The freeze-frame captured Chiefs receiver Tyquan Thornton on his back and a defender smothered atop him, keeping Thornton’s face hidden from view, the football hidden from view and just about everything hidden from view other than a lone finger pointing to the sky.
And, man, if there isn’t a more fitting image. Down. But not out. The Chiefs, the three-time defending AFC champions, turned to a player left on the scrap heap just last season to collect their long-awaited first win of the season. Thornton provided the game-sealing catch in a 22-9 victory against the Giants here in New Jersey.
And when I say the Chiefs turned to him, I don’t mean by process of elimination or as the product of some sort of chain reaction that left them without a viable option.
They went to him by choice. The quarterback’s choice, to be precise. The Chiefs led by just 7 points midway into the fourth quarter, a third-down snap looming at the 34-yard-line, when quarterback Patrick Mahomes trotted to the sideline. He figured the Giants would play man-to-man defense on the ensuing play, and he had an idea for a call.
And he had an idea for who would be on the other end of it: Thornton.
It didn’t have the impact of 2-3 Jet Chip Wasp. But it had the same backdrop — the quarterback requesting a play, and then dropping deep into the pocket to ensure that would be the very throw he’d make.
Mahomes backpedaled some 14 yards behind the line of scrimmage and rolled to his right before throwing back deep to his left. Thornton was blanketed, if we’re being honest, but Mahomes literally never looked elsewhere.
Thornton had to turn his shoulders to adjust for the flight of the ball. By the time it smacked his hands, you wonder how he even saw it.
It put the Chiefs at the 1-yard line. Kareem Hunt punched the ball in the end zone one play later.
Chiefs 22, Giants 9. “A tremendous catch,” Mahomes said. A tremendous sign. And a tremendous story. The Patriots just flat-out cut Thornton last November, figuring their 4-13 football team would be better off without a former second-round pick than with him.
He was unemployed for about 48 hours before the Chiefs scooped him up, though only on a practice squad contract. For three months, he practiced with the team absent even the possibility of appearing in a game.
And yet ... “Every day was like the Super Bowl to me,” he said.
The practice squad often serves as the scout team during game weeks, not even running their own team’s offense. But occasionally — rarely, but occasionally — Thornton would get a rep with the first team. The Chiefs had some wide receiver injuries last year, in case you don’t recall, and if the offense needed someone to run a deep route, Thornton had a chance.
“I’d throw to him a couple of times last year just to see what he had,” Mahomes said.
The verdict? “You could see he had juice.” The Chiefs won a football game on Sept. 21, 2025 because of a signing they made Nov. 19, 2024. But that’s cutting the process short, actually. They won because of the ensuing 10 months.
Thornton treated those practices like not only a second opportunity, but a last opportunity, he said. The Super Bowl, remember? He joined Mahomes in Texas a couple of months after the real Super Bowl. He asked for extra work after organized team activities (OTAs) days.
And then, on Sept, 21, 2025, a team that desperately needed someone — anyone — to bust them out of their offensive rut, it’s that guy.
“He’s showing some things,” head coach Andy Reid said.
His last catch showed trust. His second showed why. Thornton had five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown here at MetLife Stadium. He already has more yards this season than he had during his last two seasons in New England combined.
The final 33 yards garnered the bulk of this column.
Just five will garner the rest.
The Chiefs — and Giants, for that matter — had nothing going in the first half. Neither team reached the end zone. The best play made by an offensive player came when that offensive player turned into a defender.
Mahomes inexplicably threw the ball backward not once but twice for live balls, and Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke appeared ready to scoop and score the second one before Mahomes burst in to strip it from him.
That’s the top offensive highlight. Really. Reid called the second quarter “hard to watch,” and that’s the guy calling the plays.
The Chiefs put something together on the opening drive of the second half, and facing third-and-3 from the 5-yard-line, one play shy of settling for yet another field goal, they went to Thornton. This one was by chain reaction.
Mahomes wanted to throw the ball to tight end Travis Kelce in the flat, and then turned to a spot-up route from receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. Nothing there, either place.
