KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are so dynamic offensively they sometimes don’t even know when they’ve scored a touchdown.
They were fortunate one of those cases didn’t come back to bite them Sunday night.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 318 yards and a score, Harrison Butker was perfect on five field-goal attempts, and the underrated Chiefs defence bailed out an offence that struggled once again in the red zone — and made two big mistakes that cost them touchdowns — in a 22-16 victory over the Denver Broncos.
Travis Kelce had eight receptions for 136 yards along with the go-ahead TD grab late in the third quarter, and Tyrann Mathieu twice picked off Broncos quarterback Drew Lock — the second with 24 seconds left to seal the win — as the Chiefs clinched a playoff berth by improving to 11-1 for the second time in franchise history.
“It’s obviously a big deal — you want to find a way to get in the playoffs,” Mahomes said, “but we have bigger goals.”
Like defending their Super Bowl title.
It might help their cause if the Chiefs actually count the touchdowns they score.
The play everyone was left talking about came on third-and-10 at the Denver 40 early in the second quarter. Mahomes found a wide-open Tyreek Hill downfield, only for him to appear to drop the certain touchdown. But replays clearly showed the ball trapped between Hill and a defender, never touching the ground, for what should have been a score.
Hill never argued when it was called incomplete, though, nor did Chiefs coach Andy Reid throw his red challenge flag.
Instead, he quickly sent his punt team out and tried to pin the Broncos deep in their own territory.
“I checked with Tyreek,” Reid said afterward. “He came off, and normally you can tell with a receiver whether he had it or not — especially Tyreek — and he was surprised as any of us he ended up with the football.”
Hill also had a 48-yard touchdown reception wiped out by holding late in the game, which gave the Broncos (4-8) a chance to march for the go-ahead score. Denver managed to move to midfield before stalling, but rather than going for it on fourth-and-3 with 6 minutes to go, coach Vic Fangio elected to punt the ball away.
The Chiefs melted most of the clock before Butker kicked a 48-yard field goal with 1:06 left, and the Kansas City defence forced Lock into a wild fourth-down throw that Tyrann Mathieu intercepted to put the game away.
“I gave it strong consideration,” Fangio said of his fourth-down call, “but you know, at some point in the game, we’ve got to get a stop, and we weren’t able to. We held them to a field goal but that made it a touchdown game and burned off some of the time there, so in retrospect, should have probably gone for it.”
Lock returned after missing last week’s game against New Orleans, along with the rest of Denver’s quarterbacks, because of COVID-19 positive tests and contact tracing. The local boy finished with 151 yards passing and two touchdown throws to Tim Patrick, while Melvin Gordon ran for 131 yards on just 15 carries.
“There’s no feel-good losses in this league,” Lock said. “We did play them closer than we have before, but I mean, what does that get you? Nothing. It gets you an upset locker room. It gets you a sad flight home.”
Made even more stinging is how close the Broncos came to springing the upset.
The Chiefs didn’t take the lead until Butker’s fourth field goal early in the second half, then answered the second Lock-to-Patrick touchdown connection with a TD of their own. With a defender hanging on his jersey, Mahomes tossed a 15-yard scoring pass to Kelce, ending their streak of seven straight red-zone trips without a touchdown.
The Chiefs defence made sure that the only touchdown they scored in the game would be enough.
“It’s such a blessing to have that guy back there slinging it around,” Kelce said, “because he takes the ultimate pride in his craft and playing the game, and you know you can always count on him.”
CLOSE COVID CALL
The Chiefs learned early Sunday that they had returned seven positive tests, but it wound up being a computer glitch and the game was allowed to proceed. “When they talk to you early in the morning like that, you’re not sure what is real and what is not real,” Reid said. “They said, `Let’s give us an hour to work through this thing and see if we can get it right,’ and it all came back where we were OK.”
OUTSPOKEN RETURN
Broncos defensive end Shelby Harris, who had COVID-19 along with his pregnant wife and three children, returned for the first time in about a month. But after describing his “weird headaches” and “nerve pain” in detail Friday, Harris was stunned by the lax approach taken by some Chiefs fans to wearing masks and social distancing. “They really don’t care about COVID in Missouri,” he said in a pregame tweet, followed by: “Full tents of people tailgating makes no sense.”
INJURIES
Broncos: C Graham Glasgow left with a foot injury in the first quarter. CB Essang Bassey, pressed into a bigger role after Bryce Callahan (foot) landed on IR this week, left with a knee injury on the first drive of the second half.
Chiefs: CB Antonio Hamilton had to be helped off the field after blocking on a punt return early in the fourth quarter.
The past weekend of football was all about the favourites.
The favoured teams went 13-1 straight up and 10-4 against the spread in the NFL. In college football, the three most teams bet at the BetMGM Sportsbook in terms of number of bets and money all won and covered. All three were favourites.
Trends of the Week
The three most bet college teams that won and covered on Saturday were Ohio State (-3.5) vs. Penn State, Indiana (-7.5) at Michigan State and Oregon (-14.5) at Michigan. Penn State has now lost seven straight home games as underdogs. The Nittany Lions were up 10-0 in the first quarter and were 3.5-point favourites at the time. The Buckeyes won 17-10.
In the NFL, the three most bet teams in terms of number of bets and money were the Washington Commanders (-4) at the New York Giants, the Detroit Lions (-2.5) at the Green Bay Packers and the Buffalo Bills (-6) vs. the Miami Dolphins. All three teams won, but only two of the three covered the spread as Buffalo beat Miami 30-27.
When it came to the players with the most bets to score a touchdown on Sunday, only two of the five reached the end zone — Chase Brown (-125) and Taysom Hill (+185). David Montgomery (-140), Brian Robinson Jr. (+110) and AJ Barner (+500) did not score.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset in the NFL was the Carolina Panthers coming from behind to beat the New Orleans Saints 23-22. New Orleans closed as a 7-point favourite and took in 76% of the bets and 79% of the money in against-the-spread betting. The Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen following the loss. They have now lost seven straight games after starting the year 2-0.
Arguably the biggest upset in college football was South Carolina beating No. 10 Texas A&M 44-20 at home. Texas A&M closed as a 2.5-point favourite and took in 59% of the bets and 58% of the money.
NEW YORK – Washington Capitals left-wing Alex Ovechkin, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas and Pittsburgh Penguins centre Sidney Crosby have been named the NHL’s three stars of the week.
Ovechkin had a league-leading five goals and nine points in four games.
The 39-year-old Capitals captain has 14 points in 11 games this season, and his 860 career goals are just 34 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
Necas shared the league lead with nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games.
Crosby factored on seven of the Penguins’ eight total goals scoring four goals and adding three assists in three appearances. The 37-year-old Penguins captain leads his team with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 games this season.
Crosby and Ovechkin, longtime rivals since entering the league together in 2005-06, will meet for the 70th time in the regular season and 95th time overall when Pittsburgh visits Washington on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
TORONTO – Running back Brady Oliveira of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell are the finalists for the CFL’s outstanding player award.
Oliveira led the CFL in rushing this season with 1,353 yards while Mitchell was the league leader in passing yards (5,451) and touchdowns (32).
Oliveira is also the West Division finalist for the CFL’s top Canadian award, the second straight year he’s been nominated for both.
Oliveira was the CFL’s outstanding Canadian in 2023 and the runner-up to Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for outstanding player.
Defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of the Montreal Alouettes is the East Division’s top Canadian nominee.
Voting for the awards is conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada and the nine CFL head coaches.
The other award finalists include: defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal linebacker Tyrice Beverette (outstanding defensive player); Saskatchewan’s Logan Ferland and Toronto’s Ryan Hunter (outstanding lineman); B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte and Toronto returner Janarion Grant (special teams); and Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson and Hamilton receiver Shemar Bridges (outstanding rookie).
The coach of the year finalists are Saskatchewan’s Corey Mace and Montreal’s Jason Maas.
The CFL will honour its top individual performers Nov. 14 in Vancouver.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31.
