Chiefs maintain unbeaten start to season with comfortable victory over Saints on Monday Night Football

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — The Kansas City Chiefs maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable 26-13 win over the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.

It wasn’t always pretty for the two-time reigning Super Bowl champions, but big performances from returning veterans Kareem Hunt and JuJu Smith-Schuster saw them improve to 5-0.

Hunt finished with 27 carries for 102 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Smith-Schuster had seven catches for 130 receiving yards. Both players had been signed mid-season to cover for the growing injury list Kansas City is dealing with.

The pair’s production ended barren runs stretching back years; Smith-Schuster’s performance was his first 100-yard game since Week 7, 2022, while Hunt’s 100-yard burst was the first time he’d reached the mark since Week 10 in 2020.

Afterwards, quarterback Patrick Mahomes spoke to the effect both players have had since they’ve returned to the team. Hunt was drafted by the Chiefs in 2017 before leaving for the Cleveland Browns and Smith-Schuster was part of the Super Bowl LVII winning side in 2022.

“Coach Reid knowing their skillsets and how to put them in great positions,” Mahomes, who finished with 331 passing yards, no touchdowns and one interception, told reporters. “Kareem just runs extremely hard. He gets every yard out there. He catches the ball and does whatever it takes in order to go out there and win.

“Then JuJu, even when he wasn’t getting many reps, he was in the playbook and learning. The things that he had lost in one year, y’all saw him two years ago. He fits in well in this offense. We did a great job today and it was cool to get those guys going and for them to step up.”

On the other side, the Chiefs defense limited Derek Carr and the Saints to just 220 yards of offense, giving up only two touchdowns while Kansas City’s offense did just enough to continue the winning run.

The tone of the game was set early on when Carr was intercepted by Bryan Cook on the first drive of the game and Hunt scored a touchdown on Kansas City’s first possession.

After a Harrison Butker field goal, New Orleans did reduce the deficit to three points with a 43-yard deep pass from Carr to Rashid Shaheed getting the Saints on the board.

But two more Butker field goals rebuilt Kansas City’s lead before another Saints TD once again made it a three-point game.

When it looked like there might be a close ending, the Chiefs produced their second touchdown drive of the game with rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy running into the endzone from close range.

Worthy was able to celebrate the moment in a special way, giving the touchdown ball to his mother in the stands to celebrate her birthday before exchanging a hug.

A final Butker field goal capped off the victory as the Chiefs continued their excellent opening to the season.

Mahomes credited his team for finding “different ways” to win this season even with the injuries mounting up.

“At the end of the day, our defense is playing their tail off and I think people are starting to come to realize that even more, even when we’re getting these field goals (that) are keeping us in these games,” he told reporters after the game.

“Obviously, offensively we had a better day today – a lot of yards. Now, it’s about finding ways to finish with touchdowns in the red zone so we can make these leaps bigger (and) faster and then we can really let (defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) Spags be Spags. I think if we can do that then we’ll continue to get better and better as the years go on.”

For the Saints, it is their third straight loss after beginning the season electric on offense. The defeat was made even worse when Carr left the game midway through the fourth quarter with an oblique injury.

There was a moment to enjoy for New Orleans fans when the team’s defensive tackle Khalen Saunders intercepted Mahomes in the endzone before running the ball back 36 yards. According to the NFL, Saunders reached a top speed of 15.79 mph on his return, the third-fastest speed by a ball carrier who weighs over 320 pounds since 2016.

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