Patrick Mahomes threw for a bunch of yards. Travis Kelce caught a whole lot of his passes. And Kareem Hunt plowed into the end zone once again, sending a torrent of red fireworks flying over Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night.
It might as well have been six years ago, the last time that trio of Chiefs played in a home game together.
But with injuries having ravaged their offense, the Chiefs were forced to lean on two of their stalwarts and the return of their erstwhile star running back to beat the Saints, 26-13. Mahomes finished with 331 yards through the air, Kelce had a game-high nine catches for 70 yards, and Hunt ran 27 times for 102 yards and a touchdown.
“It was a great feeling to get back in the end zone. I missed it very much,” said Hunt, who only returned to the Chiefs a couple of weeks ago, after an injury to starter Isiah Pacheco. “That’s why I threw up a heart. To show my love for Kansas City.”
There was a lot of love flowing inside Arrowhead Stadium.
Just as the Chiefs were moving to 5-0 behind another defensive gem, the Royals were beating the Yankees in Game 2 of their AL Division Series in New York. There were frequent chants of “Let’s go Royals!” throughout the game, and when the Royals finished off a 4-2 victory to send the series back to Kansas City tied at a game apiece, a roar ripped through Arrowhead.
“There was kind of a lull there toward the end of the game, and I was like, ‘They’re not showing the score. The Yankees came back,’” said Mahomes, who owns a part of the Royals. “But they picked it up and got the win, and it was extremely exciting.”
The Chiefs held Saints quarterback Derek Carr to 185 yards passing with two touchdowns and an interception before leaving with an oblique injury.
“I couldn’t do what I needed to do in the simplest form,” said Carr, who plans to get an MRI exam today.
The Saints’ Alvin Kamara managed 26 yards rushing on 11 carries, becoming the latest high-profile running back to struggle against the Chiefs. They held the Ravens’ Derrick Henry to 46 yards rushing, Zack Moss of the Bengals to 34, Falcons star Bijan Robinson to 31 and J.K. Dobbins to 32 in last week’s win over the Chargers.
“We got outplayed,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said. “We really couldn’t get a whole lot going on either side of the ball.”
Prescott leads Cowboys to victory >> Dak Prescott threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert with 20 seconds remaining and Dallas slipped past Pittsburgh 20-17 late Sunday night.
The Cowboys (3-2) won their second straight after Prescott overcame a mistake-filled night to lead a 70-yard drive that ended with Prescott finding a lunging Tolbert just across the goal line on fourth down.
Pittsburgh (3-2) dropped its second consecutive game following a 3-0 start, this one a sluggish performance on a night the opening kickoff was delayed nearly 90 minutes due to severe weather. The game ended at 12:59 a.m. local time.
Prescott, the NFL’s highest-paid player, threw for 352 yards and two scores to offset a night he had two interceptions and fumbled in Pittsburgh territory.