Overlooking Patrick Mahomes was an enormous mistake.
The Buffalo Payments had been the preseason Tremendous Bowl chalk with Las Vegas sportsbooks, even after they misplaced to Kansas Metropolis in final yr’s playoffs.
The L.A. Chargers had been the media darlings of a stacked AFC West that was presupposed to humble Andy Reid, Mahomes and a fading Chiefs workforce that misplaced Tyrann Mathieu and Tyreek Hill.
Russell Wilson bought traded to the Denver Broncos. Davante Adams turned a Las Vegas Raider.
The Chiefs’ run of 4 straight AFC Championship Sport appearances, with two Tremendous Bowl appearances and one championship, is over. Proper?
Fallacious. The Chiefs are already 2-0, outscoring their opponents 71-45, with a Thursday Evening division win over Justin Herbert’s Chargers right here in Week 2.
And making Mahomes an underdog was a nasty concept.
“I at all times really feel like I've one thing to show,” Mahomes stated after the Chiefs’ 44-21 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals. “I’m simply this man from Texas Tech that they stated couldn’t play within the NFL. So I at all times have that mindset of going on the market and proving that we’re the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and we nonetheless have an opportunity to go on the market and win the AFC championship and win the AFC West and win the Tremendous Bowl.”
This isn't to reduce what Josh Allen’s Payments did to the reigning champion L.A. Rams within the NFL season opener. Buffalo undoubtedly has the firepower to compete with Kansas Metropolis, as they demonstrated in that 42-36 extra time divisional playoff loss in January.
Mahomes and the Chiefs benefited from some horrible officiating Thursday evening that robbed the Chargers of two interceptions, too. And Kansas Metropolis’s secondary on protection is younger and suspect.
However Mahomes’ expertise is sufficient to preserve profitable, together with the teaching of Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. And including a chip to the previous MVP’s shoulder offers him another excuse to unleash recent firepower on the league.
Mahomes obtained a confusingly low grade from Professional Soccer Focus in Week 1, for instance, after finishing 30 of 39 passes for 360 yards and 5 TDs towards the Cardinals.
So on Thursday, after beating the Chargers, Mahomes cracked about considered one of his close to interceptions: “I’m positive PFF can have me at a low grade for that, however I’ll preserve it rolling.”
PFF returned with these numbers after the Chiefs beat the Chargers: Mahomes is 21 of 32 towards the blitz this season for 231 yards, six TD passes and no interceptions. He's 12 of 13 out of the pocket for 121 yards and three TDs.
“A few these throws had been unbelievable,” Reid stated of his quarterback’s 24 of 35 passing for 235 yards and two TDs towards the Chargers. “Pushing up and throwing by means of visitors and getting his physique in the best place… It was spectacular. And I do know he works … He’s relentless with that stuff. He at all times needs to know what he can do to be higher.”
Relentless is an effective option to describe Mahomes’ perspective now in his fifth full season as a starter. He’s out to remind everybody who he's, who the Chiefs are – they're the workforce you had been unwise to miss.
STALEY SUDDENLY PLAYS IT SAFE
Aggressive, analytics-driven Chargers coach Brandon Staley unexpectedly morphed on Thursday into an alarmingly conservative sport supervisor towards the Chiefs.
Staley, whose calling card as a rookie coach was his aggressive go-for-it calls on fourth down, kicked an early discipline purpose on 4th and a couple of from the Chiefs’ 13-yard line. And he punted twice within the first half on 4th and a couple of from the Chiefs’ 47- and 48-yard strains, respectively.
It seems Staley’s failed fourth down calls in late season losses to the Chiefs and Raiders led to a dramatic shift in strategy in his second yr.
Look no additional than Staley’s unrecognizable rationalization for his technique: discipline place.
“Simply needed to present our protection an opportunity to compete,” he stated. “I actually cherished the way in which we had been enjoying. I felt like we had been aggressive once we wanted to be. We transformed all 4 of our fourth downs. Simply felt like with who’s over there and the way in which our protection was enjoying, I felt like the sector place could be an enormous edge for our protection. To have the ability to pin them again there. And I like the way in which our protection competed tonight.”
Staley went for 34 of 108 fourth downs (31.5%, league excessive) final season and succeeded 64.7% of the time (fourth greatest). So listening to him communicate this manner was laborious to imagine.
The Chargers did convert a 4th and 1 Austin Ekeler run on the Chiefs’ 18 within the third quarter, resulting in a Mike Williams landing on the following play. So possibly Staley will be capable of discover a center floor fairly than abandoning his ideas.
SHAMELESS BRETT
Newly launched textual content messages present that Corridor of Fame quarterback Brett Favre could have been extra concerned than beforehand recognized in funneling hundreds of thousands of federal welfare dollars to pay for a brand new volleyball facility on the College of Southern Mississippi, the place his daughter performed the game, a lawsuit alleges.
The messages present that former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant was conscious of the association and even guided Favre on how one can submit a funding proposal. The textual content messages don't set up that Favre knew the funds had been welfare cash however clearly point out he was conscious of some impropriety.
“In the event you had been to pay me is there anyway the media can discover out the place it got here from and the way a lot?” Favre allegedly texted Nancy New, the manager director of the schooling heart by means of which the funds had been funneled.
The cash was initially meant to assist low-income households within the poorest state within the nation. Favre denied any wrongdoing up to now.
NFL ECSTATIC OVER OPENING WEEKEND
Professional sports activities leagues love parity. The NFL isn't any totally different. The league had seven video games determined by a discipline purpose or much less in Week 1, probably the most on a kickoff weekend in NFL historical past. 5 video games had been determined by a rating within the last two minutes or extra time — probably the most in a Week 1 in 20 years. Eight groups gained video games with quarterbacks beneath 27 years previous, the second most ever to open a season. And the NFL had greater than 121 million viewers, up 5% from final yr and one of the best opening weekend since 2016. Essentially the most watched sport was the Cowboys-Bucs Sunday evening sport, which drew 23.3 million. … The league says the “guardian caps” worn over helmets by gamers as much as the second preseason sport had a constructive influence on limiting concussions. The NFL stated its common variety of 23 concussions in that interval decreased to 11 among the many place teams who had been required to put on the caps (O-line, D-line, tight ends and linebackers). And 6 of these 11 had been decided as brought on by blows to face masks, to not a participant’s helmet. Greater than 200 gamers continued carrying the caps after the mandated interval was over, as effectively.
AROUND THE LEAGUE: STEELERS LOSE WATT
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 1 upset of the Cincinnati Bengals was dampened in an enormous approach by the lack of star go rusher T.J. Watt. A torn pectoral muscle has the reigning NFL defensive participant of the yr out for at the very least six weeks, if no more. So it’s laborious to see the Steelers, with Mitchell Trubisky at quarterback, dethroning the Bengals within the AFC North even after beating them face to face within the opener. … Jets coach Robert Saleh can’t say what he stated on ESPN Radio, that the Jets had been “worse than an growth workforce” when Joe Douglas arrived as GM. Even when it’s true, it fires too many pictures at individuals each inside and outdoors Saleh’s constructing. The Jets’ main downside, just like the Giants’ and different perennial losers of late, goes approach above any GM or head coach. However Saleh places a goal on his again when he talks that approach. And if the dropping spirals, it'll assist flip him into the following scapegoat, whereas the true downside goes unaddressed. … Cooper Rush is quarterbacking the Dallas Cowboys towards Joe Burrow’s reigning AFC Champion Bengals this Sunday with Dak Prescott injured and out at the very least a number of weeks. It’s doable the Giants might be internet hosting an 0-2 Cowboys workforce on Monday Evening Soccer in Week 3.
THEY SAID IT
“He didn’t urinate down his leg, man. That’s an awesome place to start.” — Steelers coach Mike Tomlin on rookie working again Jaylen Warren’s NFL debut.
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