KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for a bunch of yards. Travis Kelce caught a lot of his passes. Kareem Hunt got into the end zone again, sending a stream of red fireworks flying over Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night.
That was perhaps six years ago, the last time the trio of Chiefs played a home game together.
But with injuries devastating their attack, the Chiefs were forced to rely on two of their stars and the return of their former star to defeat the Saints by a score of 26-13. Mahomes finished with 331 yards through the air, Kelce had a game-high nine catches for 70 yards, and Hunt ran 27 times for 102 yards and a touchdown.
“It was a great feeling to be back in the end zone. I missed it so much,” said Hunt, who returned to the Chiefs just two weeks ago, after starter Isiah Pacheco was injured. “That’s why I threw my heart out. To show my love for Kansas City.
There was a lot of love flowing inside Arrowhead Stadium.
Just as the Chiefs were taking a 5-0 lead behind another defensive gem, the Royals were beating the Yankees in Game 2 of the AL Division Series in New York. There were frequent chants of “Let’s go to the royal family!” Throughout the game and when The Royals finished with a 4-2 win To send the series back to Kansas City tied at one game, Roar tore through the Arrowhead.
“There was kind of a lull at the end of the game, and I said to myself, ‘They’re not showing the score.’ ‘The Yankees are back,’” said Mahomes, who owns part of the Royals. “But they got the win, and it was very exciting.”
The Chiefs held Saints quarterback Derek Carr to 185 yards with two touchdowns and an interception before leaving with an oblique injury. It happened with about 9 1/2 minutes left in the game, when Carr was hit by defensive back Shamarie Conner on fourth down while trying to rally New Orleans from a 23-13 deficit.
“I wasn’t able to do what I needed to do in the simplest form,” said Carr, who plans to have an MRI on Tuesday.
Saints’ Alvin Kamara had 26 yards rushing on 11 carries, becoming the latest high-profile running back to struggle against the Chiefs. They held the Ravens’ Derrick Henry to 46 yards, the Bengals’ Zack Moss to 34, Falcons star Bijan Robinson to 31 and JK Dobbins to 32 in last week’s win over the Chargers.
“We were outplayed,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said. “We couldn’t really accomplish much on both sides of the ball.”
Monday night’s first half featured a little bit of everything: Hunt’s first TD since returning to Kansas City, where his once promising career took place It was derailed by an off-field accident; A 43-yard touchdown pass from Carr to Rasheed Shahid, the shortest of the three Shahid caught this season; And another side of Kelce, which came on the most unusual journeys.
The Chiefs were leading 10-7 when a fumbled punt and a penalty left them facing second-and-34. They got some of it back with a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, then Mahomes hit Kelce up the middle. Kelce passed to Samaje Perine, who hit a 1-yard run for a first down, and Kansas City converted a fourth-and-short play to set up a final field goal.
It was exactly this – field goals – that kept New Orleans in the game. The Chiefs have struggled to score TDs in the red zone all season, and were forced to allow Harrison Butker to kick a trio of tough shots to take a 16-7 lead into the break.
The red zone problems continued in the third quarter. On second-and-goal, Smith-Schuster caught a pass that bounced off his hands at the goal line and into the arms of 324-pound former Chiefs defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, who made his first career interception.
The Saints immediately marched 65 yards with Foster Moreau’s TD catch that brought them within 16-13 with 14:16 to play.
But unlike every other Chiefs game, which was decided in the final minutes — if not the final — they answered the blow by landing one of their own. Smith-Schuster caught a 50-yard pass moments later, and Xavier Worthy turned the ball over on first-and-goal at the 3 for a touchdown that extended their cushion early in the fourth quarter.
After the Chiefs stopped the Saints on fourth down, they kicked another field goal with 3:03 left to put the game away.
“It’s great to have the band back together again,” said Smith-Schuster, who is also back with the Chiefs after two years in New England. “Man, I’m telling you, there’s no place like this. What we have here is special. It’s unreal.”
The return of Tay Tay
Taylor Swift is back at Arrowhead Stadium To see Kelce and the Chiefs after missing her boyfriend’s previous two road games. Her record-setting Eras Tour resumes Friday night with the first of three shows in Miami.
Injuries
Saints: Playmaker Will Harris injured his hamstring in the first half. C Lucas Patrick left briefly in the third quarter with a collarbone injury,
Chiefs: LT Wanya Morris left the first half with a lower leg injury but returned to the game.
the next
New Orleans hosts Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Kansas City has a week off before visiting San Francisco on Oct. 20.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
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