How bang-bang plays by Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes powered Chiefs’ win at Raiders
The Chiefs had finally gotten on the scoreboard but still trailed the Raiders by a touchdown late in the second quarter at Allegiant Field.
A couple of first downs brought the Chiefs to the Las Vegas 42-yard line. The next two plays changed the direction of a game the Chiefs went on to win 31-17.
The familiar characters — quarterback Patrick Mahomes to tight end Travis Kelce — delivered for Kansas City. They hooked up for two completions that covered 51 yards and set up the game-tying touchdown.
The Chiefs were on their way to another win against an AFC West opponent.
The first pass, dropped in perfectly behind Raiders linebacker Divine Deablo (even though Mahomes thought he underthrew it), went for 28 yards.
The Chiefs dipped into their bag of tricks on the next snap. A pitch to Isiah Pacheco was tossed to wide receiver Richie James. He pitched it back to Mahomes, who hit Kelce in stride down the right sideline to set up a first-and-goal at the Las Vegas 7.
Mahomes had options on the flea-flicker. He likely could have delivered a touchdown to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the Chiefs receiver who was breaking open in the end zone. As it was, the Chiefs scored three plays later on Mahomes’ 3-yard strike to Justin Watson.
Kelce said the trick play had been in the books for two weeks.
“We didn’t get it dialed up last week,” Kelce said. “It’s a hungry group over there (the Raiders) that rallies to the ball. We were trying to sneak somebody through the back door.”
Kelce finished his most productive day in a month with six receptions for 91 yards. He had started the season hot — in Weeks 3-7, he averaged 100 receiving yards and the Chiefs won all of those games.
But opponents’ defensive intensity and double-teams picked up in the weeks that followed. In the Chiefs three games previous to Sunday’s, Kelce had been held to an average of 39 yards per contest, and the Chiefs lost twice.
Kelce received plenty of attention against the Raiders, too, but this time others stepped up. Rashee Rice turned in the best game of his rookie season, for instance, with eight receptions and 107 yards and a touchdown.
“Teams are going to continue to double him in big situations,” Mahomes said. “We’re going continue to prove that other guys can make those big plays. And we’ll take them out of that and we’ll go back to Travis.”
Kelce continues to climb the ladder of historic achievements. With his first long reception, Kelce surpassed 11,000 career yards, and he reached that figure in fewer games (154) than any tight end in NFL history. By far.
It took former Chiefs and Falcons star Tony Gonzalez 191 games to reach 11,000 yards. Kelce recently passed Gonzalez as the Chiefs’ career leader in receiving yards and tops the franchise in yards from scrimmage (receiving and rushing combined).
And he’s in a better place than he was a week ago, when the Chiefs lost a 10-point lead — and the game — to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Kelce had a touchdown that night but also lost a critical fumble in the red zone.
“You keep it moving, that’s the biggest thing,” Kelce said. “I’ve been in it long enough to see the film and see what’s real. And what was real was we lost that game. We handed that game to them with a lot of turnovers.
“I was a huge part of that. We eliminate that and we’ll be just fine.”
