Football is back and the Chiefs dominated the Texans to kick off the NFL season.
The final score was 34 to 20, but it was never really that close, and it didn’t feel close at any point even when the Chiefs were down seven to nothing midway through the first quarter. It felt oddly routine.
Feel the game out for a few drives, get down a touchdown, and then dominate till the clock hits zero. The defending Super Bowl champions made a statement Thursday night that they might have gotten even better.
Mahomes was precise, deadly, and poised throwing three touchdown passes (Kelce, Watkins, Hill) and leading the Chiefs on several long drives down the field. Clyde Edwards-Helaire flashed in his first game running for 138 yards and a touchdown.
The entire offensive line looked much better and the addition of Kelechi Osemele seemed to help open up run lanes in the interior. This will be a theme for the season.
The defense played stout against a talented Houston team. Tyrann Mathieu led the way with eight tackles and helped a young Chiefs secondary get off to a fast start. Rookie L’Jarius Sneed flashed with two pass deflections and he had an interception that he returned for 39 yards. Chris Jones had one and a half sacks, and he was able to make Deshaun Watson very uncomfortable in the backfield.
The Houston Texans were a good football team, and will likely win a lot of games in 2020. But on the season opener they ran into a great team on a mission. A phenomenal start to the season for the Kansas City Chiefs.
