The Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans kicked off the NFL season with a thrilling Thursday Night Football matchup. The defending champion Chiefs came away with a 34-20 victory of the Texans. Here are some of the biggest takeaways of the game.
Chiefs’ rookies impressed
The Chiefs have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL with stars on both sides of the ball. During the offseason they got even better through the draft. Two selections, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and L’jarius Sneed immediately impressed in their debuts. Despite getting a heavy workload, Edwards-Helaire ran for 138 yards and 1 touchdown on 25 carries. Sneed was heavily targeted by the Texans and stepped up. He had 2 pass deflections, 1 interception and allowed just 14 yards on 2 receptions. Both rookies look sharp and should be great for Kansas City this season.
Texans offense missing Hopkins
During the offseason, the Houston Texans pulled off a surprising blockbuster trade by sending star WR DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals. During the loss to the Chiefs, Houston’s offense lacked big plays, which Hopkins is known for. On Thursday, Texans receivers only caught four of ten catchable balls thrown over 10+ yards. Deshaun Watson and Houston’s offense is definitely missing Hopkins’ big play ability.
Chiefs Defense in mid-season form
The Chiefs offense is one of the best in the league, but their defense is great too. On the defensive line, Chris Jones and Frank Clark disrupted Deshaun Watson all night. Their secondary, led by veteran Tyrann Mathieu contained Texans’ wide receivers to limit Houston’s passing offense. While, the spotlight will be on their offense this season, the Chiefs defense has the ability to lock down offenses all season.
Kansas City advances to 1-0 and will travel to Los Angeles to face the Chargers at Sofi Stadium while the Texans will have another tough game, facing the Ravens on September 20th.
Image: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
