Chiefs vs. Patriots: Highlights, game tracker and more

The New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs faced off on Thursday, Sept. 7 in NFL Week 1. Here are the highlights and recap from the game.

This isn’t the preseason anymore. On Thursday night, the Kansas City Chiefs traveled to Gillette Stadium to face the New England Patriots to start the 2017 NFL season. This is a matchup many NFL fans have been looking forward to, partially for the quality of the matchup and partially because it just means that pro football has returned.

Right out of the gates, it looked as if the Patriots were just going to decimate the Chiefs. Tom Brady and company marched down the field methodically for 73 yards. That culminated with a short rushing touchdown for new addition Mike Gillislee. To make matters worse, Chiefs rookie Kareem Hunt fumbled on his first career carry to start the next drive, and the loose ball was recovered by New England.

Rather than roll over, though, Kansas City was able to fight. They forced a turnover on downs — thanks largely to an overturned touchdown call — and took the ball downfield on the ensuing possession. They were able to tie things up there with a touchdown pass from Alex Smith.

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The Patriots then put their foot on the gas once again, though, scoring a field goal and another touchdown (Gillislee) while stifling the Chiefs offense overall. Subsequently, they looked as if they might go into the half with a comfortable 10-point lead. Smith had other plans, however.

Smith got the ball back after a big stop from his defense and was able to have a nice drive. When Malcolm Butler was called for defensive pass interference in the end zone, the Chiefs then got down inside the 5-yard line and were able to punch it in with the rookie Hunt as he bounced to the outside off the tackle. That ended the half with New England ahead, 17-14.

However, the second half started a different story entirely. While it looked like the Patriots might again try to pull out a lead, the Chiefs had other plans. Smith looked perhaps the best he ever has in this offense, throwing the ball downfield and building drives. But even more impressive was the rookie Hunt.

Whether he was breaking off big chunks of yardage or catching long touchdown passes, Hunt simply gashed New England’s defense again and again. And when KC pulled out to a two-score lead, the defense stepped up and didn’t let anything get going for the Pats. That allowed the Chiefs move to where they could milk the clock and take a huge upset win in the season-opener.

Highlights

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Next: NFL 2017: Predicting each team's Win-Loss record

This is just an enormous win for the Chiefs in this matchup. They were heavy underdogs against a team many thought could put together a perfect season. So to put up this performance was huge for Kansas City.