The Kansas City Chiefs, from start to finish of Sunday's game at Atlanta, absolutely smoked the lowly Falcons, ending with a score of 35-13. Despite constant injuries to the offensive line mid-game and the loss of Kenneth Walker III, it did not seem to matter for Patrick Mahomes, who put up over 340 passing yards on 22-of-35 and five touchdown passes.
It's his first game since 2022 to tally a handful of TD throws, and he did it by way of explosives one after the other. His first and fourth came by way of simple flips out in space to Emmett Johnson, who had himself quite the day in Walker absence. The rookie back managed over 170 total yards and two scores on a 28-touch workload.
Mahomes' other three TDs were to wide receivers, all of whom he'd connected with for the first time in their careers for scores. An 18-yard back-shoulder throw to Josh Downs, a 39-yard beautiful sideline strike to rookie Cyrus Allen, and a 43-yard heave to big 6'4" Andrew Armstrong, who wrestled the ball away from a Falcons defender.
MAHOMES FIVE TOUCHDOWN PASSES 🔥 pic.twitter.com/G1ZClQomml
— NFL (@NFL) November 15, 2026
The defense wasn't too shabby either, holding Atlanta to just 13 points, with the majority of their offense coming by way of garbage-time throws from Michael Penix Jr. to Drake London. They sacked Penix three times, batted away nine passes, and forced two turnovers. Not to mention Steve Spagnuolo's unit holding the Falcons to 5-for-16 from third down and 0-for-2 on fourth downs.
Kansas City trounces Atlanta in dominant fashion, as Patrick Mahomes has his best statistical performance since 2022
The Chiefs battled through a slew of injuries early in the game and had to compensate as the contest endured. Backup tight end Jared Wiley left early with what is now being reported as a fractured ankle. He is projected to miss extended time. Travis Kelce also hobbled off to the locker room with an ankle injury, but returned for a modest 30 yards on two catches. And both Trey Smith (concussion protocol) and Creed Humphrey (eye) missed some time in the game as well.
The only negative to really come out of this dominant road victory was, of course, special teams. And no, it wasn't Harrison Butker. He was a perfect 5-for-5 from extra points. It was the multiple flags that seemingly never end, a dropped punt by Downs early in the game, and an inexplicably poor effort by Xavier Worthy on an Atlanta late-game onside kick that the Falcons recovered.
Both the Chiefs' offense and defense seem to be rounding into form, but it's never been clearer that Dave Toub's side of the ball is holding this team back. Games against the Falcons this week and the Arizona Cardinals next week probably won't make the issue matter as much. But rest assured, if the Chiefs make game-altering mistakes in their upcoming toughest stretch of the year starting with Buffalo, it will cost them in the win column.
But for now, we can be happy that the aerial attack and the ground game are starting to play off of each other, as they did before Tyquan Thornton went down. And the fact that the Chiefs' pass rush looks like a real unit does wonders for a secondary that has played so well this year.
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