Detroit beats Kansas City in NFL opener

The Lions of Detroit have prevailed in the early hours of this Friday by 21-20 against the Chiefs of Kansas City at Arrowhead, in what was the first game of the football season. The current champions, with the MVP from last season, the quarterback Patrick Mahomes, in charge, felt the significant losses due to injury of Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, his receiver and his star defender respectively, and could not make their home field count.

The first quarter of the game was for the Lions, who went ahead 7-0 on the scoreboard, after Jared Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown, one of the most outstanding players of the night, at the Kansas City three-yard line. He wide receiver He shined this morning with six receptions and 71 yards traveled in total.

The Chiefs They reacted quickly and Mahomes, who finished the game with 21/39 passes completed and 226 yards thrown, led the charge with two passes for touchdown in the second quarter, which ended 14-7 in favor of Andy Reid’s team. He first connected with Rashee Rice and then with Blake Bell to put his team ahead before halftime.

Upon returning from halftime, Kansas City had recovered from the bitter pill that was the first period and seemed headed for a victory in front of the 76,000 fans who gathered at Arrowhead to see their team’s debut. However, it was then that Brian Branch, a defensive newcomer from the University of Alabama in the draft April, made the play of the game.

The 21-year-old rookie intercepted a pass in which Mahomes wanted to find Kadarius Toney and on that same play he traveled 50 yards to the rival end zone, a maneuver known as pick six. In this way, Branch returned to the game at Lionswho tied the match with the extra point (14-14).

After that, Kansas City’s offense became cloudy and Mahomes missed the injured Kelce, his most reliable partner when solving games. The Chiefs They couldn’t find any other touchdown the rest of the game and had to settle for two field goals, made by kicker Harrison Butker, to make the game 20-14, with the risk that a single score by Detroit would be enough to turn the game around.

Knowing that it was his moment, he quarterback Goff, who completed 22/35 passes in total and reached 253 yards in throws, led his team in the fourth quarter and established them in Red zone of rival territory. There, at the eight yard line, he gave the ball to running back David Montgomery, who broke the Kansas City defensive line in the middle and set the final score of the game (21-20).

Mahomes had seven minutes left on the board and three timeouts, a context that for someone of his caliber seemed enough to reverse the result. However, between offensive infractions and failed catches, one of them very notable by Toney, his teammates made it difficult for him to make a comeback, which finally ended with a desperate 25-yard throw on fourth down that ended in an incomplete pass.

In this way, Detroit rings the first bell of the season in the opening game of the competition. The team coordinated by Dan Campbell gave the Chiefs just their tenth loss in fifty home games since Mahomes has been on the team. This is an important victory for the Lionswhich reaffirms the objective of qualifying for the playoffs at the end of the season, an instance that the franchise has not reached since 2016 and in which it has not won a game since 1992.

For its part, Kansas City will have to clean its wounds and turn the page to try to show that a fall in the first game does not change its status as one of the favorites to repeat the title this season. The Chiefs They have been the most dominant team in the NFL in the last five years, winning two championships and playing at least the conference final every year, the game that precedes the superbowl.

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