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Arrowheadlines: Hardman to bounce back after fumble

Chiefs headlines for Friday, October 4

NFL: Kansas City Chiefs at Detroit Lions Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

The latest

Despite fumble, Chiefs still trust Mecole Hardman returning kicks | NBC Sports

Kansas City special teams coordinator Dave Toub compared Hardman’s playmaking ability to Tyreek Hill‘s, and said he wouldn’t give up on Hill after a fumble so he won’t give up on Hardman either.

“We’ve got to get Mecole back out there,” Toub said, via ESPN. “The last time we had a turnover, a giveaway, was 2016. It’s been a long time. That was Tyreek. He put one on the ground and two plays later he ran one back for a touchdown, same game.”

‘It’s my job to figure it out.’ The new reality for Chiefs pass rusher Frank Clark | Kansas City Star

“I’m not the first guy that’s been in this position — big contract, new team,” Clark said. “You want to do everything in your power to help your team win so people respect you to be one of the best players in the league and stuff like that. But at the same time, you have to understand that you don’t go away from your game and the things that have gotten you to this point.”

QB Index, Week 5: Carson Wentz cracks top five; Tom Brady slips | NFL.com

1. Patrick Mahomes

Individual Rank: Bhanpuri: 1 | Blair: 1 | Filice: 1 | Parr: 1

2019 stats: 4 games | 67.9 pct | 1,510 pass yds | 9.7 ypa | 10 pass TD | 0 INT | 64 rush yds | 0 rush TD | 1 fumble lost

Bhanpuri: The runaway leader in the MVP race through Q1 was uncharacteristically inaccurate in Detroit, struggling to connect on sidearm, touch and bullet passes. Mahomes even had trouble with intermediate and deep balls -- his bread and butter -- going 8 of 21 for 179 yards and no touchdowns, per Next Gen Stats. I know what you’re thinking: That’s actually not that bad. Well, it is for Patrick Lavon Mahomes II, who put up 700 yards and seven touchdowns on passes of 10-plus air yards through the first three weeks of the season. The 24-year-old had one of his worst, most disjointed games as a professional on Sunday and still threw for 315 yards, had zero giveaways and led a game-winning drive.

Building the Roster: AFC West | Yahoo Sports

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Farrell’s take: The Chiefs clearly took our recruiting rankings into consideration when drafting or on the free agent market, right? But seriously, this is a lot of five-stars and many of them are big-time contributors like Watkins, Okafor, Jones and Fuller.

Mahomes is, of course, the focal point of the team and was a three-star “system” quarterback coming out of high school, or so I thought. I’ve been as wrong about him as I’ve been about anyone in my career. The Chiefs have a ton of highly-ranked guys on the roster but also have guys like Kelce, who was a shadow of the player he is now in high school. But this is a loaded roster and they will win a Super Bowl.

Five Things We Learned from Wednesday’s Media Availability | The Mothership

4. Mahomes later talked about Kansas City’s game-winning drive in last week’s victory over Detroit and how the resiliency demonstrated in that game can help the Chiefs moving forward.

“Coach Reid puts us in those situations in training camp, but it’s different when you get to live action,” Mahomes said. “I said it after the game, you aren’t always going to win by two or three touchdowns, a lot of times in the NFL you’re going to have to find a way to score at the end of games. Getting into the meat of the schedule and as we keep playing more and more games, we’re going to be put in that situation again, and to have an early instance where we found a way to win is going to be able to help us out a ton in the long run.”

Fantasy Football: Week 5 RB Rankings | SI

RB Start of the Week: LeSean McCoy, Kansas City Chiefs (vs. IND)

Moving from the low-powered Bills offense to the high-octane Chiefs offense has done wonders for LeSean McCoy’s’ fantasy outlook.

Through the first quarter of 2019, he is the RB14 based on half-PPR scoring despite a relatively modest workload. McCoy’s workload has ranged from 11 to 14 touches per week, but he has 285 scrimmage yards, nine receptions and three total touchdowns on the season.

Scoring all three of his touchdowns in the past two weeks, McCoy is set up with a positive game script this week. The Chiefs are favored by 11 points as they host the Colts in a game featuring the week’s highest over-under (56.5) by a wide margin. No other game has a total of 50-plus in Week 5.

The Colts have allowed the second-most yards per carry (5.5) this season. Only Kansas City has allowed a higher YPC average. Meanwhile, the Colts have allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs, putting McCoy on the verge of being an RB1 in my Week 5 rankings.

NFL Analyst Makes Very Interesting Pick For Best Team Entering Week | NESN

One of those unbeaten teams is the Kansas City Chiefs, but ESPN’s Ryan Clark believes their deficiencies on the defensive side of the ball prevent them from being labeled as the best team in football.

“Listen, the Kansas City Chiefs are extremely good and if we were only playing one side of the ball, they would absolutely be the team I would pick,” Clark said Wednesday on “Get Up!” “If it was fantasy football, the Kansas City Chiefs would be the best team. But they are not complete. When you watch a game like with Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions and the way that he excelled, the plays he was able to make. The fourth quarter, Lamar Jackson, the way he was able to throw the ball up and toss it up. Outside, they can’t make the plays.”

Fantasy Football: Week 5 QB Rankings | SI

QB Start of the Week: Jacoby Brissett, Indianapolis Colts (at KC)

Even with T.Y. Hilton (quad) inactive in Week 4, Jacoby Brissett had another productive fantasy outing—265 passing yards, three touchdowns, one interception and 23.5 fantasy points. While he completed a season-low 52.2% of his throws in Week 4, he also set a season-high with 46 pass attempts.

Brissett has now thrown multiple touchdowns in all four games and compiled a 10:2 TD-to-INT ratio this season. Through the first quarter of the season, Brissett currently ranks 10th among quarterbacks in fantasy points.

Passing volume should once again be plentiful for Brissett in Week 5. A double-digit road underdog in Kansas City, Brissett and the Colts will attempt to keep pace with Patrick Mahomes and the high-octane Chiefs offense. The only game to exceed a 50-point Vegas total, Colts-Chiefs has a 56.5 over-under this week.

Especially if Hilton returns, Brissett will be a viable streaming option in Week 5 and he’s ranked inside my top-12 fantasy quarterbacks for the week

Around the league

Stefon Diggs on trade rumors: “There’s truth to all rumors” | NBC Sports

“I feel there’s truth to all rumors no matter how dress you it up,” Diggs said regarding the rumor that he could be traded, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I won’t be saying nothing on it. I won’t be speaking on it at all. But there is truth to all rumors, I guess.”

While saying nothing he said plenty. And he said more.

“The space that we’re in right now is definitely is a lot of questions,” Diggs said. “I can’t sit up here and act like everything is OK because obviously it’s not but I can say at this point I’m just trying to work through it.”

Russell Wilson has best game yet in best season | NFL.com

”I love playing here,” Wilson said on the broadcast following the game, clearly emotional on a night when former Seahawks owner Paul Allen was posthumously inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor. “It’s a good team over there that we played tonight. And we’re a great team, too. We found a way. We found a way. I’m just grateful that I got the opportunity to play here.”

Jets’ Sam Darnold says he feels ready but won’t risk life | ESPN

”I feel like I’m good enough to play,” Darnold said. “My energy is great. I’m having fun out there. I’m having a good time in the huddle, breaking the huddle, just playing football. It’s good to be back from that standpoint. I feel like I’m good to go, but obviously there are some things that need to get cleared before that happens.”

In case you missed it at Arrowhead Pride

Chiefs preparing for return of Justin Houston

The connection to Indianapolis was the Colts’ current general manager, Chris Ballard, who spent 2013-16 with the Chiefs in their personnel department when Houston was a member of the team. Through four starts this season, Houston has compiled 11 tackles (seven solo) and three quarterback hits, including 1.0 sack.

“It’s going to be really cool to play against him,” said Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “Obviously, he was a really good player for this organization for a long time and is still a great player now. Hopefully he’s not hitting me too much but hopefully I get to talk to him a little bit on the other side of the football.”

FanPulse: Chiefs fans’ confidence took a slight dip after close call vs. Lions

Following the Chiefs’ Week 1 win against the Jaguars, 95 percent of Chiefs fans felt confident in the direction of the team, a slight fall from the previous week.

Chiefs fans’ confidence is back up to 98 percent following the 28-10 win against the Oakland Raiders in Week 2.

Chiefs fans’ confidence remained right 98 percent following the team’s 33-28 win against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3. Fan confidence dipped to a season-low 94 percent after the close call this past week against the Detroit Lions.

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