Five takeaways from Chiefs' 35-12 win over Jets

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Nov 8, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs won a game comfortably after they spent the majority of it uncomfortable.

That’s especially the quarterback, who injured his elbow before returning.

The Chiefs beat the New York Jets 35-12 to snap a two-game skid.

Patrick Mahomes was in considerable pain after taking a second-quarter sack, grimacing and reaching for his elbow ... but he stayed in the game, and the Chiefs cruised in the second half. They lost wide receiver Xavier Worthy to a leg injury late, and tackle Jaylon Moore left with an ankle injury.

See, not exactly as comfortable as the score indicated.

Here are five observations from immediately after the game:

The receiving backs

Mahomes had some success throwing it ... to the running back.

Mahomes found Kenneth Walker III twice for first-half touchdowns, each of them beautifully designed plays.

That’s actually part of the point. The Chiefs can design passing plays for the running back and they increasingly must design passing plays for the running back — because the wide receivers aren’t making enough plays.

It’s worked for the moment, though. A year ago, Mahomes ranked 50th in EPA (expected points added) when targeting running backs. That’s not a typo. There were nearly two dozen backup quarterbacks more effective throwing to running backs over the course of the season.

His ranking this year: No. 1.

Walker, whom the Seattle Seahawks did not use in the passing game in 2025, had two receiving touchdowns Sunday. Emmett Johnson, who did not get a touch on offense until the fourth quarter, had a 70-yard receiving touchdown a week ago in Denver.

Sacked!

At last, the Chiefs got to the quarterback.

The Chiefs have spent the past month getting near the quarterback, but they have turned the lowest percentage of pressures into sacks in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats.

The pressures finally became sacks.

George Karlaftis has been the picture of that stat — pressures without sacks — but he got to Geno Smith twice. Ashton Gillotte earned his first sack of the year. Chris Jones also had his first two full sacks this season.

The pressures are good indicators of future habits, but here’s the effect of actual sacks: The Jets did not score on any of the five drives in which the Chiefs recorded sacks.

A sloppy first half

It ended with a comfortable win.

It began sloppy.

The Jets held the ball for more than eight minutes on their opening drive. The Chiefs fumbled twice in their initial four touches — a Cyrus Allen kick return and a Justin Fields quarterback sneak.

They fumbled four times in the opening half alone — the final two by Mahomes on sacks. The final injured his throwing elbow, but he did not miss an offensive snap.

Not to be outdone, Harrison Butker had the final word of the half when he missed a field goal, was awarded a second attempt after a flag, and then missed it again.

The Chiefs actually led a football game at halftime with all of that true. The opponent helped.

The break helped too, apparently. The Chiefs out-gained the Jets 152 to minus-9 yards in the third quarter alone.

A sneak?

Finally, the Chiefs tried a quarterback sneak.

It might be a minute before they try another.

Fields fumbled a sneak attempt on third-and-short, leading to a Jets field goal. Fields, the backup quarterback, never fully grasped the snap, and therefore never had a chance to gain a yard. The Chiefs also notably did not try the traditional Tush Push but rather the old-school quarterback sneak.

It didn’t work.

But it was worth the try.

The problem isn’t that the Chiefs tried something without Mahomes. It’s that they have no choice but to try something different, because the traditional short yardage plays aren’t working. We all know how last week ended, but the short-yardage execution has been a multi-week problem. The Chiefs are 21st in the NFL in short-yardage conversions.

I’ve said it before and will say it again: Kareem Hunt remains available.

The division race

The most challenging stretch of the Mahomes Era is on the horizon.

On Thanksgiving, the Chiefs will play the Buffalo Bills, a team that’s beaten them in five straight regular seasons. That’s not the half of it. Actually, it’s just a fifth of it. The Chiefs follow the Bills with games against the Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers.

All five opponents rank in the top-9 on the all-encompassing DVOA metric from FTN Fantasy. (The Chiefs are No. 8, so they play five of the other eight best teams in the league.

Heading into the week, the Chiefs had the seventh-hardest remaining schedule in the league. The Denver Broncos had the sixth easiest.

It sure feels like the Chiefs need to go unbeaten against the Jets, Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals before that stretch arrives.

One down, two to go.

____