On Saturday evening, the Kansas City Chiefs got their first win of the year in the form of a 24-14 preseason victory over the Washington Commanders. Of course, this is the time of year when the scoreboard doesn’t count. What does count is what the players do that tells the coaching staff why they belong on the 53-man roster.
Most of the mental mistakes the Chiefs made last week appeared to be cleaned for the most part, as everyone on the depth chart did their part to keep their opponents in front of them and prevent Washington from making plenty of positive plays.
Head coach Andy Reid left his starters on the field for most of the first half (like he said he would) until around the six-minute mark in the second quarter. That was plenty of time for Quarterback Patrick Mahomes to show that he’s good to go when the start of the regular season finally arrives.
Mahomes finished the day with 12 completions out of 19 throwing attempts for 162 yards and two scores. Tight end Jody Fortson was on the receiving end of both of those touchdown passes. Fortson’s first score in the first quarter was, in fact, his first catch since he ruptured his Achilles last season, which was, ironically, against Washington.
In the second quarter, up by two scores, Kansas City came up big to shut down a Washington drive with just under 8 minutes left in the first half. Rookie defensive end George Karlaftis shook off a double team to sack Carson Wentz for a loss of six yards and to force fourth down.
However, two drives later, Washington cut the deficit in half as quarterback Trevor Heinicke completed 7 of 8 for 78 yards to cap off an 11-play drive by completing a nine-yard pass to Cam Sims for the score before the first half expired.
At the start of the third quarter, Shane Buechele did just enough to put the Chiefs in range for kicker Harrison Butker to set up for a 36-yard field goal attempt, which he nails through the uprights to extend the Kansas City lead 17-7. These were the only points scored in the third.
Following a Kansas City punt to start the fourth quarter, Washington got their second score of the game as quarterback Sam Howell moved the Commander offense 88 yards upfield before allowing running back Jaret Patterson to hammer his way into the end zone for the score to finish a nine-play drive.
After a Kansas City punted again, the Commanders got the ball back but immediately gave it right back to the red and gold.
From his own ten-yard line, Howell makes a bad read and overthrows receiver Marken Mitchell, sending the ball where defensive back Chris Lammons can make a play for the interception at the 22-yard line and runs it back up the Chiefs’ two-line yard.
Four plays later, running back Tayon Feet-Davis takes a handoff and crashes into the end zone to seal a 24-17 victory for Kansas City.
