The Las Vegas Raiders scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:43 left on the clock. Against Patrick Mahomes, they might as well have left an hour.
The Chiefs quarterback guided a seven-play, 75-yard TD drive in 1:15, culminating in a 22-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Travis Kelce, to give K.C. a 35-31 victory over the division-rival Raiders.
With the Raiders on the doorstep of taking the lead before the two-minute warning, coach Andy Reid was asked after the win whether he considered letting Vegas score to secure more time for the rebuttal. Reid rightly didn't feel like he needed to save any additional ticks on the clock.
"I've got Pat Mahomes, you give me a minute and a half, and I'm pretty good right there," he said, via the team's official transcript. "There's a time and a place for (allowing an opponent to score). That wasn't the situation. I hoped we had plenty of time. If we didn't have enough time, I'd be sitting here telling you something different. But we had enough time to get rolling."
The Chiefs' last drive of the game was the easiest. Mahomes sliced through the Raiders defense like a carving knife through a moist turkey. On the drive, Mahomes went 6-of-7 passing for 75 yards and the score.
The signal-caller was asked what he thought after the Raiders nailed the touchdown to retake the lead.
"That we're going to score," he replied. "I just didn't know if it was going to be overtime or we were going to win it."
Win it he did, and with plenty of time to spare.
It was Mahomes' seventh career game-winning drive (including playoffs). Mahomes leads all QBs with six wins since 2018 when his team allowed at least 30 points in a game.
"I take him over everybody, and I'm lucky to have him," Reid said. "As we are as a football team and as we are as a city. I know we're all proud of him and the way he goes about his business. When you're behind, he can make things happen. He sees, he's got great vision. He's got guys, who believe in him, around him and work like crazy to get themselves open. Again, this is just a good football team. Like I said, I'm proud of the way they handled this. This could've easily went the other way and it didn't. And it's because they bear down."
