KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice is from Dallas and played college ball at SMU, so he has never played a game in weather remotely like that of Saturday's Kansas City Chiefs wild-card game. the night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Rice looked natural with a temperature of -4 degrees at kickoff, the fourth coldest playoff game in NFL history. Rice had 130 receiving yards, the sixth-most by a rookie in the playoffs, and a touchdown on eight receptions as the Chiefs advanced to next week's divisional round with a 26-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins.
“I feel like, to be honest, it was a different game,” Rice said. “Everyone here was playing for each other, so it was like we just put the weather aside and knew that our opponents didn't want to be here in this cold as much as we didn't.”
The Chiefs, who led the league during the regular season in dropped passes and were among the leaders in turnovers, played a relatively clean game under the circumstances. They had a couple of falls, but they were able to overcome them each time. They didn't commit a turnover until running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire fumbled in the final minutes as the Chiefs were simply trying to kill time.
Patrick Mahomes was 23 of 41 for 262 yards and had an 11-yard touchdown pass to Rice, who ran a shallow crossing route, caught the short pass and ran untouched into the end zone.
“The guys rose to the challenge,” Mahomes said. “We were able to throw the ball, we were able to run the ball. …I thought [offensive] line did a great job and we had that mentality all week that we were going to go out and play football. “We know it's cold, but we're going to go out and play football and see what happens.”
The Dolphins tried to complicate those efforts by blitzing Mahomes at a rate rarely seen. He faced six or more pass rushers 14 times, the most of his career. He saw five or more runners on 51.2% of his dropbacks, which tied the highest rate of his career.
But Mahomes was not sacked and did not commit any turnovers.
“I don't think they anticipated us throwing the ball as much as we did, but we were able to go out and throw it,” coach Andy Reid said. “A lot of quarterbacks can't do that, what's wrong?” he did it in that kind of weather.”
Rice was the Chiefs' leading wide receiver during the regular season by a wide margin. He improved as the season went on and twice surpassed 100 yards in his last six games.
“Some of those guys hit that rookie barrier and it seems like they just got over it and he continued to get better and better and he's a great player,” Mahomes said. “He has the right mentality. He comes to work every day and today he made a lot of great plays for us that helped us win the football game.”
The rest of the Chiefs' wide receivers struggled for much of the season. They had significant production from Kadarius Toney, Márquez Valdés-Scantling and Skyy Moore, but none of them got it, so Rice's emergence was essential.
Tight end Travis Kelce caught seven passes against the Dolphins. Otherwise, none of his receivers had more than two receptions.
“It's hard to believe he's a rookie,” Reid said of Rice. “The best thing about him is that he keeps working. He is relentless with that and has a good relationship. [with Mahomes]. She has Pat's respect and wants to do it the right way.
“He's getting better every week and I think we've seen that in the last four or five games.”
