By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs survived a Monday night clash in a 29-20 win over the Washington Redskins. Here’s what we learned:
1. It’s time we give Alex Smith his due credit and not saddle it with a “well, he can’t go deep” knock on the way out the door. Smith engineered an excellent drive with less than a minute left, completing passes of 4, 37 and 10 yards to set up rookie kicker Harrison Butker for the winning field goal. Smith was sharp for a majority of the night, completing 27 of 37 passes for 293 yards and one touchdown, and rushing seven times for 56 yards and another score. The quarterback overcame early pressure that clearly frazzled Kansas City’s usually well-paced offense, and the Chiefs went back to what worked for them last season, shortening attempts to establish a rhythm that got the offense back on track. The result was a close victory that kept the Chiefs reigning atop the league as its only undefeated team at 4-0.
2. Washington spent the majority of the second half doing everything it could to lose the time of possession battle by a wide margin, but thanks to its defense, had a chance to either tie or win the game in the final minutes. Dustin Hopkins drilled the game-tying field goal, but a drive that could have been the game’s last possession left too much time on the clock for Smith and Co., which took advantage of a Washington secondary that was missing Josh Norman because of a fractured rib. The Redskins have shown through four games that they have enough to compete, but need to limit the quick possessions. Continue reading
Nick Shook 