The Kansas City Chiefs stayed red-hot on Monday, cruising to a 28-7 win over the Washington Commanders to win their third straight and five of their last six games.
From the opening whistle, Kansas City dominated an injury-depleted Commanders team that was without starting quarterback Jayden Daniels, running back Austin Ekeler, who’s on season-ending IR, wide receiver Noah Brown, and lost starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil early in the game to the tune of 432 yards of total offense and a near 10-minute advantage in time of possession.
And while the Chiefs offense couldn’t be stopped, Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu nearly took one of their weapons out with a play that was recently banned by the NFL.
Early in the fourth quarter, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes scrambled out of the pocket and hit tight end Noah Gray across the middle for a first down.
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Luvu wrapped Gray up around the waist and then fell backward, throwing all of his weight back while bending Gray in an awkward position with a hip-drop tackle. The move had been deemed too dangerous by the NFL and outlawed the tackle in March of 2024.
Fortunately, Gray wasn’t injured on the play, and Luvu wasn’t penalized, but because he used the illegal maneuver, he was hit with a monster $46,372 fine on Saturday for unnecessary roughness (hop-drop tackle) — the largest fine of the week handed out by the league.
Luvu finished the game with three tackles and a QB hit, while Gray had two catches for 25 yards.
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The Chiefs’ three-game win streak has them tied with the Los Angeles Chargers (5-3) for second place in the AFC West, just one game back of the Denver Broncos (6-2).
Conversely, the Commanders (3-5), losers of three straight, sit in third place in the NFC East and are three games back of the Philadelphia Eagles (6-2) for the division lead.
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