Culture
Players to Watch in the N.C.A.A. Men’s Tournament
![Players to Watch in the N.C.A.A. Men’s Tournament Players to Watch in the N.C.A.A. Men’s Tournament](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/13mcbb-players-topa-facebookJumbo.jpg)
When the N.C.A.A. males’s match begins with the play-in video games on Tuesday and the spherical of 64 on Thursday, a few of the most noticeable gamers to look at will come from colleges like Bryant, South Dakota State and Seton Corridor — not simply from the highest seeds.
In fact, big-name manufacturers like Gonzaga, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and Auburn have their share of key gamers and future N.B.A. draft picks to look at as effectively.
Listed below are some names to keep watch over:
Andrew Nembhard, Gonzaga
This 6-foot-5 level guard from Ontario is the engine that makes the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense go.
In a 12 months with out many elite level guards on the prime of school basketball, Nembhard, who averages 11.7 factors, 5.7 assists and three.2 rebounds whereas taking pictures 46 p.c from the sphere for Gonzaga (26-3, 13-1 West Coast Convention), is likely one of the greatest.
When the Bulldogs received their eighth W.C.C. match title in 9 years over Saint Mary’s on Tuesday night time, Nembhard went for 19 factors, 7 assists and three rebounds, hitting an enormous 3-pointer late to increase the result in double-digits en path to an 82-69 victory.
“Their offense is pretty much as good as any within the nation,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett stated. “There’s lots of issues it’s a must to do proper to have an opportunity, and we did that for some time, however it’s a must to do it for 40 minutes.”
Douglas Wilson, South Dakota State
This 6-foot-7, 210-pound senior ahead averages 16.5 factors and 5.5 rebounds whereas taking pictures 57 p.c from the sphere for a Jackrabbits workforce that owns the longest profitable streak in Division 1 at 21 video games. They haven’t loss since falling at Missouri State on Dec. 15.
South Dakota State (30-4) grew to become the primary workforce in Summit League historical past to go undefeated in convention play by ending the common season 18-0, after which added three extra wins en path to the league’s match championship. Within the 75-69 victory over North Dakota State within the title recreation on Tuesday, Wilson had 21 factors and 11 rebounds and was named the match Most Beneficial Participant.
Wilson and the Jackrabbits have the second most potent offense in Division I (behind Gonzaga), averaging 86.7 factors a recreation.
Peter Kiss, Bryant
This 6-foot-5 guard from the Higher East Aspect is a colourful and controversial character, and never simply because he generally dons a KISS T-shirt earlier than video games. He’s recognized for speaking smack to opponents and taunting followers and opponents with gestures like sticking his tongue out after a dunk or doing push-ups on the baseline after a basket.
“He performs with an edge, he performs with a swagger, and I feel he has a chip on his shoulder with one thing to show when he performs,” stated Bryant coach Jared Grasso, who guided his workforce to its first-ever N.C.A.A. match look.
Kiss, on his third faculty after stops at Quinnipiac and Rutgers, leads Division 1 in scoring at 25.1 factors a recreation together with 5.8 rebounds and three.3 assists. Within the Northeast Convention championship recreation in opposition to Wagner on Tuesday night time, Kiss had certainly one of his greatest video games in a Bryant uniform, placing up 34 factors, six rebounds and 5 steals.
He’s the sixth participant within the final dozen years to guide Division 1 in scoring and make the N.C.A.A. match. Of these six, two went on to achieve the spherical of 16: Max Abmas of Oral Roberts final season and Jimmer Fredette of BYU in 2011.
Collin Gillespie, Villanova
This 6-foot-3 level guard was a freshman on the Villanova workforce that received the N.C.A.A. championship in 2018.
After struggling a season-ending torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee final March, Gillespie returned for a fifth season granted by the N.C.A.A. within the wake of the pandemic. Regardless of struggling a sprained ankle in Villanova’s victory over Connecticut on Feb. 5, he returned for the following recreation three days later in opposition to St. John’s, grabbing 10 rebounds in a win. Per week later, he solidified his case as Large East participant of the 12 months by pouring in 33 factors with 4 rebounds and two assists in an 89-84 victory over Windfall, the eventual regular-season league champion.
After sharing Large East Participant of the Yr honors final season, Gillespie received the award by himself this 12 months when he averaged 16.3 factors, 3.8 rebounds and three.1 assists via the common season.
“He’s a particular participant, a big-time shot maker and a big-time playmaker,” Villanova guard Justin Moore informed reporters of his backcourt mate. “We all know if we put the ball in his arms, we undergo so many conditions in observe and we’ve seen him do it for thus a few years, that one thing good’s going to occur.”
Jabari Smith, Auburn
When the 6-foot-10 Smith dedicated to Auburn in October 2020, his coach at Sandy Creek Excessive Faculty in Georgia, Jon-Michael Nickerson, boldly forecast that he had the potential to be like a few of the best N.B.A. large males of all time: Chris Bosh, Anthony Davis, Kevin Garnett and Kevin Durant.
“Whereas he has a protracted, lengthy methods to go to get to a degree even near them, he nonetheless reveals similarities,” Nickerson stated on the time.
Smith, 18, just isn’t but within the dialog with these greats, however he had a big impact for the Tigers in what is predicted to be his lone season on campus. A multitalented ahead who can shoot from deep, rating in quite a lot of methods within the paint and defend a number of positions, he averaged 17.1 factors and 6.9 rebounds whereas taking pictures 44 p.c from past the arc via the common season en path to being named the Southeastern Convention freshman of the 12 months. He’s a projected top-3 N.B.A. draft choose this summer time.
“He has two foundational pillars that each N.B.A. workforce is on the lookout for,” the ESPN draft professional Mike Schmitz stated on air earlier this season. “He can actually defend, sit down and slide, and he’s an elite shooter, not only a good shooter, an elite shooter.”
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky
At 6-foot-9 and 255 kilos, Tshiebwe is what the late expertise scout Tom Konchalski referred to as “a mountain masquerading as a person.”
He’s each an unstoppable power and an immovable object within the paint, the place he has an amazing knack for rebounding the ball out of his space with each arms. Tshiebwe was averaging a team-best 17.3 factors and a nation-leading 15.3 rebounds a recreation getting into this week’s Southeastern Convention match. He’s seeking to grow to be the primary Division I participant to common at the least 15 factors and at the least 15 rebounds per recreation since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith every did through the 1979-80 season, and the primary major-conference participant to common at the least 16 factors and at the least 15 rebounds for a season since Invoice Walton at U.C.L.A. in 1972-73.
A local of the Democratic Republic of Congo, he transferred to Kentucky from West Virginia and has already been named the Southeastern Convention participant of the 12 months. He’s among the many favorites for each the John R. Picket award and the Naismith faculty participant of the 12 months award because the nation’s greatest faculty participant. However his bigger focus is on serving to No. 4 Kentucky contend for its second nationwide championship beneath Coach John Calipari.
“Now we have an excellent probability to win all issues,” Tshiebwe informed The Sporting Information, which named him its nationwide participant of the 12 months. “I simply need all people to sacrifice, as a result of when you actually need one thing good to occur, it’s a must to sacrifice. We’ve to bought to offer every little thing. How lengthy does it take, two weeks, March Insanity? For those who’re not prepared to struggle to assist this workforce, struggle with every little thing you’ve bought, you’re by no means going to overlook it.”
Armando Bacot, North Carolina
When North Carolina desperately wanted a signature win to solidify its N.C.A.A. match résumé, this 6-foot-10, 240-pound junior willed it to occur.
Enjoying at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium in Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last house recreation on March 5, Bacot went for 23 factors, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals within the emphatic 94-81 victory. He had a thunderous two-handed dunk within the closing minutes to increase the result in 10 factors.
“I wasn’t making an attempt to lose,” he stated. “I used to be on this place my freshman 12 months, and we ended up dropping after being up an enormous lead at house. I wasn’t excited till the buzzer ran off, since you by no means can depend them out. I don’t wish to undergo that once more.”
Some folks really feel Bacot was robbed of the Atlantic Coast Convention participant of the 12 months award, which went to Wake Forest senior guard Alondes Williams. Bacot, who averaged 16.6 factors and 12.5 rebounds getting into the A.C.C. match, leads the convention in rebounding, offensive rebounding, subject purpose share and double-doubles and is Carolina’s main scorer. He acquired the very best vote complete on the All-A.C.C. first workforce (380 factors).
When the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Banchero dedicated to Duke in August 2020 out of O’Dea Excessive Faculty in Seattle, it was seen as a significant recruiting coup for Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his workers. Banchero had additionally thought-about Kentucky, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Arizona and Washington.
“I’m sort a stretch, do-it-all 4, and I can play the three too,” Banchero stated on the time, referring to the ability ahead and small ahead positions. “I can sort of do no matter, play on the wing or play inside, but when it was as much as me I would favor sort of within the midrange, 16-17 toes out, and simply sort of function from there.”
Banchero’s phrases proved prophetic as he has a been a key motive the Blue Devils hung out ranked No. 1 this season and are amongst a handful of groups with a professional probability to win the N.C.A.A. championship. A mismatch nightmare for opposing defenses as a result of he can shoot from the midrange, dominate down low and cross out of double-teams, he was averaging 17.1 factors, 7.7 rebounds and three.1 assists heading into this week’s Atlantic Coast Convention match. He, as a lot as anybody, will decide how far Krzyzewski’s last experience at Duke coach goes.
Nonetheless, Duke should determine the place its greatest participant desires the ball on the finish of video games — in that midrange space — and get it to him there so he could make performs. He can’t afford to go lacking or float to the perimeter at important instances.
“There’s not an individual in America that may guard that dude one-on-one,” the ESPN analyst and former Notre Dame star LaPhonso Ellis stated on air. “For Duke to make a Remaining 4, for them to win a nationwide championship, Paolo Banchero needs to be dominant like he was within the” first half of the March 5 North Carolina recreation, when he completed with 23 factors and 5 rebounds.
Jared Rhoden, Seton Corridor
This 6-foot-6 Lengthy Island native is the newest Seton Corridor participant to indicate regular improvement over a four-year profession beneath Pirates Coach Kevin Willard. Like the present N.B.A. gamers Myles Powell (Philadelphia 76ers) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (Milwaukee Bucks), Rhoden improved annually and has an opportunity to play professionally down the street.
A primary-team All-Large East choice, Rhoden was averaging 16.2 factors and 6.9 rebounds heading into the postseason for the resurgent Pirates, who had received six straight earlier than dropping within the Large East match quarterfinals on Thursday.
Although he can hit the 3-pointer — the place he’s taking pictures 34 p.c this season — he excels within the midrange. Creighton coach Greg McDermott referred to as him the very best midrange scorer within the Large East.
“I spent an intensive time rising up watching gamers like Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and DeMar DeRozan and I simply noticed them get to what they name the ‘kill spot’ and simply torch groups over time over it,” Rhoden stated. “And I really feel like that’s only a testomony to the basketball that I watched once I was youthful. The sport has now clearly advanced quite a bit however I nonetheless really feel like shot is de facto efficient and it’s one thing that I’ll all the time maintain in my recreation.”
Ochai Agbaji, Kansas
The 6-foot-6 Agbaji examined the N.B.A. draft waters final season after his junior season when the Jayhawks had been dominated by Southern California within the second spherical of the N.C.A.A. match.
He opted to return to campus for his senior season, and the choice helped his workforce. An athletic open-court participant who can rating within the paint, from the midrange and from deep, he was named the Large 12 Convention participant of the 12 months and he’s additionally a projected NBA lottery choose. Agbaji leads the Large 12 and is twenty fifth nationally in scoring at 19.8 factors a recreation. A Kansas Metropolis, Missouri native, he’s second within the league in 3-point subject purpose share (41.1 p.c) and in 3-pointers made per recreation (2.9). He was a significant motive Kansas received a share of yet one more Large 12 common season-title, has been projected as a No. 1 seed and has an opportunity for one more deep run within the match.
“So usually postseason accolades come from not solely particular person success however primarily from the workforce’s success, and we’re proud to get a chunk of the Large 12 championship,” Coach Invoice Self stated. “Ochai has had an excellent 12 months and deserved being a unanimous choice for participant of the 12 months and All-Large 12 first workforce.”
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Culture
How a cafe brought the viral Olympic Village muffins to NYC — and back again for Paralympics
![How a cafe brought the viral Olympic Village muffins to NYC — and back again for Paralympics How a cafe brought the viral Olympic Village muffins to NYC — and back again for Paralympics](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/30181409/Screenshot-2024-08-30-at-5.57.06%E2%80%AFPM-e1725060986958.png)
Like many culture-shaping trends, it started on TikTok.
Posts by Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen, now widely known as the “muffin man,” showcased the chocolate muffins served in the Olympic Village during the Summer Games. Christiansen’s posts, highlighting his adoration of the fudgy morsels, drew millions of views as he competed at the Paris Olympics and led to numerous duplicate muffin recipes (including one in The New York Times).
But one New York City-based fan of Christiansen’s posts didn’t want to settle for only a reproduction.
Instead, Kelin Carolyn Zhang, a 32-year-old independent designer, wondered if she could try the real deal. There was an initial hurdle, however, since the supplier of the famed Olympic chocolate muffins, Coup de Pates, completes only wholesale orders such as those placed by restaurants and businesses rather than direct-to-consumer, she said. As she attempted to obtain the authentic muffins, Zhang documented her research and her quest to bring them stateside on TikTok, leading to a connection in the restaurant industry that helped make her wish possible.
“The entire situation just kept escalating, and I found it incredibly hilarious, and so I kept going,” Zhang said.
The “extremely random rabbit hole” of muffin research, as she described it, eventually resulted in a shipment of 15 cases containing 300 of the chocolate muffins — presumably the same ones served to athletes at the Olympics and Paralympics, though Coup de Pates did not respond to requests for comment on the topic. The muffins were air-freighted overnight on dry ice on a flight from Paris Orly Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, Zhang said. The shipment required FDA approval, and the muffins had to clear customs before they were transported by van to the New York cafe Isshiki Matcha in the East Village, where the first pop-up event was held Aug. 17.
Once the event was announced, something of a local frenzy ensued. The first customer lined up outside the cafe at 6 a.m. — the event started four hours later. The line wrapped around the block twice, and the muffins — limited to one per customer for $10 — sold out in roughly two hours, according to Isshiki Matcha owner Angel Zheng, who said her friends who arrived late didn’t get one.
Zheng became involved after a friend tagged her in one of Zhang’s TikTok posts and suggested the two women work together to bring the muffins to New York City.
“I just really like side quests,” Zheng said. “I like doing things for the plot. I’m very young — I’m 24. I’m not a big corporation. I don’t have a boss with a 20-person chain of command. I open restaurants and it brings so much joy to people. So I was like, if it works, it works. And if it doesn’t, at least we tried.”
Pulling off the event was no small feat, as the process included many logistical hurdles, which Zhang recounted in detail on X. Coup de Pates had never exported to New York before, so there was no system in place to get the goods from the plane to the restaurant, as Zheng was used to with other suppliers, meaning she and Zhang had to coordinate ground transportation. Zheng also said she purchased a new fridge for the restaurant big enough to store all the muffins, and that costs accounting for customs and transportation were expensive, but she was “glad to do it.”
Plus, it wasn’t a one-off. Isshiki Matcha announced a second pop-up event beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday with the Paralympics underway. This time, they placed a bigger order — for 1,000 muffins, which Zhang said they’ll sell until supplies run out.
Zhang said she expects a smaller turnout this time given the late notice on the announcement and figures potential customers may be out of town for the holiday weekend.
olympic muffins are back in nyc for the paralympics!
available 10am tomorrow (sat 8/31), 1 per person, first come first serve @ isshiki matcha
got 1000 muffs this time. popup continues to sunday if supplies last https://t.co/sPoxMoLnH2 pic.twitter.com/E26ajZAach
— kelin (@kelin_online) August 30, 2024
But Zhang said she was already able to try a second muffin thanks to the latest shipment. Despite all the coordination of the first event, she tried only one given the demand.
“Can you believe it?” she said.
According to Zhang and Zheng, the hype surrounding the muffins is valid. And yes, Zhang confirmed, they are chocolate cakes. Zheng said she thinks it’s the best muffin she’s ever tried, adding to a chorus of positive reviews of the treats, many shared on TikTok, including by American Olympians Gabby Thomas, Tara Davis-Woodhall, Abbey Weitzeil and Torri Huske. More reviews could be forthcoming during the Paralympics, as the Paralympic Games X account seemed to indicate the muffins were available to competitors.
Okay…we need to know if any of our Paralympians have tried THE chocolate muffin in the athlete’s village yet 🍫
Athletes tag in and let us know…
📸 Getty Images pic.twitter.com/r8jgZ6BSwE
— Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) August 29, 2024
The popularity of the pastries has transcended the athlete’s village, and thanks to Zhang and Zheng, the muffins have reached a new set of reviewers on another continent.
“I feel like the magic of these muffins is that no one could get their hands on them besides Olympic athletes,” Zheng said. “I don’t think that it’s about making chocolate muffins.”
Zheng added that her takeaway from the endeavor was that “anything’s possible with the power of the internet.”
Zhang, whose background is in digital product design, said she had never worked in partnership with a restaurant or cafe before her muffin search and that “hopefully this whole story can inspire other people to take matters into their own hands.”
“The (first) muffin pop-up itself was so wholesome,” she said. “People were having fun in line. That’s what I’m really proud of — is just helping people have a good time and come together.”
She wasn’t aware of any plans for a third pop-up and highlighted the relevant events.
“I do think it’s pretty special to keep it just around the Olympics and Paralympics,” she said. “And that adds to the overall excitement.”
Regardless, Zhang’s quest had a satisfying end. She and Zheng — along with those dedicated enough to their shared muffin pursuits to wait out the lines — finally ate like Olympians.
(Photo courtesy of Kelin Carolyn Zhang)
Culture
The secret of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid’s creative partnership: ‘Let’s see how far we can take it’
![The secret of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid’s creative partnership: ‘Let’s see how far we can take it’ The secret of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid’s creative partnership: ‘Let’s see how far we can take it’](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/29170538/0829_The-Secret-Of-Patrick-Mahomes-And-Andy-Reids-Creative-Partnership.png)
In the days before his first Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes was on a practice field with a small group of offensive players and coaches while the rest of the team worked on special teams.
In Mahomes’ early years as an NFL quarterback, the Kansas City Chiefs’ special teams period had become his personal lab — the time he could push the boundaries of what was possible, breaking rules, inventing plays, experimenting with new mechanics. Chiefs coach Andy Reid had a phrase for that way of thinking: “I’m giving you the keys,” he’d say.
At practice before the biggest game of his young career, Mahomes turned the keys and floored the gas. As he sprinted out to his right, he pulled the ball down and went full Magic Johnson, flinging a behind-the-back pass to tight end Travis Kelce. Deland McCullough, the Chiefs’ running backs coach at the time, watched in stunned silence.
“I’m not talking about Travis being 10 yards away,” McCullough said. “Travis might have been 25, 30 yards away.”
It wasn’t the last time Mahomes flirted with a behind-the-back pass. He teased the possibility in interviews and lobbied Reid to let him try it in a game, convinced he could pull it off. Last season, former Chiefs receiver Marcus Kemp was so sure that Mahomes still wanted to attempt a behind-the-back pass that he was hesitant to talk about it.
“I think Pat is still trying to get it in,” Kemp said. “He has been for probably three years now.”
When Mahomes finally pulled it out in the preseason, finding Kelce against the Lions on Aug. 17, the internet did its usual thing. But the most revealing reaction came from Reid, the man who loaned Mahomes the keys years ago.
“I’ve been telling you to do that for a while,” Reid told his quarterback.
The Reid-Mahomes partnership is already one of the most successful in NFL history.
In the six seasons since Mahomes became the full-time starter, no team in the league has won more games or scored more points. There are also the three Super Bowl trophies, the six straight appearances in the AFC Championship game and the prospect this season of the first Super Bowl three-peat, but the relationship is more than results. It is an innovative force more in line with Lennon-McCartney or Wozniak-Jobs, a prolific duo that thrives on creative collaboration.
GO DEEPER
Mahomes says he improvised behind-the-back pass
Reid, the 66-year-old son of a Hollywood set designer, doesn’t want his players to color outside the lines; he wants them to expand the boundaries to somewhere off the page. Mahomes, the 28-year-old son of a major-league pitcher, doesn’t just want to excel at quarterback; he wants to reimagine what the position looks like.
“(Reid) has made this environment around him where he keeps people around who he believes have the same core values,” Kemp said. “I do believe he brought in Pat for that reason.”
“That environment was like, ‘Wow,’” McCullough said. “The juices were always flowing.”
Reid pushed Mahomes to think bigger from their first practices together in 2017. “I want you to stretch the offense,” the coach would tell his quarterback again and again.
That meant taking deep shots. Forcing tight-window throws. Exploring what was possible, even if it meant Mahomes might occasionally fail.
“Let’s see how far we can take it,” Reid would say.
As the two became more comfortable with each other — and as Mahomes displayed rare talent — they fostered a creative energy that allowed them to bring the most out of their individual abilities. Reid was the offensive guru who would try anything, the kind of tinkerer who once put a 350-pound nose tackle at running back and implored his assistants to follow a simple rule: “Don’t Judge.” Mahomes was the quarterback who believed he could pull off anything, a risk-taker who unleashed his first no-look pass during the fourth quarter of a close game in college.
Veteran players in Kansas City began to notice something in the early years.
“That youthful exuberance that Pat has has rubbed off on Coach and gave him some extra life,” said Mitchell Schwartz, a former Chiefs offensive lineman. “Because he didn’t have to be quite so regimented. He had this guy who was able to do what he wanted to do.”
Reid’s willingness to explore allowed Mahomes to tap into the full depth of his unique and often unconventional skills. When Mahomes was backing up Alex Smith in 2017, he ran the scout team. One day, Reid whistled and called over Brad Childress, then the team’s assistant head coach. Reid told Childress to pull out his play sheet and start marking plays: “Play 3, Play 5, Play 6, Play 8 … ”
Reid had just witnessed Mahomes throw at least four no-look passes, bewildering veteran linebacker Justin Houston and the rest of the first-team defense.
“Justin Houston’s reaction — it was unbelievable,” Childress said. “He looked in the flat. He looked at the quarterback. He looked where the ball got completed. He looked at Coach Reid. He looked back at the quarterback. He looked back at the flat. He’s like: ‘What just happened?’”
Reid kept his poker face. Just watch the film of those plays, he told Childress. But Childress had been around long enough to know: Reid was hiding a smile.
![](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/29174010/GettyImages-2003625378-scaled.jpg)
Patrick Mahomes confers with Andy Reid before Super Bowl LVIII in February. (Harry How / Getty Images)
When Schwartz played for the Chiefs from 2016 to 2020, the team held a walkthrough practice on Tuesday after they watched film. Players wore regular clothes. No cleats. Pretty casual vibe.
There was one unique feature: Every week, Reid wandered around with a little piece of paper scribbled with new plays even his assistant coaches hadn’t seen before. To players and coaches, Reid looked like a man weaving through a full-sized chess board, pulling receivers into new spots, moving a tight end a few yards this way, trying to visualize the geometry.
It wasn’t a solo process. Reid would hold a notecard up in the huddle, allowing players to, as Kemp said, “figure it out in their mind.” Then they would line up. Usually the play didn’t even have a name.
“He might go through seven or eight things and maybe four of them make the cut,” McCullough said.
The process felt so elemental — as if a play was being invented in real-time — that it demystified the process. Players were empowered to offer their own suggestions and tweaks. It was exactly what Reid wanted.
“That’s where Patrick started to feel comfortable enough to create those plays by himself,” Kemp said. “It was seeing the head man do it and work through it on the field. You didn’t have to have a perfect play that you had to bring to him.”
Under Reid, the Chiefs are famous for mining plays from anywhere: friends, rivals, college games, the 1948 Rose Bowl. Even from insane-seeming ideas during walkthroughs.
“I feel like Coach just kind of observes stuff Pat does during practice having fun and is like, ‘Hmm, that could be pretty cool,’” Schwartz said.
The most outside-the-box collaboration of the Reid-Mahomes era came on Jan. 7, 2023. That was the day the Chiefs ran “Arctic Circle” — otherwise known as the “Circle of Death” — a play that began with a spinning huddle and descended into pure anarchy.
Running back Jerick McKinnon lined up in the shotgun, ran a run-pass option, then flipped the ball to Mahomes, who stopped and threw the ball back across the field to receiver Kadarius Toney, who scampered into the end zone only for the touchdown to be wiped out by a holding penalty.
The plan was pure razzle-dazzle, but the spinning huddle was even weirder. The only people who weren’t fazed were the players on the field.
“We had seen it for pretty much for the entire year in different capacities,” Kemp said.
The play had been born at a series of Saturday walkthroughs, when the Chiefs would run through a list of Hail Marys and end-of-game trick plays. After running many of the same looks for four or five years, the staff started looking for ways to spice it up.
“That’s a time for Pat and the entire offense to get creative,” Kemp said. “It doesn’t really matter if it’s legal or not.”
At some point, someone wondered: What if we all started spinning in a circle before breaking the huddle?
What looked like chaos was actually a finely edited script: Reid took a weird idea and broke it down step by step, one of the hallmarks of his success. “He’ll poke out the details of it so he can teach it over and over and over again,” Kemp said. “He told everybody specifically what direction to turn and when to break and who was going to call it and where the receivers needed to end up and how they needed to do specific things. I think that’s why it worked out: details.”
After several Saturdays of tinkering and perfecting the circle-of-death concept, Reid signed off: Let’s put it in.
Of course, Mahomes has the kind of talent that makes any idea seem like a good one. “Pat is one of those dudes that is really good at a lot of things he does,” Kemp said, “so he’ll do something randomly and it will just click for him or a coach and they’ll find a way to incorporate it.”
When Mahomes took over as the starter in 2018, he started lobbying to throw a shovel pass underhand because he thought it would disguise the play better than a traditional shovel pass. When the timing didn’t work, Reid built a new formation over the course of two or three weeks so it would.
The play became a staple.
Around the same time, Mahomes started making center Austin Reiter practice snaps on the run. It began as another fun practice experiment, but soon enough the quarterback was asking assistant coach Tom Melvin if it was legal, and then he took it to the finishing lab — the special teams period — where he worked on plays with Kelce. All that was left was Reid, who installed a play called “Ferrari Right.”
“Coach Reid knows that fine line where he’s just crazy enough but just safe enough,” said Anthony Gordon, a former Chiefs quarterback.
“It was never a tense environment,” added Matt McGloin, another former quarterback. “It was always fun. It was always exciting. You were always learning, which was incredible. It was always a big collaborative effort.”
One day before the 2018 season, Mahomes and Reid ran through a play sheet for an upcoming preseason game. Mahomes had made one career start, against Denver the previous year, and Reid was in his 20th season as an NFL head coach. But when Mahomes said he didn’t like one of the plays in the game plan, Reid crossed it off.
“That’s the confidence that Andy had in his players,” McGloin said.
Six years later, the partnership thrives.
On the eve of last season’s AFC Championship Game in Baltimore, Mahomes sat in another meeting with Reid as the team’s offensive staff talked through end-of-game plays. If they needed to convert a third-and-long to win the game, Mahomes said he wanted a play that could beat man-to-man coverage and counter the Ravens’ pressure.
The next night, the Chiefs led the Ravens 17-10 with 2:19 left. It was third and 9. Mahomes walked over to the sideline.
“Give me the ball,” he said.
Reid knew the play Mahomes wanted. He handed the keys to Mahomes again.
The Chiefs lined up three receivers to the left, the Ravens showed Cover Zero, and Mahomes found receiver Marques Valdes-Scantling on a deep shot over the middle, sending Kansas City back to the Super Bowl.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photos: Ryan Kang / Getty Images; David Eulitt / Getty Images)
Culture
Why each of the Top 10 Super Bowl contenders will (or won’t) hoist the Lombardi in February
![Why each of the Top 10 Super Bowl contenders will (or won’t) hoist the Lombardi in February Why each of the Top 10 Super Bowl contenders will (or won’t) hoist the Lombardi in February](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/29215931/0830_Top10_SBContenders-e1724983236113.png)
The Kansas City Chiefs have won back-to-back Super Bowls, so the entire NFL will be looking to knock them off their perch atop the league. What’s surprising, though, is that despite winning two titles in a row, my NFL Projection Model does not see the Chiefs as the favorites to win it all this year. That’s more a testament to the AFC, which is deep with talented teams, making the Chiefs’ march to another conference crown extremely difficult.
Then again, the road won’t be easy for any team. If it were, we wouldn’t be watching.
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With that in mind, and the start of the season less than a week away, let’s examine the 10 teams most likely to win the Super Bowl and provide reasons why they will or won’t be the last team standing in February.
NFL Projection Model: Super Bowl
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
The 49ers still have arguably the best roster in the NFL, with my projection model suggesting they have the best offense and fourth-best defense in the league. Quarterback Brock Purdy is 17-4 as a starter in his young career, and coach Kyle Shanahan is one of the best offensive minds in football. When you have top-five units on both sides of the ball and you’re coming off a second NFC title in three years, it’s not hard to argue for why you’ll win it.
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/19152826/GettyImages-1968977105-scaled-e1724110140563-1024x512.jpg)
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Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
Contract chaos. Negotiations with star receiver Brandon Aiyuk and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams spill into the season, and without these two practicing for the majority of the summer, the offense sputters out of the gate and struggles to find a rhythm.
And if the 49ers ultimately deal Aiyuk, that will be a huge blow to the offense despite their investment in the position in the draft. The 49ers employ a rookie contract quarterback, so they have plenty of talent beyond Aiyuk and Williams, but without those two pushing the unit to full strength, it’s hard to envision San Francisco reaching another Super Bowl.
Kansas City Chiefs (11.8%)
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
You know the reasons. It’s hard not to sound like a broken record when talking about this era of the Chiefs, but here goes: They have a generational quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, an all-time great coach in Andy Reid, one of the best assistant coaches in recent memory in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and a championship-caliber roster. If Mahomes is healthy and under center, it’s hard to see them as an underdog against anyone.
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/18134737/GettyImages-2166386150-scaled-e1724003324158-1024x512.jpg)
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Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
No team in the Super Bowl era has ever three-peated. It’s incredibly difficult to win the Super Bowl, and despite Mahomes and Co. making it look so easy, the AFC really is stacked this year. One thing I’m worried about is that the Chiefs kind of sleepwalked through the regular season last year. If they have to go on the road in the playoffs again, maybe the defense takes a step back (replacing star CB L’Jarius Sneed won’t be easy) and they trip up in a tough environment like Baltimore or Buffalo.
![](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/11/28074116/GettyImages-1802774031-scaled-e1724706306676.jpg)
Can coach Dan Campbell lead the Detroit Lions to the franchise’s first Super Bowl title? (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
The defense becomes respectable, especially in the secondary. Last year, the Lions ranked 24th in EPA/play and 29th against the pass, according to TruMedia. They should have no problem on offense — they’re ranked third by my model — but if they’re going to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, the defense needs to take strides. And since their first two picks in the NFL Draft were both spent on cornerbacks (first-rounder Terrion Arnold and second-rounder Ennis Rakestraw Jr.), I’d say general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell agree.
Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
The offense becomes stale under Jared Goff, just like it did in Los Angeles. In Year 3 with the Rams, Goff reached the Super Bowl with his EPA/dropback and success rate metrics hitting a peak. In Year 4, his numbers dropped off, and the Rams went from 13 wins to nine. If Goff follows a similar trajectory in his fourth year in Detroit, with an improving division, the Lions could fall short of expectations.
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
Coordinator upgrades on both sides of the ball allow the Eagles to reach their full potential. The Eagles were a mess last year, and getting the coordinator hires right could offset losing Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox to retirement. Vic Fangio should be a huge upgrade to a defense that lost its way last year. And the addition of an explosive playmaker in Saquon Barkley should allow new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to take some of the burden off Jalen Hurts as a runner, which will help keep the quarterback healthy for the entire season en route to the Super Bowl.
Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
The defense just doesn’t quite put it together. The Eagles’ first three picks in April’s draft were all spent on the defensive side of the ball, and the first two — defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean — will be expected to contribute in the secondary. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a pair of inexperienced players. My model has the Eagles defense projected to be a league-average unit as it stands right now, and if the young players in the secondary don’t show up, Philadelphia won’t last long in January.
Baltimore Ravens (6.3%)
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
The defense remains one of the best in the NFL despite losing defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to the Seattle Seahawks. If Zach Orr can step in and keep things at the standard they were at under Macdonald, this is one of the best teams in football. Orr has been with the Ravens as a player and coach for all but one year of his career, so he will have all the knowledge needed to keep the ship on course. Also worth mentioning: Two-time MVP QB Lamar Jackson and running back Derrick Henry could be the most dangerous backfield duo since the turn of the century, and that ends up being a huge reason for their success.
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/25185703/0826_HarbaughBrothers-1024x512.png)
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Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
Losses on the offensive line are too much to overcome, and the Ravens find themselves struggling to fend off contenders in a deep AFC. Jackson can erase a lot of deficiencies, but replacing three offensive linemen and relying on Ronnie Stanley’s health becomes a roster-building mistake even Jackson can’t overcome. The Ravens had one of the better offensive lines in the league last year, but no offense can reach its goals if it’s struggling in the trenches. If this line fails to come together, so will the Ravens.
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
Because the defense improves without Dan Quinn. Though things got stale with Mike Zimmer as a head coach in Minnesota, I still think he is one of the better defensive minds in football. Despite rostering one of the best pass rushers in the league in Micah Parsons, the Cowboys defense always seemed to come up short against great offenses during Quinn’s tenure — especially against those running the Shanahan/Sean McVay schemes. If Zimmer gets a little more out of this talented unit, the Cowboys offense has enough firepower to take them to their first Super Bowl since 1994.
![go-deeper](https://cdn.theathletic.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=128,height=128,fit=cover,format=auto/app/uploads/2024/08/26180502/USATSI_21884778-1024x683.jpg)
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Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
Because Dak Prescott can’t overcome negative plays in big games. Listen, Prescott is a good quarterback and I think he’s one of few capable of leading an NFL team to a ring. But he tends to throw interceptions and take sacks at a higher rate than the league’s elite when it matters. Last year (playoffs included), Prescott ranked 13th in sacks plus INT rate at 7.4 percent. Against 2023 playoff teams (eight games), he ranked 26th at 10.3 percent. If Prescott and the Cowboys offense can’t avoid the disaster plays in the big games, they will endure yet another disappointing end to their season.
Buffalo Bills (5.6%)
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
Because Josh Allen is the second-best quarterback in the NFL and lifts a Bills offense that no longer has star wide receiver Stefon Diggs. The Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill and won back-to-back Super Bowls, and while I don’t think Allen is Mahomes, he’s the next closest thing. The Bills look to be following the Chiefs’ blueprint of keeping the roster healthy for the long term rather than spending too much on one position (Diggs/Hill). If Allen can rise to the occasion like Mahomes has, there is no reason the Bills can’t finish on top in February.
Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
The defense isn’t deep enough to carry its weight. Linebacker Matt Milano, a vital member of the Bills defense, is going to miss extended time recovering from a torn biceps injury he suffered earlier this month. With Milano in the lineup, my projections have the Bills as a fringe top-10 defense. Without him, they look more like an average unit, as the model is not overly fond of the remaining back seven. Without depth in that area, I’m afraid that hill will be too steep to climb for Buffalo.
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
Quarterback Joe Burrow plays a full season. Burrow has been one of the league’s best quarterbacks when healthy, but he’s struggled to stay on the field. The offense has the weapons in place to be one of the best units in the league, and if Burrow is out there, it’s a good bet that unit will be near the top five. Factor in the fourth-place schedule the Bengals will play this season, and there is an easier-than-expected path through the stacked AFC. In fact, Burrow has a chance to lead the Bengals to a first-round bye.
Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
The defense isn’t championship-caliber. The Bengals ranked 25th in EPA/play on defense last year, so it’s going to take an awful lot to get back into the top 10. My model has them projected to be an average unit entering the season, and that’s likely not good enough considering where the offense is. Burrow is a great quarterback, but I don’t think he’s shown the ability to carry an average defense to a Super Bowl.
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
Because coach Matt LaFleur, quarterback Jordan Love and this offense dismantled the Cowboys in the playoffs last year and took the 49ers to the wire in the divisional round. And that was no fluke. Another offseason for Love and the ceiling for the Packers on that side of the ball is as high as anyone’s in the league. If they come close to reaching that ceiling, they have a great shot to go all the way.
Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
Because while the offense was a top-five unit by EPA/play in the second half of last season, the defense ranked in the bottom 10, and the special teams was the worst unit in football during the same period. Changes have been made at defensive coordinator — Jeff Hafley replaced Joe Barry — and the talent is there, but can it all come together for Green Bay? It’s a tough thing to bet on. Even if the defense is average, combined with horrible special teams play, that’s just too much burden for the offense to carry.
Why they’ll win the Super Bowl
The easy answer here is that Aaron Rodgers plays like an MVP, but I think the more glaring issue is the offensive line, which allowed pressure at the sixth-highest rate last year. The Jets addressed this by upgrading the unit in free agency (Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses, John Simpson) and the draft (Olu Fashanu). Even though Fashanu hasn’t played an NFL snap yet, he’ll serve as crucial depth behind the oft-injured Smith.
If the Jets keep Rodgers upright, all he needs to do is be an above-average quarterback, and the Jets can make a run with their elite defense.
Why they won’t win the Super Bowl
Because having an elite defense year over year is tough. The New England Patriots are the only team to rank in the top five of EPA/play on defense in each of the past three seasons. And you could argue the quarterback play in the AFC East during the stretch has inflated the Patriots’ ranking. The Jets defense enters the season in the top three, per my model. If the unit were to slide down, even to seventh best, that could too big of a hill to climb for an offense that has uncertainties.
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(Photo illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic;
photos: Lauren Leigh Bacho, Ryan Kang and Ric Tapia: Getty Images)
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