In subzero temperatures, WR Rashee Rice has 130 receiving yards in Chiefs’ wild-card win over Dolphins

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice is a Dallas native and played in college at SMU, so he has never played a game in weather conditions remotely approaching those of the wild card playoff game of the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium.

Rice looked natural with a temperature of minus 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 postseason, and a touchdown on eight catches as the Chiefs advanced to next week's divisional round with a 26-7 win 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 our opponents wouldn't. I want to be out here in this cold as much as we did not done.

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 considering the circumstances. They had a few falls, but managed 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 simply tried to kill the clock.

Patrick Mahomes was 23 of 41 for 262 yards and completed an 11-yard scoring throw to Rice, who ran a shallow crossing route, caught the short pass and ran untouched to the end zone.

“The guys accepted the challenge,” Mahomes said. “We were able to throw the ball, we were able to run it. … I thought that [offensive] line did a great job and we had that mentality all week that we were going to play football. We know it's cold, but we're going to go play football and see what happens.

The Dolphins tried to complicate those efforts by bombarding Mahomes at a rate rarely seen. He's faced six or more passes 14 times, the majority of his career. He saw five or more rushers on 51.2% of his dropbacks, which was tied for the highest rate of his career.

But Mahomes wasn't sacked and he didn't commit a turnover.

“I don’t think they expected us to throw the ball that much, but we were able to go out and throw it,” coach Andy Reid said. he did it in this kind of weather.

Rice was by far the Chiefs' leading receiver during the regular season. He improved as the season went on and twice passed for over 100 yards in his last six games.

“Some of these guys hit that rookie wall and it seems like he just got through it and he just continued to get better and he's a great player,” Mahomes said. “He has that good mentality. He comes to work every day and he made a lot of good plays for us today that helped us win the football game.

The rest of the Chiefs receivers have struggled for much of the season. They counted on significant production from Kadarius Toney, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore but didn't get it from any of them, so Rice's emergence was key.

Tight end Travis Kelce caught seven passes against the Dolphins. Otherwise, none of their receivers had more than two catches.

“It’s hard to believe he’s a rookie,” Reid said of Rice. “The best part about him is he keeps working. He's relentless about it and he's well-connected [with Mahomes]. He has Pat's respect and he wants to do it the right way.

“He’s getting better every week and so I think we’ve seen that over the last four games, five games.”