Kansas City kept the Raiders off the scoreboard even after facing first-and-goal at the 3-yard line, changing the tenor of the game and allowing the two-time defending champion Chiefs to continue their domination in Las Vegas with a 27-20 victory to remain undefeated.
That sequence occurred late in the third quarter with the Chiefs clinging to a 17-13 lead. “It’s easy in that situation to let them kind of get into the end zone because it’s not really on them,” Mahomes said. “It was on the offense that put them in position, but they stood their ground. The defense made a big-time stop and we were able to carry momentum into a win.”
Patrick Mahomes excited following DeAndre Hopkins’ debut: ‘I thought he did a great job’
The Chiefs (7-0) extended their winning streak to 13 games, including the playoffs. Their last loss was at home to Las Vegas, but the Chiefs are 5-0 against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium and 6-0 there including the Super Bowl in February.
Patrick Mahomes passed for 262 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach 30,000 yards. He accomplished that in his 103rd game; Matthew Stafford had hit that mark at 109.
Mahomes’ top target was Travis Kelce, who had 10 catches for 90 yards, both season highs. He last caught double-digit passes on Oct. 22, 2023, and this was the highest-yardage output since Nov. 26.
Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was targeted three times and finished with two catches for 29 yards.
The Chiefs traded a conditional fifth-round pick to the Titans last week for Hopkins, a former All-Pro brought to help a unit decimated by injuries.
Patrick Mahomes, on DeAndre Hopkins debut:
“I thought he did a great job. Obviously (on) third down, he had the big catch early in the game and then he had a couple of other big plays. I missed him on the one corner route early, but [he] still got open. And then as I looked back at the tablet, there were a couple of times where in man coverage, he was just really working and winning. Even the touchdown to Trav (Travis Kelce) I threw, if you look back on his side, he’s open too for a touchdown there. Now that you see that – obviously, I know the type of player he is – but you see that on the field, it shows that if they’re going to play man coverage against him, he’s going to get open. I have to give him chances to go out there and make plays.”
Patrick Mahomes on DeAndre Hopkins’ style of conversion compared to JuJu Smith-Schuster or Travis Kelce:
“Honestly, it’s high-level stuff. Just because it was zone coverage, they kind of were in the right spot, he pulled up in the right window, stuff you see Trav do a lot (and) you see JuJu do a lot. I was able to throw the ball and I’ve kind of talked about it a little bit, he has good body language when he runs routes so you can kind of tell what he’s going to do before he does it. We had only practiced that play I think once, maybe twice. For third down in that situation, for him to run it and be in the right position, it shows that he’s going to fit in perfectly in this offense.”
