Is the slump over for Patrick Mahomes? It’s all over the news today: The Chiefs finally played like the Chiefs yesterday night against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Going into the week, Mahomes led the NFL in interceptions with 10 while the Chiefs had a league-high 19 turnovers, yesterday was so much better.
Five touchdowns, no interceptions, 406 yards, a 27-point division win. That’s the Patrick Mahomes we know and enjoy watching! And what a relief it is.
With a clear final result of 41-14 winning over their division rival, the Chiefs took back the reins of the AFC West. And it was actually the best Chiefs game since the beginning of the season.
However, the result really says it loud and clear, both sides of the ball have been impeccable. The defense gelled yesterday with a great performance from Jarran Reed and Melvin Ingram, and the offense had five touchdowns. Not everything was perfect of course, the first Chiefs drive was a bit short, but overall, it was a pretty entertaining game. They finally looked like contenders once again after ugly first games.
And now, at 6-4, they are officially atop the AFC West with the playoff picture just starting to take shape.
The play calling has been simplified, with a cleaner Mahomes, not trying to do anything crazy. He was plain efficient, and that will allow them to gain back some confidence.
Tyreek Hill had a great night, with two touchdowns, and Travis Kelce said after the game he finally got his swagger back. The chemistry was there, for sure, in the offense squad. And what about Darrel Williams? Oh my god, the usual RB2 just made Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s life a little bit more difficult. If his performance is not worth a first spot in the running back locker room, I don’t know what would be at this point of the season.
The offensive line dealt with a good pass rush all night but handled it very well too. They prevented the Raiders from getting any sacks and Mahomes moved pretty well in the pocket.
Defensively, Tyrann Mathieu erased Darren Waller completely and limited his game the whole time. The Chiefs’ defense continues to stack up impressive performances consecutively. It wasn’t perfect of course but they held the Raiders to only 14 points. In their last three games, the defense of Kansas City allowed only 38 points total. That is very good indeed.
Do we want to talk about the special team and the fake punt by Tommy Townsend? Quite a bold move… Everybody was in good shape yesterday and the game was quite important at this point of the season. So this great performance could actually wake the Chiefs up and lead them to a potential playoff picture.
Mahomes made history on Sunday night as it was his third career game with 400 passing yards and five touchdown passes. That ties Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, and Joe Montana. Mahomes is just coming out of a slump and he is 26 years old, what can he do next? The road is very long ahead of him.
To conclude, it was quite a statement yesterday. The whole team needed a big game, including Mahomes, as the “Showtime” was fading away. The next game will be slightly more complicated playing the Cowboys in Kansas City. The Cowboys are first of the NFC East with a 7-2 so far. Let’s hope the Chiefs’ confidence will keep on developing to win this next game and stay on top of their division.
