By David McDonnell
LA Chargers @ Kansas City Chiefs: Thursday Night Football Match Report
Patrick Mahommes won a superb quarterback duel against MVP rival Justin Herbert after a game full of quality between the AFC West divisional rivals at Arrowhead Stadium.
The visiting Chargers opened the scoring on the first drive through a Dustin Hopkins field goal. With Herbert missing his favourite target Keenan Allen through injury, it was Mike Williams who emphatically stepped up, catching all around him in the first half. He brought play up to the one yard line, catching a pass from his quarterback while being fouled and drawing yellow flags.
With the first play of the second quarter, the Chargers faked a run and off play-action Herbert found rookie seventh-round pick Zander Horvath for a touchdown.
Hopkins added the PAT for a 10-0 lead for the LA based franchise.
Kansas City responded instantly with a piece of magic from star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. After running through his progressions, he took off on a run to his right before athletically turning back and side-arming the ball to running-back Jerick McKinnon on a heads-up play.
New squad kicker Matt Amendola added the extra point to leave it 10-7 at the break.
Second Half
The Chargers came out of the gate in the third quarter and on the 11th play of the drive, Herbert threw into the endzone where Mike Williams, taking up where he left off, brought the ball under control with one hand before gathering as he fell to the turf for a touchdown.
It restored the Chargers 10-point lead.
Responding, Mahommes was lucky not to be intercepted when Asante Samuel failed to fully gather the ball under his control before the ball hit the ground.
It is not wise to give the former league MVP a second chance, and the Kansas City quarterback didn’t disappoint. On the next play, Mahomes dinked inside three onrushing defenders and whipped a pass from 40 yards to receiver Justin Watson to make the contest 17-14.
Tight-end then Travis Kelce tried to muscle his way into the endzone before he was unceremoniously picked up and slammed to the ground by Pro Bowler Derwin James. Mahomes was then nearly intercepted by Samuel before Head Coach Andy Reid decided to tie the game 17-17 with a kick on fourth down.
In the final quarter came the most significant play of the game, when seventh-round draft pick Jaylen Watson intercepted Herbert and ran a 99 yard interception return to give the Chiefs their first lead in the contest.
It was the second player called Watson to score a touchdown on the night. Good news stories involving the NFL and anyone called Watson have not been too familiar recently. Amendola stretched the lead to 10 points with a 32-yard field goal.
With the game winding down, Justin Herbert, playing through obvious pain, slung a dart down the field to DeAndre Carter to make it first and goal at the two-minute warning. On fourth down, the QB then showed poise to find Joshua Palmer at the back of the endzone.
With 1.11 on the clock and no timeouts, the Chargers had no option but to try for an onside kick, which they attempted in vain as the Chiefs ran out 24-27 victors om #TNF.
Expect this to be the first of three meetings this season, as these sides will meet later in the regular season as well as in January.
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