For Kansas City Chiefs fans wondering just how effective the additions that general manager Brett Veach were going to be for the team, you need to look no further than the final results of the team's Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In a game in which the visiting Bucs put up a tremendous fight on a rainy night leaning on scrappy role players, the Chiefs still managed to maintain their unblemished record by leaning heavily on recent imports when it mattered most.
Running back Kareem Hunt, a former Chiefs draft pick who was signed after Isiah Pacheco's injury in Week 2, and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who arrived in K.C. via trade less than two weeks ago carried the Chiefs offense and ultimately put away the Bucs by a final score of 30-24.
The Chiefs relied on some late-game heroics from steady veterans in order to win their eighth game of the season.
For much of the game, the Bucs held the lead as the Chiefs managed to shoot themselves in the foot on more than one occasion. A long gain by Xavier Worthy was ruled an incomplete pass when the rookie failed in his footwork to secure the ball in-bounds. A couple of drives later, Travis Kelce coughed up the football on a forced fumble by nickel corner Tykee Smith.
Still, the Chiefs maintained pace with the Bucs, who were playing without their two best pass catchers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, and eventually tied the game early in the fourth quarter on a short touchdown pass from Mahomes to Samaje Perine.
The Chiefs finally took the lead with only 4:17 to go after DeAndre Hopkins caught his second touchdown pass of the day on a short strike from Mahomes. Hopkins ended his day with 8 catches for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Mayfield and company were able to tie the game after receiving the ball with 2:16 left to play in the fourth quarter after taking a chance on their previous drive. With less than 3 minutes to play, Todd Bowles elected to punt the ball back to the Chiefs in hopes of making quick work of them on defense so as to get the ball back with plenty of time remaining and that's exactly what happened.
From that point, Mayfield directed a surprising 10-play, 70-yard drive filled with heroics from Sterling Shepard that ended with a game-tying touchdown catch by Ryan Miller for one yard. Bowles elected to go for the tie instead of the win by kicking the extra point, which gave the Chiefs the ball back with 30 seconds left and all of their timeouts but a couple of incomplete passes ruined the final drive for the Chiefs.
In overtime, the Chiefs won the toss and went to work on offense, and core offensive players like Hunt and Travis Kelce, who led all receivers with 100 yards, came to life for one final drive to put things away. After a long, grueling game that featured more drama, the Chiefs finally put the Bucs away with a touchdown run of two yards by Hunt to seal the game.
The Chiefs now turn their attention to the second half of their schedule and a visit from the Denver Broncos next Sunday at 12:00 p.m. C.T.. As for the Bucs, they'll host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at the same time.