The Kansas City Chiefs are winless no more as they tally their first victory of the 2023 season by defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars 17-9 on Sunday afternoon, thanks to an outstanding defensive effort coupled with two touchdown throws from quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs entered today’s game looking to re-establish the identity that won them to the Super Bowl last season after stumbling the previous week against the Lions. Instead, penalties and the inability to get into a rhythm plagued Kansas City on offense while the defense continued to build off their brilliant performance from last Thursday.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes did just enough, however, completing 29 of 41 passes for 251 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Defensively, all eyes were on how defensive tackle Chris Jones would fare in his first game from his holdout that kept him out of training camp. Surprisingly, Jones looked as if he didn’t need a camp after finishing today’s game with 1.5 sacks after harassing quarterback Trevor Lawrence all game.
The Chiefs’ defense didn’t allow a single touchdown and held the Jags to under ten points all game. Lawrence finished the day completing just over 50% of his throws for 216 yards. Kansas City also held the Jaguars run game to just 74 yards rushing as Travis Etienne was ineffective with only 12 carries for 40 yards.
The Chiefs got on the scoreboard in their final drive of the first half, and it came after the offense turned the ball over their previous two possessions – a Justin Watson fumble and a Mahomes interception. Beginning at midfield after the defense forced Jacksonville to turn the ball over on downs, Mahomes guided the offense down the field to the nine-yard line in eight plays. On 1st and goal, with under :30 left until halftime, Mahomes completes a short pass to Skyy Moore in front of the right-front pylon for the touchdown, giving the Chiefs a 7-3. In the final 25 seconds of the half, the Jaguar offense managed to get within field goal range to be within one at the break.
On their first possession of the second half, Kansas City appeared to get their buzzsaw offense finally running. The drive began with a 31-yard run by running back Isiah Pacheco to get the offense to midfield. Three plays later, Mahomes converted on third-and-long with a 31-yard completion to Watson to put Kansas City on the Jaguars’ 16-yard line. After a one-yard run by Pacheco and a six-yard pass to the tight end Travis Kelce, Mahomes rolled out to his right on third-and-three before finding Kelce again in the middle of the end zone for his second touchdown pass of the day. The score put Kansas City ahead 14-6 with 11:30 left in the third quarter. However, nobody scored until the beginning of the fourth.
On their opening drive to begin the game’s final quarter, Jacksonville traveled 63 yards in ten plays before getting stopped four yards from the goal line and settling for a field goal after two consecutive completions in the end zone were called incomplete because Lawrence’s receivers couldn’t get two feet down in bounds.
Now, with the football, Kansas City had a long 16-play drive that covered 65 yards of field before setting up Harrison Butker to drive in a 38-yard field goal. With 8:10 left on the clock, Jacksonville followed up with another long drive that lasted 13 plays but turned the ball over on downs after failing to covert 4th and 12 as Lawrence’s pass to Calvin Ridley fell incomplete.
Kansas City ran the rest of the clock out, taking over the football to ensure the victory. Both teams head into next week with 1-1 records.
