OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Patrick Mahomes and the dynamic Kansas City Chiefs offense got all of the production they needed in a breathtaking second quarter.
Mahomes bounced back from the first scoreless opening quarter of his career in the regular season by throwing four touchdown passes in a near-perfect second period that led the Chiefs to a 28-10 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
The Raiders (1-1) held Mahomes in check for the opening 15 minutes and kept him off the scoreboard in the second half, but it didn’t matter because he carved up an overmatched defense with big play after big play in the second quarter for the Chiefs (2-0).
“We were just hitting on the plays,” Mahomes said. “We stayed with the same game plan, called the same plays. We hit on them in the second quarter and missed them in the other parts of the game. We had a great quarter. But as an offense there was too much sloppiness. We weren’t as efficient as we usually are.”
Mahomes didn’t take long to get started in the second quarter, finding Demarcus Robinson open on a blown coverage for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first play in the second quarter. He didn’t slow down from there.
After the Raiders opted to punt on a fourth-and-1 near midfield, Mahomes and the Chiefs marched 95 yards and scored when Mahomes found rookie Mecole Hardman on a 42-yard deep strike for his first career catch to give Kansas City a 14-10 lead.
The Chiefs didn’t stop there with Mahomes connecting on two more long TD passes in the final two minutes of the half, a 27-yarder to Travis Kelce and a 39-yarder to Robinson as the absence of injured star Tyreek Hill did little to slow Kansas City.
“That’s just what we do,” Robinson said.
Mahomes finished 30 for 44 for 443 yards. Robinson had six catches for 172 yards and two scores and Kelce had seven catches for 107 yards and a TD to give the Chiefs their ninth win in the past 10 meetings in this long-time rivalry.
The Raiders had broken out to a 10-0 lead with a field goal on the opening drive and a 4-yard TD pass to Tyrell Williams later in the first quarter. But Derek Carr also threw an interception in the end zone on a pass to Williams in the third quarter and the Raiders didn’t score over the final three periods.
“They made some plays, a barrage of plays, in about a five-minute period,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “It really turned the game around.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Mahomes’ 278 yards passing in the second quarter were the most for a player in any quarter since Drew Brees had 294 in the fourth period against Atlanta on Nov. 9, 2008. Mahomes ended the quarter with a bang, with his last five pass attempts each going for at least 27 yards, with TDs to Hardman, Kelce and Robinson. The streak extended with a 28-yarder to Robinson on the first play of the third quarter before Mahomes finally threw an incompletion.
RECORD SETTER
Carr became the Raiders’ career passing leader on a 16-yard pass to Darren Waller in the second quarter, breaking the mark of 19,078 set by Hall of Famer Ken Stabler. Carr finished the day 23 for 38 for 198 yards with one TD and two interceptions. He has 19,196 yards in his career.
GOODBYE DIRT
This is likely the final NFL game ever played with infield dirt on the field with the Raiders next home game not until after the end of the World Series and the team set to move to Las Vegas next year. The Coliseum is the last stadium that hosts both NFL and baseball games and has special meaning to Mahomes, whose father Patrick Mahomes Sr. pitched here exactly 24 years ago, two days before the younger Mahomes was born.
“It was really cool,” Mahomes said of playing on the same dirt his father did.
INJURIES
Chiefs: LT Eric Fisher left on the opening drive after reinjuring his groin that he hurt in practice on Friday. Cam Erving replaced him. … RB Damien Williams (bruised knee) and RB LeSean McCoy (ankle) also got hurt, but those injuries are not believed to be serious.
Raiders: Returner Dwayne Harris injured his left ankle covering a punt in the second quarter and didn’t return. … RT Trent Brown left in the fourth quarter with a sore knee.
UP NEXT
Chiefs: host Baltimore in home opener Sunday.
Raiders: begin a long stretch away from home at Minnesota on Sept. 22. Oakland won’t return to the Coliseum until Nov. 3, with four road games, a bye and a “home” game against Chicago in London on Oct. 6.
