Patrick Mahomes on Friday passed for 306 yards and became Kansas City’s career leader in touchdown passes as the Chiefs clinched an American Football Conference playoff spot with a 19-17 victory over the visiting Las Vegas Raiders.
Kansas City (11-1) have played in a slew of close games this season and wrapped up this win when Raiders center Jackson Powers-Johnson unexpectedly snapped the ball. It caromed off the upper right arm of quarterback Aidan O’Connell and Nick Bolton of the Chiefs recovered it at the Kansas City 37-yard line with 11 seconds left.
Mahomes threw one scoring pass to become the franchise leader with 238, surpassing Hall of Famer Len Dawson.
Photo: AFP
Fill-in kicker Matthew Wright matched his career high of four field goals for the Chiefs, who became the first team to wrap up a post-season berth this year.
Brock Bowers and Tre Tucker caught touchdown passes for Las Vegas (2-10), who dropped their eighth straight game.
Bowers, a rookie, had 10 receptions for a career-best 140 yards.
Photo: AFP
O’Connell completed 23 of 35 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for the Raiders. It was his first appearance since he broke his right thumb in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Rams.
O’Connell was pressed into duty after Gardner Minshew sustained a season-ending broken collarbone last weekend in a 29-19 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Wright kicked a 32-yard field goal with 9 minutes, 53 seconds left in the game to give Kansas City a 19-17 lead.
The Raiders had a chance to take the lead, but Daniel Carlson was short on a 58-yard field-goal attempt with 2 minutes, 17 seconds remaining. Carlson also missed attempts from 56 and 55 yards.
Carlson looked in line for one final chance before the errant snap on a play from the Kansas City 32.
The Raiders trailed by 13 before stunning the Chiefs with two touchdowns in a span of 1 minute, 48 seconds.
Las Vegas moved within six when O’Connell tossed a 33-yard scoring pass to Bowers with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The score was set up by a 68-yard kick-off return by Ameer Abdullah.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, O’Donnell threw deep and connected with Tucker on a 58-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a 17-16 edge.
Mahomes passed the mark of Dawson, who retired after the 1975 season, with a 6-yard scoring pass to Justin Watson to give the Chiefs a 10-3 lead with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left in the first half.
Wright kicked field-goals of 42 and 35 yards in the third quarter to boost Kansas City’s lead to 16-3.
Wright was signed this week to handle placekicking duties with Harrison Butker and last week’s hero, Spencer Shrader, sidelined due to injuries.
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