By MATT PIKE
The Kansas City Chiefs offense sparked back to life at Arrowhead Stadium, and the defense responded with its own breath of life in the second half, as the Chiefs beat the New York Jets 35-12 to snap a two game losing skid.
Things did start off slow for Kansas City however, ending the first quarter down 6-0. The Jets opened the game and drove down the field over 14 plays having to settle for a 23 yard field goal by Jason Sanders. On the ensuing drive, the Chiefs were forced into a 3rd and 1 and attempted a rare quarterback sneak, utilizing backup Justin Fields. Kansas City originally was stopped for no gain, but New York challenged the runner being down by contact and that Fields had fumbled, which replay review revealed he had and the Jets took possession but again would be held to a field goal from Sanders, this time from 48 yards away.
But finally in the second quarter the Chiefs offense awoke and took the lead with Kenneth Walker finding the endzone on a seven yard reception from Patrick Mahomes. The Jets did retake the lead briefly, Sanders hitting a 49 yard field goal, but after a Kansas City punt the Chiefs defense stepped up to get the ball back as Nick Bolton punched the ball away from running back Braelon Allen and Alohi Gilman recovered, setting up a go ahead touchdown for Kansas City as again Mahomes found Walker through the air for a 25 yard touchdown pass.
Sanders hit his fourth field goal of the half from 54 yards out to cut the Kansas City lead to 14-12. On the ensuing drive the Chiefs fumbled the ball on hard hit from defensive end David Bailey on Mahomes, which brought Mahomes up grabbing his arm with an apparent injury, Sanders though missed 53 yard field goal attempt after the Jets recovered the fumble, and Mahomes came back out to drive Kansas City into field goal position, where the crowd suddenly turned.
Harrison Butker marched onto the field for a 56 yard field goal attempt just before halftime, his kick sailed wide right but an offsides penalty gave Butker another chance from 51 yards away. Once again, the kick sailed wide right, nearly identical to the first kick, and the Chiefs marched to the locker room leading 14-12 as the crowd booed Butker off the field.
"People talk about rhythm, I think it definitely is a real thing, that would help," Butker says in the locker room following the game when asked if just making one long kick would help unlock something. "But I don't go out to those those 50 plus yarders or any field goals feeling scared or nervous, I'm confident, I'm excited for it, and its just not clicking, its not happening on those game kicks."
The second half was a different story. The Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points, starting with the first drive of the half that ended with a one yard rushing touchdown by Travis Kelce. Kansas City's defense forced two three and outs on New York, with a Chiefs punt sandwiched in between, before scoring again with 11 seconds left in the third quarter, Walker finding the endzone for the third time and first time on the ground running for a two yard touchdown.
The Jets unable to do anything in the second half though,turning the ball over on downs in the fourth quarter. Both teams went on to exchange punts after the turnover on downs before rookie Emmett Johnson put the seal on the game, scoring his second NFL touchdown in as many weeks, rushing for a six yard score. New York turned the ball over on downs once more with 2:05 left in the game and the Chiefs went on to run out the clock for the victory.
After allowing 25 points alone in the second half over the two game losing skid, linebacker Nick Bolton proud of the defensive effort to step up this week and shutout the Jets in the third and fourth quarters.
"Coming from weeks past that we didn't do our job in terms of keeping points off the board in the second half," Bolton says. "So, this week was definitely huge for us to come out there and execute the gameplan, tackle the tackle better in earlier downs, and give us a chance to rush the passer."
Kansas City rushed the passer effectively in the game recording five sacks. Chris Jones and George Karlaftis each had two while Ashton Gillotte had one. With his two sacks, Jones passed Tamba Hali on the Kansas City Chiefs charts for the most sacks in franchise history with 90.5, trailing only Derrick Thomas.
Mahomes was 23-of-31 for 242 yards with two touchdown passes. Walker rushed 18 times for 102 yards and a touchdown while grabing four passes for 41 yards and two scores. Kelce had four catches for 72 yards, with a rushing touchdown, while Xavier Worthy had six catches for 48 yards and Rashee Rice grabbed five passes for 49 yards.
Kansas City (6-2) remains in second place in the AFC West, after the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 26-21, and will hit the road to play the Atlanta Falcons (3-6) at noon on Sunday. Pregame airs at 11am with kickoff at noon on November 15th on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM) and on Q Country (92.7 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.