KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Skyy Moore had another rough day.
The last image of the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense before Sunday’s game at San Francisco kicked off was of Patrick Mahomes getting picked off when a cornerback drove on a pass to Moore.
A second-round pick in last spring’s draft, Moore also serves as the Chiefs’ punt returner.
On the third offensive snap, Mahomes tried to demonstrate confidence in Moore, hoping to get him involved early in a 44-23 win at the 49ers.
Instead, cornerback Tashaun Gipson Sr. drove on the ball, tipping it into the air and allowing safety Talanoa Hufanga to snag the pass for an interception.
“That’s a great learning experience for Skyy on that,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Skyy’s got a wrap-around route right there and we try to put everybody inside-outside, so you’ve got to kind of work into that spot and know how to do it. He got a little bit too high.”
The Niners turned the turnover into a touchdown and an early 10-point lead.
Unfortunately for Moore, he wasn’t done making costly mistakes.
After a terrific defensive stand and cheeky pre-snap shift by Kansas City’s special teams pushed San Francisco out of field-goal range, Moore muffed the punt — and nearly coughed up the Chiefs’ lead.
He also lost a muffed punt in a Sept. 25 loss at Indianapolis and misplayed another, which got downed at the 1-yard line in that game during a disastrous special-teams performance overall.
Moore appeared to lose both punts in the sun at the Colts game, which was played with Lucas Oil Stadium’s roof open.
But Reid expressed absolute faith in Moore, who only had one target and one chance at a punt return in a brutal Week 7 appearance, and has no plans to take away his punt-return duties.
“From what I see — No. 1, he doesn’t hang his head,” Reid said. “Two, he learns from his mistakes. So, that was a tweener thing going on there, and he’ll learn from that. I’m not that worried about him.”
Apparently, neither is Mahomes, who didn’t target Moore again in the game, but he didn’t show too much frustration after his second straight pass to Moore was picked.
“Pat trusts him; that was the positive part,” Reid said. "Next time around, we’ll knock that thing out. They talked through it, and that was a good thing, a good learning experience.”
