes-Scantling had another massive play left in him. Mahomes side-stepped a blitz close to midfield and tossed him one other rainbow that put the Chiefs within the purple zone. A landing three performs later gave them a 27-24 lead, which ended up being the ultimate rating of the sport.
When the Chiefs signed Valdes-Scantling to a three-year, $30 million deal in 2022, the aim was to exchange Tyreek Hill by committee. Nobody participant can present all of that pace and ball monitoring means, so Valdes-Scantling was introduced in for his jets. In 4 seasons with the Green Bay Packers he solely averaged lower than 16 yards per receptions as a rookie. Even that yr he totaled practically 600 receiving yards.
A obtrusive flaw in Valdes-Scantling’s recreation is that he can solely be relied upon to haul in about half of his targets. Whether or not he’s focused 40 or 20 instances, the share of passes catches goes to be roughly the identical. The issue for the 2023 Chiefs is that he was solely focused 42 instances. On the conclusion of the common season, he totaled 21 receptions for 315 yards, one landing, and likewise one of the crucial notorious drops in franchise historical past.
That drop was a possible game-winning landing late within the fourth quarter of a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. A loss that after which public confidence within the Chiefs took a big slide. Had Valdes-Scantling caught that game-winning landing, these back-to-back losses to the Payments and Packers wouldn’t have seemed so dangerous.
It’s not as if he was the primary wrongdoer within the Chiefs dropped passes downside throughout the common season. Of the crew’s league-leading 44 drops on the season, solely three have been on Valdes-Scantling. Nevertheless, he’s the highest-paid participant in that younger broad receiver room. Overlook the drops, what most definitely shouldn’t be is an afterthought within the passing recreation with lower than 50 targets throughout the common season.
Valdes-Scantling didn’t play like a No. 1 broad receiver on Sunday, however he did show to be a risk. He made two of the most important performs of the sport. Mahomes did quite a lot of the leg and arm work on each, however the crew’s prime receiver — by wage — put himself in place to not solely warrant the goal, but in addition convert in a manner that put his crew within the place to win.
On one hand, the Chiefs’ Divisional Spherical victory in opposition to the Payments was a typical day for Valdes-Scantling. He caught 50 % of the balls that have been thrown his manner. Nevertheless, the receptions that he did make, saved the Chiefs’ season.
