westernkansasnews
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A hush fell over Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes walked off the field with his right arm hanging awkwardly after a strip-sack by Jets defender David Bailey. But the two-time MVP flexed his elbow on the sideline, tossed a few warmup passes, and promptly returned to the game.
Mahomes went on to throw for 242 yards and two touchdown passes to Kenneth Walker, who also rushed for 102 yards and a score, while Kansas City's defense smothered the Jets in the second half to seal a 35-12 victory that halted the Chiefs' two-game losing streak.
Walker totaled 143 yards from scrimmage, and the Chiefs (6-2) sacked Geno Smith five times, keeping New York out of the end zone and erasing the sting of consecutive losses to Seattle and Denver.
"If I'm able to play, I'm going to play. That's part of the game," said Mahomes, who had his elbow treated at halftime by Chiefs trainer Julie Frymyer and still planned to undergo further testing after the game. "Once I threw the football, I knew I was OK."
The relief was palpable for Kansas City, which lost Mahomes to a season-ending knee injury just over a year ago.
Smith finished with 165 passing yards for the Jets (2-7), who managed just 229 yards of total offense. New York was credited with minus-9 yards in the third quarter, when Kansas City scored two touchdowns to turn a 14-12 halftime lead into a comfortable margin.
"You're coming off two losses there, and I felt like we had a good week of practice, and they didn't hang their heads," said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose team had been heavily criticized for squandering an 11-point fourth-quarter lead in Denver. "My hat goes off to the guys."
Kansas City has now beaten New York, losers of four straight, in each of their last three meetings.
"I thought in the first half guys were making plays. We were playing with a lot of pride and a lot of spirit," said Smith, who has been sacked 28 times for a league-high 236 yards this season. "I thought the same thing in the second half. It just got away from us."
Without star wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who was inactive due to a concussion, the Jets leaned on running backs Braelon Allen and Breece Hall — the latter returning from a quadriceps injury after a five-game absence — and short passes to rookie Omar Cooper Jr. The approach moved the ball for a while, but New York could not reach the end zone.
One week after Jason Sanders kicked four field goals in a loss to Las Vegas, he made four in the first half alone in Kansas City. He would have had five, but missed from 53 yards with less than a minute remaining before halftime.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs lost a fumble when backup quarterback Justin Fields attempted a sneak on third-and-1. They lost another when Mahomes was sacked by Bailey for the second time in three plays — the strip-sack that left the quarterback hurting. Kansas City also watched embattled kicker Harrison Butker miss yet another field-goal attempt in the first half. Butker actually missed twice: he got a do-over after a penalty negated a miss from 56 yards, then missed again, casting further doubt on his future with the team. The Chiefs recently signed former All-Pro kicker Justin Tucker to their practice squad.
"No need to ask," Reid said of a potential kicking controversy. "I'm not making any decisions about that today."
It was Walker, largely held in check by Seattle and Denver in recent weeks, who powered Kansas City to a halftime lead. His first touchdown reception came on the first play of the second quarter, and his second was a 25-yard screen pass on which offensive guards Trey Smith and Kingsley Suamataia laid down a trail of pancakes for him to follow.
"Honestly, the first half we were making a lot of mistakes," Walker said. "At halftime, we straightened everything out."
Walker did most of the work on a 60-yard touchdown drive to open the second half, though it was a lateral by Mahomes along the line of scrimmage to Travis Kelce on fourth-and-goal at the New York 1 that finally got the Chiefs into the end zone.
Kansas City put the game out of reach later in the third quarter, after a 69-yard punt return was wiped out by penalty. Walker carried six times on an eight-play, 82-yard march, and his touchdown run to make it 28-12 gave him his third career three-touchdown game.
"I thought the first half everything was kind of on point. The second half we just didn't play up to par," Jets coach Aaron Glenn said. "It is disappointing, and I told our players that. All we can do is go back to work. That's the only thing I know how to do. In situations like this, just go back to work and try to figure out how, as the head coach, get us to play two halves at a high level. That's something I have to think long and hard about. I've got a lot of thinking to do. Just looking forward to getting back to work."
Mahomes and Kelce Make History
Mahomes and Kelce have now connected for 9,365 yards, surpassing the Chargers' Philip Rivers and Pro Football Hall of Famer Antonio Gates (9,352) for the most yards by a quarterback-tight end duo in NFL history. Kelce had four catches for 72 yards, along with his third career rushing touchdown.
Injury Report
Jets: Wilson (concussion) was inactive. Chiefs: RT Jaylen Moore injured an ankle. WR Xavier Worthy left in the closing minutes with a left hamstring injury.
Up Next
Jets: Host Buffalo next Sunday. Chiefs: Visit Atlanta next Sunday.
Originally reported by westernkansasnews.