Chiefs handle Texans, advance to AFC Championship Game
The Kansas City Chiefs (15-2) advance to the AFCCG after defeating the Houston Texans (10-7) on the heels of monstrous performances from the front-seven and Travis Kelce.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been at the helm for seven years and Patrick Mahomes is moving on to advance to his seventh AFC Championship Game. Although the Kansas City Chiefs were outgained by 124 yards, they leaned on their experience, grit, a dominant pass rush and the Kelce-Mahomes connection to earn a 23-14 victory over the Houston Texans. In frigid weather, the home-field advantage after earning the AFC’s number-one seed paid off for Kansas City.
“I feel like that's an advantage at Arrowhead is having the elements,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “Having the cold, I've always said I want to be the best thrower of the football out there. I mean, I thought (Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud) played good though so, I mean, he was spinning it as well but that's why Arrowhead is special is that you get the wind, you get the cold, and you get the freezing temps and then you just try to go out there and execute at a high level and I feel like it's an advantage for us. So, we'll try to carry that on into this next game.”
While the Chiefs were outgained significantly, the truth is they played most of the game with the lead and you cannot fail to mention they had 131 kick return yards also. Special teams wound up being the x-factor in this one as Nikko Remigio took the playoffs by storm from the get-go with a 63-yard return. Kansas City went three-and-out following the return, but it helped them open with a 3-0 lead after one minute into the game.
The two teams then exchanged field goals before the Chiefs put together a solid drive late in the first half. It was on this drive that tight end Travis Kelce began to take over the game. On the second play of the drive, Kelce turned back the clock, gaining a ton of yards after the catch, and marching his way down to the Texans' six-yard line. Just a couple plays later running back Kareem Hunt barreled his way into the endzone to give the Chiefs a 13-3 lead with just under five minutes to go in the half.
“I mean, people say it. It's real,” Mahomes said speaking of Travis Kelce. “It's big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games and that's just how simple it is and he's one of those guys. He doesn’t let the moment be bigger than what it is he just goes out there and executes at a high level just like he does in a regular season. He just does that a little bit higher intensity.”
Remarkably, other than some kneel-downs to end the first half, Kansas City did not get the ball back until just under four minutes left in the third quarter. Houston ended the first half with a four-minute, 20-second drive that resulted in a field goal. They then went on a 15-play drive that nearly lasted 10 and a half minutes with running back Joe Mixon finishing it off in the endzone to open the second half. With that rush, Houston seemingly had all of the momentum on their side until kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn missed the extra point to keep them trailing 13-12, who left seven points on the board after missing two other field goals as well, including one that was blocked by Leo Chenal. The Kansas City defense never allowed another point moving forward.
Once again, enter the Mahomes-Kelce magic. From that point forward, Kansas City took over the game, going on a seven-minute, 44-second drive that ended with Kelce hauling in his 20th career playoff touchdown and on Mahomes end, it might have been the most impressive of all 42 of his playoff touchdown passes. On third and goal from the Houston 11, Mahomes was dead in the water, getting taken down, not able to release the ball until his knees were mere inches away from the ground.
Under a ton of pressure from the Texans' vaunted defensive line all day, Mahomes was only able to muster 16 completions on 25 attempts for 177 yards and a touchdown after taking three sacks and getting hit eight times. It was this touchdown though that was his most accurate after he found Kelce standing alone, hitting him right in the chest after being milli-seconds away from taking his fourth sack of the day to put the Chiefs up by eight with just over 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
“That touchdown was unbelievable,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I mean the touchdown throw to (Kelce) was incredible. For him to be able to get himself in position, just his body in position to make that throw, I thought was great … I always tell our coaches don't get used to that. I mean, that this is unreal. I tell the fans the same thing. We're very lucky to have him here and the stuff he's doing just doesn't happen. That's why he's the greatest at doing what he's done in a relatively young career here.”
The two reasons why the Chiefs were able to easily win a ball game where the other team thoroughly outplayed them in the box score was Kelce and a defensive line that proved to be even better than Houston’s, who came in as one of the league's best. The front four had C.J. Stroud running for his life all night and getting banged up in the process.
After the Chiefs extended their lead, it was George Karlaftis who turned them over on downs with a fourth down sack. Karlaftis had a career day, posting three sacks, while the unit as a whole had a career night, posting eight. Chris Jones got one on a quick win, Chamarri Conner got one on a corner blitz, Charles Omenihu displayed his signature strip sack that Houston recovered, Tershawn Wharton got in on the fun and former first-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah registered his first career playoff sack. Stroud absorbed 14 hits throughout the game, which is something they will need to keep going against Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson.
“(Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s) got a tremendous scheme and it's complicated so they had to deal with that,” Reid said. “The other part is that the players playing the way they are. I mean Brett's done a nice job of bringing guys in on both sides of the ball for us. I mean, we were this close on the offensive side and the defense probably could have had a couple more even so, where he escaped out of the pocket, but the plan was right for who we were facing, and I thought Spags really did a nice job with that.”
After the two teams exchanged a couple of punts following the Karlaftis sack, Hunt pounded the rock for a couple of runs over 10 yards to put Kansas City in field goal range. Butker nailed his third field goal of the game to give the Chiefs a 23-12 lead with just over four minutes to go. On their final drive, punter Matt Araiza actually ran out of the back of the endzone on purpose to give Houston a safety to milk as much time off the clock as possible, giving Houston the ball back with 11 seconds left, down nine.
“I'm proud of them for what they've done,” Reid said. “This isn't an easy thing. That's a good football team. (Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans) has done a phenomenal job with that team. I had him as a player, now I get to see him as a coach and he's doing great things. You know as a coach I have a ton of respect for him and what he's done but that's a good football team, phenomenal defense that they've got. So, I'm proud of our guys for how they handled it and we knocked a little of the rust off, everybody stayed positive and with each other and that whole bit. Here we sit with a championship game. I mean, we're humbled to be in that position and fortunate, you know we appreciate that we're right here at Arrowhead.”
While the defense did allow a lot more yards than their own offense gained, it was more about the game script than anything else. The Texans ran 15 more plays and had seven more minutes of possession due to Kansas City’s fairly quick scoring drives. Penalties also killed Houston, who had double the amount and nearly triple the penalty yardage.
Trent McDuffie had a stellar performance with three pass breakups and three solo tackles. Corners Jaylen Watson, who returned for the first time since week seven, Conner and Nazeeh Johnson took nearly all of the rest of the snaps and as a group, they held star wide receiver Nico Collins to five catches for 81 yards. Kansas City continued to struggle a bit against tight ends after Dalton Schultz ended with four catches for 63 and wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson had success in the middle of the field with four catches for 52 yards. The most important stat though is the Texans were one of three in the red zone, holding Stroud to zero touchdowns.
Offensively, enough cannot be said about Kelce, so much so that DeAndre Hopkins and Hollywood Brown did not record a catch on three targets combined between the two. Especially in the first half, Mahomes was under duress often, and it was Kelce who he always found that was wiggling free. Kelce finished his night with seven catches, 117 yards and a touchdown.
Kelce and Jerry Rice are now the only two players in NFL history who have 2,000 playoff receiving yards and 20 touchdowns in the postseason. Kelce passed Rice with the most 100-yard playoff games, racking up his ninth after yesterday's game. With this win, Mahomes tied Joe Montana, now having 16 wins in the playoffs, only trailing Tom Brady. As far as other accolades, Andy Reid earned his 300th win of his career, only trailing Don Shula, Bill Belichick and George Halas. The win also puts Mahomes at 7-0 in the divisional round. The eight-year quarterback has never seen anything less than an AFC Championship Game when serving as the starter.
“It's been a special run, just with everybody here in Kansas City from the organization to the community, from the team and from my family,” Mahomes said. “We just try to cherish that. I still remember moments from the World Series my dad played when I was 5 years old so, these are moments that I'll have with my family for the rest of my life. It's a growing family. Hopefully, we're done growing for a little while but it's cool I'm able to play in these big games and the Kansas City community has brought me in to be a part of their family.”
Reid did dial up some offense for Xavier Worthy, who was their second-leading receiver tallying five catches for 45 yards. He was their only receiver who recorded a stat on the afternoon, with the other two pass catchers being Noah Gray and Hunt. Only having four targets coming down with a catch seems like something that would need to change against the Buffalo Bills or Baltimore Ravens, but the good news is that Kelce appears to be engaged in playoff mode.
The Chiefs struggled to run the ball most of the day with Mahomes being the team's leading rusher well into the second half. They ran when they needed it most though and Hunt wound up averaging 5.5 yards per carry on his eight rushes for 44 yards and a touchdown. Isiah Pacheco ran the ball five times for 18 yards.
The Chiefs will either take on the Buffalo Bills or the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday at 5:30 CDT in the AFC Championship Game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The winner will march on to Super Bowl LIX to face the winner of the Commanders versus either the Philadelphia Eagles or Los Angeles Rams. For the Chiefs, January 26th will be step two of three to making history, doing something no one has ever done before, going back-to-back-to-back.