Chiefs defeat Jets 23-20 in Week 4

For the NFL’s Week 4, the Kansas City Chiefs journeyed to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey to play the New York Jets on “Sunday Night Football,” emerging with a 23-20 victory that pushed their season record to 3-1.

On its opening drive — with music superstar Taylor Swift watching from a suite — Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce gained 29 yards on two catches, but the Chiefs ultimately settled for a 37-yard Harrison Butker field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

After a New York three-and-out, the Chiefs needed just five plays to score again on a 48-yard scamper by running back Isiah Pacheco to make the score 10-0. Following a Jets four-and-out, Pacheco’s 33-yard catch-and-run was the highlight of the next drive — until it ended with a 34-yard touchdown catch by tight end Noah Gray and a 17-0 lead that lasted through the first quarter.

The Jets’ first score came when Kansas City right tackle Jawaan Taylor was called for a facemask penalty while protecting quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the end zone. That safety narrowed the score to 15-2 and gave the Jets the ball. Zack Wilson then found Allen Lazard for a 39-yard gain that put New York at the Chiefs’ 20-yard line — but the Kansas City defense held, forcing a a 31-yard field goal to make the score 17-5.

On the Chiefs’ next snap, Mahomes made an ill-advised throw that Ashtyn Davis intercepted, giving the Jets the ball on Kansas City’s 41-yard line. New York drove for a touchdown to make the score 17-12 with six and half minutes left in the half. Kansas City answered with a 10-play drive that ended with a 37-yard field goal — and took a 20-12 lead into halftime after the Jets doinked a field goal and Mahomes threw another interception.

To open the third quarter, New York looked like the Jets of 1968, marching 75 yards in 7 plays to score a touchdown (and two-point conversion) to tie the game at 20. Then the teams alternated punts for four straight drives to chew up most of the rest of the quarter.

As the final quarter began, the Chiefs were finally driving past midfield again, getting the ball to Kelce and Rashee Rice. But the drive finally stalled at the New York 18-yard line, where Butker gave the Chiefs a 23-20 lead. The Jets managed to drive to midfield before Kansas City’s Tershawn Wharton recovered a fumbled shotgun snap, giving the Chiefs the ball at their own 49-yard line with seven and a half minutes left in the game.

A Chiefs drive that included Mahomes converting a third-and-22 with a 25-yard scramble, a third-and-20 play that was converted by a defensive holding penalty (that also wiped out another Mahomes interception) and a third-and-1 that was converted by Kelce taking a direct snap and handing off to Jerick McKinnon finally used enough time that Mahomes was able to down the ball after gaining a first down on the New York 2-yard line — and then kneel out the clock to seal a 23-20 win.