that would be nothing Kansas City Chiefs Game without a little drama along the way, right?

The reigning Super Bowl champions played with their fans for the first time in a long time, hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9. Monday Night Football At stage one, the away team actually held the lead going into the fourth quarter. Thanks to a late surge and a scoring drive in overtime, Kansas City emerged with a thrilling 30-24 victory. The Chiefs are up 8-0 and maintain their lead over their opponents in the process.

With that in mind, let’s draw four takeaways from Monday’s game.

Last week, DeAndre Hopkins makes his Chiefs debut and had an impact that went beyond the box score. The veteran could have easily more than doubled his total distance and scored a goal, a testament to the quality of his performance. The same could be said for Mahomes, who has a solid 96.6 passer rating but plays better than that. Both players carried their stellar levels of play into Week 9, and the numbers were there to prove it early.

Mahomes had a spectacular performance in the first half, completing 18 of 22 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. That score went to Hopkins, who made multiple receptions and posted his highlight of the season, a 35-yarder near the end zone. He capped that drive with the aforementioned touchdown and finished his first two frames with six receptions for 66 yards. Kansas City’s new quarterback-wide tandem looked dangerous on Monday and set the tone early. The connection in the fourth quarter solidified things further.

Earlier this week, Chiefs passing game coordinator Joe Bleymaier acknowledged that he believes rookie Xavier Worthy can make a splash in year one Similar to what Rashee Rice did a year ago. While these volume numbers may seem difficult for many (including this writer) to envision, it was undeniable that Worthy had considerable room for growth. The more rookies play, the more they tend to learn. The great ones then adapt on the fly and fine-tune their game throughout the season. Simple concept, right? That’s not necessarily the case, as Worthy showed in the first half of Monday’s game that development isn’t always linear.

On Kansas City’s first offensive possession, Worthy had a 31-yard gain (or potential field goal) wiped out because he couldn’t keep his footing downfield. He killed the momentum with a 10-yard loss on the second drive. One series later, he intercepted a pass seemingly full-throttle ahead and was brought down by Lavonte David for no gain. The 28th overall pick in April’s NFL Draft struggled to start Week 9, continuing his trend of inconsistent play.

within this week Chiefs-Buccaneers preview Here Kansas City Chiefs on SIIt was crucial that the visitors did not have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin at their disposal in attack. Then things got scarier rookie Jalen McMillan has been inactivated 90 minutes before kick-off. It was highlighted that tight end Cade Otton could be a mismatch for Steve Spagnuolo’s defense; This was exactly the case as he led the team in receptions and receiving yards while also scoring goals. One of the league’s best defenses also surrendered five yards per carry deep in the game.

After Tampa Bay’s field goal resulted in a touchdown and field goal, Kansas City forced a three-and-out, drawing 17 points in the entire game. After Hopkins scored once again, the defense faced a second down and eventually got another stop on third down. Given a chance to drive down the field with over two minutes left, the Buccaneers had a drive and eventually capitalized. The Chiefs’ defense seems to enjoy living on the edge at times, but has still earned the benefit of the doubt for the future many times.

Dating back to last season, the Chiefs have established a new image as a team. Gone are the days of constantly hitting shots deep down the field, putting up incredible numbers on offense, and hoping a leaky defense would stay at bay long enough. For the better part of a calendar year, Andy Reid’s side have become a defensively focused, opportunistic and on-time club that displays the DNA to win against their opponents week in and week out.

The process vs. outcome debate is an interesting one, especially in the modern NFL. Many times extremely talented teams get hot for a while but eventually fizzle out and see their flaws exposed. Last season’s Chiefs team seemed destined to do so, but they still made a change and won the Super Bowl. to know How making winning plays and When doing these things may not be measurable. But it has been the backbone of the current dynasty, and Monday set another example. In Kansas City, style points are not recorded on the leaderboard.

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