Arrowhead Pride
In Week 3’s “Sunday Night Football,” the Kansas City Chiefs collected their first victory of the 2025 season: a 22-9 road win against the New York Giants. Much of the game was sloppy and ugly, but Kansas City did enough to improve to 1-2 before next weekend’s matchup with the Baltimore Ravens.
The Chiefs won the coin toss and deferred. Harrison Butker sent the ball to Giants running back Devin Singletary, who returned the kick to the New York 31-yard line to begin the drive. The Giants began with a run heavy approach. Running back Tyrone Trace was involved on New York’s first five plays, gaining 28 scrimmage yards. Rookie running back Cam Skattebo mixed in with an 11-yard gain, before being stopped for a yard. The Giants would stall at the Kansas City 28-yard line. With kicker Graham Gano reportedly going back to the locker room after injuring his groin in warmups, New York elected to go for a fourth-and-3. Linebacker Nick Bolton batted down Russell Wilson’s intended pass to Tracy, and the Chiefs took over at their own 28.
The Chiefs quickly reached third-and-3 after a short Patrick Mahomes run followed by a pass to running back Isiah Pacheco. Mahomes found wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster to move the chains. Mahomes appeared to have a spectacular throw to tight end Noah Gray to move into Giant territory, but the play was negated by a holding call on rookie tackle Josh Simmons. Smith-Schuster then converted a second-and-17 on a catch-and-run. The Chiefs would gain another first down and advance to the New York 36-yard line, but the early season struggles of the offense continued with three incomplete Mahomes passes. Butker came on for a 54-yard field goal. His kick hit the right upright with a loud DOINK! Fortunately, the ball bounced in, narrowly opening the lead at Chiefs 3, Giants 0.
Singletary returned Butker’s kick to the Giants’36-yard line to start the drive. A Wilson pass to wideout Darius Slayton just fell short of the line, but Tracy’s second down carry moved the chains. On the next set of downs, however, Tracy took the first two carries for five yards, but he was injured on the second play. Skattebo lost a yard on a pass on third down, and the Giants punted. Jamie Gillan’s kick was downed at the Kansas City 19-yard line, where Mahomes and company took over.
On first down, Kareem Hunt took a handoff for three yards, and the first quarter came to an end, with the Chiefs facing second-and-7 from their own 22-yard line.
A screen pass to Hunt gave Kansas City a first down to start the next frame. A bizarre sequence on the next play had Mahomes believing he had thrown an incomplete pass to Pacheco — but in reality, he threw a backwards pass and lost eight yards on a fumble. On second-and-18, Mahomes did complete a pass to Gray to gain significant yardage, but an illegal contact...
