Final Score: Chiefs come back from 17-point deficit, ambush Raiders for 30-29 win

The Kansas City Chiefs began their Monday Night Football matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders by looking listless against a motivated Las Vegas team. By midway through the second quarter, all the Chiefs had to show for themselves was a missed 41-yard field goal by backup placekicker Matthew Wright — and they trailed 17-0. But it was just the opening act of a 30-29 victory.

After the Chiefs managed a touchdown to make it 17-7, the Raiders were once again driving down the field. On a third-and-8 with just over a minute remaining in the half, Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones strip-sacked Raiders quarterback Derek Carr — and was called for a mystifying roughing-the-passer penalty. That gave the Raiders a first down — and eventually a field goal.

But it also energized both the Chiefs and the crowd surrounding GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Wright kicked a 59-field goal with just three seconds left in the half, making the score 20-10. Then getting the ball to start the third quarter, the Chiefs scored 14 unanswered points to take a 24-20 lead late in the third quarter. Halfway through the fourth frame, tight end Travis Kelce caught his fourth touchdown pass of the game to make the score 30-23. The Raiders answered with a 48-yard touchdown catch by Davante Adams — but then failed on a two-point conversion — just as the Chiefs had done on the previous drive — trimming Kansas City’s lead to 30-29.

The Chiefs couldn’t get past midfield. That forced their first punt since early in the second quarter, giving Las Vegas the ball at their own five-yard line with 2:29 remaining. But the Kansas City defense held, forcing Las Vegas to use up the rest of the clock without getting into field goal range.

The Chiefs won the opening coin toss, deferring their choice of possession to the second half. So Las Vegas began with the ball, starting their opening drive at the 25-yard line after a touchback.

Las Vegas ran the ball on their first two plays, but earned a chop-block flag on the second. After a deep incompletion against cornerback Jaylen Watson’s tight coverage, the Raiders settled for a dump-off — and then punting — to open the game.

Taking over from their own 21-yard line, the Chiefs quickly found themselves in third down with eight yards to go. On the conversion attempt, Raiders’ defensive end Maxx Crosby beat right tackle Andrew Wylie clean — sacking Mahomes to end their drive quickly. The Chiefs punted.

The Raiders’ second drive started no better than their first; defensive ends Frank Clark and defensive end George Karlaftis met at the quarterback to sack Derek Carr on first down. A few snaps later, the Raiders were called for an illegal block in the back — but made it back up with a big gain on third down.

Electing to go for it on fourth and short, the Raiders caught the Chiefs on a play-action pass: wide receiver Davante Adams burned cornerback Rashad Fenton on a deep pass, taking the catch all the way for the game’s first touchdown. The big play gave the Raiders an early 7-0 lead.

In response, the Chiefs began putting together a drive — moving the chains through the air with wide receiver Justin Watson, tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the drive’s first five plays. Over the next two plays, Mahomes scrambled for 20 yards total — setting the offense up at the Raiders’ 23-yard line.

From there, Mahomes threw three incompletions — with the last one forced by a blitz. The Chiefs settled for a field goal attempt, but the kick was wide right. The Raiders still led 7-0 in the first quarter.

Starting from their own 31-yard line, the Raiders began with two runs — totaling six yards between them. On third down, the pass rush created a cloudy pocket — but Carr completed a converting pass over the middle. A few more handoffs to Jacobs moved the chains; then, a couple short gains set up third down with four yards to go as the first quarter ended.

To convert third down, the Raiders attempted another long pass to Adams with Fenton in coverage. The pass fell incomplete — only for Fenton to be flagged for pass interference. After a tackle for loss by Frank Clark on the next play, another Chiefs cornerback was flagged for pass interference on Adams — this time in the end zone. The Raiders took advantage by scoring a touchdown on second down, taking a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

With the Chiefs needing to get something on the scoreboard, they fell completely flat on their ensuing drive. Pressure on third down forced an errant throw — and a three-and-out.

Las Vegas took over and went to work on the ground, earning gains of 13 and 21 yards on the first two plays — both by Josh Jacobs. After a couple of short gains, the Raiders set up for third down; Carr moved up in the pocket, then quickly dumped off to Jacobs, who was barely shy of the first-down marker. On fourth down, the Raiders decided to kick — making the field goal and extending their lead to 17-0.

With roughly nine minutes to go in the first half, the Chiefs took over — starting with an incomplete pass forced by Raiders edge rusher Chandler Jones. After a drop by Smith-Schuster, the Chiefs faced third down. Mahomes got Jones to jump offsides, but found Valdes-Scantling for 18 yards anyway. On the next snap, Mahomes was sacked by Crosby. The Chiefs, however, followed it up with a 30-yard run by running back Jerick McKinnon.

In Las Vegas territory now, the Chiefs kept leaning on McKinnon — then threw the changeup with a 14-yard completion to Valdes-Scantling. From the seven-yard line, Mahomes squeezed a pass to Edwards-Helaire over the middle to get all the way up to the goal line. Then tight end Travis Kelce found space toward the back of the end zone for a touchdown. The Chiefs closed the score to 17-7.

Under five minutes left in the second quarter, the Raiders got their drive going with a nine-yard rush by Jacobs. On the next play, Las Vegas earned a holding penalty. A few plays later, they attempted to convert third down with six yards to go — and a scrambling Carr found Adams. After a short run, the game hit the two-minute warning.

On third down, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones got free for a sack and even stripped the ball — but the play was negated by a questionable call for roughing the passer. With new life, the Raiders advanced to the Chiefs’ 37-yard line — letting the clock wind down to roughly 20 seconds. They successfully kicked a 50-yard field goal from there, taking a 20-7 lead just before halftime.

Receiving the kickoff with 17 seconds to go, the Chiefs tried to advance the ball with a quick pass to McKinnon — which got 15 yards added onto it with a face mask penalty. Mahomes tried for Kelce deep down the left sideline, but just missed him. Kansas City gained seven yards on the next play, setting up at the 41-yard line with three seconds to go.

The Chiefs went for the 59-yard field goal, and the ball went through the uprights as time expired. Kansas City had tightened the score to 20-10 at halftime.

The third quarter began with a touchback, setting the Chiefs’ offense up at the 25-yard line. They moved the chains quickly twice, both coming from Edwards-Helaire. Two plays later, they needed eight yards on third down; Mahomes rolled right and found Valdes-Scantling on a crossing route. He gained 23 yards and got deep into Raiders’ territory.

A defensive penalty pushed the Chiefs further down the field, setting them up at the 20-yard line. Mahomes found Smith-Schuster on the sideline for a contested catch soon after, getting the Chiefs to the five-yard line. They couldn’t convert their first two shots at scoring, but got the third — using Kelce on a quick angle route to get into the end zone. A successful kick made the score 20-17.

The Raiders’ drive started with a flag, drawing offensive pass interference on first down. On their next attempt at a play, they earned delay-of-game penalty. With 25 yards to go on first down, the Raiders got a short gain. Then, pressure got to Carr, who inexplicably tossed the ball for intentional grounding. They couldn’t recover from that, punting away from their own 13-yard line.

From close to midfield, the Chiefs stalled on their first two plays — but opened it up on third down with a great pocket for Mahomes to step up into and find Hardman for 28 yards. On the next play, Mahomes ran for nine yards to get inside the Raiders’ 20-yard line — then the chains were reset with a short run by McKinnon. A blitz by the Raiders didn’t faze Mahomes, who found Smith-Schuster on a whip route to get to the three-yard line.

From there, a scrambling Mahomes found running towards the end zone Kelce once again; his third touchdown of the night gave the Chiefs the lead for the first time, 24-20 late in the third quarter.

The Raiders continued moving the chains by way of Jacobs running, quickly getting two first downs on the drive’s first three plays. Then, Jacobs took off through a seam for 37 yards down the right sideline. At the Chiefs’ 22-yard line, the Raiders tried play action — but a blitzing Darius Harris tracked Carr down for a first-down sack. That play ended the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Raiders quickly found themselves in third down with 17 yards to convert. A long pass targeted safety Juan Thornhill in coverage, who nearly came down with the interception — but the ball fell to the ground for an incompletion. The Raiders settled for a 47-yard field goal. The score was now 24-23, Chiefs with a slim lead.

To open up their drive, Mahomes found Valdes-Scantling on an out-breaking route for a 16-yard gain. McKinnon followed that up with a seven-yard run, before being swallowed behind the line of scrimmage by Crosby for a two-yard loss. Third down was reset a few times after multiple offensive penalties. With 15 yards to convert, Mahomes found Hardman downfield for 36 yards and a new set of downs.

At the 28-yard line of Las Vegas, the Chiefs used back-to-back quick hitting plays to the outside to gain seven yards, getting them to the 14-yard line. After a negative run, an open slant was dropped by Valdes-Scantling. On third and long, the Raiders forced another incompletion via the blitz; Mahomes was flushed out and forced to throw it up. On the ensuing field-goal attempt, the Raiders drew a holding penalty — resetting the downs for Kansas City.

The Chiefs quickly got into a third down from the five-yard line, still having a chance to move the chains before the goal line. That’s exactly what they did, using creativity to throw a pass to Edwards-Helaire in the right flat. On the following snap, a run look turned into a play-action fake — and Mahomes found Kelce once again for the touchdown. Four touchdowns for the All-Pro tight end, who stretched Kansas City’s lead to 30-23. The Chiefs missed the ensuing two-point attempt.

The Raiders got their responding drive going with a 13-yard gain by Jacobs. On a third down a few snaps later, Carr barely got a throw past the sticks to move the chains. Two snaps later, Carr climbed the pocket and found Adams on a double-move route that left him deeper than rookies Bryan Cook and Jaylen Watson in the Chiefs’ secondary. A perfect throw turned the play into six points; the Raiders failed on their two-point attempt. They still trailed 30-29 with less than five minutes to go.

With a chance to close the game out, the Chiefs gained eight yards on their first two plays — taking up close to two minutes of game clock as they did it. Wide receiver Skyy Moore caught his second pass of the drive to gain seven yards, forcing the Raiders to take a timeout. A negative run by Edwards-Helaire was followed by a miss to Hardman, and suddenly the Chiefs’ bid to end the game was over. They punted to the Raiders’ seven-yard line.

The Raiders used two runs of eight yards by Jacobs to get out of the backed-up field position, and that took the game into the final two-minute warning.

Las Vegas used the ground game to get spurts of yards, but were still on their own side of the ball with a minute to go. On second down, the Raiders made a quick pass short of the sticks — setting up third down at their own 46-yard line. On the conversion attempt, Carr found an open Adams down the right sideline — but he could not get both feet down for a completed catch. It was fourth down with one yard to convert.

With 51 seconds to go, the Chiefs all-out blitzed Carr; he tried for a deep shot to beat it — but receivers Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow collided on their deep patterns. The ball fell incomplete, and the Chiefs took over on downs.

One kneel down later, the Chiefs were victorious by a score of 30-29.

Injuries

Defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury; shortly afterward, the team announced that he would not return.

Defensive end Frank Clark fell ill during the game, not taking the field in the second half. He was later announced as questionable to return.

Cornerback Chris Lammons was announced as questionable to return with a hip injury late in the fourth quarter.

Special Teams

Kicker Matthew Wright’s first attempt at a field goal went wide right, no good from 41 yards away. He did make his first extra-point attempt of the night — then redeemed himself with a perfect kick from 59 yards out right before halftime. In the third quarter, he made his second extra-point attempt — then later made another point-after kick.

In the fourth quarter, Wright had a missed field goal wiped away by a defensive penalty.

Punter Tommy Townsend had two early punts — one going for 60 yards, and the other 46. Neither landed inside the 20-yard line. Later, he had a third punt that did land inside the 20.

Rookie punt returner Skyy Moore had one chance to return — taking it seven yards. He also returned a kickoff for 19 yards.

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