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A16 sports
Thursday 17 december 2020

Chiefs lead AP Pro32 poll; Packers at No. 2, Bills at No. 3

By SIMMI BUTTAR Packers just keep rolling,"
AP Pro Football Writer said Charean Williams of
NEW YORK (AP) — The Kan- Pro Football Talk. "Is there
sas City Chiefs know how anybody in the NFC that
to avoid any late-season can beat them?"
stumbles. The Chiefs took And the surging Buffalo Bills
a 30-10 lead against Mi- also moved up two places
ami and held on for a 33-27 to No. 3. "Josh Allen's emer-
victory. They're 12-1 on the gence continues, and Buf-
season and on pace for falo has planted the flag
the top seed in the AFC. as a potential threat to de-
The Chiefs clinched their fending Super Bowl cham-
fifth straight AFC West title pion Kansas City," News-
with the victory and are the day's Bob Glauber said.
unanimous No. 1 in the lat- "Allen got the best of Ben
est AP Pro32 poll. Roethlisberger in an impor-
The defending champs tant AFC showdown in Buf-
received all 12 first-place falo and showed a national
votes for 384 points in bal- audience why the Bills are
loting Tuesday by media to be taken very seriously
members who regularly heading into January."
cover the NFL. The Green Both the Packers and Bills
Bay Packers gained two will play on Saturday in
spots to move to No. 2. "The Week 15. The Packers, who

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) gets off a pass under
pressure from Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt
(90) during the first half of an NFL football game in Orchard Park,
N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. The Bills won 26-15.
Associated Press
have clinched the NFC less New York Jets on Sun-
North, will host the Carolina day and the Seahawks,
Panthers and the Bills will who routed the Jets last
head to Denver to take on week, gained a spot to No.
the Broncos. The New Or- 7 and will face the surging
leans Saints dropped two Washington Football Team.
places to No. 4 after los- The Tennessee Titans and
ing to Jalen Hurts and the the Indianapolis Colts, tied
Philadelphia Eagles. The for first in the AFC South,
Saints will try to avoid a are tied at No. 8 in the poll.
two-game skid as they host And the Cleveland Browns,
the Chiefs on Sunday. who lost a thrilling 47-42
That matchup is the first of game to the Baltimore
two home games in five Ravens on Monday night,
days for the Saints as they dropped three spots to
also host Minnesota on round out the top 10. Balti-
Christmas Day. more moved up two plac-
After their second straight es to No. 11. "In what was
loss, the Pittsburgh Steelers the wildest game of this
again dropped two spots season, the Ravens let the
to No. 5. The Steelers are rest of the league know not
scheduled to close out to count them out," said
Week 15 as they head to Jenny Vrentas of The Mon-
Cincinnati to take on the day Morning Quarterback.
lowly Bengals on Monday "Lamar Jackson looked like
night. "The Steelers are of- the reigning MVP again,
ficially playoff-bound, but culminating in his late-
I've got serious questions game heroics to pull out
about how long they're go- the win that Baltimore had
ing to last in the postsea- to have for its postseason
son with the defense reel- push."q
ing from linebacker injuries
and the running game go-
ing nowhere with a paltry
54.3-yard average the past
seven games," said Alex
Marvez of SiriusXM.
The Los Angeles Rams and
the Seattle Seahawks, tied
for first in the NFC West,
grabbed the next two
spots. The Rams stayed at
No. 6 and will host the win-