What did we learn from Chiefs’ victory at Tampa? That Mahomes-Hill is NFL’s best duo
Sunday’s matchup between the Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was easily one of the league’s highly anticipated games of the season.
The game featured Patrick Mahomes vs. Tom Brady, two dynamic head coaches, in KC’s Andy Reid and Tampa’s Bruce Arians, and two of the best tight ends in recent history (Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski).
And the contest didn’t disappoint, as the Chiefs held on late for a 27-24 win.
“All in all, I thought it was a good game,” Reid said. “That’s a good football team that Bruce has got, ton of talent and he’s got Tom Brady, so that says it all.”
The Chiefs appeared well on the way to victory, entering the fourth quarter with a 27-10 lead before Tampa Bay mounted a furious comeback behind Brady. The wily veteran led the Bucs to 14 final-period points to pull them within three, 27-24, with a little more than four minutes remaining.
But Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes came to the rescue again with an 8-yard scamper for a first down and slide to keep the clock running. Then, the 2018 league MVP put the finishing touches on the game with an 8-yard pass to Tyreek Hill.
From start to finish, the Mahomes-to-Hill combination was unbeatable.
“It was a heck of a performance, I thought, by our guys,” Reid said.
The Chiefs are now 10-1 for just the third time in franchise history (1995 and 2003). They also opened a four-game lead in the AFC West over the Las Vegas Raiders, who dropped to 6-5 after a loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
Here’s what stood out from Sunday’s game.
A CHEETAH EXPLOSION
Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis will have nightmares for the next night or so, courtesy of Hill.
The speedy Chiefs receiver piled up 203 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches in Sunday’s opening quarter. That yardage marked the most in the first quarter since former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Lee Evans notched 205 on Nov. 19, 2006.
Hill took advantage of Davis by beating him deep in single coverage on two long touchdowns catches of 75 yards and 44 yards. And then he beat Davis on a 20-yard scoring play in the third quarter.
“Obviously, I’m a returner specialist so I’m going to see a lot of single coverage throughout a whole game,” Hill said in an obvious shot to doubters around on the league on his ability to be a clear No. 1 wide receiver. “Today was fun, today was great, today was competitive for me. But Carlton Davis is definitely a good player. I’ve said that numerous times.”
Reid, however, took a more downplayed approach when asked about Hill’s game, pointing out that the Buccaneers were playing with a banged-up secondary.
“I’m not sure that helped Bruce (Arians) at all,” Reid said. “But, listen, I would put (Hill) against anybody; he’s been doing this all year.”
With Hill going off, Mahomes cruised to an incredible first half, completing 25 of 33 passes for 359 yards. Mahomes extended his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass to 21, the longest active run in the NFL, and finished with 462 yards and three touchdowns for a 124.7 passer rating.
Hill had 13 catches for 269 yards and three touchdowns, the fifth straight game in which he’s found the end zone. He has now scored in 10 of 11 games this season.
Hill’s yardage marks his third straight game of at least 100 yards receiving, making him just the eighth player in Chiefs history to have a streak of three-plus 100-yard receiving games. He joins tight end Travis Kelce, who had eight catches Sunday for 82 yards, as the only two players to do so in the same season.
Making the Chiefs’ offensive output even more impressive is the fact that it happened against one of the NFL’s top defenses. Tampa came in ranked fifth in yards allowed (310.5 per game).
The Chiefs eclipsed that mark in the first half alone en route to 543 total.
DEFENSE REBOUNDS
After allowing 62 total points and 799 total yards in their past two games, the Chiefs’ defense stepped up and returned to early-season form.
The Buccaneers entered the game averaging 29.1 points, sixth-most in the NFL. But the Chiefs held their own against a capable Brady-led offense until late in the game.
Kansas City did it by getting in Brady’s face with consistent pressure, an aspect of the defense that was missing in the previous two contests. The Chiefs recorded a sack, split between defensive ends Alex Okafor and rookie Mike Danna, and eight quarterback hits, effectively mixing in blitzes to harass Brady relentlessly.
Safety Tyrann Mathieu affected a pass midway in the third quarter by getting in Brady’s face. With Mathieu bearing down, Brady lofted a throw down the left sideline sooner than he wanted, and cornerback Bashaud Breeland hauled in an easy interception.
Mathieu would later snare his own pick on a pass deflected off fellow safety Daniel Sorensen’s helmet.
“I think this week was all about trust,” Mathieu said. “Trust in your teammates, trusting the guys next to you, trusting the communication, trusting the play call. I thought for the most part of the game, I thought we were able to do that.”
The Chiefs utilized the mentality in a bend-but-don’t-break approach. They allowed the Buccaneers to rack up 417 yards but held when it mattered the most. Brady completed 27 of 41 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.
REID’S CREATIVITY HAS NO LIMITS
The Chiefs have opened the playbook with numerous unique plays this season. Sunday was no different.
But unlike in past outings, they didn’t have much success in Tampa.
On their opening drive and facing a second-and-goal at the Buccaneers’ 1-yard line, Mahomes went in motion to his left before turning back to his right to take the snap. The quarterback then lateraled to Hill, who lateraled to Kelce on a double-reverse.
Kelce appeared to have room to run it in, but he pulled up to pass to Mahomes, who was open in the end zone. The attempt was knocked away by a cornerback Carlton Davis.
“That’s why they moved him to tight end at Cincinnati,” Reid said jokingly. “Son of a gun. Listen, we probably should’ve scored there, but 24 did a nice job on that play. Anyway, we’ll get the next one.”
Mahomes revealed after the game he and Kelce came up with the play and named it “Black Pearl” after the ship in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” They presented it to Reid to use in the game plan because they’d be playing in Tampa.
Kansas City’s drive eventually stalled, leading to a Harrison Butker 19-yard field goal.
O-LINE HAS SHAKY OUTING
Mahomes enjoyed a stellar game through the air, but he found himself on the ground a little too often.
The Buccaneers recorded two sacks and seven quarterback hits, including four in a row in the second quarter.
Kansas City’s offensive line was assessed three holding penalties — one each on left tackle Eric Fisher, left guard Nick Allegretti and right guard Andrew Wylie — on a single drive during the fourth quarter.
It should be noted that the Chiefs’ front five continues to play without right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, who landed on injured reserve last week with a back injury.
INJURIES
Linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, a core special teams contributor, suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter and did not finish the game.
UP NEXT
The Chiefs return home to host the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football in Week 13.
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 6:54 PM.
