Kansas City wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) scores against the Las Vegas Raiders during the second half of an NFL football game on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas.John Locher/The Associated Press
Patrick Mahomes passed for 298 yards and two touchdowns, and Kansas City ended its three-game second-half scoring drought to rally past the Las Vegas Raiders 31-17 on Sunday.
Kansas City (8-3) fell behind 14-0 in the second quarter but tied it by halftime and pulled away after that. Isiah Pacheco rushed for two touchdowns, and Rashee Rice caught eight passes for 107 yards and a TD.
Josh Jacobs rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown for the Raiders (5-7), ending a 12-game streak in which KC did not allow a 100-yard rusher.
The NFL’s reigning rushing champion also broke 1,000 yards from scrimmage this season to become the only player to reach that mark each year since 2019. He joined Hall of Famer Marcus Allen as the only Raiders backs to accomplish that in their first five seasons.
Las Vegas’s Aidan O’Connell passed for 248 yards and a touchdown.
KC has held 11 consecutive opponents to 24 or fewer points, just three off the team record. It shut down the Raiders in the second half, holding them to 113 yards after Las Vegas picked up 245 in the first two quarters.
Kansas City extended its winning streak to six games over the Raiders, and KC has beaten its AFC West rival in 16 of the past 18 meetings.
More importantly for KC, it bounced back from a 21-17 loss Monday night to Philadelphia, a Super Bowl rematch in which several receivers dropped passes.
Those receivers did a much better job against Las Vegas, especially after KC fell into an early 14-point hole.
The Raiders took the lead on an 18-yard pass from O’Connell to Jakobi Meyers and a 63-yard run by Jacobs in which he stiff-armed safety Mike Edwards. But Las Vegas also left points on the board when interim coach Antonio Pierce eschewed going for it on fourth-and-one and Daniel Carlson missed a 30-yard field goal to the right.
Kansas City answered with two short touchdowns in the second quarter to tie the game and end a three-period scoreless stretch. Pacheco rushed for a one-yard score and Mahomes connected with Justin Watson on a three-yard TD 25 seconds before the break.
KC took a 21-14 lead to open the second half on another one-yard Pacheco touchdown run. They took full control early in the fourth when Mahomes converted a third-and-six with a short pass to Rice, who manoeuvred down the left sideline for a 39-yard touchdown and a 28-17 lead.
KC’s next game is at Green Bay on Sunday night.