EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs appeared on their way to a blowout against the struggling New York Jets.
A few mistakes by the star quarterback made it uncomfortably close, but he and the Chiefs shook off a subpar performance during which they blew a 17-point lead and then held on for a 23-20 victory Sunday night.
“I knew I put us in two bad positions,” said Mahomes, who was intercepted twice. “No one points fingers in that locker room. We all play together. Not everything is going to be pretty, but the guys responded and we found a way to win.”
With pop superstar Taylor Swift watching Travis Kelce and the Chiefs for the second straight game, this time from a suite at MetLife Stadium, Kansas City was able to bounce back.
After the Chiefs (3-1) regained the lead on Harrison Butker’s 26-yard field goal with 10:51 remaining, Zach Wilson made his first big mistake for the Jets when he lost a snap. Tershawn Wharton recovered and Mahomes and the Chiefs got the ball at the Jets 47.
Michael Carter II intercepted Mahomes on third-and-20 from the Jets 40 — but it was negated by a holding call on Sauce Gardner. Replays showed it was a questionable call and an irate Jets coach Robert Saleh stormed down the sideline to shout at an official.
“Fourth quarter, crunch time,” Gardner said. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Mahomes, who had a 25-yard run on third-and-23 to extend the drive, ran for 9 yards on another third down to the Jets 2, sealing the victory.
“Listen, I thought it was a hold,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who tied Tom Landry for fourth on the career list with his 250th regular-season victory. “I’ve got to go back and look at the tape on it. He was on the other side of the field. They’re aggressive, so they’re going to get a couple of those during the game. Sauce is as good as there is in the league, but he might have had a little bit of fabric there.”
Moments later, a still-angry Saleh was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty — and the clock hit zero on a bitter loss for the Jets (1-3).
“Just that whole drive after the fumble was unfortunate,” Saleh said. “That’s extremely unfortunate, especially for a prime-time football game.”
Mahomes, who became the fastest to 200 NFL touchdown passes, was 18 of 30 for 203 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 51 yards to set the franchise’s career rushing mark for a quarterback. Isiah Pacheco rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, and Kelce had six catches for 60 yards.
“It was a lot of hard grinding tonight,” Pacheco said.
Wilson had his best game since taking over for the injured Aaron Rodgers, going 28 of 39 for 245 yards and two touchdowns. But he blamed himself for the loss because of the lost fumble.
“To be driving right there, to drop a snap, I can not do that,” Wilson said.
