Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs certainly are adaptable.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champions won each of their first four games, all of which were one-score games, despite the injury absences of running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and wide receiver Hollywood Brown and despite losing running back Isiah Pacheco to a broken leg in Week 2.
After leading receiver Rashee Rice sustained a knee injury in Week 4, the resilient Chiefs stayed unbeaten by defeating the visiting New Orleans Saints 26-13 on Monday night.
Reid and his team keep getting the job done regardless of the requirements.
Patrick Mahomes didn’t miss all those unavailable weapons, and he didn’t need to throw a touchdown pass as Kansas City ran 29 more plays than New Orleans and had nearly double the time of possession.
Mahomes was efficient, completing 28 of 39 passes, and Reid cobbled together a balanced offense: 139 rushing yards (102 by Kareem Hunt, who was unemployed three weeks ago until Pacheco was injured), 321 passing yards, 460 total yards and 28 first downs.
Hunt had one of the Chiefs’ two rushing touchdowns. The other came when neither a quarterback nor a running back touched the ball, as Travis Kelce took a direct snap and handed the ball to Worthy, who ran 3 yards for a score.
Worthy, the Chiefs’ rookie first-round draft choice, caught just three passes for 25 yards, but Reid found unconventional ways to get the job done on offense. The Chiefs’ defense also limited their teammates’ needs on the other side of the ball by holding the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense to 13 points and 220 yards.
Kansas City has struggled in the red zone in the early season, and that continued Monday. The Chiefs scored on four of their five first-half possessions, but the last three ended with Harrison Butker field goals after drives reached the Saints 8-, 16- and 9-yard lines.
The Chiefs drove to the New Orleans 2 in the third quarter before a Mahomes pass was intercepted in the end zone by defensive tackle Khalen Saunders.
The Saints eventually pulled within three points, but Kansas City never trailed in the game.
JuJu Smith-Schuster was crucial for the Kansas City offense, coming up with seven receptions for 130 yards, and Kelce contributed nine catches for 70 yards.
As for the Saints (2-3 after a third consecutive loss), the presence of a makeshift offensive line led to an absence of impressive offensive statistics. Dual-threat running back Alvin Kamara finished with 26 rushing yards and 40 receiving yards, and Derek Carr passed for just 165 yards (on 18-of-28 passing) before leaving the game because of an oblique injury sustained midway through the fourth quarter.
Carr said he would undergo an MRI exam on Tuesday to assess his status moving forward.
New Orleans reached the Kansas City 39 on the first possession of the game, but Carr, faced with a heavy pass rush, launched an off-balanced throw that was intercepted by Bryan Cook and led to the Chiefs’ first touchdown.
The Saints played catch-up from there and never caught up.
