The Kansas City Chiefs stay undefeated as they beat the Houston Texans to advance to 5-0. Here are the winners and losers from Sunday Night Football.
The victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday was maybe the most impressive win of the season for the Kansas City Chiefs. Every facet of the game contributed and the Chiefs dominated this game from start to finish. Here are the winners and losers from an impressive showing in primetime for K.C.
Winners
Alex Smith
Alex Smith played maybe his best game as a Kansas City Chief on Sunday night. He passed for 324 yards on 29 of 37 attempts for a completion percentage of 78 percent. He threw three touchdowns and had a quarterback rating of 130.2. What stood out for Smith this week though was his third down performance. He went 9/12 for 137 yards and one touchdown on third down. This included multiple third and long conversions that normally turn into draw plays for the Chifes. Andy Reid is trusting Smith to make the plays, and Smith is proving him right.
These type of high risk throws are things Chiefs fans have been clamoring over for four years. We may never know if it was Andy Reid not calling the right plays or Smith not willing to take the risk, but whatever the issue was, it has been fixed. Through five games, the Chiefs are not only going downfield more, but they are taking greater risk to keep drives going. Smith went over 300 yards for the second time in a year for the first time in his career. For anyone saying drafting Patrick Mahomes was a mistake because it doesn’t help the Chiefs in 2017 hasn’t watched this new version of Smith perform.
Harrison Butker
For the second week in a row, a big winner is the rookie kicker Harrison Butker. He was five for five on field goals including a 49 yarder that was a no doubter. He also went three for three on extra points and none of his eight total kicks were ever in doubt. The kid walks onto the field with the confidence of a 10 year veteran. The unsung kicker stat is he kicked off 10 times and all 10 went into the end zone. Eight of those were touchbacks while only two were returned for a total of 26 yards. Butker has walked in and, after two weeks, has become a folk hero in K.C.