Kansas City Chiefs Torch NFL's Best Defense In Prime Time Victory Over Buccaneers

TAMPA - With all respect to Tom Brady, it had been the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that brought the most impressive statistical rank into Sunday night's meeting with the Kansas City Chiefs.

But it didn't hold up.

The Bucs had allowed only 27 points in their first three games of the season. They led the NFL in points allowed average at 9 points per game.

But the Chiefs, behind the stellar work of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, had 14 points by the end of the first quarter.

They had 28 points by halftime.

And the avalanche of points didn't stop in the second half as the Chiefs swept aside the vaunted Tampa defense in a 41-24 victory on Sunday Night Football.

Chiefs Offense Finds Holes In Bucs D

For the Chiefs, this was the second-highest points production of the season, trailing only the 44 points against Arizona in the regular-season opener.

But it was more than that.

This was KC coach Andy Reid's offense out-scheming, out-smarting and simply out-classing the Tampa head coach Todd Bowles defense.

I mean, a 40-burger?

And the Chiefs rolled out a couple of unique plays.

This is not to suggest the Buccaneers didn't fight. Tom Brady did in fact get his team to answer Kansas City scores five times.

The problem is the Chiefs scored seven times.

Mahomes completed 23 of 37 passes for 249 yards with 3 TDs. He threw a fourth-quarter interception that made that led to a Tampa TD -- a score that made the game's score closer than how it felt.

Brady finished this game completing 39 of 52 for 385 yards with 3 TDs. He didn't throw an interception as he and Mike Evans combined for the two scoring passes.

So in a game Brady played like, well, Brady, the Buccaneers trailed the entire game and lost anyway.

Think about that.

Buccaneers Made Too Many Mistakes

The Buccaneers other problem is they struggled with turnovers while the Chiefs had yielded only one.

Tampa Bay fumbled the opening kickoff. And that led to a KC touchdown.

Brady was sacked, fumbled and the Chiefs recovered at the Bucs' 20 yard line. And that led to a touchdown.

Despite Tampa's solid (not great) offensive effort, the club finds itself having lost consecutive homes games now. That's trouble for the 2-2 team.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, are 3-1 and find themselves exactly where they've been the past couple of years -- leading the AFC West.

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