The Chiefs passing game got back on track, but the result of the game remained an unhappy one for Kansas City.
Josh McCown’s second rushing touchdown of the game put the Jets up 38-31 just before the two minute warning and Alex Smith couldn’t get the Chiefs into the end zone after a long pass to Tyreek Hill put them in Jets territory with over a minute left in the game. The loss drops the Chiefs to 6-6 after a 5-0 start and wins by the Raiders and/or Chargers will give them company in first place in the AFC West.
This loss was a particularly painful one as Smith opened the game with two touchdown passes to Travis Kelce that opened a 14-0 lead that the Jets were able to erase on their way to a 21-17 halftime lead. Smith threw two more touchdowns to Hill in the second half -- a 79-yard strike followed by a 40-yarder -- while the Jets were kicking three field goals, which left the Chiefs up 31-30 with over nine minutes to go.
McCown hit Jermaine Kearse for 51 yards to move the ball inside the Chiefs’ 5-yard-line and touch off a sequence that will live in infamy for the Chiefs if they can’t find their footing in the final four weeks. They stopped the Jets and forced a field goal try, but Bennie Logan was flagged for an illegal hit on Jets long snapper Thomas Hennessy. Two more stops were undone by a defensive holding penalty on cornerback Steven Nelson and an apparent stop on a two-point try by the Jets was wiped out by another flag.
Cornerback Marcus Peters threw that flag into the stands to earn an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Peters also thought he was ejected as he ran to the locker room before someone let him know that he had not been disqualified from the contest.
McCown ended the day 26-of-36 for 331 yards while Kearse and Robby Anderson both went over 100 receiving yards. Anderson was held without a touchdown, which ends a five-game scoring streak, but it was another fine day for a surprisingly good Jets passing attack.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis was supposed to have a hand in stopping that, but Revis did not play in the second half of his first game since signing with Kansas City last month. There was no apparent injury, just further insult to a team that wishes it were still September.