The Kansas City Chiefs won their home opener against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday to advance to 3-0 on the 2019 season.
Our heroes took care of business on the gridiron and did so while showcasing some explosive plays on both sides of the ball. Some of those explosive plays also happened to be the most enjoyable moments during the game. Here’s a look at three moments in particular that stood out to me as some of the most fun moments during the course of the game.
Honey Badger’s blitzing leap
I bet you didn’t know that Honey Badgers can fly? Well, now you know that at least one of them can. Tyrann Mathieu recorded his first pass defense of the season on this play.
The blitzing leap to break up Lamar Jackson’s floating pass wasn’t only enjoyable to watch, but it was an excellent feat of athleticism. Mathieu stands at 5-feet-9 and he went all the way up to bat that football away from Justice Hill. This was just the very beginning of a dominant performance for Mathieu where he defended three passes, nearly intercepting one of them.
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Mecole Hardman’s mad dash and Patrick Mahomes’ sliding lead-block
This play almost ended up as a disaster and somehow turned into one of the most enjoyable moments from the entire game. The offense runs an RPO Orbit swing pass to Mecole Hardman. It’s a beautiful play that the Chiefs use a lot with Tyreek Hill.
A Ravens defender intrudes into the backfield and almost breaks up the pass. Mahomes can’t lead the pass because of this and it causes it to pop up a bit and that’s where the fun begins. Hardman takes a breath to haul in the pass and by that time two defenders are bearing down on him. He makes the first defender miss and runs away from the other. The perfect cutback lane reveals itself and Mahomes leads the way for Hardman.
Mahomes makes the ultimate business decision and baseball slides across the first down marker. The last thing you want to do as a QB is to take an unnecessary shot on a play like this. His slide even gave Hardman some room to pick up the first down.
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Frank Clark’s piggyback ride sack
This wasn’t exactly what I expected from Frank Clark’s first sack with the Chiefs but I am not exactly complaining. It came at a crucial point in the game and helped the Chiefs win, it just looked kind of funny. Usually, these guys sack the QB and it’s a violent affair. This time, Lamar Jackson just takes Clark for a piggyback ride as he stumbles forward.
It was a good rush from Clark with the spin move and Jackson was expecting more time while looking to throw the ball downfield. The NASCAR package with four EDGE guys on the field helped collapse the pocket and gave Jackson no room to escape. Then Clark just hops on Jackson’s back and rides him into his own offensive lineman.
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