Chiefs halftime observations from Arrowhead: Chiefs 24, Bengals 7
Unlike a week ago, the Chiefs came out roaring in the prime time spotlight. They lead the Bengals 24-7 at halftime. Here’s what I noticed.
Leaps and Bounds
So you want to tackle Kareem Hunt? Good luck. The Chiefs running back performed a magic trick in the Chiefs’ first drive, spinning out of what looked like a certain tackle before hurdling over Jessie Bates. By the end of his run, Hunt picked up 21 yards. On the next play, Hunt caught a six-yard pass from Mahomes and extended the ball over the goal line to score the Chiefs’ first touchdown of the game. The score capped off a 95-yard drive and gave Mahomes his 19th touchdown pass of the season. Mahomes and Hunt connected again in the second quarter. This time, Mahomes hit Hunt with a short pass and Hunt ran out of two tackles to extend the ball to the pylon for his second score of the day. Hunt stepped out of a tackle by Vontaze Burfict before muscling through two more Bengals defenders at the goal line.
Mahomes, by the way, looked like he did in the second half of last week’s Sunday night game. He was calm in the opening drive, completing 5 of 6 passes for 55 yards. He also converted a third down with a nine-yard run to the sideline, hopping as he went out of bounds.
DEE-fense
Dee Ford was all over bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, chasing him down on third down to knock the ball out of his hand from behind before dragging him down. The strip sack was Ford’s fifth sack of the season — good for his second-best single-season total. Just seven games into the season, he’s already halfway to the career-best mark he set in 2016 with 10.0 sacks. The forced fumble gives him two this season, setting a career-high single-season mark. He has four total in his career.
Butker perfect no more
After hitting his first 11 field goal attempts of the season, Harrison Butker’s perfect streak came to an end. Butker missed a 53-yard field goal at the end of the Chiefs’ second drive. It was his longest attempt of the year and it went wide left. Since joining the Chiefs, Butker has made 49 of 54 field goal attempts and all 55 extra points. Last year, Butker was 4 of 5 on field goal attempts 50 yards or longer.
Too many men
The Chiefs were penalized twice for having 12 men on the field on defense. In the first one, rookie Dorian O’Daniel looked to be the odd man out. Then later in the drive, Frank Zombo and Jarvis Jenkins ran off the field after the flag. Those penalties turned out to be especially costly as the Bengals scored their first touchdown of the night on a four-yard completion from Andy Dalton to CJ Uzomah with 7:25 to go in the half.
Smith injured
Linebacker Terrance Smith injured his knee on special teams. Smith was on the kickoff coverage unit when he went down with right knee injury. After being looked at by trainers on the field, he was helped off very slowly and didn’t put any weight on his right leg. In his absence, rookie Dorian O’Daniel got more playing time. Smith is out for the rest of the game.