INJURY REPORT
Eagles: LT Jason Peters hurt his knee in the second quarter, returned briefly after an initial absence and then was pulled for good. Andre Dillard took over. ... LB Nigel Bradham (ankle) was also injured in the second quarter and did not return. ... DT Tim Jernigan (foot) was out for the fourth straight game, Darby (hamstring) for the third game in a row and Maddox (concussion/neck) for the second consecutive game.
Vikings: Dakota Dozier started at RG for Josh Kline, who sat out with a foot injury. ... LT Riley Reiff (ankle) left in the first quarter, returned briefly, then was sidelined in the second half and replaced by Rashod Hill. offsetting — one week after they had 11 penalties for 125 yards in a 19-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
So even though Reid was never called for holding, the penalty du jour on Sunday, the coaching staff clearly didn’t do enough to stop the flow of flags from last week to this week.
“There are a bunch of things to look at,” Reid said, “but penalties and time- of-possession, those are pretty big at this time. Taking advantage of turnovers — we have to do a better job of taking advantage of turnovers, scoring touchdowns. That’s my responsibility.”
But while penalties and dropped passes and a myriad other mistakes can be chalked up to miscues or misfortune on behalf of the players, some questionable decisions fall directly on the head coach.
The first head-scratching set of events took place just before halftime.
Chiefs safety Juan Thornhill had just picked off Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson in the end zone to prevent points, and seemingly preserving a 1716 halftime lead. But despite having just 23 seconds on the clock, and a quarterback hobbled by a sore ankle, the Chiefs called a pass play from their own 20.
Patr i ck Mahomes dropped back, the pocket quickly collapsed, and Texans defensive end Charles Omenihu reached out his paw and knocked the ball lose. Benardrick McKinney immediately pounced on the fumble, giving Houston the ball at the 3-yard line.
Watson scrambled in for a touchdown on the very next play to give Houston the lead.
“For us, how we feel and how we act as an offense is we’re going to try to score every single drive,” Mahomes said in defense of the play- calling. “There were some drives in the second half where we couldn’t get going. We have to find ways to score when it’s a close ballgame and at the end.”
Indeed, there were more questionable calls in the third quarter, when Watson was again picked off in the end zone, this time by Charvarius Ward. The Chiefs led 24-23 at that point, but three consecutive pass plays fell incomplete and they were forced to punt the ball back to Houston.
Twelve plays, 93 yards and 8 ½ minutes later, Watson scrambled in for his second TDrun, and his 2-point conversion pass to DeAndre Hopkins gave the Texans a 31-24 lead with 6:17 to go.
Still, the Chiefs had an opportunity to march downfield for a tying touchdown. But a pass to LeSean McCoy was stopped for a loss, putting them in a second-and-14 and at their own 21-yard line. And rather than put the ball in the hands of the reigning league MVP, the Chiefs elected to run — and McCoy went nowhere, earning a round of lusty boos from the antsy crowd in Arrowhead Stadium.