Here’s your recap of Week 15’s most highly anticipated matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints:
It’s the game that fans from all over the NFL have been waiting for: the #1 seed in the AFC in the Kansas City Chiefs versus the #2 in the NFC in the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees is coming off the devastating injury that kept him out for a good while, and Patrick Mahomes is trying to come off a rather lackluster performance to show that the champs will still reign over the league. With that short introduction over, let’s recap what happened in all four quarters:
1st Quarter: Chiefs: 7, Saints: 0
The Chiefs received the ball to start their triumph, but the drive abruptly ended after only achieving one first down; they were forced to punt. The Saints’ first drive achieved nothing as well as they were forced to punt after three plays. It was a slow start, that quickly gained motion on the Saints drive when L’Jarius Sneed picked off Drew Brees for three yards that gave the offense some motivation. That motivation led to a KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TOUCHDOWN from a 5-yard shovel pass from Mahomes to Hill; the point after was good.
After a nice defense drive, the offense begins to drive down the field thanks to Mahomes extending the play and finding Watkins open for 23 yards. He was able to find Demarcus Robinson for 23 yards as well a few plays later. Hill then caught a pass for 19 yards as he made a defender slide across the screen; and, after a three-yard run from Helaire, the quarter ended with the Chiefs in prime scoring position.
2nd Quarter: Chiefs: 14, Saints: 9
The second quarter began a CHIEFS TOUCHDOWN after a short one-yard pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce; the point after was good. On the Saints’ first drive the quarter, Sneed was able to sack Brees on third down; he is having the game of his rookie year. Sadly, on the Saints’ next drive, Brees was able to launch one for 51 yards to Emmanuel Sanders; two plays later, Taysom Hill runs it in for a Saints touchdown as the point after was good.
At 5:59, a crazy occurrence happened where Mahomes supposedly fumbled the ball and the lineman, Stephen Wisniewski, ran it for a first down; however, the referees called it a penalty because they ruled it a forward pass, and the lineman couldn’t advance the ball after he recovered it. This entire sequence led to a Chiefs’ punt which landed on the Saints’ own nine-yard-line.
In the final 20 seconds, another wild sequence occurred. Demarcus Robinson was returning the punt for Hardman due to that Hardman was out for a little bit after a hard hit that left him on the ground for a few moments. After Robinson recovered, he began to run backward, and after a few Saints defenders were trying to tackle him, he fumbled the ball. This led to a chase down from both teams to secure it, and Saints linebacker, Alex Anzalone, tried to recover the ball, but he forced it out of bounds. Due to NFL rules, this led to a safety.
This ended the quarter with the score being 14-9 with the Chiefs leading. The offense has to pick things up, and the offensive line has to give Mahomes more time in the pocket to secure the win.
3rd Quarter: Chiefs: 21, Saints: 15
The quarter starts horribly as after a motherload of penalties by the Chiefs’ defense ) pass interference by Sneed and roughing the passer-by Jones), Brees flicked it to Latavius Murray that led to a 24-yard Saints touchdown. The Saints tried a two-point attempt, yet they failed. However, this all changed for the better as Mahomes threw a beauty of a 5-yard-pass to Hardman for a CHIEFS TOUCHDOWN! The point after was good, which made the score 21-15.
After a few punts from each team, the quarter ends after a three-yard run from Le’veon Bell. This quarter was lackluster, but with close games like these, you can’t help to become excited to see what could happen.
4th Quarter: Chiefs: 32, Saints: 29 (F)
To start the quarter, Cameron Jordan was ejected after throwing a punch at Andrew Wylie. Play after, Mahomes pitched the ball on an option play to Bell for a 13-yard CHIEFS TOUCHDOWN; the two-point conversion was good with a pass from Mahomes to Kelce, which makes the score 29-15.
After a terrible Saints drive, the Saints defense, specifically Trey Hendrickson, forced a fumble and it was recovered by Kwon Alexander, which gave the Saints excellent field position. This led to a Saints touchdown pass from Brees to Kamara. The point after was good, and the score is now 29-22. This momentum the Saints had was short-lived as after a few darts from Mahomes and a spectacular 24-yard run by him, Butker kicked a 22-yard field goal that was good, making the score 32-22. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, sadly, went out with two plays earlier with what looked like a knee or ankle injury, so I wish him the best moving forward!
In the next Saints drive, Brees threw a deep pass to Lil’Jordan Humphrey for 17 yards for a Saints touchdown. The extra point attempt was good, which made the score 32-29. The Chiefs still lead by three. The Chiefs’ offense has to keep the ball moving for just two minutes and the game is set, and they were able to do just that as the clock ticked down to 0:00.
The Chiefs emerged victorious against one of the best teams in the NFC in an exciting matchup that will be talked about for weeks. Mahomes had a great game with over 250 yards passing and three touchdowns, along with 37 yards rushing and the defense did an amazing job at holding the Saints offense to as many points as they did. The standout for the defense was Sneed with three tackles, a sack, and an interception. With this win, the Chiefs may have already secured the #1 seed, but we can’t be too certain as in this league, anything is possible.
