Kansas City: Jamal Charles, who returned from an ankle injury, scored three touchdowns as the Kansas City Chiefs routed the New England Patriots 41-14 in an National Football League (NFL) contest on Monday night.
Kansas City roared out to a 27-0 lead after three quarters at Arrowhead Stadium and never looked back as they improved to 2-2 on the season.
Charles missed last week’s 34-15 win over Miami with a high ankle sprain he suffered in a week two loss. The 27-year-old from Port Arthur, Texas, rushed the ball 18 times for 92 yards and added three receptions for 16 yards in the victory.
Quarterback Alex Smith completed 20-of-26 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns, Travis Kelce had eight receptions for 93 yards and a score and Knile Davis gained 107 yards on 16 rushes.
New England failed to pass the 300-yard barrier for the third time in four games after doing it just four times last season. New England totalled 290 yards.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was 14-of-23 for 159 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for New England, who suffered their worst loss since a humiliating 41-17 defeat to San Diego in 2005. Brandon LaFell caught six passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
“We couldn’t really move the ball consistently on offence and turned the ball over in the second half,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said.
Sean Smith intercepted a Brady attempted pass to LaFell in the third quarter, which led to a 31-yard Cairo Santos’ field goal, giving the Chiefs a 27-0 lead.
The Patriots finally found the end zone late in the third quarter, when LaFell hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass, cutting the gap to 27-7 at the 3:26 mark. It was their first second-half touchdown this season.
Kansas City added two more scores in the early stages of the fourth. Smith tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to Kelce, and Hussain Abdullah returned a Brady interception 39 yards for a score.
Rob Gronkowski’s 13-yard touchdown catch from back-up Jimmy Garoppolo capped the scoring midway through the quarter.