At the end of Week 9 of the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs also beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30:24 in overtime and remain undefeated. The deciding factor was the guests’ fearful approach and callousness on 3rd down.
Buccaneers @ Chiefs: At a glance
- After trailing behind on several occasions, the Chiefs ended up being callous in a certain phase of the game and ultimately won in overtime.
- The Mahomes-Hopkins combo had a huge impact on the game, providing two touchdowns and a curious first in Mahomes’ career.
- The Chiefs benefited from Bucs coach Todd Bowles’ extremely conservative approach on 4th down and late in the game when he shied away from a two-point conversion.
Buccaneers @ Chiefs: Die Analyse
After punts on both sides, the Chiefs were the first to make it to the edge of the red zone. But there it went backwards due to an unsuccessful end around by Xavier Worthy. And so in the end there was only a 40-yard field goal from Harrison Butker.
In return, the Bucs did better and concluded their first drive after a few long 3rd down conversions with a 7-yard touchdown run by Rachaad White. In return, it showed what an impact the connection between Patrick Mahomes and DeAndre Hopkins can have. Under intense pressure and while being hit on the throw, Mahomes completed a 35-yard pass to a double-covered Hopkins just short of the end zone. A little later he found Hopkins in the same spot for a touchdown.
The defensive lines took over until the break and didn’t allow any more points. Travis Kelce lost another fumble and the Chiefs’ last attack before halftime ended with the Bucs’ fourth sack against Mahomes.
The Bucs got off to a good start in the second half and got an immediate boost with a 46-yard kickoff return from Bucky Irving to their own 49-yard line. Things moved quickly from there and Baker Mayfield finally found tight end Cade Otton in good spirits for a 12-yard touchdown pass to give the Bucs the lead again. And following a sack by Calijah Kancey, the Bucs quickly got the ball back.
Mahomes works magic despite injury
In the end, they only had a 47-yard field goal after the guests were thrown back by an incorrect facemask penalty against left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who actually only caught the opponent’s sleeve.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter the home team struck back. Kareem Hunt took over and gained most of the space before Mahomes made the important pinpricks and ultimately Samaje Perine found the touchdown and equalizer after a scramble with a flip over a defender in the end zone.
After the play, Mahomes initially remained on the ground and had to be led off the field with help, but after a short treatment he continued smoothly. The Bucs punted again shortly after, giving the ball back to the Chiefs with 12:43 on the clock. They then ran down the clock before Mahomes found Hopkins again in the end zone for another touchdown – with just 4:17 minutes left on the clock.
The Chiefs then left the door open thanks to an incompletion on 3rd down with 2:26 minutes to play. Enough time for Mayfield to get the team into the red zone again. And the guests actually managed a touchdown to equalize with 27 seconds on the clock – Mayfield found Ryan Miller in the end zone.
But instead of going for the win, Chase McLaughlin kicked the PAT to tie the game. Unfortunately, the Bucs took their last timeout with 33 seconds left just in front of the goal line instead of running the clock down as much as possible, which gave KC plenty of time to answer again. With three timeouts, mind you.
But that wasn’t enough either – Mahomes was lucky not to throw another interception – so it went into overtime. The Chiefs got the ball first and were unstoppable. Hunt finally set the final score with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5) @ Kansas City Chiefs (8-0)
Result: 24:30 OT (0:3, 7:7, 10:0, 7:14, 0:6) BOXSCORE
Buccaneers @ Chiefs: Key stats
- Mahomes’ 35-yard pass to Hopkins had a completion probability of 12.3 percent. It was the fourth-most improbable completion of the season and the most improbable for Mahomes since Week 16 of 2018. The ball traveled 35.1 air yards and Hopkins had separations of 0.8 and 1.1 yards to his two closest defenders.
- Hopkins’ second touchdown catch was the first touchdown pass thrown by Patrick Mahomes in his career in a game tied in the fourth quarter.
- Hopkins has now scored twice as many touchdowns in two games for the Chiefs (2) as he did in six games with the Titans (1).
The star of the game: Patrick Mahomes (quarterback, Chiefs)
Mahomes once again played calmly and didn’t throw an interception for a change. Rather, he had three touchdown passes and led an offense that was hard to contain on third down (12/18), which ultimately made the difference.
The flop of the game: Todd Bowles (Head Coach, Buccaneers)
If you want to beat the Chiefs, you better not play scaredy-cat football. However, the ultra-conservative Bowles did exactly that. From an analytical perspective, he should have made the attempt on 4th down twice – once at the end of the first half, once at the beginning of the fourth quarter. He punted both times. And the second time, the decisive touchdown followed an impressive drive by the home team. When he had the chance to win the game with seconds left, he settled for an extra point and overtime, in which his defense had nothing left to counter.
Analysis: Buccaneers @ Chiefs – that stood out tactically
- The Chiefs mostly played man coverage with single-high looks and the Bucs didn’t really want to compete with that and relied on the run game on early downs as well as mostly short passes and a lot of play action, especially in the first half.
- The tendency towards short passes – especially screens – continued for the Bucs until the end, which was probably primarily due to the fact that the team’s top receivers were injured and the rest of the personnel was not trusted to do much. The bottom line is that Mayfield only completed two passes to wide receivers before the final drive.
- On the other hand, the Chiefs saw mostly zone coverage against them with two deep safeties. What was notable was that, contrary to their usual tendencies, the Bucs rarely blitzed, forcing Mahomes to sometimes hold the ball for a long time.
Source: www.sport.de
