Patrick Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to two fourth-quarter field goals Monday, overcoming an uneven performance to help deliver a 20-17 home victory over the New York Giants.
Unable to connect on deep routes against the Giants’ two-deep safeties, Mahomes often settled for shorter options but proved inconsistent, passing for 275 yards while going 29-for-48 with one touchdown and one interception.
He eventually engineered a 55-yard march capped by a 34-yard Harrison Butker field goal with 1:07 remaining. The Giants (2-6) went nowhere on their final series, which included sacks by the Chiefs’ Chris Jones and Frank Clark.
The hard-fought win enabled Kansas City to balance its record at 4-4 after coming into the season as the favorite to capture a third consecutive AFC title. The Chiefs committed two turnovers to raise their league-leading total to 19, and they also committed 12 penalties.
An interception by Mahomes was wiped out on the game-winning drive by an offside call against the Giants, who then got flagged for a facemask on a 14-yard completion to Travis Kelce on the following play. A 24-yard touch pass to Mecole Hardman put the Chiefs in a goal-to-go situation. It was Kansas City’s longest play of the game.
Playing without several offensive threats, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones passed for 222 yards and two touchdowns, but New York lacked the firepower to pull off the upset.
New York, which committed 10 penalties, again played without two injured standouts, running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Kenny Golladay, and lost another prime target, Sterling Shepard, to a quad injury sustained in the second quarter.
After completing his first eight passes, Mahomes went 6 for 19 to close the first half, though Kansas City still led 14-10 at the break.
Willie Gay intercepted Jones’ first attempt and the Chiefs cashed in on that turnover with a 6-yard strike from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill, who finished with 12 catches for 94 yards. Kansas City’s Derrick Gore also scored on a 3-yard burst midway through the second for his first career touchdown, making it 14-7.
New York got a touchdown and a field goal off two first-half drives inside the Kansas City 5. Jones found Kyle Rudolph for a 1-yard TD in the first minute of the second quarter to forge a 7-7 tie, and Graham Gano’s 23-yard field goal late in the first half drew the visitors within 14-10.
–Field Level Media
