About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2018)
4B Sunday, December 2, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com NFL Wrapping things up KELVIN KUO I Associated Press Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes passes against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday, Nov. 19, in Los Angeles. Chiefs could clinch playoff berth with win against Oakland KELVIN KUO I Associated Press Former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt walks off the field prior to a game against the Los Angeles Rams Monday, Nov. 19, in Los Angeles. Kareem Hunt’s future uncertain after release BY BARRY WILNER Associated Press Two of the NFL’s most intense rivalries have turned sour. When the Chiefs visit the Raiders in a series that dates to the AFL and has been as good as any in pro foot ball, the oddsmakers see Oakland (2-9) getting routed — at home — by Kansas City. Most of America sees it that way, too. “I know this, when it comes to Chiefs and Raiders, it doesn’t mat ter records,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose team is 9-2. “It’s one of those deals and you better come ready to play against a Jon Gruden-coached football team.” Since the Raiders moved back from Los Angeles to Oakland in 1995, there’s been only one season when both clubs had winning records (2016). The rivalry has been less heated since Marty Schotten- heimer left as Kansas City coach in 1998 and Raiders owner A1 Davis died in 2011. But this gap is success is ridiculous. A more recent rivalry to savor has been San Francisco vs. Seattle. With the Seahawks (6-5) retooling but still competitive, and the 49ers (2-9) perennially rebuilding, that magic seems gone. Indeed, the league flexed this game off prime time. “We had some great battles over the years,” says Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, specifically referring to the matchups with Jim Harbaugh when he led the 49ers. “If that’s what you guys want to call a rivalry, I’m not trying to minimize that part, it’s just that isn’t the way I talk and act and think about it.” The weekend began Thursday night with Dallas’ 13-10 home victory over New Orleans. Ezekiel Elliott scored the only Dallas touchdown and the Cowboys (7-5) stifled Drew Brees and the Saints (10-2), end ing New Orleans’ 10-game winning streak. New Orleans failed to score in the first half, with Brees throwing for 39 yards. Kansas City (10-1) at Oakland (2-9): It’s a bit complicated, but a Chiefs win and losses by Miami, Tennessee, Houston, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Cincinnati in certain combina tions hand KC a playoff berth. Not that anyone doubts one is coming. The Chiefs have won six of seven in this series and Reid’s teams are 16-3 coming off a bye. Here’s a weird stat: Oakland stands fifth in the NFL with 34 points on opening drives. It’s third worst with 1.32 points per drive after that. San Francisco (2-9) at Seattle (6-5): Most intriguing here is Richard Sherman now wearing a 49ers jer sey. The star defensive back for seven seasons in Seattle hasn’t done much in San Francisco: Sherman had 32 picks for Seattle, most in the NFL during that span. He has zero interceptions and four passes defensed this season. “It’s different. Just the dynamic of the NFC West has changed,” Sherman says. “It’s changed a few times throughout the years. Early on when I first came in the league, San Fran was at the top and winning the division and went to a few NFC championships. In the middle of that, Seattle came up and was battling with Frisco, and for one crazy year Arizona came out of nowhere and had a really good season and made it to the NFC championship. “There was a lot more teeth to the rivalry during those middle years for a number of reasons because there were sev eral story lines. Since then, coaching changes have happened here, personnel changes have happened elsewhere, and the Rams have become incredible in the division and are playing really good football. So a lot has changed.” The Seahawks have won eight straight and 10 of the past 11 vs. the 49ers. Seattle, which plays four of its final five at home — the other game is at the Niners — are 26-13 in regular-season games in December/ January under Carroll. Los Angeles Chargers (8-3) at Pittsburgh (7-3-1): The scoreboard might explode at Heinz Field as Class of 2004 QBs Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlis- berger light it up. Rivers set an NFL record for high est completion rate (96.6 percent) and tied the mark for consecutive completions (25) in last week’s rout of Arizona. He has multi-TD games in every outing this season, but will be without running back Melvin Gor don (knee). Roethlisberger’s 97-yard touch down pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster last week gave him four 90-plus yard passes, most in NFL history. He threw for 462 yards in the loss at the Broncos, his sixth game of 450-plus yards. No other QB in NFL history has more than four. Pittsburgh has won four of the past five meetings and is 15-3 at home against the Chargers. Neither team can afford a stumble as it approaches likely postseason berths. LA can’t fall further behind KC in the AFC West, and the Steelers have hopes of a first-round bye. Minnesota (6-4-1) at New Eng land (8-3): More records are within Tom Brady’s reach. With two touchdown passes against Minnesota, Brady would pass Peyton Manning’s 579 for the most passing touchdowns in NFL history, including the postseason. He also would beat Brett Favre’s 508 for the third-most regular-season touch down passes. With the Vikings’ best cornerback, Xavier Rhodes, leaving last Sunday night with a hamstring issue, stymie ing Brady could be a major chal lenge for Minnesota as it chases NFC North leader Chicago. “I remember when we were going in Cincinnati I’m watching him pregame and he was just throwing these darts,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says of Brady, “and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re in trouble today.’ But his accuracy, I think he sees so many things now, I think with the experience. I don’t know that he’s changed all that much.” Washington (6-5) at Philadelphia (5-6), Monday night: Among the many so-so teams in playoff contention are the Redskins, operating without their No. 1 quar terback, Alex Smith, and the defend ing Super Bowl champion Eagles, with a torn-up secondary. Colt McCoy had 268 yards passing, two touchdowns and three intercep tions last week. Something to look for: Adrian Peterson needs two TDs to pass Jim Brown (106) for fifth most in NFL history. Reid Sherman FALCONS ■ Continued from 1B Here are some more things to know about only the sixth meeting between the Ravens and Falcons: RUN GAME MISSING A priority for the Fal cons this week is reviving a running attack which fell flat in last week’s 31-17 loss at New Orleans. Tevin Coleman and Ito Smith combined to net 6 yards on 12 carries. Matt Ryan was sacked six times by the Saints. Quinn says he could make changes on the offensive line against the Ravens. “At the end of the day, our execution as play ers needs to be better,” Quinn said. “We have to do a better job within our assignments.” HAT TRICK Ravens defensive end Matthew Judon had sacks on three different plays against Oakland last week, becoming the first player to pull off the feat since Brad Scioli of Indi anapolis against Houston in 2002. The sequence occurred after Baltimore went up by 17 points in the fourth quarter. “You knew they were throwing, so Matt could cut it loose just a little bit more,” Harbaugh said. “Of course, you’re not planning for three sacks in a row.” Judon has 4 sacks in his last three games after get ting only 1 in his first eight games. Now in his third season out of Grand Valley State, he’s two sacks short of matching his career high. POTENT PASS GAME Harbaugh has respect for Ryan, who leads the NFL with 3,683 yards pass ing. The Falcons boast another NFL leader in Julio Jones, who leads the league with 1,305 yards receiving. “The thing that really jumps out at you is his accuracy,” Harbaugh said. “He’s an on-time, on-rhythm, accu rate thrower ... He knows the system inside and out, and he’s good, and their passing attack is excellent. It’s right there at the top of the league in terms of every statistical category, and he drives that.” ROOKIE RUNNER Baltimore’s bigger sur prise is the emergence of undrafted rookie running back Gus Edwards, who has topped 100 yards rush ing in two straight games. Jackson and Edwards have given the offense a new look — and opposing defenses new concerns. “He definitely takes pressure off of me,” Edwards said. “All defenses have to respect the read option. ... He can make plays with his feet, so the defense has to respect it.” SHORT ON TURNOVERS Baltimore owns the top-ranked defense in the NFL and is allowing only 18 points per game. Per haps the most glaring flaw in the unit is the lack of takeaways. Terrell Suggs’ 43-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter against Oakland was only the Ravens’ eighth forced turnover of the season and first in four games. “Hopefully, this can start a run of some big plays and turnovers,” safety Eric Weddle said. “It will make our defense even better.” Baltimore has a winning record despite owning a minus-6 turnover differ ential. And, although the Ravens had a negative differential in each of the last two weeks, they won anyway. Ryan BY DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kareem Hunt went from the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice field to looking for a job in about six hours, a spectacu lar fall for the NFL’s reigning rushing champion. The Pro Bowl running back had been preparing for today’s game at Oakland when a months-old video surfaced online. The footage from a Cleveland hotel security cam era showed Hunt shoving and kicking a woman, with police ultimately responding. No charges were filed. The Chiefs immediately sent Hunt home as the TMZ video rippled across social media. An organization that prides itself on providing second chances said in a statement late Friday it had released the 23-year-old star. The team was traveling Saturday. The NFL had no comment Friday night beyond saying Hunt was on the commis sioner’s exempt list, meaning he can’t play or attend games while the league investigates. The question now for both the Chiefs and Hunt is simple: What’s next? The Chiefs (9-2) are barrel ing toward the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, and the loss of their leading rusher is substantial. Hunt already had run for more than 800 yards and had 14 total touchdowns, helping Kansas City form one of the league’s most dynamic offenses. His ability to churn out yards on the ground helped the Chiefs put away several games. His ability to catch passes out of the backfield had been just as useful. Yet the falloff to Spencer Ware isn’t that significant. The Chiefs’ backup was the unquestioned starter heading into last season, even after the team made Hunt their third- round pick. It wasn’t until Ware — whose skill set closely mirrors that of Hunt — went down with a season-ending knee injury in the preseason that the rookie took over. “There was a question whether he would be able to come back from that injury. It was a pretty tough injury to come back from,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said recently. “The last couple weeks he has played good football. You can see where he is more confident each week here.” The Chiefs are also confi dent in backups Damien Wil liams and Darrel Williams. And with a soft schedule down the stretch, including two games against the Raiders, there is plenty of time for their offense to adjust to life without Hunt in the backfield. So that is what’s next for the Chiefs. What happens to Hunt? The Chiefs and the NFL knew what happened in Feb ruary in Cleveland, and the organization spoke to Hunt on several occasions before handling discipline inter nally. But neither the team nor the league had seen the video before it became public Friday. The NFL made multiple attempts to obtain it, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press, speak ing on condition of anonym ity because of the ongoing investigation. Jackson responsible for unpredictable Ravens offense BY JONAS SHAFFER The Baltimore Sun BALTIMORE — Because he is a rookie prone to bouts of inconsistency, because he is a generational athlete who can bend defenses to his will, Lamar Jackson has made every game he’s played some thing of a guessing game: Just what will the Ravens quarter back do next? So far, he has expe rienced defeat as a backup and won as a starter, thrown for touchdowns and botched handoffs. He has completed deep bombs down the side line and stared down receiv ers in triple coverage. He has run quarterback draws, read options and end-arounds. He’s lined up as a receiver, even gotten open in the end zone. He has done seemingly everything on offense but line up at guard and try pancaking a 300-bound behemoth. “It’s fun being in there with him because when he takes off and runs, you’ve got to have your head on a swivel,” said first-round tight end Hayden Hurst, who has played with Jackson since the team’s rookie minicamp in May. And yet, Hurst added: “You pretty much know what you’re going to get with him.” That, teammates and coaches said, is the dichotomy of Jackson. On the field, where he’s expected to make his third straight start Sunday in Atlanta against the Falcons (4-7), Jack- son is thrilling and unique and still grasp ing the NFL’s unyield ing difficulties. In the locker room, during team meetings, in practice, he is still the same ol’ Lamar who entered the season expecting to watch and learn from Joe Flacco. His circumstances might have changed, perhaps irrevo cably, but they don’t seem to have changed him. “I don’t think it’s ever been a question with Lamar, if you look back at his career and him coming out from col lege and everything,” said coach John Harbaugh, whose Ravens (6-5) have moved into the AFC’s sixth playoff spot with two wins in Jackson’s two starts. “But it’s not in question here, either. ...You never know until you see it, and we saw it from day one.” Flacco
