The latest
Tom Brady’s Power Rankings: Who made the GOAT’s Top 5 teams entering Week 10? | FOX Sports
1. Kansas City Chiefs (8-0) (Last week: 1)
Week 9 result: Defeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-24 (OT)
Brady’s thoughts: ”If you’re undefeated, you better believe you’re going to stay at the top of my power rankings. At No. 1, the Kansas City Chiefs. They continue to find ways to win close games. They’ve got that championship DNA. Patrick Mahomes had three touchdowns, didn’t turn the ball over, and they had a new addition. DeAndre Hopkins is already looking like a great fit in this offense. He had two touchdowns.
“Looking all the way back to last year, that’s 14 straight wins for the Chiefs. Sean Payton, you’ve got a challenge against them this Sunday when it’s Broncos-Chiefs. Let’s see if the Chiefs can stay undefeated.
DeAndre Hopkins to Chiefs is ultimate steal of NFL trade season | USA Today
The Chiefs got Hopkins for a fifth-round pick? Even with the conditional pick having the potential to improve to a fourth-round choice, it looked like some sort of robbery as Hopkins torched the Bucs for eight catches and 86 yards, with two TDs and a sweet 35-yard haul between two defenders. Kansas City was desperate to find a quality target for Mahomes after his receiving corps was decimated by injuries to Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Rashee Rice, Skyy Moore and JuJu Smith-Schuster. And, well, they did better than quality.
Pete Prisco’s Week 10 NFL picks: Most of the favorites take care of business, but the Lions get caught on SNF | CBS Sports
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs (-8)
The Broncos lost on the road last week, while the Chiefs are playing on a short week. Kansas City seemed to find its offense a bit against Tampa Bay, while the Broncos defense was shredded by Lamar Jackson last week. This is a tough ask for Denver on the road again. Look for the Chiefs to stay undefeated as their defense gets the best of Bo Nix.
Pick: Chiefs 29, Broncos 17
Week 10 NFL picks: Bengals or Ravens on Thursday? Can Texans upset Lions? Steelers or Commanders? | NFL.com
Why Brooke picked the Chiefs: You hear that? That’s the rest of the league groaning at the sight of the Chiefs finding their offensive groove. Kansas City’s defense deserves major kudos for the team’s strong start, keeping the Chiefs in close games before often watching Patrick Mahomes impose his dominance in the fourth quarter to lift K.C. to victory. But now, with the addition of DeAndre Hopkins, the Chiefs truly look like a team that’s built for a run at the three-peat, especially with the way that offense looked Monday night while scoring a season-high 30 points. Hopkins has changed the entire mojo of that unit and majorly influenced the production of Mahomes and Travis Kelce, the latter of whom has averaged nearly 100 receiving yards per game since Week 8. In Weeks 1-7, prior to the trade, Mahomes completed 69 percent of his passes for seven TDs with eight picks(!) and an 85.4 passer rating. In two games with Hopkins, Mahomes has completed 74.4 percent of his passes for four TDs with one pick and a 114.7 passer rating. On the other side, Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix has been pretty solid, with the exception of last week’s 41-10 loss to Baltimore. That was somewhat concerning, considering Baltimore’s recent defensive struggles, because now Nix will face a Chiefs D that traditionally causes fits for rookie QBs (5-2 against them with Steve Spagnuolo as DC). Bum ankle or not, Mahomes and the Chiefs are rolling and aren’t likely to let down against this division “rival,” as Kansas City’s transcendent QB is 12-1 in his career against Denver.
NFL QB Index, Week 10: Justin Herbert resurgent; Jordan Love, C.J. Stroud slide out of top 10 | NFL.com
2 – Patrick Mahomes
Kansas City Chiefs · Year 8
2024 stats: 8 games | 69.9 pct | 1,942 pass yds | 7.2 ypa | 11 pass TD | 9 INT | 148 rush yds | 1 rush TD | 0 fumbles
I’m at broken-record status with Mahomes at this point, but I’m hoping you took in Monday Night Football in Week 9 to see why Mahomes resides in such a high place in these rankings despite not owning astronomical numbers. He’s a true master of improvisation, commanding an offense that slowly squeezes its opponents to death with short completions, including many third-down conversions (12 of 18 on Monday night). It’s not the same explosive attack we’ve seen in the past, but Mahomes was excellent once again versus the Buccaneers, flipping a TD pass over a defender to Samaje Perine — a play in which he injured his ankle — before leading two methodical drives to take the lead and then win the game in overtime. If you don’t see that he’s playing some of the best football of any quarterback on the planet right now, I simply don’t know what to tell you.
Chiefs OL joins rock band Creed onstage during show in Kansas City | Chiefs Wire
Known for his sense of humor, Humphrey has gained attention from fans for his unique pregame shirts which have taken social media by storm early in the 2024 regular season.
Humphrey has become a larger-than-life character with the Chiefs, and on Wednesday night, the All-Pro lineman was spotted at a Creed concert in Kansas City.
Take a look at this video of Humphrey joining Creed onstage, which was posted to Twitter by Kansas City Star columnist Sam McDowell:
https://twitter.com/SamMcDowell11/status/1854539954824614048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1854539954824614048%7Ctwgr%5E53cd358917a3c0b02b47a42e9e7b467e18c93652%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.arrowheadpride.com%2F2024%2F11%2F8%2F24290669%2Farrowheadlines-the-chiefs-stole-deandre-hopkins
Around the NFL
Ravens’ Lamar Jackson delivers career-best 4th quarter, tops Bengals | ESPN
Jackson produced the best fourth quarter of his career in leading the Ravens to a 35-34 victory. In recording a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the fourth quarter, he threw for 197 yards and three touchdowns — both personal highs in the fourth quarter — to record a season sweep of the Bengals and save the NFL’s worst pass defense once again.
It didn’t matter that the Ravens defense allowed 470 yards and five touchdowns. There was always a belief that Jackson was going to will Baltimore to victory.
“He’s special, but we’re like the little bros right now,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said of the defense. “He’s carrying us.”
Jared Goff’s 74.9 percent completion rate has him on NFL record pace | NBC Sports
Goff’s completion percentage is at 74.9 percent this season. If he completes his first pass on Sunday night against the Texans, he’ll be at exactly 75.0 percent for 2024.
The NFL record for completion percentage in a season belongs to Drew Brees, who completed 74.44 percent of his passes with the 2018 Saints. Brees also has the second-best completion percentage in NFL history, at 74.34 percent in 2019, and the third-best at 72.01 percent in 2017. No one in NFL history has come close to what Brees was doing late in his career.
Panthers sign RB Chuba Hubbard to four-year extension | ESPN
The Carolina Panthers on Thursday rewarded running back Chuba Hubbard with a four-year contract extension that will run through 2028.
The deal, according to a league source, is worth $33 million with a maximum value of $37.2 million and $15 million in new fully guaranteed dollars.
Hubbard said this moment is what he’s been working for his entire life.
“Definitely lifts a burden off me a little bit,’’ Hubbard said. ‘’I’ve always wanted to take care of my family for life. … At the end of the day, I want to be great. I want to be a Panther for life.’’
In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs prepare for game-winning drives at training camp practices
Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Monday night’s overtime victory, the Chiefs converted two-thirds of their third-down opportunities (12 of 18), including all four touchdowns scored. Speaking before Wednesday’s practice, quarterback Patrick Mahomes credited Kansas City’s efficient run game for setting up advantageous situations on third down.
“First off,” Mahomes identified, “having manageable third downs. We are running the ball so well and getting in these third-and-shorts, third-and-mediums — where I can throw the ball underneath, and we can still get first downs without trying to force it with these third-and-long situations. So, I think that contributes to a lot of the success.”
Mahomes credited offensive coordinator Matt Nagy with plans for third downs despite coverage schemes opponents often appear to have explicitly saved for when facing Kansas City.
“I think a good planning with Nagy and all the different coaches,” the quarterback explained, “and having a great third down scheme, having answers versus all the coverages the defenses play. Obviously, I feel like we get a lot of different coverages than they might play in a week before, but we’ve kind of seen some of them now, so we know, and they let me know if we do get some coverages that have previously worked on us — [and]where to go with the football. I’m able to get the ball out, and guys are getting first downs.”
Social media to make you think
Per @NextGenStats, Patrick Mahomes has a 58.6 percent success rate on 3rd and 3+ this year.
The league average is 38 percent, and no other full-time starter is above 48 percent.
He's generated 40.1 EPA on those plays. No one else in the league has more than 15.4 right now.
— Robert Mays (@robertmays) November 7, 2024
