Texans @ Chiefs · Week 3 — SapphireSportz

WEEK 3 · FINAL

THE READ

Chiefs win the turnover battle and the game

Kansas City rolled past Houston 45-29 in a game that looked decided long before the final whistle, with the Chiefs' balanced attack—155 yards on the ground, 225 through the air—overwhelming a Texans offense that couldn't protect the football. Dante Moore threw 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in 252 yards of work, while Patrick Mahomes needed just 11 completions on 18 attempts to match that TD total with only 1 turnover; Kenneth Walker added 80 yards and a score on the ground. The differential in giveaways told the story—Houston coughed it up 4 times to KC's 1—and it's the kind of self-inflicted damage that explains why one team is 3-0 and the other is 0-3. The Texans stayed aggressive through the air as usual, but when you're turning it over at that rate, scheme doesn't matter much.

Elise Carter The insider

THE WIDER PICTURE

Team	SRS	SOS	MARGIN	TO +/-
Texans	-16.6	+2.0	-18.6	-10
Chiefs	+5.9	-3.1	+9.0	+6

SRS is how many points a side beats an average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20. SOS is how hard that schedule has been. Full table.

Chiefs — AFC #6 · 3-1 Playoff picture →

In the MVP race

#12 Patrick Mahomes QB · Chiefs · 1.3% of the field

The whole board →

IN THE BOOTH

Riley Parker The chaos merchant

Houston threw it 24 times and still couldn't move the ball—but the real killer was coughing it up 4 times while Kansas City turned it over just once, and that's a 16-point swing you cannot survive.

Sierra Vaughn Analyst · replying

Mahomes threw 1 interception to Moore's 3, and completed his passes at a higher rate on 7 fewer attempts—that's the kind of efficiency gap that turns a close game into a 16-point rout.

They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers — none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that did not happen.

Dante Moore

Texans

16/24, 252 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT

Patrick Mahomes

Chiefs

11/18, 225 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT

Kenneth Walker

Chiefs

10 carries, 80 yards, 1 TD

THE STORY SO FAR

⭐ Kenneth Walker has not had a better afternoon this season.

⭐ Ashton Jeanty has not had a better afternoon this season.

WHAT DECIDED IT

On the ground Chiefs 155, Texans 62 Chiefs

Total yards Chiefs 380, Texans 314 Chiefs

Through the air Texans 252, Chiefs 225 Texans

Giveaways Chiefs 1, Texans 4 Chiefs

THE ROOM Final. The recap is below.

📺 THE WEEK 3 SHOW this game is in the week's show ▶ Watch the show

THE MATCHUP SCOUT every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling

LEAGUE DATA counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it

Pass-heavy Pass 69% · Rush 31% · 24.8 scored, 43.4 allowed

9.8 yds/att 55.6% completions 5.2 yds/carry 240.4 yds/game 3.4 giveaways/game 11.6% sack rate last 5: 0-5

Primary weapon: Kyle Williams WR — 28% of the receiving yards · DEPENDENCY MODERATE

SAPPHIRE METRICS QB efficiency 56 · Aggressive Balance 81 Ball security 5 Back usage 23% QB runs 2.2/game

Most exposed: ball security -- 3.4 giveaways a game

PERSONNEL off the roster — unit averages, best starters only

QB 83 WR 86 TE 69 RB 87 OL 80 DL 83 LB 80 DB 88

Best: Will Anderson Jr LEDG 96 Fastest: Kyle Williams WR 94 SPD 11 at star dev or better

YOUR NOTEBOOK what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic

HOW THEY PLAY the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season

Chiefs

Chiefs · his last 4 games

Runs it

Pass / run54% / 46% Points for / against36.2 — 27.2 Margin+9.0 Giveaways a game1.8 Sacks taken8.8% of dropbacks Lead backKenneth Walker · 13.2/g Top targetXavier Worthy · 31% QB carries3.8 a game

Brayden

Texans · his last 5 games

Throws it Gives it away One back Takes sacks

Pass / run69% / 31% Points for / against24.8 — 43.4 Margin-18.6 Giveaways a game3.4 Sacks taken11.6% of dropbacks Lead backAshton Jeanty · 6.6/g Top targetKyle Williams · 28% QB carries2.0 a game

Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.

THE SERIES Brayden against Chiefs — the men, not the teams

Chiefs leads it 1-0. Chiefs won the last one.

1 meeting avg 29.0 — 45.0 biggest: 16 pts to Chiefs

S2 · week 3 Brayden 29 — 45 Chiefs CHIEFS

Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.

MATCHUP ADVANTAGES unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push

Texans receivers vs Chiefs secondary 86 v 81 TEXANS

Chiefs receivers vs Texans secondary 86 v 88 EVEN

Texans line vs Chiefs front 80 v 88 CHIEFS

Chiefs line vs Texans front 85 v 83 EVEN

Texans backs vs Chiefs run defence 87 v 86 EVEN

Chiefs backs vs Texans run defence 84 v 82 EVEN

Texans passer vs Chiefs secondary 83 v 81 EVEN

Chiefs passer vs Texans secondary 99 v 88 CHIEFS

TOP PERFORMERS

Dante Moore QB Texans 252 pass yds

Patrick Mahomes QB Chiefs 225 pass yds

Kenneth Walker HB Chiefs 80 rush yds

Nico Collins WR Texans 76 rec yds

Kyle Williams WR Texans 74 rec yds

Rashee Rice WR Chiefs 70 rec yds

Patrick Mahomes QB Chiefs 68 rush yds

Xavier Worthy WR Chiefs 67 rec yds

Marlin Klein TE Texans 53 rec yds

Will Anderson Jr LEDG Texans 1.5 sacks

🎬 The Game Recap
this game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›

BOX SCORE

TEXANS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Dante Moore QB	16/24	252	3	3	2	45	101.3

CHIEFS

PLAYER	C/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	SCK	LNG	RTG
Patrick Mahomes QB	11/18	225	3	1	2	62	121.5

TEXANS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG	FUM
Ashton Jeanty HB	10	39	3.9	1	0	14	15	0
Dante Moore QB	3	23	7.7	0	0	5	11	0
Jaylin Noel WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Odell Beckham Jr WR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1

CHIEFS

PLAYER	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	BTK	YAC	LNG
Kenneth Walker HB	10	80	8	1	0	12	31
Patrick Mahomes QB	4	68	17	1	0	2	42
Rashee Rice WR	1	7	7	0	1	2	7
Xavier Worthy WR	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

TEXANS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Nico Collins WR	5	76	15.2	1	11	38
Kyle Williams WR	3	74	24.7	2	35	45
Marlin Klein TE	3	53	17.7	0	13	37
Ashton Jeanty HB	2	31	15.5	0	27	22
Jaylin Noel WR	1	9	9	0	8	9
Odell Beckham Jr WR	2	9	4.5	0	0	6

CHIEFS

PLAYER	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	YAC	LNG
Rashee Rice WR	4	70	17.5	1	36	32
Xavier Worthy WR	2	67	33.5	1	10	62
Ryan Wlliams WR	2	40	20	1	2	30
Travis Kelce TE	2	36	18	0	10	31
Kenneth Walker HB	1	12	12	0	13	12

TEXANS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD
Quincy Williams WILL	4	0	0	0
Kamari Lassiter CB	3	0	0	1
Jalen Pitre CB	2	0	0	0
Wade Woodaz WILL	2	0	0	0
Kamari Ramsey FS	2	0	1	0
Henry To'oTo'o WILL	1	0	0	0
Reed Blankenship SS	1	0	0	0
Will Anderson Jr LEDG	1	1.5	0	0
Derek Stingley Jr CB	1	0	0	0
Matt Jones WILL	1	0	0	0
Azeez Al-Shaair MIKE	1	0.5	0	0
Kayden McDonald DT	1	0.5	0	0
Bray Hubbard SS	0	0	0	2

CHIEFS

PLAYER	TKL	SCK	INT	PD	FF	TD
Chamarri Conner FS	4	0	0	0	0	0
Jadon Canady SS	2	0	0	1	1	0
Brice Po Llock CB	2	0	2	0	0	1
Mansoor Delane CB	2	0	0	0	0	0
George Karlaftis LEDG	2	1	0	0	0	0
Jaden Hicks SS	2	0	0	1	0	0
Kader Kohou CB	1	0	0	0	0	0
Kristian Fulton CB	1	0	0	0	0	0
R Mason Thomas LEDG	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jeffrey Bassa WILL	1	0	0	0	0	0
Drue Tranquill WILL	1	0	1	0	0	0
Chris Jones DT	1	1	0	0	0	0
Darius Muasau WILL	1	0	0	0	0	0

TEXANS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Ka'imi Fairbairn K	1/1	2/2	50

CHIEFS

PLAYER	FG	XP	LNG
Harrison Butker K	1/1	6/6	24

RECENT FORM

Texans

L 0–42 vs Bengals WK 2

L 33–42 vs Bills WK 1

Chiefs

W 41–16 vs Broncos WK 2

W 27–23 vs Lions WK 1

TEAM STATS

Texans		Chiefs
314	TOTAL YARDS	380
252	PASSING YARDS	225
62	RUSHING YARDS	155
2	SACKS ALLOWED	2
2.5	SACKS MADE	2
4	GIVEAWAYS	1
1	TAKEAWAYS	4

Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.

ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD

0 TEXANS — 1 CHIEFS

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