The Kansas City Chiefs went to the locker room Monday night and faced a big holeshot against the Las Vegas Raiders.
One phone call in particular lit a fire among them.
It was a dodgy penalty for Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones for roughing up Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, and no one in the Kansas City locker room could believe it. But instead of simmering about it or bemoaning their 10-point deficit, Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs used it as motivation to charge from behind in the 30-29 win.
“There was anger just about how we had played up to that point,” said Mahomes, who threw four touchdown passes to tight end Travis Kelce. “We needed everybody to go out there and take the fight to them.”
The Raiders still had a chance when Davante Adams, who earlier had hauled in a 58-yard touchdown catch, added a 48-yarder with 4:29 to go. It came after Kelce’s final touchdown catch, when Kansas City failed on a 2-point try that left the score 30-23. But rather than kick a tying extra point, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels also went for 2.
Josh Jacobs, who had destroyed the Chiefs defense all night, was crammed into the goal line.
The Raiders got the ball back one last time with 2:29 left, and a long third pass to Adams along the Kansas City sidelines seemed to put them within range of the field goal. But the game was revised and Adams failed to get both feet within the limits, and Carr threw incomplete fourth and 1 with 47 seconds left before the Chiefs ran out of time.
“We didn’t fall apart on each other,” Chiefs safety Justin Reid said. “We battled through adversity.”
Carr finished passing for 241 yards and Jacobs rushed for 133 yards and scored as the Raiders lost to the Chiefs (4-1) for the fourth straight season. Daniel Carlson was 3-3 on field goals and extended his streak to 38 in a row.
What he wouldn’t have given for a chance at number 39.
“We had a chance,” Daniels said. “We just didn’t make one or two plays there at the end to finish it.”
The game of twists and turns began with the Raiders failing to score on their opening drive for the first time all season.
They made up for it on the next one.
McDaniels, standing eight inches in his own territory, returned his attack to the field. But instead of running down the center or sneaking in with Carr, Jacobs broadcast it to Adams, who passed Rashad Fenton for the 58-yard catch.
Adams and the Raiders continued to attack Fenton later in the half when pass interference brought Las Vegas deep into Chiefs territory. Adams took another penalty on Jaylen Watson in the end zone, setting up Jacob’s brief TD drop.
It was 17-0 when Kelce finally reached the end zone for the Chiefs, but it looked like the momentum had turned when Jones Carr pulled out from behind and landed him. But even though the ball came out clear and the Pro Bowl defender got away with it, referee Carl Cheffers threw a penalty flag and called out Jones for brutally hitting the passer.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid rushed from the sideline to chat. And after the teams traded field goals in the final minutes and the Raiders led 20-10, Reid cornered Cheffers and hit him again as the teams headed for the locker room.
“I got it off my chest,” Reid said. “I said what I needed to say.”
The questionable penalty came a day after another dubious rude call from referee Jerome Boger about Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett against Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady sealed the Buccaneers’ victory over the Falcons.
Cheffers told a pool reporter that Carr “receives full protection in all aspects of what we give the quarterback in a passing position. So when he was tackled, I decided that the defenseman had put all the weight of his body on him.
Mahomes said: “It wasn’t the best call in the world. You have to find a way to recover and we did.
Did they ever.
The Chiefs opened the second half with a 75-yard march that Kelce capped with his second TD reception. And after they forced a quick punt, the Chiefs went 57 yards and watched Kelce haul in his third to give Kansas City a 24-20 lead.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, it is the Chiefs who suffer a penalty.
They led 24-23 when substitute Matthew Wright, whose 59-yarder before half-time set the franchise record for the longest field goal, threw a 37-yarder left. But defending Malcolm Koonce was asked to hold on, automatically following Kansas City first, and Mahomes found Kelce four plays later to extend the lead to 30-24.
Teams traded touchdowns – and lost conversions – along the stretch as the Chiefs fled with victory.
“We’re close, but close doesn’t matter in this game,” Carr said. “It’s frustrating.”
INJURIES
Raiders: TE Darren Waller retired in the first half with a hamstring injury. TE Foster Moreau (knee) was already unavailable despite returning to training on Saturday.
Chiefs: DT Tershawn Wharton tore his left cruciate ligament early in the game. … OL Trey Smith (pectoral) remained inactive after the first 21 games of his career. DE Mike Danna (calf) and K Harrison Butker (ankle) were also inactive.
UP NEXT
The Raiders have next week off before facing the Texans in Las Vegas on Oct. 23.
The Chiefs host the Bills on Sunday in a repeat of January’s playoff overtime thriller.