3 Biggest Winners and Losers From Chiefs vs. Jets

The Chiefs improved to 3-1 in a messy Sunday Night Football win over the Jets, narrowly overcoming a rare off-night from Patrick Mahomes to escape with a 23-20 win.

While some players, like Isiah Pacheco, helped power Kansas City to victory, others struggled and nearly caused a nightmare loss.

Let’s look at the three biggest winners and losers from last night’s win.

3 Biggest Winners from Chiefs vs. Jets

1. Isiah Pacheco

Could it be anyone else? Pacheco enjoyed his best game as a pro in his New Jersey homecoming. Highlighted by a 48-yard score in the first quarter, he rushed 20 times for 116 yards and a touchdown while adding three catches for 43 more yards.

It’s no exaggeration to say he won the game for Kansas City and may have solidified himself as one of the better running backs in the AFC as a result.

Pacheco’s bruising, frenetic style wears down defenses. His uncanny ability to hop back up with bursts of energy after absorbing contact is a joy to watch and I’m excited to see how the Chiefs utilize him the rest of the season.

After four weeks, Pacheco is fifth in the AFC in rushing yards (270) while averaging 4.9 yards per carry. Just against the Jets, he had 107 yards after contract and forced five missed tackles.

I’m not even sure Brett Veach imagined this kind of impact when he took the Rutgers back in the 7th round last year. Pacheco’s receiving impact has been significant as well, as he’s already amassed 90 receiving yards on the season compared to just 130 total in 2022.

Look for the Chiefs to keep leaning on Pacheco in the coming weeks while the passing game gets out of this funk.

2. Mike Edwards

With Nick Bolton and Jaylen Watson out last night and a number of other defensive players banged up, Mike Edwards came out to play.

The fifth-year safety, who spent his entire career in Tampa Bay before coming to Kansas City this offseason on a one-year deal, was everywhere on Sunday Night Football. He finished with four tackles, a sack and a pass deflection while making timely plays all night to help propel the Chiefs to victory.

Steve Spagnuolo wasn’t afraid to utilize Edwards in a variety of ways and it’s clear Kansas City can depend on his versatility. He tallied an interception last week against the Bears, so he’s stringing along solid performances and looks like another feather in Brett Veach’s cap.

He played only 44% of the snaps, but Edwards clearly showed he’s deserving of more time moving forward. The Chiefs are crowded in the secondary, though Spagnuolo could always use a Swiss army knife back there. I think we’ll see more Edwards these next few weeks, especially against stronger passing attacks than we’ve seen the last two weeks.

It’s easy to imagine L’Jarius Sneed and Edwards driving offensive coordinators mad with well-timed blitzes and disguises, so keep an eye on those kinds of wrinkles moving forward.

3. Patrick Mahomes’ Legs

Most of Mahomes’ most memorable plays, surprisingly, have come with his legs.

There was the hesitation TD against the Titans, the bull-dozing “You Gotta Hit Me!” score on the 49ers, and the mad dashes on one ankle against the Jaguars and Eagles, just to name a few.

Now, we’ve got the “Ball Don’t Lie.” Late in the game, Mahomes converted a third-down rush but it was overturned by penalty. On 3rd-and-22 on the next play, the two-time Super Bowl MVP let everyone know the previous play was no fluke.

On a day that he threw for just 203 passing yards, Mahomes trusted his legs to make big plays continuously. He’s done that all season, perhaps indicating how little he trusts his receivers.

With 154 rushing yards on 6.7 yards per attempt, the man known for the bazooka arm actually ranks second among all NFL QBs in rushing yards this season, trailing only Lamar Jackson.

It seems like every time the Chiefs need a big play this season, Mahomes is making it with his legs. He’s become a dynamic weapon on the ground and always knows the right time to take off.

That being said, plenty of struggles still need to be addressed through the air.

3 Biggest Losers from Chiefs vs. Jets

1. Patrick Mahomes’ Arm

I’m not at all concerned about Patrick Mahomes the thrower. He’s the most talented QB we’ve ever seen and one poor game does not invalidate an entire career of dominance.

That being said, whew. Last night was the worst we’ve seen Mahomes play since the second half of the AFC Championship game in 2021 as he completed only 18 of 30 passes for 203 yards with one TD and two interceptions.

To his credit, Mahomes immediately took responsibility for the bad throws. You could see him react on the field and he doubled down both in his postgame comments and in radio interviews today.

We saw poor decision-making, surprising miscommunication with Travis Kelce, and throws without enough power as Mahomes struggled. These were all uncharacteristic mistakes and we shouldn’t expect them to move forward, but they were still discouraging to see given the state of the offense the first several weeks.

No one in Kansas City should be worried about Mahomes, but his issues seem to be a symptom of the two other biggest losers on this list. Those problems? They’re a bit more concerning.

2. All of the Wide Receivers

You can officially sound the alarms on the wide receivers. This is an unmitigated disaster.

Perhaps the biggest reason Mahomes struggled so much through the air, other than his two poor decisions in the interceptions, was that Kansas City has one of the worst receiving groups in the entire NFL.

Skyy Moore is a ghost, Marquez Valdes-Scantling a one-trick pony, Kadarius Toney a brittle wild card, Rashee Rice an unproven drop machine, etc. Not one receiver has exceeded expectations, except for perhaps Justin Watson, and even he only had one catch for five yards yesterday.

While we can exercise patience with Rice, who has been great when he’s hung onto the ball, the rest of the group is on thin ice. Moore has not taken the step forward we expected, Toney’s health is a question mark and I don’t know if we can expect that much more from MVS.

Something needs to change here and quickly. The Chiefs showed last year they can win the Super Bowl without a good receiver group, but it certainly makes the job that much harder.

Fingers crossed someone steps up against a terrible Vikings secondary next week.

3. Jawaan Taylor

This guy can’t catch a break. While Taylor wasn’t penalized for any false starts today, he had a (admittedly questionable) facemask in the end zone for a safety and picked up another critical holding penalty.

Even worse, this was his worst game as a pure pass protector. New York’s defensive front is one of the league’s best, so I’m willing to cut him some slack, but Taylor has to improve in order to justify his massive contract this offseason.

Our interior offensive line didn’t play well either, so it isn’t all on Taylor, but he’s got the spotlight on him after all of his penalties the first few weeks.

Fair or not, Taylor needs to get his play cleaned up. His pass-protecting ability raises the ceiling for the offense and he’s a stout run protector as well, but he hasn’t been good enough.

Heading into next week against Minnesota, every Chiefs fan will be waiting for “#74” to be called for a penalty. Until he can string together a couple of clean games, fans won’t trust the former Jacksonville standout.

We believe in you, Jawaan. Please don’t prove us wrong.

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