The Kansas City Chiefs continued their march toward the AFC's top seed on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the Houston Texans 27-19 at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs improved their record to a fantastic 14-1. Getting a quality win that didn't require last-minute heroics against another AFC playoff team is encouraging too. However, what should have the rest of the NFL really worried is that the Chiefs finally look like they have all the receiving weapons that Patrick Mahomes needs to be successful.
Mahomes finished the day 28 of 41 (68.3%) for 260 yards and 1 touchdown. He seemed confident and comfortable despite going against a Houston defense that ranked in the top ten in both points and yards allowed per game and was second in the NFL in quarterback sacks. The Chiefs clearly had a game plan of getting the ball out quickly and Mahomes quickly dismissed any worries about his ankle injury that was discussed at length this past week.
Patrick Mahomes was most efficient in the quick passing game in the @Chiefs' win over the Texans, finishing 17 of 19 for 155 yards and a TD on passes under 2.5 seconds.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 21, 2024
Mahomes averaged his fastest time to throw (2.50 seconds) in a game since Week 4, 2021.
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Not only was the passing game effective, Mahomes didn't take nearly the abuse he had in recent games. He was only sacked once and only took four additional quarterback hits. A big reason that the Chiefs were able to execute that plan is because Mahomes finally had a stable of receiving options that he could trust. He didn't have to force the ball to anyone, he could target the open option, and there was almost always one option that was open early enough to get the ball out quickly.
The Chiefs now have four serious pass catchers for teams to deal with.
The return of Marquise "Hollywood" Brown from the sternoclavicular injury he suffered in the first week of the preseason was the final piece of the puzzle, but the continued emergence of rookie Xavier Worthy is also a huge factor. When you combine two faster options like Brown and Worthy with two reliable possession-type targets like DeAndre Hopkins and Travis Kelce, the Chiefs now have four high-quality options for opposing defenses to plan around.
You can already look at the stat lines of those four players in their first game playing all together and see that Mahomes is happy to spread the ball around to the open option.
- Xavier Worthy: 7 receptions, 65 yards, 1 touchdown
- Hollywood Brown: 5 receptions, 45 yards
- DeAndre Hopkins: 4 receptions, 37 yards
- Travis Kelce: 5 receptions, 30 yards
So all four of KC's top targets had at least 4 receptions. Then you mix in 3 receptions for 50 yards for Samaje Perine and a handful of catches for Kareem Hunt, Noah Gray, and Isiah Pacheco and suddenly the Chiefs can put multiple targets on the field in different combinations in which Mahomes can feel confident.
It's been a long road to get to this point. Last season, the Chiefs basically had Travis Kelce and nothing more until Rashee Rice emerged in the season's second half. This season looked promising, but the early injury to Brown followed by the season-ending injury to Rice left K.C. looking even worse off than last year. The trade for DeAndre Hopkins before the trade deadline was the start of the rebuild that now seems to be nearing completion with the return of Brown and the improved play of Worthy.
You can make a strong argument that the pass-catching unit that the Chiefs have now is better than the units that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in either of the past two seasons. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Justin Watson are now 4th/5th wideouts and the players ahead of them are clear upgrades over guys like Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore, and Kadarius Toney who had to play regular snaps in previous playoff runs.
If the Chiefs can take care of business on Christmas Day against the Pittsburgh Steelers they will lock up the top seed in the AFC and will be able to rest their starters in the final week of the regular season AND will have a first-round bye. That will give Brown and Worthy more practice reps to continue to gel without defensive coordinators getting more game tape of what they are doing and will give veterans like Kelce and Hopkins valuable weeks off to rest their legs and get fresh for a Super Bowl run.
If the Chiefs can keep those four top options healthy they can go into the playoffs confident that Patrick Mahomes has the weapons that he needs to have success. If they can get adequate left tackle play from either Joe Thuney or D.J. Humphries and Steve Spagnuolo's defense continues to play like they have over the past four games (which lines up with the awakening of their pass rush) where they've only allowed 15 points per game and this is a team that could compete for a record-breaking third consecutive Super Bowl.