Chiefs win their fifth straight

They were dominating from the onset. He had a throwback game while carrying the Minnesota offense to a solid W. They were always ahead.

A few plays later, he spotted tight end Travis Kelce in single coverage over the middle and found him for a 15-yard touchdown that gave the Chiefs their first lead of the game, 21-16.

Reason to hope: If the Chiefs can continue running the football and winning the turnover battle while making teams pay with the occasional downfield pass, they will be hard to beat going forward.

It was their chance to carry the team to a victory, and on a rainy, freezing day at Arrowhead Stadium, the odds didn’t look good early. He also did not throw an interception for the seventh straight game – a franchise-record 283 consecutive attempts. “You’re looking at guys with big hearts”.

“We’re not really anxious about all that”, Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters after the game.

– The pass interference penalty on Nickell Robey was just the latest “are you kidding me?” penalty called by the over-officious zebras who are doing their absolute best to ruin the NFL. He’s on pace for over 1,000 yards with Kansas City, and his three touchdowns are three more than all of their wide receivers combined last season.

But the second half saw the Chiefs (6-5) handle Watkins, force a Taylor fumble and the Chiefs offense caught fire behind quarterback Alex Smith, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and running back Spencer Ware.

“We just have to harp on it during the week”, Watkins said. Watkins is fully healthy now that he’s had ample time to heal, and so long as he doesn’t get injured again he should be fine. “He’s a good player”. “We were able to take advantage of that a little bit today”.

The Bills jumped out to a 10-0 lead, and some of that had to do with the game plan, both offensively and defensively. The Chiefs put together a six-play, 80-yard drive with Ware scoring on a 3-yard run.

By that point, Watkins had six catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

The Chiefs finally had some life after Smith’s connection to Maclin that set up Ware’s touchdown.

The Bills had a chance for a tying touchdown when they took over at their own 10 with 3:25 left. Nick Foles returned as the Rams starting QB and was intercepted three times, including one that Leon Hall returned 19 yards for a touchdown. They also have a rookie in the defensive backfield, in Marcus Peters.

When you add in the fact that there were less than 2 minutes on the clock and he had done that on their previous drive as well, the meaning was more than a couple of nice passes.

J.J. Watt hit Brees seven times and sacked him twice, and had two other tackles-for-loss. “There were actual moments out there that it wasn’t that bad, ” Smith said.

Keep in mind that the Chiefs started the year at 1-5 and they looked like they were not going anywhere.

This time, Maclin was lined up in the slot and with an outside release, got a half-step on cornerback Stephen Gilmore. “I thought he caught it but I (thought) it was too close to call it whether he had it or not”.

The result was a 32-yard gain.

All three plays were open to being reviewed, and proved costly in a game where the Bills lost ground in the AFC playoff race.

It’s a bond Smith and Maclin have forged with after-practice workouts.

“It’s not about stats. It’s about being there when your team needs you and being reliable”.

On Sunday, the Chiefs needed Smith and he came through. He had two timeouts remaining after losing a challenge in the third quarter.

But it was Maclin who stepped to the forefront Sunday, proving unstoppable in nine-catch, 160-yard showing that helped Kansas City erase a 10-point deficit-not to mention a huge game from Buffalo’s Sammy Watkins-to claim a massive victory. “He gets it done”.