FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) Tom Brady needed everything he had to fend off Patrick Mahomes including his legs.
Stephen Gostkowski hit a 28-yard field goal as time expired , and the New England Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 43-40 on Sunday night after blowing a big halftime lead.
Brady passed for 340 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score, diving head-first between two defenders in a rare run by the 41-year-old quarterback.
I got close to the goal line and I just figured Id try to get it in, Brady said of his late TD plunge. We needed it.
New Englands third straight win was Bradys 200th victory as a starting QB, tops all-time. He also passed former teammate Adam Vinatieri for most career wins in the regular season and playoffs combined with 227.
Brady got some help from rookie Sony Michel, who rushed 24 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns in another solid performance.
Its tough to slow those guys down, theyve been scoring a lot of points all year, Brady said. Theyre gonna be pretty tough to stop. Glad we had our last shot and glad we took advantage of it.
It was the first loss of the season for the Chiefs (5-1), who were again let down by a defense that came in allowing an NFL-worst 462 yards per game.
New England (4-2) led 24-9 at intermission, but Mahomes directed an impressive rally for Kansas City. He finished 23 of 36 for 352 yards in his first loss as a starting quarterback, with three of his four TD passes going to Tyreek Hill.
Mahomes threw two interceptions in the first half but was unflappable down the stretch. He found Hill for a 1-yard TD pass that made it 33-30 Kansas City with 8:38 left. With the Chiefs trailing 40-33, he connected with Hill again for a 75-yard score that tied the game with just over three minutes remaining.
The last two weeks it seems like we just cant punch it in there and I feel like the second half we finally started getting it in the end zone, Mahomes said.
Brady used a 16-yard pass to James White and a 39-yard completion to Rob Gronkowski to get New England into field-goal range.
After electrifying the NFL during the first five weeks of the season with his freewheeling style and big arm, Mahomes looked unsure of himself early on.
He was able to complete some long passes to get the Chiefs into the red zone. But he turned the ball over twice in the first half and the high-scoring Chiefs were held to three field goals.
Everything changed in the second half.
