The latest
Rookie linebacker Willie Gay is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a high ankle sprain, a source told The Star. He suffered the injury on his second defensive snap of Sunday’s 38-21 loss to the Chargers.
Chiefs’ 2021 home and away opponents set | Chiefs Wire
Home opponents:
Broncos Chargers Raiders Steelers Browns Bills Cowboys Giants
Away opponents:
Broncos Chargers Raiders Ravens Bengals Washington Football Team Eagles Titans
Stefon Diggs generates most catches, receiving yards | PFT
Diggs led the league with 127 catches and 1,535 receiving yards.
Finishing second in catches were Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Packers receiver Davante Adams, with 115 catches each. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had 105 catches — but he finished second in yardage, with 1,416.
Adams generated 18 receiving touchdowns. Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill finished in second place, with 15 receiving touchdowns.
Breaking down the NFL Playoffs | Fox Sports
The Kansas City Chiefs (14-2) are the Super Bowl favorites again after winning it all last season. They clinched the first seed before Week 17 and got to rest their starters Sunday.
The KC offense has regressed as the season has wound down. Now, now, don’t get upset, Chiefs fans. KC’s ”bad” games are better than most offense’s good games. But I do worry about the champs — just a tad. On defense, the Chiefs continue to be steady. They don’t have the best numbers, in the red zone for example, but they do enough to limit scoring. They are the favorites for a reason.
Seven Burning Questions Entering the NFL Playoffs | The Ringer
Can Anyone Knock Off the Chiefs?
The other team that could test the Chiefs is the Ravens. Like Buffalo, Baltimore is playing its best football of the season right now. It rushed for 404 yards against Cincinnati on Sunday, the fourth most a team has had in a game since 1950. To put that in context, the Steelers have just 329 rushing yards since Thanksgiving.
The Ravens have been rolling since getting their starters back from the COVID-19 list in early December. After losing to Pittsburgh on December 2, Baltimore is 5-0 and averaging more than 37 points per game. Lamar Jackson just became the first quarterback to record multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons—and he’s younger than Joe Burrow. The Ravens look nothing like the team that was trounced by the Chiefs on Monday Night Football in Week 3.
2021 NFL Mock Draft: Complete first round | SB Nation
No. 32: Deonte Brown, OG, Alabama — Kansas City Chiefs
I cannot believe I’m having four guards go in the first round, but here we are. This is a talented position in 2021, loaded with good players, and I think the Chiefs have a knack for just getting great picks.
At a listed 6’4, 350, Brown is simply a monster of a man. He’ll eat up a lot of space, and time on the offensive line. When you have players like Patrick Mahomes and Clyde Edwards-Helaire they just need that time to get an edge. I think this is a sound, solid pick by a team already dominating.
Six Quick Facts About the Chiefs’ Week 17 Loss to Los Angeles | Upon Further Review | The Mothership
5. Tim Ward had a nice day on defense.
Ward, playing in his first career game as a professional, sure looked like a guy who knew what he was doing. The Old Dominion product racked up three pressures, two quarterback hits and a sack in the game as part of a strong performance.
Ward’s three pressures led the team.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is an unquestioned star in the biggest sports league in the United States.
But when he tosses something in the trash and he’s off the mark, Mahomes won’t just leave it. No, he does the right thing and throws it away.
Is that big news? Maybe not, but the Fox Sports cameras showed Mahomes, who was inactive for Sunday’s against the Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium, making the good-guy move.
Carolina Panthers request permission to interview Chiefs executive for GM role | Arrowhead Addict
Chiefs exec Ryan Poles could be interviewed to be the new GM of the Carolina Panthers.
The Carolina Panthers already have their head coach in place, and Matt Rhule looked the part of a successful leader in his first season in the NFC South. Now the team is focused on finding a long-term personnel fit to lead the front office, and NFL reporter Ian Rapoport has word that they’re interested in interviewing a Kansas City Chiefs executive for their vacant general manager spot.
On Monday, Rapoport tweeted that the Panthers were requesting permission from K.C. to interview Ryan Poles, the team’s assistant director of player personnel. To be precise, Poles presently shares that role with Mike Bradway in the Chiefs organizational chart. Before that, Poles was the team’s director of college scouting (now held by Ryne Nutt).
Around the NFL
Los Angeles Chargers fire Anthony Lynn after four seasons as coach | ESPN
“As we all know, this is a results-driven business and, simply put, the results of the past two years have fallen short of expectations. Moving forward, we will redouble our efforts to both build and maintain a championship-caliber program. We have been innovative in many facets of our organization in recent years, and we need to carry that over to our entire operation. Our fans need to know that the Los Angeles Chargers are committed to consistent, winning football. The search for a new head coach will begin immediately.”
All eyes are on former Ohio State and Florida head coach Urban Meyer, in that regard. And while Khan won’t publicly acknowledge those rumors just yet, he did issue a formal statement on the dismissal of Marrone.
“I am committed and determined to deliver winning football to the City of Jacksonville,” he said. “Realizing that goal requires a fresh start throughout our football operations, and with that in mind, I spoke this morning with Doug Marrone to express my gratitude for his hard work over the past four seasons as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I’ll always appreciate Doug’s passion, grit and class, and I’m confident he will enjoy success in the next chapter of his career. As the search for our new general manager continues, now the quest begins to find a head coach who shares my ambition for the Jacksonville Jaguars and our fans, whose loyalty and faith are overdue to be rewarded.”
And because it should be known, I believe Pederson did know. And what he understood was that Sudfeld gave the Eagles their best opportunity to lose. Coaches aren’t supposed to be in on the tanking insofar as in-game decisions, so pulling a more capable quarterback in the fourth quarter of a one-score ballgame is as blatant as it gets.
No, this isn’t like resting key starters before the game. The Chiefs were not intentionally trying to lose the game against the Chargers by resting Patrick Mahomes, Sammy Watkins and Tyreek Hill. Were they trying their best to win the game? Of course not, but we as football fans understand, they weighed the risk of injury in what amounts to a meaningless game for the purposes of repeating as Super Bowl champions and decided that some players earned a 0% risk and others could go out there and play.
Jared Goff not yet ruled out, playing expected to be challenging vs. Seahawks | NFL.com
Though Jared Goff has not been ruled out for the Rams’ wild-card game against the Seattle Seahawks, it is expected to be challenging for him to play, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. Goff was able to throw Sunday, per Rapoport, but with the Rams heading to the Pacific Northwest this weekend to a city expected to see a high temperature of 47 degrees with a chance of evening rain, the conditions aren’t expected to be conducive for playing — and throwing — through pain.
Cleveland Browns DE Olivier Vernon out for playoffs with ruptured Achilles | ESPN
The Cleveland Browns will be without Olivier Vernon for the playoffs, after the starting defensive end ruptured his Achilles on Sunday.
Coach Kevin Stefanski said that Vernon will undergo surgery.
Vernon suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of the 24-22 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, which clinched a playoff spot for the Browns.
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
5 winners and 4 losers from the Chiefs’ loss to the Chargers
Winners
Byron Pringle: Once again, the K-State product delivered when his number was called. A strong receiver who attacks the ball in the air and can really run as well, Pringle should be in line for more opportunities on the offense. Then again... that’s what we say every time we see Pringle play.
Darwin Thompson: 21 touches, 110 total yards and two touchdowns. That’s solid production from the little guy. It was nice to see the team get him involved in the passing game, where he converted all seven of his targets — including a 37-yard catch-and-run. He’s great in space and stout for his size. He might be the most Clyde-like backup on the roster.
A tweet to make you think
Which NFL HC vacancy is the most attractive? pic.twitter.com/iTWA2RzasW
— PFF (@PFF) January 4, 2021
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