KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 331 yards and four touchdowns, Kadarius Toney showed glimpses of stardom in his second game for the Chiefs and Kansas City rolled to a 27-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The win came at a cost for Kansas City, which lost wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to the concussion protocol after a helmet-to-helmet hit by Jacksonville safety Andre Cisco. Trevor Lawrence threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns, both to Christian Kirk, who finished with nine catches for 105 yards for the Jaguars. Kansas City has won six straight against Jacksonville.
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were rolling through the Jaguars defense when Jacksonville safety Andre Cisco delivered a helmet-to-helmet blow that left wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster motionless on the turf.
Rather than slow down the Chiefs, the questionable hit infuriated them.
Mahomes threw for 331 yards with touchdown passes to four different receivers, and the Kansas City offense piled up nearly 500 yards despite three turnovers in a 27-17 victory Sunday.
“My reaction, I was angry. I was kind of mad,” said Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who had one of the touchdown catches. “I don’t like no dirty plays. I felt like it kind of gave the team a boost, gave us something to really put us on our back. It gave us something to play for, you could say.”
Toney, who was acquired a couple of week ago from the Giants, had 33 yards rushing to go with four catches for 57 yards and his first NFL touchdown reception. Travis Kelce, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Noah Gray also had touchdown catches, and Isiah Pacheco ran for 82 yards as the Chiefs (7-2) beat the Jaguars (3-7) for the sixth straight time. Kansas City took over the best record in the AFC.
“They gave us all we could handle,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “and it wound up being a good game at the end.”
Trevor Lawrence threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns, both to Christian Kirk, who finished with nine catches for 105 yards for the Jaguars. Zay Jones also had eight catches for 68 yards while Travis Etienne ran for 45 yards.
“It’s tough to win games in general when you don’t take advantage of opportunities, especially against a really good team,” Lawrence said. “Too many missed opportunities early. We still had our chances at the end, but we didn’t make the plays.”
The Jaguars became the first team in five years to recover an onside kick to open the game, but their offense squandered the opportunity — and several more. They punted five times and missed a field goal on their first six possessions.
The Chiefs had no such trouble reaching the end zone.
Mahomes, trying to become the third quarterback in NFL history with three straight 400-yard passing games, had 191 by halftime. That included the first NFL touchdown reception for Toney, the injury-prone former first-round draft pick who the Chiefs acquired in a trade with the Giants a couple of weeks ago.
“It just felt electric,” Toney said. “I was too close to the sideline when I caught it, and I was just excited. I was like, ‘Oh, I got to get in there, somehow, some way.’ But it was electric.”
Later in the half, Smith-Schuster was hit by Cisco while catching a pass over the middle, leaving his hands momentarily frozen in a scene reminiscent of the concussion sustained by Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa earlier this season.
Officials initially threw a flag for the helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless receiver, but referee Brad Rogers said that the officials determined Cisco was leading with his shoulder and picked up the flag.
