The Kansas City Chiefs have struggled offensively all year. On Saturday night, they saw the main reason why.
But in the same moment, they also saw the light.
Enter Rashee Rice.
In his first playoff game, Rice was the best receiver on a field shared by former Chief wideout Tyreek Hill. Kansas City’s second-round rookie caught eight passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in a 26–7 victory over the Miami Dolphins in the AFC wild-card round at Arrowhead Stadium.
While nobody would say Rice is Hill, or will ever become Hill, he’s morphing into the most integral part of the Chiefs’ postseason dreams (non–Patrick Mahomes division). With teams doubling tight end Travis Kelce consistently—and the rest of Kansas City’s receivers unable to threaten—the offense has been stuck in neutral.
After winning the Super Bowl with a dynamic offense in the first season sans Hill, the loss of its biggest playmaker caught up to Kansas City in 2023.
Mahomes posted his worst passing totals since 2019, when he missed two games in a 16-game campaign. The offense bottomed out along with him, finishing ninth in yardage and 15th in points.
Early in the year, Rice was primarily used at the line of scrimmage, catching bubble screens and quick-hitters. In that role, Rice ranked third in the league with 653 yards after catch. But Rice wasn’t challenging defenses vertically, allowing teams to squat on Kansas City’s passing attack in a way previously unseen in the Mahomes era.
Across the regular season, Rice only played 55% of the snaps. But over the past 10 games (not including Week 18 when he was inactive), he bested that figure each time.
And with the increased playing time, Rice’s impact grew. In that span, he caught 58 passes for 693 yards and five scores.
Still, it was against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11 when coach Andy Reid began utilizing Rice more in downfield concepts. In his last six games, the SMU product totaled 43 catches for 518 yards and three touchdowns, which would project to 121 catches for 1,467 yards and eight touchdowns over a full campaign.
Fast-forward to Saturday night, and Rice’s impact was evident.
Of his eight receptions, six went for either a first down or a score. And each catch came with Kansas City considerably behind the sticks, save for one first-and-10, as can be seen below:
| Down-and-distance | Yardline | Result |
|---|---|---|
Second-and-8 |
MIA 11 |
11-yard touchdown catch |
Second-and-10 |
KC 42 |
23-yard catch |
Third-and-7 |
MIA 21 |
7-yard catch |
Second-and-10 |
KC 42 |
7-yard catch |
First-and-10 |
KC 44 |
5-yard catch |
Third-and-10 |
KC 44 |
39-yard catch |
Second-and-10 |
MIA 41 |
10-yard catch |
Second-and-16 |
MIA 45 |
28-yard catch |
But while Rice has been brilliant down the stretch, he’s one of two big reasons why the Chiefs have real hope of repeating.
The other is the league’s second-ranked defense.
Against the Dolphins, who finished the regular season ranked first in yards, second in yards per play, second in points scored and first in yards per rush, Kansas City’s defense put Miami’s offense in a deep freeze.
The Dolphins gained just 264 yards, their second-worst total of the season. They were also limited to 188 passing yards, their third-fewest of the year, with one of the other two being in a Week 9 loss to the Chiefs in Germany.
As for Kansas City, it was business as usual. The Chiefs held Hill to just 62 receiving yards on five receptions, the same yardage he amassed in their first meeting.
Again, nothing new for the Chiefs’ secondary. Kansas City hasn’t allowed a single 300-yard passer this season, and only two 100-yard receivers (Christian Kirk and Joshua Palmer).
How dominant has the Chiefs’ pass defense been? Here are a few stat lines from the best receivers Kansas City faced this season:
| Player | Stats |
|---|---|
Calvin Ridley |
Two catches, 32 yards |
DJ Moore |
Three catches, 41 yards |
Garrett Wilson |
Nine catches, 60 yards |
Justin Jefferson |
Three catches, 28 yards |
Jerry Jeudy |
Three catches, 14 yards |
Keenan Allen |
Four catches, 55 yards |
A.J. Brown |
One catch, eight yards |
Stefon Diggs |
Four catches, 24 yards |
Ja'Marr Chase |
Three catches, 41 yards |
Factor in a pass rush which generated 57 sacks—second only to the Baltimore Ravens—and the Chiefs are finding a simple, effective formula: play stifling defense, while allowing Mahomes to find Kelce and Rice when he’s not handing off to Isiah Pacheco.
For Kansas City, it all worked Saturday night despite needing to clean up certain areas, including red zone offense, where the Chiefs scored only two touchdowns in six trips on Saturday. They also need to limit the turnovers, as they had 28 giveaways during the regular season and lost one fumble against Miami.
But when Kansas City is protecting the ball and getting it to its star rookie wideout, good things are happening.
Good things like another playoff win and another week to play—and perhaps more down the road.
