Chiefs walk off Bucs in OT

The Kansas City Chiefs (8-0) defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5) at a rainy Arrowhead, 30-24 with a breakout performance from DeAndre Hopkins.

By way of 20 fourth-quarter and overtime points, the Kansas City Chiefs (8-0) remained the NFL’s only undefeated team. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers put up the best fight they could despite being injury-riddled at wide receiver. Still, quarterback Patrick Mahomes ensured quarterback Baker Mayfield never saw the ball in OT to take the win away from Kansas City.

Heading into the final quarter of regulation, with a steady drizzle falling into Arrowhead for the remainder of the night, Mahomes and the offense found themselves down 17-10. Kansas City’s offense moved the ball all night, but five of their six drives leading up to the fourth quarter ended in a field goal, punt, fumble or sack to end a half. The Chiefs regained control of the game, scoring 14 unanswered points in the final quarter, pushing their lead to 24-17.

After Mayfield marched down the field in a two-minute situation to end regulation, Kansas City won the coin toss, matched the Bucs’ scoring drive and walked off the game by way of a Kareem Hunt touchdown run to seal a 30-24 victory. It was an impressive display for Mahomes to convert three long touchdown drives with the weather conditions being what they were. 

“I pride myself on being able to throw in any condition,” Mahomes said. “I think that's something that's an advantage at Arrowhead and so if it's raining, if it's snowing, if it's cold, if it's hot, whatever it is, I want to be the best thrower of the football on the football field and I think that's why we want home-field advantage. That's why we want the playoffs to come through Arrowhead, is because it's a special place and you have to be able to play in every environment.”

At the end of the day, it was a hard-fought game, and the Chiefs made it count when it mattered most, going four for four in the red zone and finishing 12 of 18 on third downs. The Chiefs wound up scoring four touchdowns on the night and every single one of them came from someone who was not on the roster to begin the season. The recipients of those touchdowns were Hunt, running back Samaje Perine, and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. 

Mahomes finished with 34 completions and 291 yards on the night, but Hopkins and tight end Travis Kelce combined for 22 and 186 of them. While Kelce hauled in 14 catches for 100 yards, moving the chains frequently, Hopkins tallied two touchdowns to go along with eight catches and 86 yards in his Arrowhead debut. 35 of Hopkins’ yards came from his trademarked contested catch ability where Mahomes hurled the ball downfield in desperation with defenders draped all over both Mahomes and Hopkins.

There is no question about it; Hopkins brings a whole new element to the Kansas City offense. Mahomes gloated about his ability to win one-on-one and to improvise when necessary. It says a lot about the offensive coaching staff to be able to put Hopkins in a position to succeed less than two weeks into being a Chief. 

“(I felt) a lot more comfortable,” Hopkins said. “Coaches do a great job of getting me prepared, I think. It's not just you know, (wide receiver coach Conner Embree) but everybody on the offensive side. Everybody's always testing me, asking me questions, you know, just seeing my knowledge of the offense as we go.”

Mahomes found the end zone three times through the air and finally had his first game without an interception thrown. This swings Mahomes’ touchdown-to-interception ratio on the positive side for the first time all season and he now sits at 11 touchdowns to nine interceptions on the season. 15 did have a brief scare on his first fourth-quarter touchdown to Perine, where he rolled his ankle after deciding late not to scramble. It was the same one he rolled last week and he remained down on the ground for an extended period leaving Arrowhead frightened. The three-time Super Bowl Champ rallied just fine, leading two more scoring drives after that point. Mahomes said when he rolled it, it just scared him more than anything before he found out he could walk it off. 

“I wasn't sure exactly where he was going to be with it, but he might have the loosest ankles in America,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I mean it's ridiculous how he can come back from those things and then he's mentally tough on top of that … He's a competitor. I told him I was gonna take him out and he about wanted to fight me so you know, he's a tough kid.”

While the score might not reflect it, Kansas City dominated Tampa Bay from a ball-control perspective. They generated 100 more yards of offense, controlled the ball more than 15 minutes longer and ran 31 more plays. After getting off a slow start in the first half, Hunt was a big reason the Chiefs regained control of the game. Kansas City’s 2017 third-round draft pick ended the game with 27 carries, and 106 yards to tag along with that walk-off two-yard touchdown rush after striking blow after blow in the fourth quarter. 

“(The offensive line) had a big day today too,” Reid said. “… When you can run the ball like we did and just put the hammer down that second half, that big offensive line did a great job and (offensive line coach) Andy Heck you know deserved some of that (credit) right with them … I didn't call enough runs in the first half and so I told the offensive line that I was going to bank on them and we need to get this thing started and get a little bit more balance in there in our attack. They were game with it and then you know, I thought they just stepped up and played great football.”

From a defensive standpoint, the Chiefs once again held the opposing running game in check. Running back Rachaad White finished with 19 yards, while Bucky Irvin finished with 24 yards, forcing the Bucs to be fairly one-dimensional. Mayfield was up for the challenge, though, and threw for over a 74 percent completion percentage, 200 yards and two touchdowns. 

This was despite not having his two best weapons in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Kansas City failed to put too much pressure on Mayfield, only generating four quarterback hits and two sacks. This allowed wide receiver Sterling Shepard and tight end Cade Otton to have nice evenings, especially in moments that it mattered most. The duo tallied 12 catches and 125 yards combined. 

Linebacker Drue Tranquill and defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah combined for one of those sacks, while defensive end George Karlaftis registered a full one. This was Karlaftis’ third game in a row taking down the quarterback and the former first-round pick also batted down one of Mayfield’s passes. Tranquill led the Chiefs in tackles with seven. 

The Bucs on the other hand hit Mahomes seven times and sacked him four times with a pair coming from each defensive tackle Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. Safety Tykee Smith also forced a fumble by punching the ball out of Kelce’s hands, ending a potential scoring drive just before the end of the first half in Buccaneers territory. 

After Kansas City missed out on extending that three-point halftime lead, the Bucs received and scored on the opening drive of the second half and the Chiefs punted on their only full drive in the third quarter. The Chiefs then went on two straight 70-plus yard drives before punting twice to end regulation, either of which could have prevented overtime or ended in a field goal to win the game outright. There is no doubt Kansas City found a few things they could hang their hat on, but left room for growth out on the field as well. 

The trade deadline is today at 3 p.m. CTD, coincidentally on the same day America will elect its next President of the United States. It will be interesting if Brett Veach and Reid saw anything Monday Night that will make them compelled to add some finishing touches on a roster that is on a quest to the NFL’s first-ever three-peat after already adding Hopkins and pass rusher Joshua Uche. After that, Kansas City will focus on the stretch run, starting with taking on the Denver Broncos (5-4) for the first time this season, on six days' rest. It is the Chiefs' only noon Sunday game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium this season.