The Kansas City Chiefs have played four one-score games, while the New Orleans Saints are tied for largest scoring margin in the NFL.
Yet the Chiefs are 4-0 and the Saints are 2-2 as these teams prepare to meet Monday night in Kansas City.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs keep finding ways to win games that go to the wire while the Saints have lost their last two games by squandering leads in the final moments.
The Chiefs have overcome a series of injuries to key skill players on offense. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire has yet to play while on the non-football illness list, though he did return to practice Wednesday. Running back Isiah Pacheco (fibula) and wide receiver Hollywood Brown (back) are on injured reserve and were joined Wednesday by wide receiver Rashee Rice, who sustained a knee injury in a 17-10 victory against the Chargers last week.
“There’s not another Rashee,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said, “but there are other guys that are very good so we’ll be fine.”
First-round draft choice Xavier Worthy is averaging 17.1 yards per catch and has two touchdown receptions, tight end Travis Kelce is Kansas City’s leading healthy receiver and fellow veterans Justin Watson and JuJu Smith-Shuster give quarterback Patrick Mahomes confidence.
“Those guys do it the right way,” Mahomes said. “They’re always in the right position. They do what they’re supposed to do, and I think having those guys is a luxury because you know that they’re going to be there and they’re going to get open and they’re going to make plays when their numbers are called.”
The Chiefs have been one of the most productive offenses in the NFL since Mahomes became a starter in 2018, but this season they rank just 14th in scoring offense (23 points per game) and total offense (328.3 yards per game). Still, they’ve been productive enough to be undefeated, thanks in part to being No. 7 in scoring defense (18.0).
New Orleans, which is No. 1 in scoring (31.8) and No. 9 in yards (349.0), rolled to victories in its first two games, routing the Panthers 47-10 and the Cowboys 44-19.
But two weeks ago, after the Saints score a go-ahead touchdown with 2:03 left in the game, Philadelphia drove 69 yards on five plays to a touchdown with 1:01 left and prevailed 15-12. Then, last week, New Orleans scored a go-ahead touchdown with 1:00 left, but Atlanta drove to Younghoe Koo’s winning 58-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in a 26-24 victory.
“I’m encouraged that we’ve given ourselves an opportunity to win every single game,” Saints head coach Dennis Allen said. “We could be sitting here 4-0, but that’s not the case and that’s the discouraging thing.”
The loss to the Falcons was especially frustrating because the Saints defense didn’t allow a touchdown, but a series of mistakes cost them.
Rashid Shaheed muffed a punt that Atlanta recovered in the end zone for a touchdown, a deflected Derek Carr pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown and a 30-yard defensive pass interference penalty on Paulson Adebo gave the Falcons all the yardage they needed for Koo’s winning kick.
“When you want to be a good team you’re going to play in a lot of tightly contested games,” Allen said, “and we’ve got to find ways to win those things.”
Five Saints starters missed practice Wednesday — tight end Taysom Hill (ribs), guard Cesar Ruiz (knee), center Shane Lemieux (ankle), linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (hand) and kicker Blake Grupe (hip). No one on the Chiefs’ active roster missed practice.
–Field Level Media