KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Whilst the Kansas City Chiefs squeaked out wins the past few weeks, coach Andy Reid lamented each the state of their inexperienced defense and their inability to place away struggling teams.
They showed massive improvement in each areas against Seattle on Saturday.
That youthful defense shut down Geno Smith and the slumping Seahawks offense, Patrick Mahomes threw two TD passes before running for a clinching rating within the fourth quarter, and the Chiefs rolled to a 24-10 win that allowed them to maintain pace with Buffalo for one of the best record within the AFC.
“I discussed it the opposite way the last couple of weeks, that they should get well,” Reid said of his defense, which frequently has five or more rookies on the sphere at a time. “They’re making progress and I believed they did a pleasant job today.”
Indeed, the Chiefs stopped the Seahawks (7-8) twice on fourth down, picked off their Pro Bowl quarterback in the long run zone and dealt coach Pete Carroll’s team their fifth loss in six games together with a near-knockout blow to their playoff hopes.
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Travis Kelce had six catches for 113 yards, and Kadarius Toney and Jerick McKinnon had touchdown catches, because the AFC West champion Chiefs (12-3) remain tied with the Bills — who hold the tiebreaker — with two games to go.
“We’re on a mission here in Kansas City,” Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark said, “and the goal is to complete the season strong. The previous few weeks we have not been getting the job done so far as ending strong. Plenty of tight games.”
Kansas City has won 16 consecutive regular-season games against NFC opponents.
Kenneth Walker III was the most important brilliant spot for Seattle, running for 107 yards but failing to achieve the tip zone. However the Chiefs mostly kept DK Metcalf in check, and Seattle didn’t reach the tip zone until the closing minutes of the sport.
“We just couldn’t get going and couldn’t make first downs,” Carroll said. “We got nothing going in any respect.”
Very like the remaining of the country, the cold weather that flooded the Midwest produced some frigid temperatures — the wind chill was minus-2 at kickoff, and that was an improvement over the previous two days. Actually, it had been so cold the tarp was frozen to the sphere when employees tried to remove it three hours before kickoff.
That did not trouble a half-dozen Seahawks, including DK Metcalf and his fellow wide receivers, who walked out of the tunnel bare-chested shortly afterward for his or her pregame warmups on the ice-covered field.
Perhaps they weren’t cold, but Seattle’s offense was downright frigid.
Playing without wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who had surgery on his broken hand this week, Smith and Co. gained just 18 yards on their first 15 plays, and so they were forced to punt on their first five possessions.
The Chiefs took advantage of the slow start, too. Mahomes threw a pop pass to Toney to cap a 63-yard TD drive, then a pass to McKinnon out of the backfield a number of minutes later for one more rating. And by the point Harrison Butker drilled a 47-yard field goal late within the half, the Chiefs had jumped out to a 17-0 lead.
Even when Seattle got a field goal before halftime, much of the drive was aided by defensive penalties.
While the Chiefs struggled to increase their lead within the second half, the Seahawks proved incapable of trimming it.
They failed on fourth down on the Kansas City 34 when tight end Colby Parkinson was stood up after a catch; failed on fourth down again when Laquon Treadwell did not run his path to the first-down marker and got here up short; and did not rating on the Kansas City 22 when Smith overthrew Treadwell and was picked off by Juan Thornhill in the long run zone.
The Chiefs, who’ve been maligned for failing to place struggling teams away, finally did it on the following possession, when Mahomes hit Kelce with two long throws before sprinting to the pylon for the clinching touchdown.
“We just need to keep going. We’re on a roll,” Toney said. “We’ve a goal without delay and we’re just attempting to get to it.”
The Seahawks still haven’t won at Arrowhead Stadium since Nov. 21, 1999. … The Seahawks were certainly one of three teams Mahomes had yet to beat, together with Indianapolis and Minnesota. … Mahomes prolonged his consecutive completions streak to 21 in the beginning of the sport before missing his next throw. … McKinnon has six TDs in his past 4 games.
Seahawks: NT Al Woods (Achilles) and SS Ryan Neal (knee) were inactive. … FS Joey Blount (knee) and RB Travis Homer (ankle) left in the primary quarter, and RT Abraham Lucas (thigh) within the third. … WR Marquise Goodwin also left with a wrist injury, though he was in a position to return to the sport.
Seahawks: host the Recent York Jets next Sunday.
Chiefs: host the Denver Broncos next Sunday.
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