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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
