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Arrowheadlines: Patrick Mahomes falls out of top five in NFL.com QB rankings

Chiefs headlines for Friday, October 15

NFL: Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

The latest

NFL QB Index, Week 6: Justin Herbert coming for No. 1 spot; Zach Wilson looks lost | NFL.com

6 - Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs · Year 5

2021 stats: 5 games | 69.2 pct | 1,490 pass yds | 7.6 ypa | 16 pass TD | 6 INT | 153 rush yds | 1 rush TD | 1 fumble

Mahomes’ three turnovers in Sunday night’s loss to Buffalo were fluky: a dropped pass, a tip at the line of scrimmage and a fumbled snap. The effectiveness with which opponents have taken Mahomes’ big throws away, however, is a trend. The 2018 MVP has fewer completions over 20 yards than Jared Goff, Zach Wilson, Mac Jones and Taylor Heinicke. This is hardly a situation to panic about, but there’s no question Mahomes is working harder to move the ball than ever before.

Taylor Heinicke: Focus is on Chiefs defense, not matchup against Patrick Mahomes | Yahoo Sports

“I don’t think you can pick up anything from Mahomes. He’s an unbelievable athlete [and] quarterback,” Heinicke said.

“I kind of go back to when I was training kids when I wasn’t playing and they were trying to do Mahomes-type stuff,” he continued. ”I was like, ‘Listen, you’re not Mahomes. That’s something he can do. We can’t.’ I do like watching him play. He’s really fun to watch. But again, I don’t try to pick up any type of stuff from his game, because that would probably get me in trouble.”

Week 6 NFL game picks: Buccaneers down Eagles; Chargers edge out Ravens | NFL.com

Kansas City Chiefs 37-23 Washington Football Team

I don’t buy the theory that the Chiefs are going to try extra hard now because of Sunday night’s embarrassment. I do buy the theory that the Chiefs’ spate of turnovers on offense are somewhat fluky, a spike in variance that will self-correct over the course of a season. I also believe that the Washington Football Team’s defense has 2020 Cowboys levels of confusion on the back end, just without all the attention the Cowboys get.

Washington to officially retire Sean Taylor’s No. 21 | NBC Sports

Taylor’s retirement ceremony will be a part of a larger event honoring nearly 100 Washington Football Team alumni before Sunday’s game begins. Taylor’s family will join the team on the field for the pregame ceremony.

Along with Taylor’s No. 21 getting retired, Washington will also formally commemorate the renaming of the road leading up to FedEx Field “Sean Taylor Road.”

“I came into the NFL the same year as Sean Taylor and immediately his athletic ability, resilience, grit, and relentless work ethic set him apart. I and many others looked to him as a role model,” Washington Football Team President Jason Wright said in a statement. “The fact that he was tragically taken so early hurt our player community, but also our fans, coaches, and staff. We will continue to remember him and hold him up as an example of professionalism and excellence, and we will all strive to mirror his excellence in our own ways.”

2022 NFL Mock Draft: Jets continue commitment to offensive line, Cowboys add more pass rush to rising defense | CBS Sports

Jahan Dotson WR

PENN STATE • SR • 5’11” / 184 LBS

Kansas City can rely upon Tyreek Hill in the passing game, but Travis Kelce has more football behind him than he does ahead. The Chiefs have attempted to fill the void with Mecole Hardman and Josh Gordon, but I think the search will continue into the offseason.

Around the NFL

2021 NFL season, Week 6: What we learned from Buccaneers’ win over Eagles on Thursday night | NFL.com

Bucs play keep-away. If you’re in the time-of-possession-is-overrated camp, the Eagles defense doesn’t want to hear it. Who could blame any defense for being gassed after being forced to defend a Tom Brady offense for 21:05 of the first 30 minutes? The Eagles offense sputtered through five three-and-out possessions in the first half, leaving the defense with barely enough time to re-tie their cleats on the sideline before being asked to take the field again. Not much changed in the second half. The final tally on TOP was positively brutal (39:56 – 20:04), as was the Buccaneers’ first-down advantage (27-16). If there’s any justice, only the Eagles defense will get Friday off after the short week.

In wake of Jon Gruden’s resignation over offensive emails, Raiders QB Derek Carr says ‘open up everything’ in NFL teams’ correspondence | ESPN

“If we just started opening up everybody’s private emails and texts, people would start sweating a little bit. ... Hopefully not too many. But maybe that’s what they should do for all coaches and GMs and owners from now on, is open up,” the Raiders’ quarterback said Wednesday. “You’ve got to open up everything. See what happens.”

Of his former coach, Carr said: “I love the man, [but] you hate the sin. No one’s perfect.”

DeMaurice Smith discusses email trove from WFT investigation, questions whether race a factor in hiring decisions around NFL | ESPN

Before Gruden resigned Monday as the Raiders’ head coach, Smith tweeted that the email and some of the reaction to it “confirms that the fight against racism, racist tropes and intolerance is not over. This is not about an email as much as it is about a pervasive belief by some that people who look like me can be treated as less.”

Smith echoed those sentiments during his interview Wednesday with Jones and said Gruden reached out to him this past Saturday, one day after Wall Street Journal’s report about Gruden’s racist remark from a 2011 email. Smith told Jones that he responded via text message and hoped to speak with Gruden later this week, acknowledging however that their weekend exchange occurred before Gruden’s resignation.

Smith also emphasized Wednesday that he hopes the NFL and players’ union will “match our actions to our words” in regard to diversity and inclusion.

“It would be good for our game and for our business — for both the league and the union — to decide that we are going to turn a corner,” he said. “And we’ve talked about diversity, we’ve talked about inclusiveness, for years. How do we turn the corner and actually match out actions to our words? And when will we start to hold people accountable for living up to a standard that we believe is the acceptable standard for just human interaction?”

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

Steve Spagnuolo speaks on Daniel Sorensen and Juan Thornhill

Already on the hot seat for his play in 2021 — per Pro Football Reference, he has nine missed tackles and has also given up a perfect passer rating of 153.8 on 19 targets — he was the first topic of conversation when Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke to reporters on Thursday.

“First of all, it’s not about one guy,” noted Spagnuolo. “You started the question with an overall, ‘We haven’t been good’ [statement]. And that’s a true statement. That’s reality. [But] to focus on one person I don’t think is fair. Did Dan struggle a little bit last week? Yeah.

“In answer to your question about [who gets] more snaps and all that? A guy has a starting position. We think he’s been doing a good job with that. Sometimes when you have plays — that to the eye of everybody in there looks worse than other ones — nobody sees the plays [where he’s] covering someone and they don’t throw it there. That’s always been the case.”

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