There’s no better way to celebrate a player’s return from a year long absence than a blowout victory over a divisional rival. The Kansas City Chiefs just had their biggest win of the season Oct. 19, beating the Las Vegas Raiders 31-0.
Patrick Mahomes threw for nearly 300 yards, with three touchdowns and no turnovers. Two of those touchdowns landed in the hands of Rashee Rice, his first time on the field in over a year.
Rice was suspended for the first six games this season following a multi-vehicle crash he caused while racing on a Dallas highway. He spent 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to two third-degree felony charges of collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury.
Last season, Rice went down in the first quarter of Kansas City’s Week 4 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers with a torn lateral collateral ligament, missing the rest of the season. Rice averaged 96 receiving yards a game and had two touchdowns across his three healthy games of the 2024 season, He would’ve ended second in the league for receiving yards per game and tied for fourth in receiving touchdowns, if he had stayed on pace.
Rice’s presence alone takes the Chiefs’ passing game to a new level. He steps in as the automatic best route-runner on the team. Across the first three games of 2024, he led the NFL in yards after the catch, with 48 more than the second place receiver. The third-year wideout was on pace to have 11 touchdowns and over 1600 yards, and could have shattered all Kansas City single season receiving yards per game records.
Not only is Rice arguably the best run-after-catch player in the NFL, but head coach Andy Reid is arguably one of the best coaches at getting his players the ball. Due to Rice’s ability to stop on a dime and cut in and out of defenders, Reid’s choice to run him on multiple successful screens against the Raiders, landing Rice his first touchdown in over a year. Rice’s great contact balance and ability to get yards after the catch have turned small gains into explosive plays.
Because of the vertical threats of Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and Reid like to run Rice out of bunch: a play where three receivers line up in a triangle formation on one side of the field and a lone receiver lines up on the other side. This allows the deep threats of Worthy and Brown to stretch out a defense, leaving Rice open for easy downs or short yardage plays. Running these three receivers together, it won’t be hard to find an open man.
Lining up Rice and Worthy together proved to be a challenge for the Raiders’ defense, and will continue to be a problem for opposing teams.
Kansas City ran a play in the second quarter where Rice caught a no-look pass from Mahomes. Rice was lined up on the left side of the field with Worthy in a stack because of Worthy’s deep ball threat and speed. The cornerback guarding Rice dropped back in an attempt to box Worthy, but Rice stopped on a dime, turned around and caught a wide open ball.
Rice’s final touchdown of the night came on a fade route on first and goal. Due to Rice’s physicality and ball tracking skills, even when lined up one on one, Mahomes can throw the ball in his general vicinity knowing he’ll grab it.
The opportunities with Rice back on the field are endless. The Chiefs are already second in expected points added per play, with Rice only playing in one of their seven games. Now that Rice is back for the remainder of the season, this offense will be scary. Rice ended the game with seven catches on 10 targets, leading the team. He finished with 42 yards and two touchdowns. Rice will play against the Washington Commanders Oct. 27.
