Chiefs-Texans halftime: Incredible first half, from 24 down to 28-24 lead
A horrible start, an amazing comeback. That’s the Chiefs red-tinted view of Kansas City’s first half against the Houston Texans.
It was something to behold as the Chiefs took a 28-24 lead at the break.
This after the Texans had roared ahead 24-0 with three first-quarter touchdowns.
But over a 3:24 stretch of the second quarter at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs had scored three touchdowns to close the gap to three points. All were short-field scores because of special teams.
The first TD, a 17-yard Patrick Mahomes to Damien Williams pass, was set up by Mecole Hardman’s 58-yard kickoff return.
A 5-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce followed after safety Daniel Sorensen snuffed out a fake punt and tackled Houston upback Justin Reid short of the first down.
On the ensuing kickoff, Sorensen knocked the ball loose from return man DeAndre Carter. Darwin Thompson was there to snatch the ball from the air. He appeared to have a path to the end zone, but he hesitated and was stopped short.
No matter, Mahomes found Kelce for a 6-yard score to slice the Houston lead to 24-21.
The Chiefs took the lead on their longest drive of the half, eight plays that covered 90 yards and ended with Kelce’s third touchdown reception, this one from 5 yards. Kelce had his career best in touchdown receptions in a game, and Mahomes had matched the NFL record with four touchdown passes in a quarter.
It was an amazing string of events to follow a start that put the Chiefs in their biggest deficit of the season.
The Texans’ fast start began when miscommunication in the secondary allowed Kenny Stills IV to break open for a 54-yard touchdown pass. No Chiefs defender was within 10 yards when Stills caught the ball. This how the Texans’ first possession ended.
The Chiefs’ first possession included a false start by tack Eric Fisher, a dropped pass by Kelce, who would have had a first down, a burned timeout and a blocked KC punt by Barkevious Mingo.
The ball was scooped up and taken into the end zone by Lonnie Johnson. That made it 14-0 Texans with fewer than five minutes elapsed.
The next Chiefs possession ended with Demarcus Robinson not coming up with a reception on third down, forcing the Chiefs to try another punt. The Chiefs’ defense got a stop after that, with Frank Clark sacking Deshaun Watson on third down.
Tyreek Hill, the former Pro Bowl punt returner who didn’t return a punt this season, was deep. But he muffed the catch. The Texans recovered at the 6. Two plays later, Watson found Darren Fells in the end zone for a 4-yard score to make it 21-0. In the first quarter.
The Chiefs get the ball to begin the second half.
Chris Jones out
The Chiefs were playing without Chris Jones, who suffered a right calf injury in practice this past week. Jones took the field about 2 1/2 hours before the game with Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder and other team medical personnel. He jogged and moved laterally remaining on the field for about 10 minutes.
A hour later the inactive list was announced and it included Jones. He had missed three games during the regular season with a groin injury, including the Week 6 home loss to the Texans.