2024 NFL Season, Week 5: What We Learned from Chiefs’ win over Saints on Monday night Oct 07, 2024

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Published: Oct 07, 2024 at 11:19 PM

Kansas City Chiefs 26, New Orleans Saints 13

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RE-WATCH: Saints-Chiefs on NFL+READ: Saints’ Carr exits in fourth quarter with oblique injuryREAD: JuJu, Hunt turn back clock with 100-yard performances in winREAD: 324-pound Saunders on INT: ‘Running back days flashed in my head’READ: Mahomes: People starting to realize ‘our defense is playing their tail off’Chiefs continue to win ugly. When Kansas City selected Xavier Worthy in the first round, fantasy football diehards rejoiced. Finally, the Chiefs would boast an explosive offense again! Well, that hasn’t come to fruition through five weeks, but the numbers that matter — wins and losses — are still landing in the proper column for Kansas City, which moved to 5-0 by racking up 460 yards of offense, yet rarely looking pretty doing so. Patrick Mahomes was once again a maestro of Andy Reid’s offense, extending plays and connecting with a ragtag bunch of pass catchers (outside of the very famous Travis Kelce), but the Chiefs did run into some issues in the red zone. They failed to produce a touchdown on four straight trips to the red zone Monday night, and missed a field goal, allowing the Saints to stay in a game that they should’ve chalked up as a loss well before it was decided. And yet, much like their wins over Los Angeles, Atlanta and Baltimore, the Chiefs found a way to get the job done. They continue to look like the back-to-back champions they are, even if folks want to nitpick because it isn’t pretty enough.The high-powered Saints have disappeared. Those jubilant first two weeks of the 2024 season seem as if they happened months ago at this point. After piling up 91 points in their first two games, the Saints have produced 49 over their last three, which have each ended in defeat. This was even more disappointing than their late-game meltdown in a Week 3 loss to Philadelphia, because they were dominated in time of possession nearly 2-1. They failed to run the ball well and often put Derek Carr in unwinnable situations, which only added to a very uncomfortable night for the quarterback, who often appeared out of sorts and sped up by Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. Too frequently, Carr was forced to drop back and heave prayers downfield as the Chiefs’ pass rush closed in on him, starting with their very first possession of the drive (which ended in a Bryan Cook interception on a ball Carr intended to throw into the sideline). The Saints are unbalanced and save for an occasional deep shot to Rashid Shaheed, look more like their dreadful 2023 version, not the exciting unit that started the season on a heater. At 2-3, they need to figure this out quickly.Let’s be honest about Patrick Mahomes. Look, the numbers aren’t what we’ve come to expect from the superstar quarterback, but for those who scan the box scores, just look at who he’s playing with right now. Kareem Hunt and Carson Steele are his best two ball-carrying options. The Chiefs have relied on 12 personnel at a rate (26%) that ranks 10th in the NFL, and because they lost Rashee Rice last week, Mahomes’ job became that much more difficult Monday night. Luckily, Smith-Schuster had his best game in nearly two years and was able to shake off a drop that could’ve changed the game dramatically. But as the film suggests, make no mistake, Mahomes’ playmaking ability is what is keeping this offense afloat. The mere fact he threw for 331 yards with Smith-Schuster, Travis Kelce, rookie Xavier Worthy and a cast of relative randoms should be commended, statistics be damned.Steve Spagnuolo’s brand still works. Whenever a defense pressures a quarterback at a rate beyond 50 percent, it usually means you had a good night. That was the case for the Chiefs’ defense, which pressured Saints quarterbacks 21 times — good for a rate of 55.3% — Monday night while blanketing Saints receivers for an average target separation of 2.8 yards. Spags dialed up the blitz 14 times, but because the Chiefs’ rush was so effective, it felt like that number could have been well over 20. When it came to third down (and in the fourth quarter, fourth down), everyone knew what was coming, yet the Saints had no answer for it. Through the first four weeks, Kansas City was a slightly better than average defense, but performances like Monday night’s can be the start of a gradual ascension, much like the one that helped the Chiefs win the Super Bowl last season. I’m not guaranteeing that right now, but considering they’re a top-five unit in points per game allowed, total yards per game allowed and sacks since 2023, I have a feeling it’s going to follow that route.Dennis Allen’s defense is hurting. New Orleans entered Monday night without linebackers Pete Werner and Willie Gay Jr., plus defensive end Payton Turner, which obviously didn’t help their efforts. But this group — which is supposed to be Allen’s specialty — isn’t playing well enough right now. At the start of Week 5, New Orleans ranked 17th in total yards allowed per game and 24th in passing yards per game, surrendering an average of 233.8 per game. Mahomes shattered that mark with 331 Monday night. New Orleans did stand tall in the red zone, living up to its billing as being the NFL’s best red zone defense heading into Week 5, but when the offense is stuck in a rut and the defense is giving up 460 total yards despite registering a QB pressure rate over 34%, that’s not a good sign. The lone highlights came in the red zone (e.g., Khalen Saunders’ magical interception), but the goal is to avoid trips to that area. The Saints didn’t do that well enough Monday night.Next Gen Stats insight from Saints-Chiefs (via NFL Pro): At 324 pounds, Saints defensive tackle Khalen Saunders reached a top speed of 15.79 mph on his 36-yard interception return, the third-fastest speed by a ball carrier who weighs over 320 pounds since 2016.

NFL Research: JuJu Smith Schuster finished with seven catches for 130 yards Monday night, marking his first 100-plus-yard game since Week 7 of the 2022 season, during his last stint with Kansas City. Smith-Schuster went 24 games without breaking the 100-yard mark prior to Monday.