Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Making the plays
Chiefs’ backups step up in win over Ravens
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs rolled into Arrowhead Stadium to play the red-hot Baltimore Ravens without their best wide receiver, their lead running back and their stalwart left tackle.
They still had Patrick Mahomes, though.
The reigning league MVP threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns in another record-setting performance, and Kansas City’s defense corralled Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson most of the rain-soaked afternoon, allowing the Chiefs to squeak out a 33-28 victory Sunday.
“Everyone gets reps with the starters, and guys just build that confidence that they can play,” said Mahomes, whose 13 games of at least 300 yards passing broke Kurt Warner’s mark for the most in the first 20 games of a career. “Whenever someone gets an opportunity they make plays.”
Such as wide receivers Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman, who had TD catches while Tyreek Hill recovers from a broken collarbone. Or LeSean McCoy and Darrell Williams, who combined
for 116 yards rushing and a score in place of injured running back Damien Williams. Or Cam Erving, who filled in for left tackle Eric Fisher and helped to limit the Ravens to a single sack.
“I trust that guys are going to step up and play,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose 210th win broke a tie with Chuck Knoll for sixthmost in NFL history. “Each one of them collectively had a pretty good day. They took advantage of their opportunity.”
Missed opportunities ultimately doomed the Ravens. They were stuffed once on fourth down, and three times they failed to convert on a 2-point conversion, leaving them chasing points all game.
The last came after Jackson scrambled for a touchdown with 2:01 to go. The conversion would have gotten the Ravens (2-1) within a field goal, but Jackson was shoved out of bounds short of the pylon.
Baltimore tried to get the ball back with a rare dropkick, but the Chiefs (3-0) calmly called for a fair catch. Then they converted on third down moments later to run out the clock.
“I don’t remember the situation or which was what, but every one of those was clear analytical decisions to go for two,” Ravens coach John
Harbaugh said. “We had a mindset that we were going to come in and try to score as many points as we could. So, that’s what we tried to do.”
Mark Ingram was the Ravens’ biggest bright spot, running for 103 yards and a trio of touchdowns while catching four passes for 32 yards. Jackson finished with 267 yards passing and 46 rushing, most of that when he was trying to rally the Ravens from a big halftime hole.