Chiefs dominate Saints on MNF

The Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) defeat the New Orleans Saints (2-3) at Arrowhead, 26-13 with big performances from Hunt, Smith-Schuster, Kelce and the defense.

In the absence of lead wide receiver Rashee Rice, and despite going two for seven in the red zone, the Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) headed into their week six bye with their most complete performance of the 2024 season against the New Orleans Saints (2-3). It was from start to finish. 

The game started with an interception from safety Bryan Cook, off of old friend Derek Carr, followed by a touchdown rush from Kareem Hunt, his first as a Chief since 2018. It ended with two defensive turnovers on downs, coupled with a field goal to give Kansas City their first greater than double-digit lead of the season and three QB kneels to seal a 26-13 win over their NFC South opponent. 

The winning formula was the defense doing what it has done all season: to be dominant against the run. That, in combination with running the ball 50 percent of the time and quarterback Patrick Mahomes spraying the ball all over the gridiron. 

“I thought both all three phases did a nice job tonight,” head coach Andy Reid said. “Starting with the O-line and D-line. They both put a lot of pressure on the quarterback and took the pressure off the quarterback and we ran the ball well, so my hat goes off to those guys.”

There was a moment where the Chiefs let the Saints back in the game, when JuJu Smith-Schuster let a touchdown slip through his hands and ended in the palms of former Chiefs defensive tackle, and two-time Super Bowl Champion, Khalen Saunders. The athletic, 324-pound lineman returned it 37 yards to set up a Carr six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Foster Moreau to make it a 16-13 game less than a minute into the fourth quarter. 

On the back of a monstrous gain from a crossing pattern by Smith-Schuster that went for 50 yards, Kansas City swiftly tipped all of the momentum back in their favor. In just a five-play drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run by Xavier Worthy where tight end Travis Kelce lined up at quarterback to hand it off to the speedster before he split a few defenders to find the endzone off the edge of the offensive line, the Chiefs earned their double-digit lead back. 

After getting cut by the New England Patriots in August, Smith-Schuster was the star of the night, turning back the clock to haul in seven of his eight targets for 130 yards, making up for his dropped touchdown pass that swung the game by 14 points. With Rice gone, the eighth-year veteran will get a lot of his routes moving forward, and he certainly provided a spark tonight. 

“JuJu (Smith-Schuster) is a good football player,” Reid said. “I mean, he's been a good football player for a long time, and you know, he had the one down in the end zone that got tipped and he felt terrible about that, and he comes back with two huge ones and that's how you know he's a pro and does a great job with that.”

With the red area woes and the four successful field goals from Harrison Butker, the score was not an indicator of how badly they dominated New Orleans. The Chiefs lapped the Saints in the total yards department, racking up 460 to their 220. Kansas City held the ball nearly 20 minutes longer and ran 29 more offensive plays. 

“At the end of the day, our defense is playing their tail off and I think people are starting to come to realize that even more,” Mahomes said. “So, even when we're getting these field goals they're keeping us in these games. So, obviously, offensively we had a better day today, a lot of yards. Now it's about finding ways to finish with touchdowns in the red zone, so we can make these leads bigger faster, then we can really let (defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) be Spags and I think if we can do that it will continue to get better and better as the year goes.”

Smith-Schuster was not the only one who turned back the clock as the Chiefs used Kareem Hunt to chew up much of that clock, as their new bell-cow tallied 28 rushes and crossed the century mark, going for 102 yards on the ground. When he fell into the endzone, he threw up a heart to the roaring crowd to show his love for Kansas City, the fans who first welcomed him into the NFL back in 2017. Kanas City also got 12 more carries from Mahomes, Worthy and undrafted rookie Carson Steele combined.

Mahomes completed the ball to eight different receivers with three wide receivers, three tight ends and two running backs on the other end of them. He did not throw any touchdown passes, but it was his best showing of the season, finishing with 331 yards, averaging 8.5 yards per attempt. It was clearly intentional to get Kelce involved early and often, as the passing game was reminiscent of the 2022 receiving core. The tight end was targeted 10 times, bringing in nine for 70 yards, finishing second on the team. The play of the night was a Kelce classic though, where he had a five-yard gain on a third and 21 before he lateralled it back to running back Samaje Perine, making way for him to gain 15 more yards to precede a fourth and one conversion by Hunt. 

“I told him before the play I said, ‘I'm going to throw it to you, so we get in field goal range’ and he underhand shoveled it across the entire field,” Mahomes said with a laugh. “So, I mean, it's like I'm talking to like Sterling (Mahomes’ daughter). That's Travis man. He's a special player and as long as he does it and it works man, no one's going to say anything.”

Saints all-pro running back Alvin Kamara came into the weekend fourth in the NFL in rushing and similar to his peers such as Derrick Henry, Bijan Robinson and J.K. Dobbins, who also ranked highly, the Kansas City Chiefs took him out of the game. They held Kamara to 11 carries and 26 yards, good for 2.4 yards per carry. Linebacker Nick Bolton once again led the way, leading the team in tackles with 11, including two for a loss. 

This forced the Saints to stray away from their usual game plan and wound up throwing the ball 20 more times than they carried it. Carr was brought down once by defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, and the old Raiders quarterback ended his night exiting early for the locker room by taking one last big blow by Chiefs safety Chamarri Conner on a fourth and eight attempt late in the game. Kansas City hit Carr nine times with defensive end George Karlaftis and Bolton registering two of them a piece. 

Although the Saints passed the ball 35 times, the Chiefs defensive backs held them to 165 yards passing. Cook did let New Orleans deep threat Rashid Shaheed get behind him for a 43-yard touchdown by Carr, but other than that, the passing game by their opponent was shut down. Shaheed led the way with 86 yards, but their second-leading receiver was Kamara with 40, while star wide receiver Chris Olave was limited to two catches for 10 yards. 

The Kansas City Chiefs will not see the field again until week seven when they travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers (2-3) for a Super Bowl 54 and 58 rematch. With the bye coming early in week six this year, the Chiefs have 13 days to prepare for the struggling NFC rival. It should be noted that the 49ers travel to the Seattle Seahawks in week six for Thursday Night Football, so they will have 10 days of rest to take on the only undefeated AFC squad.