Head Coach Andy Reid earns his 200th career win as Kansas City leaves Mile High Stadium 23-3 over AFC West opponents following a decimating 30-6 victory over the Denver Broncos.
The narrative heading into tonight’s game was Denver’s run game going against Kansas City’s struggling defensive unit that was giving up an average of 190 yards on the ground. However, K.C.’s defense played like they were shot out of a cannon and managed to shut down Denver’s rushing attack, holding both Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman to just 35 yards each.
Kansas City’s pass rush also stepped up with a huge performance, the best of the season thus far, sacking Denver quarterback Joe Flacco nine times over the course of the game. Defensive ends Frank Clark and Alex Okafor and linebacker Anthony Hitchens each got two sacks and defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, linebacker Reggie Ragland, and safety Armani Watts also registered a sack each. Also, one of Anthony Hitchens’ sacks on Flacco turned into a fumble that teammate Reggie Ragland scooped up to score a defensive touchdown to increase Kansas City’s lead to 20-6 in the middle of the second quarter.
All seemed to be going right for Kansas City in all three phases but the fate of the team’s season got thrown up in the air after the Chiefs decided to go for a fourth-down attempt on Denver’s four-yard line by sending quarterback Patrick Mahomes on a QB sneak to pick up the first down. The end of the play resulted in Mahomes reaching for his right knee and signaling for his teammates to get the trainers.
Early reports suggest Mahomes suffered a dislocated knee cap but nothing is official. Head Coach Andy Reid said Mahomes will have an MRI done soon as the team lands in Kansas City. “We’ll wait till we get back to get a further evaluation of it,” said Reid.
The good news was Mahomes was able to walk to the locker room under his own power but did not return onto the field. He left the game throwing 10-11 for 76 yards and a touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman.
Backup quarterback Matt Moore made his second appearance for the Chiefs and put on his best Alex Smith impression throwing dinks and dunks to help manage the game for Kansas City. Reid said after the game that he didn’t dumb down any of the play calls.
“I thought Matt [Moore] did a nice job stepping in there, we didn’t have to back down on anything we had called and we were able to continue where we left off and I was proud of him,” said Reid.
Moore finished with a QBR of 89.1 completing 10 of 19 for 117 yards and a 57-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill.
The Chiefs will receive a mini bye week which is exactly what the team needs in order to get closer to being a hundred percent and maybe they’ll get a few guys back from injury before Green Bay comes to Arrowhead next Sunday night. Last but definitely not least, everyone will be keeping an on Patrick Mahomes’ injury status throughout the rest of the week.
