Kansas City jumped to a 17-3 lead early in the first quarter but bad defense and penalties allow the Texans to put up 472 yards of total offense and score 5 touchdowns to hand the Chiefs their second loss of the season.
The Chiefs looked like they were back in business to start the game with the return of Tyreek Hill, who elevated over two Houston defenders to grab a 46-yard pass to score a touchdown on Kansas City’s first possession.
Meanwhile, Houston stumbled out of the gate on their first drive, down 7-0, and gave the ball back to Kansas City on their first play on offense. Defensive end Frank Clark was able to get a hand in, to knock the ball out of the arms of running back Carlos Hyde on a handoff to force the fumble, Clark made the recovery to set Patrick Mahomes up on the Texans’ 25-yard line.
Many felt the early success would lead to a Kansas City rebound following a tough loss to the Colts the week prior.
However, it would be Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson that took center stage throwing 30-42 for 280, a touchdown and two picks. While the Texans defense was prepared for Mahomes, who still put up some impressive numbers despite only completing 19 of 35 passes and throwing his first pick of the season, Mahomes still threw for 273 yards, three touchdowns.
Following Kansas City’s 17-3 run in the first quarter, Houston made the adjustments to hold the Chiefs scoreless for the rest of the first half, while also scoring 20 unanswered points to go into halftime with a 23-17 lead.
Kansas City scored the only touchdown in the third quarter, a ten-play drive that traveled 64 yards that ended with Patrick Mahomes rolling to his right to find a wide-open Tyreek Hill on the goalline for the 6-yard score to pull the Chiefs back in front 24-23.
The Chiefs defense held their own in the second half, keeping the Texans offense out of the end zone for the most part. However, at the start of the fourth quarter, Houston drove over 100 yards on 12 plays to score a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to retake the lead and eventually the game.
Head Coach Andy Reid takes full responsibility following the loss, “I’ve got to do a better job getting our team ready to go,” he said. “That’s where it starts and we’re more disciplined than what it shows with these penalties and drops and so on, we need to tackle better, so we have a bunch of things we need to work on here,” Reid said.
Kansas City’s run defense has been the Achilles heel for the Chiefs in the past two games, allowing a combined 372 yards on the ground and it was a major reason the Chiefs offense only had three possessions in the second half today. Now, they travel to Denver on a short week for Thursday Night Football to play the Broncos, who love to run the ball with Phillip Lindsay.
