Kansas City Chiefs rely on defense to beat the New England Patriots

The Kansas City Chiefs have put away the New England Patriots by a final score of 26-10.

Despite a less-than-stellar performance from Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs relied on their defense and still had relatively little trouble putting away Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in Week 4.

Mahomes had 2 touchdown passes and 0 interceptions officially, but the Patriots dropped multiple opportunities and the refs even helped at a key point. More on that later.

The Chiefs had no problem moving the chains to start the game, but came up frustrated on multiple drives in the red zone. A couple overthrows from Mahomes stalled drives in the first, but Harrison Butker came on to kick two early field goals. After Juan Thornhill intercepted Hoyer, the Chiefs closed the first quarter with a 6-0 lead.

The Patriots responded early in the second quarter with a takeaway of their own, when Stephon Gilmore punched the ball out of Sammy Watkins‘ hands after a short catch. The Patriots then put together enough for a three-point drive that stalled after Rashad Fenton came up with one of multiple big deflections on the night.  The teams traded punts to close out a defensive first half.

The second half started just like the first as both teams traded punts to begin the third quarter. However, the Chiefs forced Brian Hoyer to fumble the ball and the Chiefs put together a 85-yard drive on 7 plays to score the first touchdown of the game—a six-yard end around to Tyreek Hill.

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1313284295574913024

The Patriots switched quarterbacks at this point, benching Hoyer for Jarrett Stidham. On a drive helped by a long 48-yard run by Damien Harris and an defensive pass interference call on Tyrann Mathieu, Stidham threw his first career touchdown on a nice end zone fade to N’Keal Harry. The Chiefs were up 13-10.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1313285243252531200

The Chiefs responded with another long drive, albeit one that was aided by two long penalties levied against the Patriots—one for pass interference and one for unnecessary roughness. After some nice runs by both Mahomes and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Mecole Hardman scored on a short pass from six yards out.

https://twitter.com/FootballPost/status/1313288665494441984

On the ensuing drive, the Chiefs defense finally put the game out of reach when Tyrann Mathieu caught a pass tipped off the hands of Pats wide receiver Julian Edelman. The Landlord took it to the house from there for a pick-six, which gave the Chiefs a 26-10 lead.

As the Patriots tried their best to get back into the game, Stidham had the Patriots picking up a few first downs before he tried to throw deep. It turned out to be the wrong move as Fenton picked off an underthrown ball for the team’s third interception.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1313291933578477568?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

From there, the Chiefs defense held on a final drive and watched the Patriots turn it over on downs. The Chiefs won by a final score of 26-10.

The Chiefs will remain in Kansas City for the week to host the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5 in an important divisional match. A win can put significant distance between the Chiefs and the entire AFC West. As for the Patriots, they host the Denver Broncos next Sunday afternoon.