Defense steps up, Chiefs hold on for 27-21 win over Saints

In the cheerful moments following the Chiefs’ 27-21 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, quarterback Alex Smith was sure to thank his defense in the locker room.

“The two turnovers were the difference maker,” he told his teammates.

Smith played an efficient-enough game, to be sure. His statline of 17 of 24 for 214 yards and two touchdowns was nothing to sneeze at. But to beat the league’s top-ranked passing offense, one guided by a future Hall of Famer at quarterback and a well-stocked assortment of weapons, Smith also knew that the Chiefs, who improved to 4-2, had to win the turnover battle.

Not only could they ill afford to give an offense like that extra possessions – star quarterback Drew Brees had a nice day as it was, completing 37 of 48 passes for 367 yards for three touchdowns – they also had to take the ball away from them, too, something they did twice, courtesy of a pick-six by safety Daniel Sorensen and a red-zone fumble recovery by cornerback Marcus Peters to win the turnover battle 2-0.

“An interception returned for a touchdown on third-and-long, a fumble in the red zone ... we’re not a good enough team to overcome those types of mistakes,” Saints coach Sean Payton said.

And the Saints made their share. Not only did they lose the turnover battle, they also committed 10 penalties for 75 yards (compared to the Chiefs’ four for 30 yards). The Saints’ tally included four false start and two delay-of-game penalties caused, in part, by the announced Arrowhead Stadium crowd of 76,282. There was also a particularly garish personal-foul penalty by defensive tackle Nick Fairley that helped the Saints, 2-4, dig their own grave in the fourth quarter.

“Obviously it’s discouraging because it’s not smart football,” Payton said.

The game started on the exact opposite note for the Saints, however. On their first drive of the game, Brees engineered a super-efficient 10-play, 80-yard scoring march by completing 5 of 6 passes. He capped it with a precise throw to receiver Brandin Cooks, who was running a wheel route, over the head of outside linebacker Frank Zombo for a 9-yard touchdown.

The Chiefs responded, however, largely thanks to the hard-charging style of running back Spencer Ware, who rushed 17 times for 77 yards Sunday but ultimately made his biggest mark as a receiver. He caught a tunnel screen on the next drive and maneuvered through multiple Saints for a 46-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

It was a terrific show of running ability, one that was actually matched a few plays later by Sorensen, who hauled in a deflection over the middle – Brees was pressured by defensive tackle Jaye Howard – and took off toward the Saints’ end zone, sprinting down the sideline before angling back over the middle toward paydirt.

His 48-yard return gave the Chiefs a 14-7 lead entering the second quarter, which was eventually extended to 21-7 courtesy of a 38-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill, a super-athletic, raw rookie who showed off his receiving chops by beating his man in single coverage and hauling in a deep ball, one handed, for his team-high third touchdown reception of the season.

The Chiefs took that 14-point lead into the break, but the Saints quickly cut into it early in the third via a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 3-yard touchdown pass from Brees to running back Mark Ingram. The Chiefs essentially gifted that to them, though, as outside linebacker Tamba Hali was whistled for two offsides penalties – including one before a third-and-5 stop – that extended the drive.

The Chiefs responded with a 39-yard field goal by Cairo Santos that made the score 24-14 entering the fourth quarter, but the Saints made them sweat a bit from there. On their first drive of the quarter, Brees led the Saints from their own 33 to the Chiefs’ 13, until safety Ron Parker poked the ball out of Ingram’s hands. Peters, who, to that point, had been quiet due to the Saints’ reluctance to throw his way, scooped it up and ran 21 yards to negate the scoring opportunity.

“If you would have heard it on the field, man, you (knew) as soon as he punched it it was coming out,” Peters said of Parker’s forced fumble. “That’s just everybody flying to the ball, everybody doing their job.”

Brees got the ball with five minutes left, though, and that was more than enough time to put a scare into the Chiefs. He promptly guided New Orleans on a 10-play scoring drive, which he capped with a 10-yard touchdown throw to receiver Brandon Coleman that cut the Chiefs’ lead to 24-21.

After recovering the ensuing onside kick, the offense got the ball back at the Saints’ 46-yard line with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in the game. The Saints only had a timeout left, so the offense basically needed only one first down to ice the game. On second down, the Chiefs called an end around to Hill, who mistakenly went out of bounds, which should have stopped the clock, but the Saints bailed the Chiefs out when defensive tackle Nick Fairley threw Ware down several yards away from the play and was whistled for a personal foul.

The penalty gave the Chiefs a first down at the Saints’ 29-yard line, and three plays later, Santos drilled a 41-yard field goal that put the Chiefs ahead 27-21 with 28 seconds left.

For as good as the Saints’ passing attack is, that wasn’t enough time to mount a strike, and the Chiefs held on for a six-point victory that their quarterback praised the defense for.

“I thought those guys stepped up when they had to,” Smith said of the defense. “They didn’t give up a bunch of big plays, they made those guys drive it the whole length, eat up the clock, and it ended up being the difference.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Defense steps up, Chiefs hold on for 27-21 win over Saints."