Chiefs Edge Redskins in 29-20 Monday Night Thriller

The Redskins started off with a quick drive that culminated in Terrelle Pryor’s first touchdown as a Redskin. Granted, it was trash because it shouldn’t have counted because Pryor definitely pushed off and it should have been offensive pass interference. That being said, it must have been relieving for Reskins fans to finally see him use his speed and athleticism to make a nice play. Pryor also showcased why he still has room to grow as a receiver, dropping a slant over the middle on a key third down.

Redskins running back Chris Thompson had his worst night of the year. Thompson failed to get into the end zone for the first time all season. More surprisingly, Thompson only received 2 targets, a sharp contrast to the 8.5 targets he was averaging for the first 3 games of the season, per CBS Sports. Despite this off night, he continues to be one of the most underrated players in the NFL. Thompson is currently 6th in all-purpose yardage, just 7 yards behind Christian McCaffrey, and just 11 yards behind Le’Veon Bell.
For those who watch Thompson closely, you can see that he is truly a do-it-all RB. Physically, at 192 pounds it is unlikely that he could actually be an every down back for an NFL team on a consistent basis without getting injured, but he can run effectively between the tackles and has excellent speed and route running ability on the outside. Although, the best thing about Thompson is the way he doesn’t shy away from contact. He relishes contact the way Ricky Williams once did. Thompson offers to lower his shoulders and look for contact down the sideline rather than getting out of bounds to avoid contact.

The Redskins had a couple of nice drives and kept the game interesting throughout. To start their third quarter, they had a quick drive down the field that was highlighted by a vintage Vernon Davis 69 yard catch-and-run and culminated in a great throw by Kirk Cousins to Ryan Grant in a tight window for a touchdown. During the Redskins’ final drive, Cousins used the mobility and awareness that many forget he possesses to scramble for first downs on back to back key third downs.

The Chiefs won this game because of 2 reasons: First, they are currently looking like the best team in the NFL (in fact ESPN and NFL.com both have the Chiefs ranked #1 in their latest power rankings) and Travis Kelce is the best TE in the league not named Gronkowski. Three weeks into the season Kelce ranks second among all tight ends in touchdowns, and third among all tight ends in total yards. Bear in mind Kelce has been able to do this while leaving enough touches for Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt to shine. There were several times where he just absolutely smoked defensive backs on routes. Second, the Chiefs won because the Redskins had 6.02 x 1023 defensive backs get hurt, and the Redskins killed themselves with defensive penalties.

Also, the Chiefs kicker is Harrison Butker so they were going to win the entire time. With an unfortunate name like that middle school was probably ruthless. But hey, now he’s getting paid an average of $600,000 a year to punt a football so he’s got that going for him.