Chiefs headlines for Thursday, October 14

The latest

NFL Super Bowl LVI betting odds, predictions & 2021 MVP predictions | Racing Post

After their latest loss to the Buffalo Bills the Chiefs have lost their grip on favouritism for the Super Bowl for the first time since last year’s showpiece. Drifting out to a general 7-1 shot, the Chiefs have been eclipsed in the betting by both the Bills and last year’s winners, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In a closely contested betting heat, the Bills have replaced the Chiefs at the head of the pile at a general 11-2 shot, with the Bucs a best priced 6-1.

In the chasing pack, there are four teams floating between 10-1 and 12-1 for the Super Bowl title – the LA Rams, Green Bay, Baltimore and Arizona.

Week 6 odds, picks: Browns shock undefeated Cardinals, winless Jaguars stun Dolphins in London | CBS Sports

With Washington playing the Chiefs this week, I want to say I feel good about the streak ending, but I don’t feel good at all. The Chiefs have one of the worst defenses in football and Patrick Mahomes is turning the ball over like he’s been possessed by the ghost of Blake Bortles, who isn’t even technically a ghost yet, because he’s still alive.

Sorry for jinxing your team, Chiefs fans, but I have no choice.

The pick: Chiefs 34-24 over Washington

Buffalo Bills rookie Greg Rousseau chosen as AFC Defensive Player of the Week | Buffalo Rumblings (Buffalo Bills SB Nation site)

Rousseau won the award for his part in stomping the Kansas City Chiefs in a 38-20 victory. He had several impact plays in the win—a sack, a tackle-for-loss, five tackles, and the first interception of his career. Rousseau is the fifth Bills rookie to win a Player of the Week award, joining Cornelius Bennett, C.J. Spiller, Greg Bell, and Josh Allen.

On the season, Rousseau leads the Bills with three sacks. He has 18 total tackles and four TFLs, as well as a pass defense and the aforementioned interception.

Kansas City Chiefs tumble down Nick Wright’s week 6 NFL tiers … for now | Fox Sports

FUTURE FAVORITES: Kansas City Chiefs

Best Super Bowl odds: Chiefs+750

Wright’s thoughts: ”Not current favorites, but future favorites. … They might be 2-3 right now, my friends, but that will not last long. … They’re going to start rolling! Rolling, rolling, rolling! But for now, due to integrity, we must have them where they are. They are not currently one of the seven best teams in football.”NFL Week 6 QB Power Rankings: Bills’ Josh Allen jumps into top 5, Ravens’ Lamar Jackson right behind him | CBS Sports

3 – Patrick Mahomes

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QB

His backyard freestyling works nine times out of 10, but he’s left way too many plays on the field this year, pulling out acrobatics when he really just needs to stand still and make a routine throw. (-2)

St. Louis judge fines Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, threatens contempt of court | Kansas City Star

A St. Louis judge fined Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt and other NFL owners Wednesday and set a hearing for potential contempt of court for failing to disclose a fuller picture of their financial records as the judge previously requested. That request came last month as part of discovery for a long-running lawsuit that alleges the NFL bypassed league relocation rules when the Rams left St. Louis.

Judge Christopher McGraugh levied Hunt a $5,000 fine — and also fined Dallas owner Jerry Jones $6,000, New England owner Robert Kraft $5,000 and New York Giants owner John Mara $8,000 — during a hearing Wednesday, in which he accused each of delaying in providing financial statements to gauge their net worth.

“It does seem to me that your clients … are dragging their feet on this,” McGraugh told a lawyer for the owners, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which attended the hearing and has been covering the lawsuit since its 2017 origin. “It seems like we’re in a three-card monte game.”

3 players the Kansas City Chiefs should trade before the deadline | SportsKeeda

#1- Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, G

The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line broke down at the end of the 2020 season, especially in the Super Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So, it seems odd to say that the Chiefs should trade an offensive lineman. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif opted out last season so that he could return to Canada and work on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic as a physician.

The Chiefs have reconstructed their offensive line this offseason, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif could be the man out, especially after he missed time with a hand injury during training camp. Duvernay-Tardif was inactive in Week 5 against the Bills and should be considered a possible trade piece. With teams across the NFL in need of an offensive lineman, the Chiefs could get a good return for Duvernay-Tardif.

2022 NFL Mock Draft: Cowboys get another turnover machine, Chiefs get more pass-rushing help | CBS Sports

Pick 30

Jermaine Johnson II DE

FLORIDA STATE • SR • 6’5” / 260 LBS

The Chiefs have plenty of needs in their defensive backfield and along their defensive line. Here, they decide on the springy, bendy rusher.

Chiefs highlighted on ‘Today’ segment for charity work with Harvesters food bank | Chiefs Wire

Chiefs’ team president Mark Donovan was interviewed for a “Today” segment on Tuesday morning that highlighted their efforts with Harvesters, a local food bank in Kansas City. The team collaborates with the food back to help provide meals to children in need over weekends, when food scarcity might be an issue at home. Donovan told reporter Stephanie Gosk that the culture of service is ingrained in players from their first days with the team. Their work off the field is part of the expectation for every member of the roster.

“The message is given to them early on,” Donovan explained.”That this is part of being part of this organization. If you’re going to be on this team, you’re going to be in the community.”

Gosk reported that the Kansas City area saw a 40-percent rise in requests for food assistance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, an estimated one-in-six children are expected to face shortages of food at home in 2021, in part due to the novel virus. With school lunches being a staple for underprivileged kids, who might get their only meal at school, the work that the Chiefs do through Harvesters is centered around providing food security over weekends for kids in need, especially over weekends.

Around the NFL

Raiders GM Mike Mayock addresses Jon Gruden’s resignation as head coach | NFL.com

Per Mayock, team owner Mark Davis had not completed his due diligence in gathering information by the time of Sunday’s game, which they went on to lose, 20-9.

“I think the reality of that is that Mark Davis really is the one that was dealing with that and I think he felt like, and I don’t want to speak for Mark, but there was an awful lot of due diligence that had to go on on his side of this,” said Mayock, who was the first member of the Raiders organization to address the media since Gruden’s resignation Monday night.

“All that I knew was a bombshell had been dropped, the players talked about it, we talked about it with the players, Jon dealt with it and then of course I didn’t even know. … Again, Mark was dealing with all the email stuff. We were trying to prepare for a football game. When we came out of the game and the rest of it came out, I think Mark was already in the middle of his due diligence. I think he was trying to figure it all out, and again I know what the guy stands for and I think he was trying to do the right thing.”

NFL trade deadline: An executive’s guide to player transactions | NFL.com

Why does it feel like the NFL trade deadline isn’t as big a deal as it is in the NBA or MLB?

I believe this answer is two-fold. First, one player on an NBA team can make a world of difference, and the same thing goes for a great player (pitcher, hitter, fielder, etc.) in baseball. In the NFL, however, so much has to go right even for the best players to make a seismic difference on a team. And second, the trade deadlines in the NBA and MLB are closer to their postseasons. The NFL’s trade deadline is much earlier in the regular season, and I believe this is to prevent the kinds of fire sales we see in the other professional sports leagues. With only 17 games in a season, one player makes less of an impact in the immediate future.

Four NFL predictions that were big whiffs: Admitting mistakes about Cowboys, Patriots and more | CBS Sports

New England Patriots

This Tom Brady v. Bill Belichick post-divorce thing is one-way traffic. Brady and the Bucs are slaying everything and the rebuilding Patriots were lucky to beat the tanking Texans last week. Could New England get a little better as the season goes on? Sure. Mac Jones is stable enough as a rookie QB. But there isn’t much special about this team, nothing comes easy, the offensive line has become a serious concern and they just don’t look particularly close to winning anything meaningful to me.

I thought they would be a scary team to face in the wild-card round. But I have a hard time seeing them in the postseason, now, and this feels a lot like last year’s 7-9 season to me. Matt Judon can only do so much, the secondary is a mess (could’ve used Stephon Gilmore last week! Too soon?) and Belichick the GM is doing Belichick the coach no favours. Look, if Jones continues on this arc, then the season is a success in terms of the long-term rebuild, but I thought the program overall would be further along for 2021.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride

Film review: Missed throws, poor execution for Mahomes against Bills

Poor execution of play calls

At times, Mahomes appeared to misread the Buffalo defense; the Bills did a good job of disguising coverage by mixing man and zone looks — while also covering individual receivers well. It led to missed opportunities.

This red-zone play is a staple in the Chiefs’ offense that is specifically used to defeat man coverage: the running back runs a swing pass to the one-receiver side. The isolated receiver runs an inside route that gets in the way of the box defender covering the running back, giving the back a step on his defender with open space to the sideline.

Ideally, Mahomes takes his drop, recognizes the Bills are in man coverage, sees Travis Kelce successfully disrupt the linebacker’s path to the flat and gets it to the running back immediately. Instead, he throws a quick pass to wide receiver Byron Pringle past the sticks.

There’s nothing wrong with getting a first down — but based on the way Buffalo defended it, the pass should have gone to the running back; it could have gone further than the pass to Pringle.

A tweet to make you think

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