Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes saves Emmett Johnson's first touchdown ball before Jets game

Emmett Johnson's first NFL touchdown was the longest play the Kansas City Chiefs have run all season. The rookie running back nearly lost the souvenir. Johnson dropped the ball while celebrating his 73-yard catch-and-run against Denver. Patrick Mahomes went and got it so the rookie could keep it, a habit SB Nation's Arrowhead Pride pointed to in its Saturday roundup as another sign of what kind of teammate the quarterback is.

The Kansas City Star noted that Mahomes has done this many times before. He grabbed Skyy Moore's ball after Moore's first career touchdown catch in Super Bowl LVII, and he did the same for Xavier Worthy and for former Chiefs back Isiah Pacheco. Johnson said he only found out afterward. "I had no idea where the ball went," he said in a clip that Heavy wrote about. A teammate told him that Mahomes is known for collecting first touchdown balls.

The moment was easy to miss because the game ended in a 28-24 loss. Johnson was the best thing about it for Kansas City. According to Arrowhead Pride, he caught five passes for 128 yards on just eight routes. That was the only 100-yard receiving game by any NFL running back this season, and it earned him Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week. He has 314 yards from scrimmage on 34 touches this year, but he got only one carry against the Broncos. That has some local voices pushing for him to play a bigger role next to lead back Kenneth Walker.

What it means against the Jets

The Chiefs are 5-2, but they come home on a two-game losing streak. They lost 20-3 at Seattle, then fell by four points in Denver, which ended a five-game winning streak. That run included a 31-10 home win over the Broncos and close road wins at Las Vegas and Miami. The Chiefs host the New York Jets on Sunday, November 8, on CBS. They will play without three young defenders. Chiefs Wire reported that Mansoor Delane (shoulder), Peter Woods (neck stinger) and Omarr Norman-Lott (knee) have all been ruled out.

The losing streak has not changed how the market sees this game. Kansas City is a heavy favorite across the 12 venues on this site's board. On Novig, the Chiefs are -426 to win outright and the Jets are +400. The best Jets price anywhere is +409 at Pinnacle, so the venues are close on the moneyline. They differ more on the spread. Novig has Kansas City favored by 9.5 at even money (-100), while BetMGM has the Chiefs at -8.5 for -110. The total is 47.5 on Novig and 48 at BetMGM. Sportsbook hold on the game runs from about 3.4% to 5.5%, depending on the market.

For the offense, the question is balance. In the last two weeks, Kansas City has scored 27 points across two games. Johnson's 73-yard play showed what happens when the Chiefs give him space in the passing game. Sunday will show whether Andy Reid also plans to give him the ball on running plays.