What presented itself as a golden opportunity to regain confidence after a first defeat this season almost turned into a real nightmare for the Kansas City Chiefs.
After struggling to dominate the poor Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon, the Chiefs found just enough energy to escape with a 30-27 victory.
Kansas City allowed 11 straight points to allow the Panthers to tie the game 27-27 in the fourth quarter, but true to form, Patrick Mahomes led an important offensive sequence late in the game. He first completed two short passes, before making a 33-yard run to put his team in position to score points.
Spencer Shrader then made a 31-yard field goal on the last play of the game to save the Chiefs from the worst scenario.
Mahomes had an excellent game with 27 completions for 269 yards, in addition to throwing three touchdown passes. Noah Gray was his favorite target, as the tight end scored two touchdowns and rushed for 66 yards. DeAndre Hopkins caught Mahomes’ other pass for the middle finger.
This victory for the Chiefs allows them to bring their record to 10 wins against a loss, after a 30-21 defeat against the Buffalo Bills last week.
Mahomes started his match with a bang. After a little over a minute of play, he spotted Gray alone and the latter ran 35 yards further for the touchdown.
After trading a few field goals with the Panthers, the Chiefs came back to attack once again thanks to the excellence of Mahomes and Gray. This time, in the second quarter, Mahomes found Gray in the end zone for 11 yards and the tight end was able to keep the ball despite the contact.
Panthers receiver David Moore and Chiefs receiver DeAndre Hopkins then scored touchdowns in the third quarter to make it 27-16.
However, everything got complicated for Kansas City in the last quarter. Eddy Pineiro first closed the gap with a 33-yard field goal, then Chubba Hubbard tied the game with less than two minutes to play, thanks to a touchdown on a one-yard run as well as a conversion of two points successful.
Mahomes, however, led the Chiefs to success to end the Panthers’ hopes.
The Chiefs will return to action Friday against the Las Vegas Raiders, while the Panthers face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
The Cowboys surprise the Commanders
Two punt returns for touchdowns helped the Dallas Cowboys create a major surprise and defeat the Washington Commanders by a score of 34-26.
KaVontae Turpin and Juanyeh Thomas added some spice to a wild end to the fourth quarter by returning punts for distances of 99 and 43 yards, respectively.
This victory allows the Cowboys to end a streak of five losses, in addition to inflicting a third defeat in a row on the Commanders.
Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush completed 24 passes for 247 yards in addition to completing touchdown passes to Jalen Tolbert and Luke Schoonmaker. Rico Dowdle had a good game on the ground with 86 yards.
Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels did well with 275 yards of aerial gains and 74 yards on the ground. He threw two touchdown passes, to Zach Ertz and Terry McLaurin, in addition to scoring a rushing touchdown.
The first three quarters of the game were played without brilliance, so much so that the score was only 10-9 in favor of the Cowboys. Daniels crossed the end zone for 17 yards, before seeing Austin Seibert miss the point conversion.
Tolbert’s six-yard touchdown run then put Dallas in control with a one-point lead.
Everything then came to a head when the Cowboys took a two possession lead, thanks to a Brandon Aubrey field goal and a Schoonmaker touchdown.
Daniels, however, gave his team hope, first completing a four-yard touchdown pass to Ertz, which was followed by a successful two-point conversion.
The rookie quarterback’s efforts were quickly forgotten as Turpin returned the ball 99 yards to give Dallas a 27-17 lead.
The Commanders then brought the score back to 27-20, then Daniels went there with another burst of brilliance. On the first play of an offensive sequence with 21 seconds left, Daniels spotted McLaurin and the latter scored the touchdown to make it 27-26.
Seibert, however, missed a second conversion, thus preventing the Commanders from tying the score.
Washington’s short punt attempt was then returned 43 yards by Thomas and the Cowboys cruised away with the victory.
Mayfield and the Bucs crush the Giants
Baker Mayfield ran 10 yards for one of the Buccaneers’ four rushing touchdowns and Tampa Bay easily beat the New York Giants 30-7.
The Bucs ended a four-game losing streak, while the Giants lost a sixth straight game.
Mayfield had 294 air yards. He connected with Mike Evans five times, for 68 yards. The latter had missed three games due to a back thigh injury.
Tommy DeVito was New York’s starting quarterback, after the club moved on from the Daniel Jones era. He had 189 passing yards.
Other touchdown runs for the Buccaneers (5-6) came from Sean Tucker (one yard), Bucky Irving (six yards) and Rachaad White (one yard).
The visitors put points on the board in five of their first six climbs.
Mayfield shrugged off tackles from Cor’Dale Flott and Dru Phillips at the 2-yard line to make it 23-0 with 12 seconds left in the second half.
The Giants (2-9) had just three first downs and 45 yards in the first half. Their home record is 0-6.
Tagovailoa inspire the Dolphins
Tua Tagovailoa had 317 air yards including four touchdown passes on Sunday, leading the Miami Dolphins to a 34-15 victory over the New England Patriots.
De’Von Achane caught two touchdown passes for Miami (5-6), which signed its third victory in a row.
Tagovailoa is 7-0 against the Patriots.
Jaylen Waddle had eight receptions for 144 yards, a season high.
His 23-yard catch for a touchdown gave his team a 30-0 lead late in the third quarter. Jonnu Smith caught nine balls for 87 yards including a seven-yard catch for a touchdown early in the second quarter.
The Dolphins will play again on Thursday evening in Green Bay.
For the Pats (3-9), Drake Maye provided 221 passing yards. His best drive lasted 12 plays but ended with a missed field goal attempt by Joey Slye from 45 yards.
