ALL ROADS GO THROUGH KANSAS CITY:
For the better part of this year, I have had the Kansas City Chiefs as the top seed in my weekly power rankings…and for the most part, they have rewarded my faith in them. It’s not that much of a stretch, considering they are now 14-1.
The week that they lost to the Bills, they obviously fell out of the top spot and stayed there for a couple of weeks until the Bills and Lions subsequently lost. The Rams beat the Bills in wk.14, and then in wk.15, the Bills beat the Lions. The Lions are sitting at 13-2, and the Bills are 12-3.
By Kansas City standards, their 29-10 victory in Pittsburgh on Christmas was a blowout. I had joked that it might be tough for the Steelers to compete with the fat man in red invading Pittsburgh on Christmas…and sure enough, after the game, Andy Reid entered the locker room in full Santa-gear.
They now have the No. 1 seed in the AFC locked up and the first-round bye. They just need to win two home games to get to yet another Superbowl. All season, I’ve been their biggest backer, but I’ve had my doubts about their 3-pete. I’m a believer that if something has never happened, it’s probably not going to happen. No NFL team has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls.
In this game, Travis Kelce caught his 1000th reception, joining Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten. And Andy Reid won his 299th career game (regular season and playoffs). Only Bill Belichick, George Halas, and Don Shula have over 300 career wins.
File Under: Most amazing stat ever, in Kansas City’s 15 games and 14 wins, they have not scored over 30 points once. The other three teams who haven’t scored over 30pts this year are the New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiers, and New York Giants. Those three teams have a combined record of 7-35. As great as Patrick Mahomes is, this team is doing it on defense. It stands to reason that if they don’t score over 30pts, they aren’t giving up 30pts either. They gave up exactly 30 points once this season. Their one loss was 30-21 against the Bills in Buffalo. It will be awfully tough to beat this team, scoring under 30 points.
THE CREAM HAS RISEN IN THE AFC NORTH:
It has taken 17 weeks, but the Ravens have finally overtaken the Steelers for the division lead in the AFC North and now control their destiny. They are 11-5 heading into wk.18, while the Steelers have now lost three in a row and are looking up with a 10-6 record. With their win Christmas evening in Houston, the Ravens will realistically be the no.3 seed and be forced to travel to Buffalo during the divisional round. To make it to the Superbowl, one of these teams will have to beat the other in that game and then travel to Kansas City. It won’t be an easy task, but at least for now, the Ravens have put themselves in the best spot possible.
Lamar Jackson has thrust himself into the MVP race to win his third. Josh Allen still leads at -230, but Jackson has catapulted into the second spot with +170 odds. Saquon Barkley is sitting at +2000, Jared Goff is sitting at +2500, and Patrick Mahomes and Sam Darnold are sitting at +10000.
Statistically it can be argued that Jackson is having his best season ever. He has completed nearly 68% of his passes. He is only 45 yards away from 4000 passing yards. And, he has thrown 39 TDs with only four interceptions. And in the game against Houston, Christmas night, Jackson surpassed Michael Vick’s all-time rushing total of 6109 yds. By the time the smoke settles on Jackson’s career, he will surely reach 10,000 rushing yds, and although all records are meant to be broken, his rushing record will be tough to be broken.
