It wasn’t the prettiest win.
But it was a win nonetheless as the Kansas City Chiefs secured a 26-13 victory over the New Orleans Saints Monday night. With the win, the Chiefs improved to 5-0 and joined the Minnesota Vikings as the only other undefeated NFL team through the first five weeks of the season.
The Chiefs controlled the game and were the better team by far on both sides of the ball. But struggles in the red zone allowed the Saints to stay close until late in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs scored a single touchdown alongside three field goals and a goal-line interception in their first five trips to the red zone. But they broke through for their second touchdown late in the game on a 3-yard run from Xavier Worthy to ice the win.
The Saints leave the game with a loss and concerns about quarterback Derek Carr, who left for the locker room in the fourth quarter with an oblique injury. Details of his condition weren’t immediately clear. The loss drops New Orleans to 2-3 following a 2-0 start.
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The Saints turn the ball over on downs, and the Chiefs can run out the clock. This one’s done. The Chiefs dominate both sides of the ball and overcome struggles in the red zone to improve to 5-0 with a 26-13 win.
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The Chiefs just milked 6:29 off the game clock and kicked a field goal to extend their lead to 26-13. This one’s all but over with 3:03 remaining in regulation. Jake Haener is in at quarterback for New Orleans for an injured Derek Carr.
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Derek Carr heads to locker room
Derek Carr just walked to the locker room after a trip to the sideline medical tent. ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported that the Saints are calling it an oblique injury. He’s officially questionable, but seems unlikely to return late in the fourth quarter of a two-possession game.
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The Saints just went for it on fourth-and-8 at their own 41. Derek Carr threw a perfect deep ball to Mason Tipton, but Tipton couldn’t haul it in. The Chiefs take over on downs, leading 23-13 with 9:32 remaining.
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Chiefs respond with 2nd TD in 6 trips to the red zone
They didn’t come up short this time. The Chiefs are back in the end zone on a 3-yard run by Xavier Worthy after a direct snap to Travis Kelce. A 50-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to JuJu Smith-Schuster set the score up. The Chiefs extend their lead to 23-13 and may have averted disaster.
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The Chiefs are back in the red zone on a 50-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to JuJu Smith-Schuster. Will they find the end zone this time?
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This game shouldn’t be close. But five trips to the red zone have yielded just one touchdown for the Chiefs. They’ve otherwise settled for three field goals and turned the ball over at the goal line on the Khalen Saunders interception.
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Saints capitalize on Saunders interception
The Saints have converted Khalen Saunders’ goal-line interception into a touchdown and made this a ball game. New Orleans marches 65 yards on eight plays and caps the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr to tight end Foster Moreau.
Blake Grupe’s extra point misses the mark, but the Saints have cut their deficit to 16-13 with 14:13 remaining.
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Khalen Saunders with the big-man pick
Saints come up with a huge turnover at the goal line. Patrick Mahomes looked to JuJu Smith-Schuster on third-and-goal from the 2, but Smith-Schuster juggled the ball and left it up in the air.
Khalen Saunders was there to grab it. The Saints defensive tackle snagged the ball from mid-air and rumbled from the end zone to the New Orleans 35-yard line.
What a play. New Orleans is somehow still in this thing. Chiefs lead, 16-7 late in the third quarter.
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A huge penalty puts the Chiefs in the red zone. Patrick Mahomes looked deep to Xavier Worthy from the Kansas City 39-yard line. Paulson Adebo ran Worthy over before the ball arrived. Adebo flagged for a 46-yard pass interference penalty.
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The Chiefs swarm Derek Carr on third-and-12 and sack him for an eight-yard loss. The Saints punt after failing to capitalize on good field position. Chiefs lead, 16-7 midway through the third quarter.
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The Chiefs come up empty on their first drive of the second half. A deep ball to Xavier Worthy falls incomplete on third down, and Harrison Butker misses a 51-yard field goal attempt. The Saints take over near midfield.
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The second half is underway. The Chiefs receive the second-half kickoff holding a 16-7 lead.
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Notable halftime stats
Patrick Mahomes is cooking. He’s completed 19 of 27 passes for 216 yards in one half of football. But he’s failed to find the end zone.
-Kareem Hunt has 12 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown
-Travis Kelce has eight catches for 67 yards
-JuJu Smith-Schuster has five catches for 67 yards
-No other Chiefs player has more than one catchDerek Carr is 9 of 14 for 84 yards with one touchdown and one interception. More than half of his yardage came from a 43-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed
-Alvin Kamara has 6 carries for 18 yards
-Shaheed has two catches for 58 yards and a touchdown-Chiefs first downs: 15
-Saints first downs: 5
-Chiefs total yards: 277
-Saints total yards: 112
-Chiefs yards per play: 6.3
-Saints yards per play: 5.1
-Chiefs time of possession: 19:31
-Saints time of possession: 10:31 -
The Chiefs are controlling the ball and the game, more so than their 16-7 halftime lead suggests. But they’ve allowed a big-play touchdown and come up short of the end zone on three of their four trips to the red zone, allowing the Saints to remain within striking distance.
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The Chiefs come up short once again in the red zone and settle for another Harrison Butker field goal attempt. Butker connects from 28 yards to extend the Kansas City lead to 16-7. That should be it for the first half. Six seconds remain on the clock.
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The Saints burn 22 seconds before punting back to the Chiefs after a 3-and-out. The Chiefs have a chance to tack on another score before halftime. Kansas City leads, 13-7 with 58 seconds remaining in the half.
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A sack of Patrick Mahomes puts the Chiefs in third-and-14 and ultimately forces Kansas City to settle for a field goal. Harrison Butker coverts from 34 yards, and the Chiefs extend their lead to 13-7 with 1:32 remaining before halftime.
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And now the Chiefs have a first down. They ended up in second-and-34 after a holding penalty. On third-and-22, Travis Kelce caught a pass from Patrick Mahomes on a crossing route, then lateraled the ball to Samaje Perine.
Perine then carried the ball two yards short of the sticks. The Chiefs went four it on fourth-and-2 and converted. What a play.
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Alontae Taylor just blew up a Chiefs play in the backfield and potentially short-circuited a Kansas City drive that had moved into Saints territory. Put Kansas City in second-and-24. Chiefs running back Carson Steele lost the ball a week after a fumble landed him on the bench. Xaiver Worthy recovered for the Chiefs.
