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It’s a trap! Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos must avoid Kansas City pitfall | Opinion

Published

1 year ago

January 4, 2025

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It’s a trap! Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos must avoid Kansas City pitfall | Opinion

In one sense, the playoffs have already begun for the Denver Broncos.

Win and they’re in. Lose and it is sudden death.

That’s the essence of playoff football. The end of the season is on the line.

Then again, when the Broncos (9-7) host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday with the chance to clinch the final wild-card berth in the AFC playoffs, there’s a key reason why the matchup falls so short of a virtual postseason matchup: Both teams don’t have to win.

I mean, the Chiefs (15-1) won’t be playing with Patrick Mahomes.

What a break for the Broncos. Chiefs coach Andy Reid, with the No. 1 seed locked up, will rest Mahomes and other key players. Maybe in a weird way, Denver is owed such a favor from the Department of Karma. In Week 10, when Mahomes was on the field, the Broncos nearly upset the Chiefs on their own turf, except that Leo Chenel blocked a Will Lutz field goal attempt as time expired.

Now Denver just needs to take the rematch, with Carson Wentz starting for Mahomes.

Talk about a trap game.

It’s too bad it’s come down to this for Sean Payton & Co. For the third consecutive week, the Broncos have a shot at clinching a playoff berth. And for the third straight week they can try finishing strong and saving face. Lately, that has not been Denver’s forte. And now it might prove to perfectly symbolize a season that has come with bright spots including rookie quarterback Bo Nix and a defense that leads the NFL with a franchise-record 56 sacks but has been undermined by faulty finishes.

They blew an 11-point second half lead in falling at the L.A. Chargers in Week 16, then last weekend lost in overtime at Cincinnati, when they didn’t make a single first down on two OT possessions.

Blow it on Sunday (with the Bengals and Dolphins looking for their own breaks) and the Broncos will walk off as one of the NFL’s biggest collapses in recent seasons.

Of course, it starts at the top. Payton, in his second season as Broncos coach, has changed the culture as promised. After kicking Russell Wilson to the curb, his first-round selection of Nix and the development of the rookie has been more impressive when considering the Broncos have the NFL’s longest active streak, 33 games, without a 100-yard rusher. He has Denver in position to claim the franchise’s first playoff berth in nine seasons, since it capped the 2015 campaign by winning Super Bowl 50.

Yet Payton might have already clinched that playoff berth if he had elected to go for two at the end of regulation, rather than playing for overtime and kicking a PAT.

Sure, in hindsight, it’s easy to second-guess his decision. He has, too.

“Based on the outcome, you always second-guess,” Payton said during a press conference this week. “I know I kind of felt I trusted my gut in that moment.”

Think of what happened to set up the decision. Nix escaped a sack and heaved a prayer on fourth down that Mims snagged between two Bengals defenders. The too-close-to-call instant replay decision came back in Denver’s favor.

If there was anytime for Payton to press his luck (or assert his genius), that was it.

But his gut wouldn’t let him do it? Go figure. The conservative PAT decision came from a man who pulled off one of the gutsiest calls in Super Bowl history in calling for an onside kick to open the second half of the New Orleans Saints win against Peyton Manning the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl 44.

Sure, he played last week with a rookie quarterback who has thrown six interceptions in the past four games. But a week after being so aggressive in losing against the Chargers, the flip in Payton’s crunch time strategy was baffling.

By going for the two points, Payton would have given his team a chance for what could have essentially been a walk-off win, without putting the ball back in the hands of the red-hot Joe Burrow. As it turned out, they still lost.

Now what? At least Payton and his team have another week to claim a playoff berth – or else. He talked this week about the big sign players see each time they enter the locker room at the Broncos headquarters. It reads: Keep Fighting.

“I like the grit on this team,” Payton said.

Well, here’s another message that I’m guessing, with next week not promised, Payton will embrace as their leader.

No guts, no glory.

NBC’s Team?

Since the end of the 2022 season, when they drew a spicy (and pivotal) Week 18 matchup at Lambeau Field in the NFL’s regular season finale, the Detroit Lions are poised for their seventh appearance on NBC for a key primetime matchup on “Sunday Night Football” or a playoff game.

That’s a nugget that Lions fans can appreciate, but it can easily be overlooked amid the historic ramifications of the matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, when the two 14-2 teams meet with the most victories ever (28) for a regular-season game.

From 2006 (when NBC returned to broadcasting the NFL) to 2022, Detroit had just nine such showcase games. Now the Lions are about to get a seventh showing in 38 games.

And it might be a good omen: In six games under Dan Campbell broadcast by NBC, the Lions are 6-0.

Quick slants

Odd, but true: Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is the first player in NFL history to post at least 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons. Ironically, he’s never led the league in sacks. Garrett heads into the finale at Baltimore tied with Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson for the NFL lead.

Lamar Jackson and Sam Darnold: Both head into Week 18 one game shy of matching the NFL record that Aaron Rodgers set in 2020 with 14 games with a 100 passer rating or better. Jackson, the Ravens star, had an NFL-best 121.6 rating through 17 weeks, while Darnold’s revival with the Minnesota Vikings is also marked by a 106.4 clip that is fifth in the league. Rodgers, by the way, ranks 20th with an 89.1 rating that is his lowest for a season since he became a starter in 2008.

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Kansas

Kansas court sides with Stormont Vail in Medicaid payment dispute

Published

5 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Kansas court sides with Stormont Vail in Medicaid payment dispute

Stormont Vail Healthcare is in a legal battle with the state government, alleging the Medicaid program was wrong to refuse payment for the hospitalization of a pregnant patient with complications.

At issue is a disagreement between the Topeka hospital and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment over whether inpatient health care services were medically necessary for the Medicaid patient’s last two weeks of pregnancy.

The Kansas Court of Appeals did not resolve that dispute, but it did side with Stormont Vail in a May 8 decision. The unanimous three-judge panel reversed a decision by Shawnee County District Court Judge Thomas Luedke and vacated an order from KDHE’s State Appeals Committee. The matter now goes back to the appeals committee for reconsideration.

The appellate panel was comprised of Judges Jacy Hurst, Thomas Malone and Stephen Hill, which heard oral arguments on Aug. 5. Hurst wrote the court’s opinion.

The lawsuit stems from a 2018 case of a pregnant patient, who is not named in appellate court documents. She was 28 years old at the time and had an intellectual disability among other complications, including rapid weight loss caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.

The woman was originally admitted at Newman Regional Health in Emporia before she was transferred to Stormont Vail. Part of the hospitalization during her third trimester was covered.

But the final two weeks were not because Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare, refused to reimburse for the patient’s continued hospitalization through the day the child was born via cesarean section.

“We are here because the Kansas Medicaid program has wrongfully refused to pay for some of an inpatient hospitalization while a Medicaid beneficiary was at Stormont Vail,” said Amanda Wilwert, an attorney for the hospital, during oral arguments. “Stormont believes the inpatient care was medically necessary as defined by the Kansas Medicaid regulations.”

Court records and oral arguments show the state expected Stormont Vail to look into having a home health agency care for the patient in Emporia instead of continued hospitalization — even though home health generally does not take care of pregnant patients and her doctors believed the expectant mother was not stable enough to discharge.

“The way it’s supposed to work,” said Darren Sharp, an attorney representing KDHE, “is the managed care organization, in this case Sunflower Health, on behalf of KDHE reviews the medical records, asks about the appropriate level of care and whether there’s any other interventions that would be more cost effective or appropriate depending on the level of or depending on the patient’s records and the patient’s status.”

Sharp argued medical records showed the patients was getting better because of total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.

“This is when a tube, a PICC, is inserted and your minerals and your electrolytes and all of your nutrition is then intravenously provided,” Sharp said.

He said the treatment “was eliminating her vomiting, her diarrhea, she had no fever, her glucose levels were stabilized.”

In their ruling, the judges indicated the KDHE appeals committee primarily cared about the cost saving of using home health versus hospitalization while disregarding the treating physician for insufficient reasons and ignoring evidence on potential benefits or harms to the patient.

But the judges declined to resolve the dispute. Rather, unless the decision is appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, the matter goes back to the KDHE administrative process.

There, the agency’s appeals committee must reconsider the case consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The published decision sets new precedent interpreting state laws and regulations on the Medicaid program.

“While this court provides no opinion on whether the disputed inpatient healthcare services met the definition of medical necessity,” Hurst wrote, “the record shows that some of the (appeals committee’s) factual findings were not supported by the record as a whole and that the (appeals committee) inaccurately applied the law when it failed to consider (the patient’s) individual characteristics and assess the harms and benefits of the healthcare intervention.

“In making a medical necessity determination, the reviewing agency must make an individualized determination based on the record as a whole.”

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

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Kansas

Kansas Lottery Pick 3, 2 By 2 winning numbers for May 7, 2026

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

The Kansas Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at May 7, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 7 drawing

Midday: 6-2-2

Evening: 0-5-9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning 2 By 2 numbers from May 7 drawing

Red Balls: 07-15, White Balls: 02-16

Check 2 By 2 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 7 drawing

05-08-21-44-48, Bonus: 01

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Kansas Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at select Kansas Lottery offices.

By mail, send a winner claim form and your signed lottery ticket to:

Kansas Lottery Headquarters

128 N Kansas Avenue

Topeka, KS 66603-3638

(785) 296-5700

To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a claim form, and deliver the form along with your signed lottery ticket to Kansas Lottery headquarters. 128 N Kansas Avenue, Topeka, KS 66603-3638, (785) 296-5700. Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Kansas Lottery.

When are the Kansas Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3 Midday/Evening: 1:10 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. CT daily.
2 By 2: 9:30 p.m. CT daily.
Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Super Kansas Cash: 9:10 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Kansas editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

Published

2 days ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.

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Kansas City, Kansas, is now a sister city to Concepción, in the Tucumán province of Argentina.

The connection that carries deep personal meaning for members of the Kansas City area’s Argentinian community, with less than six weeks until Lionel Messi and their national team play at Kansas City Stadium (GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium).

Kansas City, Kansas, becomes sister city to Concepción, Argentina, ahead of World Cup

The official Sister Cities Agreement was signed Wednesday at Sporting Park, in a ceremony that also served as the kickoff of a broader cultural and economic initiative connecting Argentina and Kansas.

Federico Carmona has lived in the United States for more than two decades. He spent Wednesday afternoon cheering and smiling.

“This is my dream,” Carmona said.

For Carmona, the moment was personal — a merging of the two places he calls home.

KSHB/ Brian Luton

“This is a blessing,” Carmona said.

He continued, “Argentina is my heart. I was born in Argentina. I have so much passion for soccer. I used to play, my kids play. We never thought that Argentina was going to be in Kansas City. So that was a big, big surprise for us.”

Claudia Luna West, chair of the Sister Cities Association and a native of Concepción, Tucumán, was one of the driving forces behind the partnership.

“It means the world to me,” Luna West said.

She described the pairing of the two cities as a natural collaboration — like the ingredients of a perfect recipe coming together.

“Everything collaborates to be this great thing,” Luna West said.

That recipe metaphor extended to food. The event featured the announcement of a partnership between Kansas BBQ Empanadas and Jack Stack BBQ — a culinary symbol of the two cultures meeting.

“Now, empanadas aren’t going to be just an ethnic food. They’re going to be a landmark of Kansas,” Luna West said.

Mayor/CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK, Christal Watson, said the designation reflects the city’s diversity and its ability to connect with the world.

“I think it’s important that we set a global stage on how diverse we are and how beautifully, wonderfully made we are with all the different cultures,” Watson said.

Watson said shared experiences — including food — are what bring communities together.

“Food is a common link. Those are the things that get us engaged… those are the things that help us grow and be a better community overall,” Watson said. “We already have a flavor going on.”

Jake Reid, president and CEO of Sporting Kansas City, said the timing of the sister city announcement — with the FIFA World Cup 2026 approaching — felt right.

Jake Reid, President and CEO of Sporting Kansas City .png

“We’ve been planning this for so long. I think to have it on the doorstep now and be probably a month out is becoming very real and exciting,” Reid said. “They’re meant to be from… kind of everything we’ve got going on right now, for sure.”

For Carmona, the day was a long time coming.

“We can’t wait for all this to happen,” Carmona said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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