Patrick Mahomes had another 300-yard passing game as the Kansas City Chiefs stayed unbeaten at 5-0 after defeating the New Orleans Saints 26-13 at Arrowhead Stadium. It was quite the game for Kansas City sports fans on Monday night, whose attention was split between the Chiefs and MLB playoff team Kansas City Royals.
Lucky for the city’s sports faithful as both teams posted notable wins. The Saints, though, are going to have to look ahead and hope for the best when it comes to quarterback Derek Carr. Carr suffered an oblique injury in the fourth quarter, sidelining him with New Orleans down to the Chiefs 23-13.
Kansas City Chiefs Get Team Effort
Mahomes totaled 331 yards passing. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce collected a game-high nine catches for 70 yards. Running back Kareem Hunt scored a touchdown on 28 carries and 117 yards. It seemed like old times for Chiefs fans seeing these three play up to their standards.
“It was a great feeling to get back in the end zone. I missed it very much,” said Hunt, The Associated Press reported. Hunt returned to the Chiefs a couple of weeks ago due to injured starter Isiah Pacheco being sidelined. “That’s why I threw up a heart. To show my love for Kansas City.”
Kareem Hunt tonight:
28 Touches
117 Yards
1 TouchdownHis first 100-yard game in four years. pic.twitter.com/gyMqnotc0V
— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 8, 2024
Carr finished with 185 yards passing, two touchdowns, and one interception for the New Orleans Saints. But Kansas City defensive back Chamarri Conner bowled over Carr on a fourth-down play with about 9 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. “I couldn’t do what I needed to do in the simplest form,” Carr said after the Monday Night Football clash. He is going to get an MRI exam done on Tuesday to check on the severity of his injury.
The Kansas City defense has been stout against some of the NFL’s best running backs. It continued to show out on Monday night, keeping New Orleans star Alvin Kamara to 26 yards on 11 carries. Other running backs to struggle against the Chiefs’ D included Baltimore’s Derrick Henry, Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson, and Los Angeles Chargers back J.K. Dobbins.
Then There’s The ‘Thicc-Pick’
For the Kansas City Chiefs, their work inside the red zone this season has been a struggle. It continued in the third quarter, resulting in probably an all-time highlight reel moment for 324-pound Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. Saunders used to play for Kansas City, so he’s familiar with his former teammates.
On a second-and-goal play, JuJu Smith-Schuster had a Mahomes pass bounce off his hands at the goal line. Saunders caught the ball in the end zone and rambled out 40-plus yards. Social media accounts lit up as fans listened to Westwood One’s call of the game with play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan and analyst Ross Tucker.
Harlan, while painting the on-field picture for listeners, called Saunders’ effort the “Thicc Pick.” As the game wore on, Tucker informed Harlan and listeners that Harlan’s call was getting a lot of attention.
“IT WAS A THICC PICK! THAT WAS A THICC PICK!” – Kevin Harlan pic.twitter.com/2nl2fSq9Xg
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 8, 2024
In the first half, Hunt scored his first touchdown since returning to the Kansas City organization. Carr connected on a 43-yard TD pass to Rashid Shaheed. And Kelce decided to play the lateral game, catching a Mahomes pass and sending the ball to Samaje Perine. Perine got within a yard of a first down, which Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense picked up easily.
That play led to a Harrison Butker field goal. Butker kicked three field goals in the first half, helping the Kansas City Chiefs to a 16-7 halftime lead.
“It’s pretty cool to get the band back together,” Smith-Schuster, who is back with K.C. after some time with the New England Patriots, said. “Man, I’m telling you, there is no place like this. What we have here is special. It’s unreal.”
For Mahomes, he had a bit of a double-edged sword around Monday night’s victory. See, he’s a part owner of the Royals, so his focus might have been split between baseball and his Kansas City Chiefs.
“There was kind of a lull there toward the end of the game, and I was like, ‘They’re not showing the score. The Yankees came back,’” Mahomes said. “But they picked it up and got the win, and it was extremely exciting.”
And, for those wondering, Taylor Swift was in attendance for Monday night’s NFL game. The Kansas City Chiefs will look to stay perfect on their NFL season in two weeks. They get a bye week now, which should give Kansas City time to have some injured players heal.
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