Rodgers, Green Bay top Kansas City
Moore performs well in place of Mahomes but comes up short
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Rodgers threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Aaron Jones on a big night for the Green Bay running back, and the Packers held off backup quarterback Matt Moore and the Chiefs 3124 on Sunday night.
Jones, who briefly left with a shoulder injury, had seven catches for 159 yards and added 67 on the ground — a big chunk of them in the closing minutes, when the Packers (71) sealed the win.
It was their first at Arrowhead Stadium since Nov. 4, 2007.
With reigning league MVP Patrick Mahomes out with a dislocated kneecap, Moore took the reins of the Chiefs’ highpowered offense and fared quite well. He threw for 267 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the exhigh school coach’s first NFL start in more than two years.
The Chiefs (53) hoped Mahomes could make a miraculous recovery 10 days after hurting his knee in Denver in time to play. But after he was limited in practice throughout the week, head coach Andy Reid announced Friday that the quarterback would be inactive for the game.
So much for that RodgersMahomes matchup everyone anticipated.
The game started with Rodgers slicing up the defense and Green Bay marching for two quick touchdowns.
But after a shaky start by Moore, the journeyman QB and the rest of the Kansas City offense found a groove. They embarked on an 89yard drive that ended with a makeitrain 29yard TD pass to Travis Kelce, then got a 30yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman to knot the game.
The Chiefs led 1714 at halftime, raising some eyebrows across the league.
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur made a couple of adjustments, though, and Rodgers and Co. began to move the ball once more. They used a 15play drive that soaked up more than half the third quarter to get a tying field goal, then got the ball back when LeSean McCoy fumbled on the very next play.
Five plays later, Rodgers conjured up more of his vintage improvisation.
With third down at the 3, he dropped back and was flushed from the pocket. He rolled to his right and threw a blind pass to the back corner of the end zone, where Damien Williams somehow took the ball away from Kansas City linebacker Ben Niemann while tapping both feet inbounds.
The Chiefs answered with another long drive to tie it again.
It took the Packers all of 56 seconds to score the eventual winner.
Rodgers again found Jones out of the backfield, and this time he found a lane through the entire Kansas City secondary. It was a foot race from there, and the speedy running back hopskipped over the goal line to finish off the 67yard touchdown reception.