KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It might well have been the first time that Patrick Mahomes had lined up in a three-point stance since he was a kid, but that's how they did things back in the 1930s, when the grainy, black-and-white game film that inspired the play was recorded.
The Chiefs quarterback was joined in the backfield, down near the Denver goal line, by backup QB Justin Fields and running back Kenneth Walker III.
Mahomes took the snap as he popped out of his stance, and with everyone flying into motion at once, scooped a little shovel pass to Walker coming across in front of him, and he scooted into the end zone for the touchdown.
“It was called ‘Heisman,’" Mahomes said of the creative play late Monday night. “I can't remember exactly who ran it because it was in black-and-white and it was scratchy when we saw it. It was a play that (offensive line) Coach (Andy) Heck brought to us.”
It was but one play in a dominant performance, but it underscored something important about the Chiefs' 31-10 rout of the AFC West champion Broncos on Monday night: They were back to having fun again.
Last season was decidedly unfun for the Chiefs, who were coming off three consecutive Super Bowl appearances. From the moment Xavier Worthy was injured by his own teammate during a loss in Brazil to open the season, right through the moment Mahomes tore knee ligaments and they were eliminated from playoff contention, the entire run was an exercise in frustration.
The Chiefs finished 6-11. Denver ended their nine-year run atop the division. And people were suddenly wondering whether an aging core of Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and defensive tackle Chris Jones were too far past their prime.
All of them played a role in getting some retribution Monday night.
Mahomes threw for 184 yards and two touchdowns while running for another score, proving that his surgically repaired left knee was just fine nine months to the day after he hurt it. Kelce caught a 59-yard pass and finished with three catches for 71 yards, delighting new wife Taylor Swift, who watched the game in a suite alongside actor Tom Cruise. And Jones played a central role for a defense that held the Broncos to just 176 total yards, and punctuated his play by falling on a fumble.
“I’m not going to say it feels different. This is a positive way (to start)," Jones said, "and there is a lot of momentum we can go into, heading into the season. It’s still one game. There is a lot we can learn from it. I feel like there are a lot of plays, as a defense, that we left on the field. We're going to watch film and see what we can get better at. We will use this momentum off of this win.”
The Chiefs were determined to run the ball, giving it to Walker seven times on the opening series. Their big free-agent signing finished with 173 yards rushing to go with two total touchdowns, giving Kansas City a backfield threat that it hasn't had in ages.
The Chiefs were penalized seven times for 60 yards. Flags were a problem last season, too, and while they didn't necessarily cost them in the win over Denver, they are something the Chiefs need to clean up moving forward.
Defensive back Nohl Williams made plays just about everywhere after first-round pick Mansoor Delane left with a shoulder injury following his interception on the first series of the game. The Chiefs had to rebuild almost their entire secondary in the offseason, and it would be a welcome development if Williams — a third-round pick in the 2025 draft — could emerge as a star.
Rashee Rice took a short catch for a touchdown, bouncing off a couple of Denver defenders on the way. But most of the night, Chiefs wide receivers struggled to get separation, and that hamstrung Mahomes' ability to deliver the ball downfield.
Delane missed a chunk of the offseason with a right shoulder injury, and there is concern that he aggravated the same injury against Denver. LB Cooper McDonald also hurt his knee in the first quarter and did not return.
13,073 yards — Kelce moved past Jason Witten and into second place for most receiving yards among tight ends in NFL history. Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who played the bulk of his career in Kansas City, is No. 1 with 15,127 yards.
The Chiefs host the Colts on Sunday night.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce runs the ball after making a catch against the Denver Broncos during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is interviewed following an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III (9) catches a pass and dives for a first down against Denver Broncos cornerback Jahdae Barron (23) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 15, 2026--
Cadence (Nasdaq: CDNS) today announced that its Tensilica IP Group and Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) worked together to develop the latest generation of SHARC® automotive audio processors, further strengthening ADI’s industry-leading position in premium in-vehicle audio solutions. The joint effort brings Cadence’s highly optimized Tensilica DSP architecture into the next-generation ADSP product family from ADI, enabling richer audio experiences, enhanced voice interactions, and greater system intelligence for future automotive platforms.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260915140269/en/
For decades, ADI has been a leader in automotive audio processing, with its ADSP family powering many of the world's most advanced infotainment and premium audio systems. These processors enable a broad range of applications, including:
“As the complexity of automotive audio, acoustic and voice applications continues to grow, it became clear that we needed a DSP architecture capable of delivering significantly higher performance and on-chip AI capability while maintaining the deterministic real-time behavior our customers depend on,” said Andrew Lanfear, head of Automotive Audio & Networking, ADI. “Given their leadership in DSP IP, working with Cadence was the natural choice for ADI. The ability to create custom instructions using Tensilica Instruction Extension (TIE) technology allows us to accelerate proprietary audio and voice algorithms while providing dedicated DSP resources for real-time voice offload and next-generation automotive workloads.”
“ADI’s selection of Cadence’s Tensilica DSP technology for the next generation of ADSP processors underscores its focus on high-performance automotive audio and AI,” said Amol Borkar, group director, product management, Tensilica DSPs, Cadence. “The advanced architecture in the SHARC-FX core is optimized for on-chip AI/ML and signal-processing workloads, enabling applications such as music genre identification, music source separation (MSS), and real-time vocal removal to run efficiently on the DSP, while the host CPU remains dedicated to vehicle-domain and operating system functions.”
“DSP Concepts has been a long-time trusted partner of both Cadence Tensilica DSPs and ADI, enabling rich audio applications on both platforms,” said Chin Beckmann, CEO of DSP Concepts. “Through the integration of their technologies in our Audio Weaver (AWE) framework, we were able to witness and validate the winning, best-in-class results of this amazing collaboration between these industry pioneers.”
Building on the success of the ADSP-SC59x/2159x family, ADI is introducing the new ADSP-SC84x/2184x platform, featuring a next-generation architecture and a transition from 28nm to 16nm process technology, delivering significantly improved energy efficiency, higher operating frequencies, and increased integration for modern software-defined vehicles (SDV). Other benefits include an LPDDR4 memory interface, increased on-chip L2 memory, enhanced cybersecurity via a dedicated hardware security module (HSM), and two optional connectivity cores offering enhanced communication and mainline Linux support.
One of the ADSP-SC84x family’s key innovations is the introduction of the new SHARC-FX processor core, designed and built through a joint engagement with Cadence. The SHARC-FX features a custom DSP architecture, built on the same technology platform that delivers best-in-class Tensilica DSPs for audio, vision, and radar segments. As a result, the SHARC-FX delivers a substantial performance uplift, supporting a broader range of data types, enhanced VLIW SIMD architecture, efficient cache operations, and an expanded instruction set optimized for modern signal processing and AI workloads. Together, these improvements, coupled with the higher operating frequency of the SHARC-FX processor core, provide 5X higher performance compared to the previous generation SHARC+ processor used in the ADSP-SC59x family. This paves the way for an array of next-generation applications in the vehicle, including seat-specific in-cabin audio experiences, AI-enhanced noise cancellation, intelligent voice assistants, and generative AI audio.
As automotive audio and voice-enabled systems continue to evolve, many workloads are now transitioning from traditional signal-processing algorithms to AI-driven approaches that deliver higher accuracy, greater adaptability, and more personalized user experiences. The SHARC-FX core’s expanded instruction set enables it to efficiently implement these emerging AI models alongside conventional DSP workloads, providing the computational performance required for real-time neural-network-based audio inference at the edge. By supporting optimized NN kernel routines for popular AI/ML frameworks such as Google’s LiteRT™, the latest AI models can be easily offloaded to the SHARC-FX core for a high performance and energy-efficient implementation compared to running them on the host CPU.
Furthermore, ADI provides a rich toolset and ecosystem consisting of Cadence’s compiler and tools as well as ADI’s EZ-KIT® evaluation system, CrossCore® Embedded Studio, SigmaStudio+ TM, and other industry-leading frameworks, including DSP Concepts’ Audio Weaver.
The Cadence Tensilica IP Group is a leading provider of DSP IP, with widespread adoption across its full range of DSP product families. It also provides automotive-ready DSP IP, certified up to ISO 26262 ASIL-B, for ADAS and other safety-critical applications.
About Cadence
Cadence is a market leader in AI and digital twins, pioneering computational software that accelerates engineering innovation from silicon to systems. Based on Cadence’s Intelligent System Design™ strategy, our design solutions help the world’s leading semiconductor and systems companies build next-generation products—from chips to full electromechanical systems—for markets including hyperscale computing, mobile communications, automotive, aerospace, industrial, life sciences and robotics. In 2024, Cadence was recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the world’s top 100 best-managed companies. Cadence solutions offer limitless opportunities—learn more at www.cadence.com.
© 2026 Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Cadence, the Cadence logo and the other Cadence marks found at www.cadence.com/go/trademarks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. PCI Express and PCIe are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG. Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express and UCIe are registered trademarks of the UCIe Consortium. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Category: Featured
The joint venture brings Cadence’s highly optimized Tensilica DSP architecture into ADSP product family from ADI, enabling richer audio experiences, enhanced voice interactions and greater system intelligence for future automotive platforms.
