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SPORTS Saturday 13 OctOber 2018

Chiefs, Mahomes will get

major test in New England

By BARRY WILNER After a 1-2 start, the Patri- a good football team. They
AP Pro Football Writer ots appear to have gotten just did not find ways to win
There can be no better back on their usual winning and so many (games) they
measuring stick for the path. had opportunities.”
Chiefs and young quar- The weekend began with They’ve got two wins al-
terback Patrick Mahomes Philadelphia’s 34-13 road ready and lead the NFL
than what they face Sun- victory over the New York with 15 takeaways, two
day night. Giants. Carson Wentz threw more than in the entire
Beat the Patriots in Foxbor- a season-high three touch- 2017 season.
ough and all that excite- down passes for the Eagles Baltimore (3-2) at Tennes-
ment in Kansas City might (3-3). They beat the Giants see (3-2)
be validated. (1-5) for the fourth straight Two clubs coming off down
Remember, though, that time and seventh in eight weekends: Tennessee was
the Chiefs, with Alex Smith, games. punchless at Buffalo, Balti-
went into Gillette Stadium Off this week are Detroit (2- more was inept offensively
and won the 2017 kickoff to 3) and New Orleans (4-1) at Cleveland.
the season. They went on Pittsburgh (2-2-1) at Cincin- Both can play D, though, so In this Oct. 7, 2018, file photo, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback
an up-and-down ride the nati (4-1) don’t expect a lot of end Patrick Mahomes (15) throws a pass during the first half of an
rest of the way, lost in the One of the NFL’s most vi- zone activity in Music City. NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, in Kansas
wild-card playoff round, cious and yellow-tinted ri- The Ravens are playing a City, Mo.
while the Patriots straight- valries . As in: third straight road game, Associated Press
ened out and made the —These teams combined then have four of the next penalties as inefficient de- to the Jets, so, yes, that has
Super Bowl before losing to for four penalties for un- five at home. They lead fense. The usually precise caught Gurley’s attention.
Philadelphia. necessary roughness, one the NFL in scoring defense, Alex Smith threw an inter- Jacksonville (3-2) at Dallas
Mahomes, of course, has for unsportsmanlike con- allowing 15.4 points per ception and was generally (2-3)
looked immune to any sort duct, one for taunting, one game, with no TDs in a sec- off-target. Oddly, Dallas has never
of high-stakes pressure in for roughing the passer, ond half. Now comes Carolina, won its first three home
leading the Chiefs (5-0) to and two 15-yard penalties The Titans have allowed which has seven picks, is games at Jerry World.
the top of the AFC. He em- for grabbing a facemask in seven points in the first plus-5 in turnovers, and has With RB Leonard Fournette
braces this challenge and their previous meeting. quarter and lead in red nine sacks. The Panthers still hurt, the showpiece
trying to outdo Tom Brady. —Cincinnati set a club re- zone defense, allowing also have the NFL’s top matchup with Ezekiel Elliott
“It is going to be a great op- cord with 173 yards in pen- three TDs in 13 possessions rushing offense, in part be- disappears. Elliott has been
portunity,” says Mahomes, alties in that messy affair, for a 23.1 percent success cause quarterback Cam the prime weapon for Dal-
who has a league-best 14 when the Steelers over- rate by opponents. Newton is such a weapon las and is averaging 154
touchdown passes. “He is came a 17-0 deficit to win. Chicago (3-1) at Miami on the ground. Newton is yards from scrimmage per
one of the greatest quar- More numbers of note: (3-2) The Bears have won 4-0 with nine TDs and zero game in the past three. But
terbacks, if not the great- —The Steelers have won three in a row and come picks for a 115.4 passer rat- the passing game is 30th as
est to ever play. I am going the past six games in this se- off a bye. They haven’t ing vs. Washington, along Dak Prescott struggles with-
against their defense, but ries, nine of 10 and 14 of 17. earned four straight wins with two rushing scores. out a topnotch receiver.
as a team we are going to —The Bengals are 8-24 vs. since 2012. Washington has lost five He’ll face the stingiest de-
go in and try to compete. the Steelers under coach With Khalil Mack revitalizing straight to Carolina. fense in the NFL.
They are a good team in Marvin Lewis the defense, Chicago ranks Los Angeles Rams (5-0) at Seattle (2-3) vs. Oakland (1-
the AFC every single year. —Lewis is 2-15 at Paul Brown No. 1 against the run and Denver (2-3) 4) at London Wonder if the
Just to compete against Stadium against Pittsburg. second overall. If second- While Denver’s defense Raiders will have as many
one of the best teams in — Steelers QB Ben Roethlis- year quarterback Mitch has been getting Orange fans in Wembley as they
the league is going to be berger is 24-4-1 in his native Trubisky truly has found the Crushed recently, LA’s of- did in StubHub Center. They
an awesome opportunity.” Ohio, including the post- passing rhythm — his six TD fense has looked unstop- could really use the support
How familiar is Mahomes season. He’s 13-2 at Paul throws in a rout of Tampa pable. Jared Goff leads as Jon Gruden’s return sea-
with three-time league Brown Stadium with 23 TDs, Bay tied for second most in the league with 1,727 yards son spirals out of control.
MVP Brady, whom he has 10 interceptions. an NFL game — the Bears passing and ranks second “I’m going to continue to
never met? Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) needs to be taken seriously. with a 119.7 passer rating. emphasize the good and
“I definitely watched a at Cleveland (2-2-1) Miami was taken seriously In the past month, Goff is do everything I can to fix
good amount of him in col- When last they met in until it laid eggs at New averaging 374 yards per the things that are bad,
lege (at Texas Tech),” he Cleveland, the Browns won England and Cincinnati, game. because most of the things
says. “Coach (Kliff) Kings- in their 15th game to avoid where it blew a 17-0 lead. Todd Gurley tops the NFL that are bad, my finger-
bury actually played with a perfect season on the The Dolphins rank third with seven TD runs and prints are all over,” Gruden
Tom at one point. He liked wrong side of the ledger. worst in yards and fifth worst ranks second with 645 said. Such as a defense,
to show me some things So they lost every game in in points. They have been scrimmage yards. Of con- minus the traded Mack
that he did where he was 2017, including at the Char- outgained by 94 yards per cern for the impressive re- of course, that ranks 30th.
in the pocket, his pocket gers. game, which ranks third ceiving group is that Bran- Oakland has the fewest QB
movements and things like “Not to speak too much of worst. din Cooks and Cooper pressures in the league (29),
that. I have definitely taken last year, but I could not be- Carolina (3-1) at Washing- Kupp each left last week’s tied for fewest sacks (six),
some things from him. He lieve and I did not feel like ton (2-2) win at Seattle with concus- and is tied for third-fewest
does it at such a high level, they were an 0-16 team or Washington was on the sions. takeaways (five).
it’s something you have to 0-14, whatever they were wrong end of the record- Denver star LB Von Miller Seattle makes its first
strive to be like.” when we played them last setting Brees blitz through has gone sackless the past regular-season over-
New England (3-2) is striving year,” says Chargers quar- the air in New Orleans, and three weeks. The Broncos seas appearance. Worth
to be, well, New England. terback Philip Rivers. “It was was damaged as much by yielded 323 rushing yards watching:q