Chiefs defeat Jaguars 17-9 in Week 2

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars lived through a low-scoring, turnover-filled first half. But in the second half, the Chiefs’ offense finally came closer to matching the defense’s performance, building a narrow halftime lead into a 17-9 victory that gave the team a 1-1 record.

The game began with four straight punts — and was tied 0-0 at the end of the first quarter — but then on the firth punt, the Chiefs’ Richie James muffed the catch, giving the Jaguars the ball on the Kansas City 17-yard line, which led to 32-yard field goal and a 3-0 Jacksonville lead with 13 minutes left in the half.

On the fifth play of the next drive, the Chiefs’ Justin Watson fumbled the ball away after a 14-yard reception. On the very next play from the Kansas City 37, the Jaguars’ Jamal Agnew couldn’t bring in a pass to the right flat — but the Chiefs thought it was a lateral and recovered the loose ball. The replay officials agreed with Kansas City, giving them the ball at their own 37. On the third play of the next drive, the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes threw into coverage and was intercepted by Andre Cisco, giving the Jaguars the ball at their own 12.

But one more turnover was coming — this one on downs. On a fourth-and-5 at the Kansas City 45, Chris Jones — in his first game back from his contract holdout — sacked the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence for a 5-yard loss. Taking the ball at midfield with just over four minutes left in the half, the Chiefs lived through a 7-yard sack of Mahomes, a 5-yard penalty on right tackle Jawaan Taylor, a third-and-22 and a fourth-and-2 — all of it on the way to a 9-yard touchdown pass to Skyy Moore that gave the Chiefs a 7-3 lead with 27 seconds left in the half.

After the touchboack, Jacksonville managed to get far enough downfield to kick a 49-yard field goal to trim Kansas City’s lead to 7-6 at halftime.

On the first drive of the second half, the Chiefs looked like a different team. A seven-play, 81-yard drive featured a 31-yard run by Isiah Pacheco and a tough 34-yard reception by Justin Watson — and ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce that gave Kansas City a 14-6 lead.

Four more punts followed — and then Lawrence found Christian Kirk for a 45-yard gain to the Chiefs’ 32. A defensive pass interference call gave the Jaguars a first-and-goal at the Kansas City 1-yard line — but all Jacksonville could manage was a 22-yard field goal to make the score 14-9 with just under 14 minutes remaining.

The Chiefs drove down to the Jaguars’ 10-yard line — but then back-to-back false start penalties gave Kansas City a third-and-goal at the 20. A pass to Kelce was too high — and the Chiefs took a 17-9 lead on a 38-yard Harrison Butker field goal with eight minutes left.

Jacksonville used almost four of the remaining minutes to drive into the Kansas City red zone — and then on a third-and-10 at at 14, Jones once again sacked Lawrence. On fourth-and-12, Lawrence’s pass to Calvin Ridley was just past the end line of the end zone.

Getting the ball at their own 16, the Chiefs found themselves in a third-and-6 — in which Mahomes found Moore for a 54-yard gain at the two-minute warning. Pacheco gained six yards up the middle from the 12-yard line — and five more for a first down at the 1 with 1:38 remaining. That sealed Kansas City’s 17-9 victory.