How the Chiefs Beat the Texans to Advance to the A.F.C. Championship Game

The Texans scored 31 points, which tied for their second-highest total this season, and Watson threw for 388 yards, which is the third-best mark of his career. And Houston lost by 20 points. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are that good.

The Chiefs’ touchdown streak ends.

Kansas City did not score a touchdown! It did score a field goal, though, and is up, 51-31, with 8:06 left in the game.

Harrison Butker’s make from 24 yards broke up a streak in which Kansas City found the end zone on seven consecutive possessions, which is the most in a postseason game since at least the A.F.L.-N.F.L. merger in 1970, if not even farther back.

The most positive part of the drive for the Texans, beyond not actually giving up a touchdown, was defensive end J.J. Watt getting into the backfield to bat a pass to the ground, likely preventing an eighth straight touchdown. Other than that, Watt, who is playing through a severely injured pectoral muscle, has not recorded any statistics.

Slowing the Chiefs ever so slightly was nice, but on Houston’s last offensive possession, desperation seemed to have kicked in for the Texans, with the team trying to make something happen by going for it on fourth-and-4 from Kansas City’s 42-yard line, only to have Deshaun Watson’s wild pass nearly intercepted. They will have to play a smarter game to get back into this.

Kansas City scores again with ease.

So much for Houston getting back into the game.

In a drive that spanned the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth, the Chiefs went 72 yards on four plays, with Patrick Mahomes getting his fifth touchdown pass of the day courtesy of an 8-yard pass to Blake Bell.

Mahomes had opened the drive with a 23-yard completion to Travis Kelce, who appears to have no ill effects from a hamstring injury, and he got into the red zone with a 28-yard strike to Sammy Watkins.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/sports/football/chiefs-texans.html?emc=rss&partner=rss