The latest
Andy Reid sets Chiefs’ franchise record for regular season wins as head coach | KMBC
That mark puts him past former Chiefs coach Hank Stram to become the franchise’s all-time leader in regular season wins. Reid reached the record in just 11 seasons with the Chiefs (2013-present).
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs limit mistakes as offense purrs | ESPN
Mahomes was more happy about the numbers zero (as in Chiefs turnovers) and one (as in their dropped passes). The Chiefs have failed most of the year to match their offensive might from previous seasons, but Mahomes said he had the sense all along that if the Chiefs cleaned up their game as they did on Sunday, good things would automatically follow.
The Kansas City Chiefs Offense Fixes Its Second-Half Woes | Forbes
In their 31-17 victory against the Raiders, the Chiefs raised their play after intermission, scoring 17 second-half points.
In the fourth quarter — a stanza in which they had one fourth-quarter touchdown all season entering Sunday — they scored 10 points.
Even in defeat, Aidan O’Connell’s week-by-week progression has been on display | Raiders dot com
All of that considered, none of it mattered to O’Connell after suffering the 31-17 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“We got to do a better job sustaining. Do a better job in the second half executing,” the quarterback said postgame. “When they have long drives, we have to do a good job of keeping our defense off the field and sustaining drives and getting ahead of the sticks, and staying ahead of the sticks. It’s a combination of a lot of different things. You have to be able to run the ball, pass the ball and execute.
“I think like we continue to talk about, there’s a level of sustaining that we have to get better at, that we have to implement in practice and try to do a good job of continuing to focus.”
Chiefs: B
After spotting the Raiders a quick 14-0 lead, the Chiefs took over after that. They finished the game by outscoring the Raiders 31-3 and a big reason for that was because Patrick Mahomes was on fired. Mahomes completed 79% of his passes and he’s dealing like that, the Chiefs are nearly impossible to beat. The Chiefs’ QB found a new favorite target in Rashee Rice, who had a career-high eight receptions for 107 yards. Of course, the most important thing for the Chiefs offense is that it finally produced some points in the second half. After going three straight games without a second half touchdown, the Chiefs scored two against the Raiders. The Chiefs defense struggled early, but got back on track in the second half, holding the Raiders to just 107 yards.
2023 NFL season, Week 12: What We Learned from Sunday’s games | NFL.com
Chiefs offense gets back on track, steamrolling Vegas. Kansas City got off to a wobbly start, generating 13 yards on its first two drives, staring at a 14-0 deficit. Then Patrick Mahomes & Co. hit the gas pedal. The next three Kansas City drives: 71 yards, TD; 79 yards, TD; 75 yards, TD. Mahomes was able to get whatever he wanted against the Raiders D in the middle portion of the contest. He got the ball out quickly, dropped ridiculous dimes to Travis Kelce and hit targets in stride. After three sub-par games by his standard, Kelce won easily against Vegas for chunk gains, making six catches for 91 yards. More importantly, rookie Rashee Rice generated his best game. The wideout caught eight passes for a career-high 107 yards and a TD — his first game over the 75-yard mark. Rice is the first Chiefs rookie WR with 100+ receiving yards in a game since Dwayne Bowe in Week 10 of the 2007 season (105). The rookie’s run-after-catch ability brings a needed dimension to the Chiefs offense. With questions at receiver in K.C., Rice surging down the stretch would be massive for Mahomes.
Around the NFL
NFL roundup: Eagles improve to 10-1 in OT thriller vs. Bills | Reuters
Jalen Hurts rushed for a 12-yard touchdown in overtime to lift the Philadelphia Eagles to a thrilling 37-34 win against the visiting Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon.
Hurts’ final score capped off an incredible performance in which he passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two more for Philadelphia (10-1). Jake Elliott drilled a 59-yard field goal to tie the game with 20 seconds in regulation, and DeVonta Smith finished with seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown.
The Dolphins’ victory on Black Friday kept their one-seed aspirations alive. They beat up a struggling Jets team, led by backup Tim Boyle. The Jets’ loss pushed them further down the seeding and made their playoff hopes significantly slimmer.
Judging biggest overreactions for NFL Week 12 | ESPN
One of the big-picture takeaways from watching this game was imagining Lawrence and Stroud going against each other twice a season (at least!) for years to come. So when it was over, I asked Lawrence if that’s something he could get excited about, as well. He smiled and said no. “I want the teams in our division to be as bad as possible,” he said, before going into a nice answer about how impressed he is with what Stroud is doing as a rookie and how he expects it to be a good rivalry going forward. “I’d prefer if the other teams in our division all had bad quarterbacks.”
This one feels obvious but there’s little to no chance Ron Rivera is coming back next year. After a humiliating performance against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving afternoon in which Dak Prescott piled up 20+ points in the final nine minutes to turn things into a blowout, Rivera met with new owner Josh Harris and agreed to dismiss defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio.
Alex Smith Thinks Tom Brady Played in Most ‘Uncompetitive Division’ | YardBarker
This comment from Brady sparked some angry responses amongst fans and former players. Most notably, former quarterback Alex Smith, who played at the same time as Brady, released a comment challenging Brady’s opinion on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown.
“He hasn’t been retired that long. He was just playing,” Smith said. “He just won a Super Bowl in the current game. Is he discounting that one?”
Mike Tomlin not acting ‘like eureka’ but Steelers top 400 yards in win over Bengals | NFL.com
“I’m not tryna to paint with a broad brush and act like eureka,” Tomlin told reporters in his postgame news conference of the offense. “We did what we needed to do to win today, and we’ll keep pushing.”
Matt Canada was fired on Tuesday and the offense looked far different from the onset Sunday against the Bengals. The biggest takeaway was Pittsburgh producing 421 total yards and snapping a streak of 58 games without 400 yards of offense.
All-Pro LB Shaquille Leonard scheduled to visit with Cowboys on Tuesday | NFL.com
Shaquille Leonard‘s heading to Dallas, and if all goes well, he could be staying there.
Leonard, a three-time All-Pro linebacker who was surprisingly waived by the Indianapolis Colts, is scheduled to visit the Cowboys on Tuesday, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported. Thin in its linebacker corps after the loss of Leighton Vander Esch, the Cowboys could use Leonard and he wouldn’t cost them much as the Colts are on the hook for his salary since he passed through waivers.
Host given ‘all clear’ after alarm disrupts NFL RedZone broadcast | PostMedia News
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a first in my 20-something-year broadcasting career — we have an alarm going off in the studios of NFL RedZone right now in our studios in Inglewood, Calif.,” Hanson said as an alarm went off during action between the Eagles and Bills. “We are being told we need to evacuate the building. We do not know the nature of the emergency … as it is something absolutely unprecedented for us.”
2024 NFL draft rankings: Mel Kiper’s Big Board, best prospects | ESPN
22. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State 6-1, 205 pounds
Yes, another Ohio State wide receiver. The Buckeyes have had three wideouts picked in Round 1 in the past two drafts, and they could have two more in 2024. Egbuka did most of his damage out of the slot last season, catching 47 passes for 692 yards with eight touchdowns when lined up there. He added two more scores when lined up wide. His biggest strength is his consistency — he picked up 50 first downs on his 74 total catches in 2022. Egbuka knows how to get open and has excellent pace and timing on his routes. He has 27 catches for 344 yards and three TDs this season, though he dealt with a leg injury and has only played in seven games.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
6 winners and 2 losers from the Chiefs win over the Raiders
Wide receiver Rashee Rice: We’ve been asking for it, and Rice delivered. The team’s true No. 1 wide receiver turned 10 targets into eight receptions, 107 yards and an awesome touchdown. I don’t care that he had one drop and another that could have been caught but was off target. Keep feeding the kids, and they’re going to make plays.
A tweet to make you think
So the @Chiefs moves to 17-3 with Mahomes as QB after a loss.. and here’s the ridiculous part: The Chiefs were down 14-0. With the win today Kansas City is now 15-11 with Mahomes when trailing by double digits. Thats a .580 winning percentage . No other QB is even at .500
— trey wingo (@wingoz) November 27, 2023