As Patrick Mahomes continues to struggle, Chiefs can’t be confident moving forward
The Chiefs’ effort vs. the Giants won’t cut it against the Packers, Raiders and Cowboys up next….
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs got the most important thing out of Monday night’s game against the New York Giants. They evened their record at 4-4 with a 20-17 victory, ugly as it might have been.
It’s difficult to see how the Chiefs gained any momentum from the victory. They had to go to the wire to outlast the Giants, a development that doesn’t speak well for their upcoming stretch of schedule that has the Chiefs playing against division leaders in the Green Bay Packers, Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys over the next three weeks.
“We can move the ball on pretty much every coverage,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “We have answers for every [defense]. But you’ve seen it every game pretty much that there’s been times when we stall out or we don’t execute or I throw the ball and I don’t hit the right spot or the receiver doesn’t see it the same way I do or penalties or turnovers.”
The Chiefs committed 12 penalties for 103 yards and had their fourth straight game with multiple turnovers.
“Everything’s not beautiful right now but we’re fighting through that,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
QB breakdown: Mahomes completed the first eight passes he threw and looked like he was on his way to a big game. His ninth pass bounced off the facemask of running back Jerick McKinnon and was intercepted, sparking a dramatic change in his fortunes. Mahomes completed 6 of 19 passes the rest of the half, and his 4.3 yards per attempt were his lowest in a first half this season. He threw a lot of quick passes designed to get the ball out in a hurry, the result of protection problems from last week’s loss to the Titans.
“I know it’s kind of happening week after week these last few weeks but I think we’ll snap out of it and we’ll find ways to start executing and when we do we’ll be a tough offense to stop,” Mahome said.
Troubling trend: The Chiefs committed two more turnovers, adding to their league lead of 19. Earlier in the season, they were at times able to overcome their turnovers because they scored nearly every time they didn’t cough it up. That’s no longer the case. One of their touchdown drives against the Giants comprised 13 yards after a Chiefs interception.
“Things aren’t as smooth right now as maybe they were [in recent years] but we’ll get it there,” Reid said. “We’ve just got to keep working.”
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