Season 22 – Week 2

Week two is in the books and the AFC West continues to dominate the competition. KC, Las Vegas, and the LA Chargers all sit at 2-0, Denver is one game behind the leaders at 1-1. The NFC West and NFC North also boast two 2-0 teams apiece. In terms of raw scoring the Chargers lead the pack with 79 points, followed closely by Las Vegas with 71 and Seattle with 67. Defensively, New England has held their opponents to 24 points in the first two games.

Game of the Week

CHIEFS OVERCOME A FURIOUS BALTIMORE COMEBACK TO CLAIM VICTORY (35-34)
After both teams exchanged punts to start the game, the Chiefs offense started churning with three consecutive touchdown drives on the way to building a 21-7 lead. After a quick Ravens punt, the Chiefs got the ball back again with about 7 minutes remaining before halftime and methodically moved down the field for their longest drive of the game, a 15-play effort that overcame two holding penalties along the way. But the drive would eventually stall for a rather easy field goal attempt that was missed by Harrison Butker. This would turn out to be the turning point that would get the Ravens back in this game. Rather than extending a 3-score lead of 17 points, Butker misses that field goal with 1:37 left in the half and then the Ravens come right back to get a field goal before halftime to make the score 21-10 at the intermission. The Ravens would have the first possession in the second half, and they scored on every single possession the rest of the way. The first three possessions of the second half for the Ravens were all touchdown drives of 75 or 76 yards, which gave Baltimore a 31-28 lead with 11:42 remaining. On the Chiefs next possession, they were forced to punt very quickly once again as the momentum continued to be all in Baltimore’s favor. But the punt from the Chiefs would prove to be the turning point in this game, as the punt was fumbled away at the Ravens 6 yard line to give the Chiefs a short field. Darrell Williams would run it in from there to put the Chiefs quickly back on top 35-31 with just over 8 minutes remaining. The Ravens drove into the KC red zone for a 1st and Goal at the 9 yard line with just over 4 minutes left, but a holding penalty put the home team behind the sticks. On 3rd and goal from the 15 yard line, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson was sacked by “Dirty” Dan Sorenson to make it 4th and Goal from the 24 yard line. Post-game interviews confirmed that coach Jon Shoemaker looked at this as 4-down territory when he was at the 15 yard line, but the sack forced him to kick the field goal and play defense. Justin Tucker did his part, cutting the lead to 35-34 with a 39 yard field goal with 2:06 left in the game. But the Chiefs offense was able to move the ball down the field without much issue and eventually take a knee at the Ravens one yard line to secure the win. Travis Kelce led all receivers in this game with 11 catches and 106 yards. Mahomes had over 300 yards passing and 3 TD’s in this one. The Ravens put up 249 rush yards in this game, with Latavius Murray and Lamar Jackson both eclipsing 90 yards on the ground. The Ravens outgained the Chiefs in this one 450-395, but they also produced the only two turnovers in the game, and that proved to be the difference in this one. The Chiefs improve to 2-0 and will return home to Arrowhead next week for their big divisional tilt against the Los Angeles Chargers (2-0). The Ravens head to Motown next week to play the Detroit Lions.

Top Performers

QB – Patrick Mahomes 30 of 43 for 315 yards and 3 TDs

Receivers – Darren Waller 7 receptions 79 yards and 3 TDs

Running Backs – Najee Harris 150 yards rushing and 2 TDs

Special Teams – Daniel Carlson 12 points scored

Looking forward to Week 3

Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City looks to be the game of the week