On Sunday, Kansas City won another squeaker
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs once again did what they have done so many other times since the stretch run of the 2023 season: find a way to win the game. The Chiefs led the Carolina Panthers from the game’s second minute all the way to the game’s 58th minute — when the Panthers tied the game at 27 with a two-point conversion.
But in the game’s final two seconds, Kansas City’s substitute placekicker Spencer Shrader’s 31-yard field goal sealed Kansas City’s 30-27 victory — it’s 10th of the season.
Speaking to reporters after the game, head coach Andy Reid acknowledged there are plenty of things that the team needs to improve on both offense and defense. But at least one thing went precisely how offensive coordinator Matt Nagy wanted it: the offense scored a touchdown on the opening drive.
“Offensively, the guys started fast,” noted Reid. “They had made a point [of] that; Matt had made that a huge emphasis this week. The guys followed with it — and did some nice things there. But we got to keep building on it. We can’t take plays away from ourselves; it’s too much.”
There was another bright spot: for the second straight game, tight end Noah Gray scored two touchdowns. On the first one — the third offensive play of the game — he found himself all alone in the secondary. On the second, he had to make a contested catch at the back of the end zone.
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“Pat made a great throw,” said Reid, “and [Gray] made a nice move at the top of it; [he’s got a] big body. Pat put it up where only he could get it. And I thought Noah used his body well to protect the ball.”
But ultimately, the play worked because quarterback Patrick Mahomes was well-prepared.
“I was able to see by the way they lined up [that] they were getting into their Cover 0 look,” said Mahomes of the touchdown play. “[I] just alerted the guys — to make sure they saw what I saw — and gave the ‘check’ at the line of scrimmage. Then you [have to] trust your guy to go out there and make a play — and just put it up there.”
That touchdown gave the Chiefs a 20-6 lead with 44 seconds left in the first half. But Carolina kept fighting — and then with 48 seconds left in the game, Mahomes took it upon himself to make the play that mattered the most: a brilliant 33-yard scramble down the left sideline that put Kansas City well inside field goal range.
Mahomes is glad that his ankle is feeling better.
“I think I always say adrenaline will get you through it,” he said, “but it is helping a lot when you get a little bit healthier and you can kind of get your body back into it. A credit to the training staff: they stayed on top of me about being in there as much as possible. I finally was able to get off [the injury] list this last week — and kind of get back to just my normal routine. And we went out there and made something happen.”
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Many expected that against the Panthers — who came into the matchup with a 3-7 record — the Chiefs would dominate Sunday’s game. But Mahomes believes that games like it will eventually help the team in the season’s most important contests.
“You always want to have some blowouts; you want to be a little calmer in the fourth quarter,” he explained. “But I’ve always said it can be a good thing as you get to the playoffs and later in the season, just knowing that you’ve been in those moments before and knowing how to kind of attack it play-by-play — and not making it too big of a moment.
“But I would [also] say I would love to win a game not by the very last play.”
The Chiefs understand how important it is to peak at the right time.
“It’s all about getting better,” declared Mahomes. “That’s the best thing about playing in the NFL. It’s never the team that’s playing the beginning of the season the best — [it’s the team] playing the best at the end of the season. It’s about just constantly getting better.
“It’s going to be a grind — and I think we’ve done a great job with that. Coach Reid does a great job of planning it so that we’re playing our best football at the end of the year.
“And there’s a lot to learn from today; there’s good [and] there’s bad. We’ve got to just go back and learn from that. And then know that we have a short week [to prepare for] a hungry football team — the Raiders — coming to our house.”