The Cincinnati Bengals revelled in causing problems for those who had formed plans for a neutral site AFC Championship Game as they defeated the Buffalo Bills to secure another road game at the Kansas City Chiefs.
Victory for the Bills on Sunday, due to the cancelled regular season game between the teams when Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest, would have seen them meet the Chiefs in Atlanta.
The NFL had even set in motion ticket sales, which did great business with the game just a week away, but the alternative plan will not now be required after the Bengals won 27-10 in Buffalo.
Joe Burrow had the Bengals in control from the outset, and he had advice for those who had planned to see the Bills play the Chiefs.
"Better send those refunds," he told CBS.
Coach Zac Taylor added at a news conference with a grin: "We had our minds set to go and play in Kansas City.
"It is tough, because they have to formulate the plans for coin tosses, they have to formulate the plans for neutral site games, and we just keep screwing it up for everybody.
"I hate that for the people who have to endure all those logistical issues. We just keep screwing it up, so I'm sorry."
The Bengals won in Kansas City in last year's AFC Championship Game, and Taylor has no doubts they are capable of a repeat.
"We're built for this," he said. "It doesn't matter what anybody thinks about us.
"We don't care who's favourite and who's not; we're built for this. We're excited to go on the road to Kansas City."
The Bills had been 13-1 in home playoff games in the Super Bowl era, but that record merely provided a source of motivation for Taylor's team.
"In our whole team, you just look at the leadership in every position," he said.
"We talked about last night how they were 13-1 in the playoffs, the best home winning percentage in NFL history. I wanted to show that to the team, because I knew what that would do to them.
"It wouldn't put fear in them that 'oh my God, we're walking into an environment that people don't win in', it was completely the opposite for our guys. It was."
Burrow completed his first nine passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns, putting the Bengals 14-0 up before the Bills had a first down.
"He's the greatest," Taylor said. "He does a great job leading this team, managing situations. The bigger the moment gets, the calmer he gets, and the team feeds off that."
But Burrow was keen to deflect praise onto the offensive line, which was missing key personnel but ensured the quarterback took only a single sack.
"It was one of their best games of the year – rushing, pass blocking," Burrow said. "It might be our most complete game of the year as a team."
Burrow, like Taylor, is confident of the team's chances against the Chiefs, believing they are better now than they were when winning that game last year.
"I think we're a more complete team, I think we're a better team," he explained. "We just seem to make plays when it counts. That's all there is to say.
"I think our O-line is better, I think our run game is better, I think our defense is better, I think our special teams is better. We're just overall a much better team than we were last year."
NFL: Chiefs stay perfect with OT win over Bucs
Kareem Hunt finished the game's lone overtime drive with a 2-yard touchdown run that kept the Kansas City Chiefs unbeaten with Monday's 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hunt powered into the end zone to conclude the 10-play, 70-yard series that gave Kansas City (8-0) its 14th consecutive victory, including play-off games, dating back to last season. The veteran running back finished the night with a season-high 106 rushing yards on 27 carries.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, including two to DeAndre Hopkins in the wide receiver's first home game as a Chief, to help the defending Super Bowl champions stay perfect despite the Buccaneers forcing overtime on Baker Mayfield's 1-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Miller with 27 seconds left in regulation.
Tampa Bay (4-5) opted to kick the extra point instead of attempting a potential game-winning two-point conversion, however, and never got the ball back again after losing the coin toss to begin overtime.
The Bucs trailed 10-7 at half-time following Mahomes' 1-yard touchdown pass to Hopkins late in the second quarter, but scored 10 unanswered points in the third quarter to move ahead.
After Mayfield found Cade Otton for an 11-yard touchdown pass early in the period for a 14-10 lead, Tampa Bay's defence forced a three-and-out to help set up Chase McLaughlin's 47-yard field goal with 5:50 left in the third.
The Chiefs stormed back with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, however. Mahomes capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown delivery to Samaje Perine to tie the game at 17-17, then later hit Hopkins for a go-ahead 5-yard strike with 4:17 remaining in regulation.
Kansas City's next possession stalled, though, to give Mayfield enough time to orchestrate a 10-play, 71-yard sequence that ended in Miller's tying touchdown grab.
Mayfield finished 23 of 31 with 200 yards and two touchdowns. Otton led the Bucs with 77 receiving yards on eight catches, while Rachaad White had a rushing touchdown for Tampa in the first half.
The Chiefs received 14 catches for 100 yards from Travis Kelce and 86 yards on eight receptions from Hopkins, playing his second game since being acquired by Kansas CIty from the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 24.
Cowboys quarterback Prescott reportedly expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined following an MRI, and reported Monday from multiple media outlets.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
Cowboys quarterback Prescott expected to miss multiple weeks with hamstring injury
The path to the play-offs is now even tougher for the Dallas Cowboys.
Quarterback Dak Prescott will reportedly miss several weeks with a hamstring injury sustained in Sunday's 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The severity of the injury was determined Monday following an MRI.
Prescott is planning to get a second opinion, and the Cowboys have not decided if they will place him on injured reserve, which would keep him on the sideline a minimum of four games.
Prescott, who signed a record-breaking, $240million contract hours before this season's opener, suffered the injury late in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Cooper Rush, and the seven-year backup will get the start this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Rush completed 13-of-25 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Falcons, but couldn't rally Dallas all the way back.
The Cowboys ended up losing their third straight game to drop to 3-5, which matches the total number of losses the team had each of the last three seasons.
They now sit in third place in the NFC East, 3 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Commanders.
Rush has found some success as a fill-in starter for the Cowboys, though, the 30-year-old hasn't been forced into the starting role since 2022.
In six career starts for Dallas, he's gone 5-1 with 1,281 passing yards with seven touchdowns, four interceptions and an 83.6 rating.
There is some good news for the Cowboys, though, as star defensive end Micah Parsons is likely to return this Sunday after missing the last four games with a high-ankle sprain.
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