Week 3 game recap: Training camp darling propels Chiefs to first win of season
Kansas City defense clamps down while Mahomes, offense find rhythm after halftime.
Tyquan Thornton, an unsung contributor coming into the season, became quarterback Patrick Mahomes' go-to target to secure the team's first win of the season in Week 3.
The fourth-year veteran, and training camp hopeful, came up huge for the Kansas City Chiefs by way of hauling in a touchdown and putting them on the doorstep of another in their 22-9 win over the New York Giants.
“He's showing some things,” head coach Andy Reid told reporters. “He’s a guy that I know JuJu (Smith-Schuster) spoke highly of him when he was with the Patriots. I mentioned Bill Belichick gave him good compliments, and he’s come here and done nothing but work hard. It’s nice to see him get an opportunity.”
The Chiefs were caught in a 9-6 rock-fight heading into halftime against a fellow 0-2 squad, the Giants.
The Chiefs' defense was dominant, but the offense was a slog and in need of juice with them set to receive the ball coming out of the half.
“We talked at halftime. More than anything, guys, we wanted to execute,” Mahomes told reporters. “At the end of the day, it’s all about execution in this league, and you make one mistake, you can really hurt your drive. Defenses are good. They do a good job capitalizing on that.”
Hollywood Brown got them going with a 17-yard deep catch from Mahomes. Tight end Travis Kelce added another chunk of 13 yards, with several strong carries from Isiah Pacheco mixed in between.
On a third and three from the New York five, Mahomes threaded a needle to the back of the endzone to hit Thornton for his second touchdown of the 2025 season to give Kansas City a 16-6 lead. Mahomes told reporters after the game that Thornton was his third read on the play.
“Tyquan, in a one-on-one situation there in the backside, did a good job getting open and being in the right spot. When I turned to get that third progression, he’s in my view and I made the throw,” Mahomes said.
That already tied a career high for him and it gave the Chiefs their first double-digit lead of the season, just under seven minutes into the second half.
After three rough years in New England, not too dissimilar to wide receiver Skyy Moore’s time in Kansas City, Thornton’s 71 yards and five catches were career-highs in both categories.
“It means a lot because when I first got here, coming from New England, seeing these guys practice, they practice at a high level and so efficient in how they do the little things, the little details, making routine plays,” Thornton told reporters. “And I was a guy coming in, just trying to be a part of that and just making those plays as well.”
After gaining one first down on the following drive, the Chiefs were forced to punt. New York responded with a field goal to pull within seven, but Thornton took over the game at that point.
On the drive’s initial third down, Mahomes hit Thornton deep down the left hash marks for a gain of 21.
Just five plays later, the duo found a connection again, this time for 33 yards, to give running back Kareem Hunt the opportunity to punch it in from the one on the following play.
You can consider Mahomes impressed.
“He was one of the guys down there working with me in Texas,” Mahomes told reporters. “I knew he was going to be a good football player, but he’s even exceeding my expectations. He’s stepping up whenever the opportunity has been provided for him.”
Kicker Harrison Butker missed the extra point after an unsportsmanlike conduct by Hunt, to give the Chiefs a 22-9 lead, which was ultimately the final score.
With six minutes to go, the game was sealed at that point, with neither team exchanging any more blows.
The defense stalwarted Russell Wilson and the Giants' offense all evening, but it was a tale of two halves for the Chiefs' offense.
“We just executed better,” Mahomes said. “I think the first few drives we drove the ball down the field really well. We just had mistakes, penalties and alignment stuff, stuff that we’ll have to clean up for sure. But I felt we were moving the ball the right way. Kind of struggled there at the end of the second quarter, but we were able to get points at the end.
But it was just finishing the drives. I think it’s something that’s important in this league is getting touchdowns, not field goals. And when we score touchdowns, it looks a lot better than kicking long field goals.”
It was not as if the Chiefs were not moving the ball in the first half; it was that their drive-finishing woes continued. Four of their first five half drives ended in a field goal attempt, and the other, a punt.
A mix of things, such as an illegal formation penalty on right tackle Jawaan Taylor and some uncharacteristic sloppy play by Mahomes, led to those field goals and punts in the first half.
Mahomes actually saved points when the Giants recovered a fumble deep in Chiefs territory after Mahomes threw a lateral pass that hit the ground. He chased down linebacker Bobby Okereke and stole the ball out of his hands. That likely would have given New York the lead going into the half.
“That was big,” Reid told reporters. “That’s how he rolls. He’s 100 miles an hour. You’ve seen it in the last couple of weeks what he’s done, when he’s carried the ball.”
Mahomes and the offense wound up with a productive day at the office, though still not looking championship caliber. The all-star quarterback completed 22 of his 37 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown.
He did not have to use his legs nearly as much this week, only gaining two yards on the ground after some victory formation plays.
JuJu Smith-Schuster was Mahomes’ most productive after Thornton. The nine-year veteran brought in all four of his targets, which was good for 55 yards.
Brown finished with 42 yards receiving on four catches, with Kelce also tallying four, for 26 yards.
The Chiefs did not live up to the 177 rushing yards allowed per game that the Giants owned coming into the matchup, but Reid did commit to both Pacheco and Hunt.
They each received 10 carries, with Pacheco gaining 45, while Hunt finished with 34 and a touchdown. Rookie Brashard Smith also added two carries for 13 yards.
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There was virtually nothing to complain about when it came to the defense. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s unit put a cap on the Giants' offense all evening, took the ball away and pressured Russell Wilson some.
The Chiefs did not have any turnovers coming into the season, but good ball skills and Wilson’s desire to throw the deep ball put a change to that.
Safety Chris Roland-Wallace brought in the first of two interceptions when Wilson was looking for Wan’Dale Robinson down the middle of the field.
Cornerback Jaylen Watson came up with a second pick in the endzone, where he ended up in a better position to come up with the ball than the intended receiver, Malik Nabers.
Unfortunately, Butker missed a chip-shot field goal after Roland-Wallace’s turnover, but the Watson one led to Kansas City turning in a three-point lead heading into the half. Butker had a rough outing, missing a field goal and a point-after attempt.
The defense as a whole limited Wilson to 160 yards passing, zero touchdowns and two interceptions, with many of those yards coming in garbage time at the end of the game.
The most impressive performance was cornerbacks Watson, Trent McDuffie and Nohl Williams holding Malik Nabers to 2 catches for 13 yards. This came on the heels of Wilson tossing a 450-yard, three-touchdown game where Nabers caught 167 yards and two touchdowns against the Cowboys in Week 2.
“Those interceptions, turnovers were a beautiful thing,” Reid told reporters. “And then they’ve got good receivers. Number one, Malik (Nabers), is as good as there is in this league. For us to be able to put the clamps on them a little bit, that’s not an easy chore. He’s a heck of a football player.”
They were especially tight on third downs, only allowing one successful attempt out of 10. They were just as stout on fourth down, where the Giants only succeeded on one of four opportunities.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones notched his first sack of the season. He finished the game with two quarterback hits. Defensive end George Karlaftis also took down Wilson and registered four hits on him.
The defense did allow rookie Cam Skattebo to rack up 60 yards on just 10 carries, but overall, it only allowed 281 yards and zero touchdowns on the night.
“They've (the defense) been playing great these past two weeks, playing winning football,” Mahomes told reporters. “For us, we have to clean stuff up and get better and better. But they’re playing good, they’re playing tight coverage, they’re rushing, they’re blitzing. They’re doing all type of different stuff that you’re supposed to do as a winning defense.
For us, if they can continue to do that and we can do clean stuff up, we’ll win a lot of games.”
INJURIES
Safety Bryan Cook exited the game with a neck injury, but returned later on.
UP NEXT
The quest to get back to .500 football will not be easy. Next on Kansas City’s schedule is a home matchup against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4 at 3:25 p.m. CST.
