Houston Texans 14-23 Kansas City Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce connect to keep Super Bowl three-peat dream alive | NFL news

The Kansas City Chiefs kept their hopes of a historic third straight Super Bowl win alive as they held off the Houston Texans in a 23-14 divisional round victory at Arrowhead on Saturday night.

Patrick Mahomes defied gravity with his latest trademark moment of magic when he produced a diving touchdown pass to Travis Kelce to help the Chiefs pull away against a stubborn Texans defense led by Will Anderson Jr. in the fourth quarter.

Kelce, as has become a theme of his career in recent years, exploded into life at the sight of playoff football as he set a new NFL record with his ninth career 100-yard game in the postseason.

Once again, there had been a sense of inevitability for the AFC’s No. 1 seed and back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion, which saw Texans kicker Kaʻimi Fairbairn miss a field goal, miss an extra point to tie the game and have a late field goal. goal blocked while benefiting from two controversial roughing the pass penalties that resulted in points.

At the same time, Steve Spagnuolo’s fierce defense again starred, Trent McDuffie won his duel against Nico Collins, and George Karlaftis collected three of his side’s eight sacks on CJ Stroud.

It marked victory no. 300 for head coach Andy Reid as his Chiefs advance to a seventh straight AFC Championship Game, facing either Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills or Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens for a spot at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

Heads of state

Houston Texas

• Passed: CJ Stroud, 19/28, 245 yards
• Urgent: Joe Mixon, 18 carries, 88 yards, 1 TD
• Recipient: Nico Collins, 5 catches, 81 yards

Kansas City Chiefs

• Passed: Patrick Mahomes, 16/25, 177 yards, 1 TD
• Urgent: Kareem Hunt, 8 carries, 44 yards, 1 TD
• Recipient: Travis Kelce, 7 catches, 117 yards, 1 TD

Kareem Hunt accounted for Kansas City’s second touchdown of the night as his score helped Reid’s team take a 13-6 halftime lead.

Houston tried to wear down Spagnuolo’s defense in response with a 15-play, 82-yard drive that lasted 10:24 to start the second half and culminated in Joe Mixon’s 13-yard touchdown run. With a chance to tie the game, however, Fairbairn deflected his extra point attempt wide to leave Houston trailing 13-12.

The drive had seen Stroud move the chains with a scramble on third-and-five, after also connecting with Dalton Schultz and Collins for third-down conversions.

It was the Chiefs’ turn to orchestrate a long clockwise drive in response, though not without controversy as Henry To’oTo’o was flagged for grabbing the passer against a sliding Mahomes to give the hosts another set of downs, much to outrage to the Texans.

Hunt would convert on the ground on fourth-and-one four plays later before Kelce’s catch-and-run for 18 yards moved the Chiefs down to the eight-yard line. Houston’s pass rush continued to plague Mahomes and his offensive line, but not even Mario Edwards’ stretch effort could deny the three-time Super Bowl MVP as he threw an 11-yard touchdown strike to Kelce while leaning at a 45-degree angle up the middle in the game. tackle.

It capped a 13-play, 81-yard drive that lasted 7:44 to give the Chiefs a 20-12 advantage with 11.52 left.

The Spagnuolo magic followed as he turned up the pressure to smother Stroud on a third-and-10 at the Chiefs 40-yard line minutes later, Justin Reid the man to come home to force the incompletion. That prompted the Texans to go for it on fourth-and-10, this time Karlaftis suffocating Stroud to blow up the drive with a sack for a loss of 16.

Harrison Butker extended Kansas City’s lead to 23-12 with a 27-yard field goal with three minutes remaining before Leo Chenal blocked Fairbairn’s 35-yard attempt to tie the game.

A tearful Chris Jones had served as a beacon for playoff football and its greatness during the pregame national anthem before postseason chaos ensued when Nikko Remigio returned the opening kickoff 63 yards on a fumble recovered by Chiefs teammate Samaje Perine.

Amid the chaos, Houston’s Kris Boyd was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing his helmet, then shot Texans special teams coach Frank Ross in a bizarre moment on the sideline. Tensions and emotions were running high and it didn’t seem to be slowing down.

The Texans’ defense provided an early mark in response, holding the Chiefs to a 32-yard field goal by Butker.

It was over for Stroud, who jumped on the next drive with a 34-yard cross-field strike to Schultz before the Texans were left to settle for Fairbairn’s 30-yard field goal after McDuffie broke up a pass intended for Collins on the sidelines. previous.

The Chiefs were then the recipients of the first roughing the passer penalty against Anderson Jr, saving another set of downs amid a stuttering drive. It would ultimately match Butker’s 36-yard field goal after Anderson beat Kelce’s block attempt to pull down Xavier Worthy on a double reverse trick play attempt on first-and-goal from the eight.

The Arrowhead gods showed up again to blow a 55-yard field goal attempt by Fairbairn on their own, paving the way for Kansas City to take control.

Mahomes connected with Kelce over the middle of the field before watching his tight end fumble through two tackle attempts en route to a 49-yard catch-and-run that teed up Hunt’s one-yard touchdown run.

The Texans could only manage a 55-yard field goal from Fairbairn to cut the deficit to 13-6 at the half after Stroud was sacked by Tershawn Wharton.

What’s next?

The divisional round of the NFL playoffs continues on Sunday, with the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Los Angeles Rams, live on Sky Sports NFL from 20:00.

Then, the weekend rounds off with the epic AFC game between the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens, starting at 11.30 p.m.

With the action wrapped up in Buffalo, we know our final four sets to battle it out at the Conference Championship on Sunday, January 26th.

Super Bowl LIX will take place on Sunday, February 9 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, live on Sky Sports NFL.