Patrick Mahomes' extraordinary success with the Kansas City Chiefs has largely been built on his incredible rapport with tight end Travis Kelce.
On Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, it was his connection with an unheralded tight end that proved to critical for Mahomes and Kansas City.
The Chiefs fought back from a 17-9 deficit to see off the Titans 20-17 in overtime and move to 6-2.
Mahomes produced magic with his legs to help the Chiefs tie the game, a 20-yard rush on third-and-17 keeping alive a scoring drive he capped with a 14-yard touchdown run. He then added the two-point conversion on another scramble.
His 68 passes were just two shy of the all-time single-game record. Mahomes completed 43 passes, again two short of the league record, with the gap between his tally and that of Titans rookie Malik Willis (five) representing the largest between two starting quarterbacks in a game.
No completion was more important than Mahomes' 27-yard connection with tight end Noah Gray on third-and-1 from the Tennessee 49-yard line.
Under pressure from Demarcus Walker, Mahomes rolled to his right before deftly evading the defensive lineman and stepping up to fire downfield to Gray, who had uncovered from the coverage of Roger McCreary. Gray leapt to make a juggling catch over the head of McCreary, putting Kansas City on the edge of the red zone.
Though the Chiefs could not clinch the game with a touchdown, Harrison Butker converted a 28-yard field goal and the defense stopped Willis and the Titans in four plays on the subsequent series to wrap it up.
"It's funny," Mahomes said. "I think I said it in training camp: I feel like I don't target Noah enough because a lot of times plays are called either to him or he's one of the options I can give him a chance on. And it seems like I don't throw it to him.
"He's always open — and so as the season's going on and as our careers go on I want to give him more and more chances, because I think he can be a big part of this offense.
"That whole tight end room has been great for us this season. But for [Gray] to make that catch in that moment? I mean, that was a tough catch that he made; that was a big one for us. That was probably the reason that we were able to get down there and win."
Asked about his third-down run that set the comeback in motion, Mahomes replied: "I definitely saw a lane to get it close enough that I thought we'd be able to go for it [on fourth down].
"When you're in that situation, you know that if you can get it to a fourth-and-5, fourth-and-4, coach Reid's probably going to give you a chance there.
"And then as I was running, I felt the – I think it was the safety — kind of overpursuing so I kind of shot my shot and went out there. I actually tried to get outside again which didn’t work out for me; I’m not fast enough.
"But it was a good play and like I said we just battled at the end of the day. It wasn't like we were designing it up we were just going out there and trying to make some stuff happen."
Mahomes is the NFL king of making stuff happen, and his primetime heroics in Week 9 moved the Chiefs level with the 6-2 Buffalo Bills at the top of the AFC. The Chiefs are in prime position to make another run at a Super Bowl title.
Packers, QB Love agree to 4-year, $220 million contract
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have agreed to a four-year extension worth $220 million, tying him as the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history, according to multiple sources.
Love, who has only had one full season as an NFL starter, will earn $55 million annually with $155 million guaranteed and a $75 million signing bonus, also the largest in league history.
His yearly salary ties him with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence for highest in NFL history.
After finally trading Aaron Rodgers in April 2023, Love, 25, became the Packers’ undisputed starter. He struggled through the first seven games last season and Green Bay was 2-5 but he took off and the Packers finished 9-8 and earned a wild card spot.
In the Packers’ final eight games of the regular season, Love had 16 touchdowns and one interception. In a 48-32 playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, he had a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating with 16 of 21 completions for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.
Love completed 372 of 579 passes (64.2 percent) for 4,159 yards last season with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
His 32 TD passes ranked second in the NFL behind Dallas’ Dak Prescott (36).
All that production came while Love was throwing to the most productive, young group of receivers since at least 1970. The Packers’ 302 receptions, 3,642 receiving yards and 31 receiving touchdowns are the most by a team’s group of first-or second-year pass catchers since the AFL/NFL merger.
Green Bay also became the youngest team in that same span to win a playoff game with an average age of 25 years and 214 days.
Dolphins extend Tua Tagovailoa on 4-year, $212M deal
The Miami Dolphins and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have agreed to a four-year, $212.4million contract extension, multiple media outlets reported Friday.
The contract, which is the largest in franchise history, reportedly includes $167million in guarantees, which ranks eighth among NFL quarterbacks.
With a long-term deal in place, Tagovailoa can focus on preparing for the upcoming season. He had been a minimal participant in Miami’s initial training camp sessions.
Drafted fifth overall out of Alabama, Tagovailoa has had a passer rating over 100 in each of the last two seasons and answered durability concerns by starting all 17 games last year.
While some pundits had been hesitant to endorse a large extension for Tagovailoa, but Dolphins general manager Chris Grier was determined to keep the left-hander in Miami.
"We're strong believers in him. And you guys all feel [coach Mike McDaniel's] passion about him when he talks about him," Grier said in February.
"Just in the two years of what he's done, he's grown in areas to where he led the league in passing and did some great things this year. And we all feel there's still another level he can take it.
"The way he's attacked this and wants to be great, and the combination of Mike and working with that and that trust and belief in each other, we do think there's still another level which he could go."
Tagovailoa completed 69.3 percent of his passes last season for 4,624 yards, 29 touchdowns and 14 interceptions while leading the Dolphins to an 11-6 record. The Dolphins’ play-off appearance was brief, ending in a 26-7 loss in frigid Kansas City in the wild-card round.
Since McDaniel took over as head coach, Tagovailoa ranks fourth in the NFL in passing yards (8,172), fifth in passing touchdowns (54) and second in passer rating (102.9).
Atlanta Falcons QB Cousins cleared to practice
Quarterback Kirk Cousins was on the field for the Atlanta Falcons' first training camp practice after being cleared to participate by the team's medical staff.
Head coach Raheem Morris told reporters Thursday that Cousins, recovering from a torn right Achilles tendon sustained in October, will be under slight restrictions during camp but is still expected to handle the majority of first-team reps during team drills.
"Obviously, we'll do some sort of our own modifications [like] some of the things we did with Kirk during the spring, but he's ready to go," Morris said.
"He's fired up, the team's fired up. The limitations for him, you won't notice."
Cousins suffered the injury on Oct. 29 in what turned out to be his final game with the Minnesota Vikings. The four-time Pro Bowl selection signed a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons in March to address the team's most glaring need, a top-tier starting quarterback.
The soon-to-be 36-year-old is expected to open the season as Atlanta's starter despite the Falcons selecting former University of Washington star quarterback Michael Penix with the eighth overall pick of this year's draft.
Cousins did take part in some drills during the Falcons' offseason training activities in May, but was mainly limited to individual work.
"I think the precaution [in OTAs], I think was pretty much helpful for how we go about the business of keeping people away from him," Morris said. "Now there will be people to be around him, and we feel comfortable with that moving forward and doing some of those things.
"Obviously, some of these limitations will come in our individual drills, making sure we don't wear him out to the point where we want to get all the team reps with him."
Cousins was in the midst of another strong season in 2023, as he was leading the NFL in touchdown passes (18) at the time of his injury in Week 8. The 12-year veteran completed 69.5 per cent of his passes for 2,331 yards with five interceptions in eight games, though the injury prevented him from likely reaching 4,000 passing yards for a fourth straight season.
Morris is also in his first season as the Falcons' permanent head coach, though he went 4-7 as the team's interim coach in 2020 after Atlanta fired Dan Quinn during the season.
Atlanta has finished 7-10 in each of the last three seasons and has missed the playoffs in six consecutive seasons, tied with the Carolina Panthers for the longest active drought among NFC teams.
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