Chiefs grades: An honor-roll kind of game for Patrick Mahomes and Coach Spags’ defense
Here are the grades from the Chiefs’ 34-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.
KC STAR OF THE GAME
For the first time this season, let’s go with the quarterback.
Patrick Mahomes had one of those games. His three first-half touchdown passes staked the Chiefs to a 17-point lead. His second-half touchdown went to ... tackle-eligible Eric Fisher. An amazing night for Mahomes and the offensive staff against the team that entered the game with the NFL’s top scoring defense.
Reason to hope: So much hype surrounded this game. And the Chiefs did their best to remove the mystery from this one with a nearly perfect first half. Mahomes and the offense were on fire, and the defense kept Lamar Jackson and the Ravens bottled up. Kansas City was more prepared to play this game.
Reason to mope: A couple of lapses in concentration. That could be expected with the Chiefs getting out to a big lead. But the mistakes, especially on special teams, give the coaching staff plenty to work on this week.
Next: For only the second time in four weeks, the Chiefs will play on a Sunday. They entertain the New England Patriots for the first time in the regular season since 2014. Kickoff against Cam Newton and Co. is 3:25 p.m. Central and will be televised by CBS (Ch. 5).
Report card
Passing offense: A
Mahomes made it look easy. Andy Reid’s creative game-planning and Mahomes’ execution was as good as it get. It stood in large contrast to last week’s game at the L.A. Chargers, when the Chiefs had nine points after three quarters. Monday night, they had 27 in the first half and had missed a field goal and extra point. How about touchdown tosses to Anthony Sherman and Eric Fisher? Mahomes finished 31 of 42 for 385 yards, the fourth-best yardage game of his career, and became the fastest player ever to reach the 10,000-yard milestone.
Rushing offense: B
Mahomes scored the Chiefs’ first touchdown on a three-yard run and Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran hard as the Chiefs were killing clock. But a couple of problems here. Darwin Thompson ended the Chiefs’ promising drive to open the second half with a fumble, the team’s first turnover of this season. Late in the third quarter, the Chiefs went for a fourth-and-1 near midfield, but the offensive line couldn’t open enough of a crease for Sherman, who was stuffed. Mahomes picked up a key first down in the fourth quarter with a 12-yard run.
Passing defense: A
Jackson was hounded through three quarters and was 10-for-21 for 57 yards at halftime. The Chiefs couldn’t have scripted a better start against this offense that had topped 30 points in both of its first two games. The Ravens’ five first-half possessions ended in a field goal, punt, punt, punt and fumble. The Chiefs had taken away the passing game. Jackson warmed up a bit in the fourth quarter, but the Chiefs came up with sacks on successive plays by Ben Niemann and Frank Clark.
Rushing defense: A
The Ravens entered the game averaging 171 yards per game. But the Chiefs didn’t allow Mark Ingram, Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins to dominate. Jackson earned his rushing yards, but what the Ravens really needed to do was establish the ground game and control the clock and play with the lead. They didn’t. Why was that important? Jackson is 18-0 when the Ravens hold a double-digit lead in a game. They’re 0-4 now when the opponent leads by at least 10 at some point.
Special teams: F
What the heck??
A week after Harrison Butker won the AFC’s weekly special teams award, the kicking game was a major disappointment. Butker missed an extra point and a 42-yard field goal. But the worst moment occurred when the Chiefs lost contain on the outside and Ravens rookie Devin Duvernay returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Special teams coach Dave Toub was part of Andy Reid’s original KC staff in 2013. It was the first return — kickoff or punt — for a score by an opponent in that span.
This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 10:29 PM.