While stars like Alex Smith and Justin Houston have helped the Chiefs (4-0) stay unbeaten through the first quarter of the season, Monday night's tight win over the Redskins came down to a pair of previously unsung heroes: Wide receiver Albert Wilson and placekicker Harrison Butker.
"I thought we played good physical football. That's a physical team, our guys stepped up and did a heck of a job with that," head coach Andy Reid said. "Albert [Wilson] is our unsung hero here, along with Buttkicker.com [Harrison Butker] did a nice job. He did a nice job I'll tell ya, welcome to Kansas City. Harrison was sharp."
Wilson held on to a broken play pass from Smith which ended up getting him leveled on the sideline by Redskins rookie safety Montae Nicholson. The grab set up the game-winning kick with four seconds to go. Butker, who was claimed off the Panthers' practice squad just a week ago and missed his previous attempt, nailed his third field goal of the night.
"I was confident because he was confident," Reid said of Butker. "I talked to him after the first miss and he goes, 'I got it. I got it. I was off by a tad'. He kind of gives you that feeling that everything's okay and he's a 'Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech', tough kid. He did good."
It's easy to say that these are the kinds of magical moments that simply happen for a few lucky NFL teams each year that get the ball to bounce their way. But the truth is that Kansas City has an unbelievably talented roster from top to bottom and can depend on people like Wilson, who has caught almost 90 percent of his targets on the season in a supporting role, to make a big grab when it counts. Or even Butker, who all but beat out Panthers kicker Graham Gano this preseason and was just waiting for a full-time opportunity.
The Chiefs showed on Monday just how many different ways they can survive a game that may not have been their best. Outside of Travis Kelce's monstrous receiving performance, the Redskins did a decent job of containing Tyreek Hill (five catches, 35 yards). They also kept Kareem Hunt out of the end zone despite allowing Hunt's fourth straight 100-yard game to start the season. Reid's offense is a monster with many heads and the rest of the team manages to fall in line quite nicely.