For the first time this season, the Kansas City Chiefs are in the “W” column.
Kansas City earned its first victory with a 22-9 Week 3 result at the New York Giants on Sunday Night Football.
It was a primetime battle of winless clubs, so while the Chiefs have avoided the dreaded 0-3 hole that almost no team climbs out of, Russell Wilson and the Giants have fallen in it.
The first half was mostly an unimaginative affair, apart from Giants rookie running back Cam Skattebo.
After the Chiefs led 9-6 at halftime, the second half slightly picked up the pace with Kansas City scoring the game’s first touchdown on a Mahomes throw to 2022 New England Patriots second-rounder Tyquan Thornton.
New York could only muster field goals, even after getting in decent red zone positions. Russell Wilson’s game was summarized by a throw hitting the bottom of the field goal post on a 4th-and-goal play to keep his team alive.
The Chiefs will host the Baltimore Ravens next while the Giants will host the undefeated Los Angeles Chargers. But before looking ahead, let’s break down Kansas City’s win under the lights:
Cam Skattebo provides fresh hope for New York
After starting running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. was ruled out early with an injury, the ground-game workload heavily shifted to Skattebo. He had a touchdown in the close loss to Dallas last time out and built on that momentum in this game.
Skattebo recorded 60 yards on the ground on 10 carries and a touchdown while leading the team in receiving with six catches on eight targets for 61 yards.
It’s not clear how long Tracy Jr. will be out, but after Malik Nabers had just two catches on seven targets for 13 yards, Skattebo will be a player the team can look forward to seeing more often.
Patrick Mahomes still not at his best
Is a Super Bowl hangover still lingering over this generation’s most dominant QB? After escaping his first ever three-game skid dating back to the loss in the Big Game, Mahomes looked far from his best for most of this game.
He finished with 224 passing yards, one touchdown and no picks on 22 of 37 completions while taking two sacks. New York’s defense did well to limit Mahomes, but couldn’t keep pace with Wilson and Co. turning it over too often to win.
With the elite Ravens defense up next, it’ll be a big test for Mahomes to assess where he’s at when determining his possible season outlook.
Should Jaxson Dart get QB1 reps soon?
Wilson’s 450-yard, three-touchdown showing last week vs. Dallas provided some optimism, but he regressed significantly against Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. The veteran QB recorded 160 passing yards on 18 of 32 completions for no touchdowns, two picks and two sacks.
The theme vs. Dallas was completing several long balls to hoard the stat sheet. Replicating that vs. Kansas City would always be almost impossible, and Wilson was far too trigger happy in the opening quarters. (On a side note, Wilson’s Week 2 statline could also mean the Cowboys are worse than some initially thought.)
But Wilson’s showing also reintroduces the question: Should first-round pick Jaxson Dart be the starter soon? The Giants aren’t exactly in a position for patience, but at 0-3 and Wilson being inconsistent, giving Dart real minutes could help the team analyze his potential moving forward.
With the 3-0 Chargers visiting next, Brian Daboll will likely keep Wilson starting under center. But if the game gets out of hand at some point, he may have to change things up and throw the Dart.
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