Chiefs overcome the pesky Patriots

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s hard enough to slow down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs under the best of circumstances.

Try doing it with your star quarterback shelved by covid-19, a 40-year-old journeyman taking his place, your top running back headed to injured reserve, and a flight that didn’t land in Kansas City until shortly before kickoff.

Yet the New England Patriots still managed to give the Chiefs fits for most of the way Monday night, hanging within a field goal of the Super Bowl champs until late in the third quarter. It wasn’t until Tyrann Mathieu took an interception back for a touchdown in the fourth that Kansas City clinched its 26-10 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.

“You’ve seen it this season. You’ve seen it last season. Even if you hold us down, we can go out there and make plays when they count,” said Mahomes, who threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns. “When your number is called you have to make plays, and I thought enough guys made plays that we were able to get out of there with a win.”

Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman had the touchdown grabs for the Chiefs, who have now won 13 consecutive games.

“We made plays when we had to make plays,” Coach Andy Reid said, “and we can learn from this. We have to do better in a lot of areas, but it’s tough to win in this league, and it’s tough to beat the Patriots in any situation.”

The marquee matchup was supposed to be Sunday, but it was put on pause when New England confirmed that a player — later revealed to be Cam Newton — tested positive for covid-19. Later on Saturday, it came out that Chiefs practice squad QB Jordan Ta’amu also had tested positive, forcing the NFL to postpone the game.

More tests, including one taken Monday, returned no additional positives from either team.

With their quarterback sidelined, and running back Sony Michel hitting the IR with a quad injury, the Patriots (2-2) were forced to lean on journeyman Brian Hoyer and a cast of running backs who never got into much of a rhythm.

Hoyer, who has now lost 11 straight starts for three different teams, was 15 of 24 for 130 yards and an interception before getting benched in the second half. Jarrett Stidham led the Patriots to a touchdown to close to 13-10, but he also threw two interceptions, including the pick-six to Mathieu that propelled the Chiefs to their fourth consecutive 4-0 start.

“We had some opportunities tonight [and] weren’t able to take advantage of them. You can’t give a team like that those kind of opportunities,” Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said. “Turned the ball over four times. Had too many penalties.”

Yet much of the way, Belichick’s run-heavy, drain-theclock game plan worked.

The Chiefs marched downfield for a field goal on their first drive, added another later in the half, but otherwise had a hard time getting into gear. Sammy Watkins wasted a scoring chance by fumbling in the red zone, Mahomes was under constant duress, and the rest of his wide receivers were blanketed by the New England secondary.

In fact, the Patriots could have been leading had Hoyer not made two monumental mistakes.

The first came in the closing seconds of the first half, when the Patriots had used their timeouts to drive into field-goal range. Hoyer was sacked by Frank Clark on third down. Without a timeout, the clock hit zero and the Chiefs took a 6-3 lead into the locker room.

Hoyer’s second mistake came late in the third quarter, when he again felt the pocket collapse on a third-down play. This time, the Chiefs stripped the ball loose and recovered it, keeping New England from another field-goal attempt.

“Two bad decisions in the red area cost us points,” he said.

Finally taking advantage of a swing in momentum, Mahomes hit Hill and Travis Kelce with long passes to move swiftly downfield. And when Hill took a jet sweep to the pylon for a touchdown, the Chiefs had some breathing room.

The Patriots answered behind a long run from Damien Harris, who had just been activated off IR, and a nifty catch by N’Keal Harry in the end zone. But the Chiefs kept moving on offense, taking advantage of pass interference and personal foul penalties by the least-flagged team in the league to set up Hardman’s touchdown. RUSHING—New England, Harris 17-100, Burkhead 11-45, White 3-21, Zuber 1-8, Hoyer 1-8, Stidham 2-3. Kansas City, Edwards-Helaire 16-64, Mahomes 8-28, Williams 1-2. PASSING— New England, Hoyer 15- 24- 1- 130, Stidham 5-13-2-60. Kansas City, Mahomes 19-290-236. RECEIVING—New England, White 7-38, Byrd 5-80, Edelman 3-35, Harry 3-21, Olszewski 1-11, Burkhead 1-5. Kansas City, Hill 4-64, Watkins 4-43, Hardman 4-27, Kelce 3-70, Edwards-Helaire 3-27, Yelder 1-5. MISSED FIELD GOALS— None.