2 weeks Ago By Kansas City Star
The Chiefs matched a club-record with their 13th straight victory, beating the team that last defeated them. A pair of Patrick Mahomes’ touchdown passes, great success on third down and a goal-line stand by the defense paved the way for a 27-20 triumph and kept the Chiefs perfect at 7-0 on the season. They also remained perfect in Las Vegas, improving to 5-0 against the Raiders in Allegiant Stadium and winning Super Bowl LVIII in this stadium.
KC STAR OF THE GAME Linebacker Drue Tranquill was all over the field, at times dropping into coverage. But he was at his best near the line of scrimmage. On the Chiefs’ game-changing goal-line stand, Tranquill was in on a pair of tackles.
In the fourth quarter, he was in the right spot to scoop up a fumble from Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew caused by tackle Mike Pennel. : The Chiefs play their second Monday Night Football Game of the season when they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:15 p.
m. REPORT CARD Patrick Mahomes’ touchdown pass to Travis Kelce was the first scoring reception by the Chiefs to a player this season that wasn’t a wide receiver or offensive tackle (Wayna Morris). Kelce notched his 75th career touchdown, and 52 have come from Mahomes.
Kelce finished with a season-best 90 yards receiving. Rookie Xavier Worthy picked up his team-leading third touchdown reception. Well done by the newcomer DeAndre Hopkins and the Chiefs’ game planning.
Hopkins eased into his Chiefs debut with a pair of first-down receptions. His second gained enough yards for Mahomes to surpass 30,000 passing yards for his career. Once again Mahomes got unlucky with a tipped-ball interception.
The defense bailed him out, though, with the goal-line stand. Kareem Hunt and the offensive line grinded for yards all afternoon. Hunt picked up his fourth touchdown in four games to open the scoring.
The Chiefs earned their 82 yards, with Hunt leading the way with 59. George Karlaftis turned in the biggest play of the first half when he swatted down a screen that might have gone for big yards. Also coming up big early were cornerback Trent McDuffie, whose blitz harassed Minshew into an incompletion, which allowed the Chiefs to get a final first-half drive and field goal for a seven-point lead.
The secondary ranks, already down Jaylen Watson after last week’s injury, lost his replacement Nazeeh Johnson to a concussion. Joshua Williams struggled. He collected a pair of penalties that kept alive a Raiders’ field-goal drive in the third quarter.
The goal-line stand is one of the highlights of this season. The Raiders turned a Mahomes interception into a golden opportunity at the 3. Karlafis was credited with a tackle on three straight plays and Tranquill on two of them.
On fourth down, with the Chiefs leading 17-13, Raiders coach Antonio Pierce elected to go for it from the 3. Turk Wharton and Karlaftis dropped Minshew for a 5-yard loss. The Raiders longest run of game was 7 yards.
As a team they rushed for 33 yards. Ferocious stuff by the Chiefs. Harrison Butker remained perfect on field goals inside the 50 by nailing a 42-yarder just before halftime.
He added a 24-yarder to cap an 87-yard drive. Rookie safety Jaden Hicks had a highlight play a week ago at San Francisco. This week, not so great.
He collected a pair of blocking-in-the-back penalties on kick returns. For the second straight week the Chiefs faced an onside kick. A week ago against the Niners, the ball didn’t travel far enough.
This time it did and there was adventure by a pair of tight ends. Jody Fortson touched it first but the ball bounced away to Noah Gray. He didn’t grab it cleanly, but wound up securing the ball.
Fortson was injured on the play..
