Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City are 4-0 after beating the Los Angeles Chargers with a four-quarter … [+] drive. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Then there were two. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are one of only two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL, although it has not been easy getting there
The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are seeking their first 5-0 start since 2018 after a slew of tight wins, and they move on with a newish cast — top receiving threat Rashee Rice suffered a knee injury in a 17-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers last week, when running back rejoined the team Kareem Hunt.
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Minnesota, the more surprising 4-0, with make its prime debut Thursday, Oct. 24.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will attempt to rebound from their first loss when they host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. Tampa Bay and Atlanta open the prime time with an NFC South clash Thursday.
THURSDAY NIGHT
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) at Atlanta Falcons (2-2)
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How to watch: Prime Video, 7:15 pm ET
Key matchup: Baker Mayfield vs Kirk Cousins
After being seemingly left for the scrap heap two years ago, Bucs quarterback Mayfield has continued his remarkable resurgence by throwing for 984 yards and eight touchdowns against two interceptions this season. He has been sacked 15 times, but eating the ball is much better than an ill-advised throw.
Baker Mayfield finds a throwing lane in Tampa Bay’s 33-16 victory over Philadelphia last week. (AP … [+] Photo/Jason Behnken)
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Rookie halfback Bucky Irving has worked his way into the Bucs’ game plan, and the offense chewed up Philadelphia with 445 yards in a 33-16 victory last week after beating Super Bowl contender Detroit two weeks before.
The Falcons could consider this a mini-revenge game. Tampa Bay beat them 29-25 on Mayfield’s touchdowns pass with 31 seconds remaining in Week 14 last season, a victory that pushed the Bucs toward the division title and significantly hurt Atlanta’s chances.
The Falcons acquired Kirk Cousins to correct a sluggish offense, but he has yet to throw for as many as 250 yards his four starts.
Linebacker T.J. Watt and the Pittsburgh defense have had reason to celebrate this season. (AP … [+] Photo/Adrian Kraus)
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SUNDAY NIGHT
Dallas Cowboys (2-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1)
How to watch: NBC/Peacock 7:20 pm ET
Key matchup: Dak Prescott vs Pittsburgh D
This is an intriguing matchup on several levels. Pittsburgh has jumped to the AFC North lead by using coach Mike Tomlin’s old-school approach — run the ball and play defense. Steelers’ opponents are averaging only 261.3 yards and 13.3 points per game, both in the top four in the league.
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At the same time, this is the most explosive offense the Steelers have faced, although the Cowboys with quarterback Prescott are quite one-sided. Prescott averages 268 passing yards per game, but the Cowboys’ running game has been non-existent. The defense has not been any better. Dallas ranks No. 26 in total defense and No. 27 in rushing defense.
Dak Prescott (4) has provided most of the offense for the Dallas Cowboys this season. (AP Photo/Adam … [+] Hunger)
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Justin Fields, who became the Steelers’ starting quarterback when Russell Wilson was injured before the opener, has accounted for six touchdowns — three rushing and three passing. Baltimore attempted only 12 passes in a 28-25 victory over Dallas two weeks ago. This game looks to have a similar feel.
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MONDAY NIGHT
New Orleans Saints (2-2) at Kansas City Chiefs (4-0)
How to watch: ESPN, 7:15 pm ET
Key matchup: Mahomes vs Derek Carr
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Squint at the game film, and these teams’ records could be reversed. Such is the NFL. Atlanta’s Younghoe Koo made a 58-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Saints 26-24 last Sunday, the week after the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley scored on a 4-yard run with 1:01 remaining for a 15-12 victory.
Xavier Worthy beats his defender for the Chiefs’ only passing touchdown against San Diego last week. … [+] (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
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The Chiefs have won their four games by a total of 20 points, and they needed Harrison Butler’s 51-yard field goal as time expired to beat Cincinnati 26-25 in the second week.
Mahomes and Carr have thrown for about the same amount of yardage — Mahomes is averaging 20 more per game — but Mahomes has thrown five interceptions, one short of the league high.
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The Chiefs traded up in the draft to acquire wide receiver Xavier Worthy, and he has two long touchdown receptions this season. Hunt returned to replace injured Isaiah Pacheco.
Kareem Hunt was thrown right into the game plan in his first game back with Kansas City last week. … [+] (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
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During the first quarter on Sunday afternoon against the Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb set an impressive bit of NFL history.
By recording his fourth reception in the game (CeeDee got a lot of work early if that is not obvious) Lamb recorded four receptions for the 44th consecutive game. That is the longest streak in NFL history, according to the Cowboys’ public relations team.
CeeDee Lamb (@_CeeDeeThree) has recorded four receptions in the first quarter. Lamb has recorded at least four receptions in 44 consecutive games, surpassing Michael Thomas for the longest such streak in NFL history.
— Dallas Cowboys Public Relations (@DallasCowboysPR) November 24, 2024
Lamb surpassed former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas to set the record all to himself. The impressive thing about a streak like this is that it crosses over multiple seasons and in CeeDee’s case even multiple quarterbacks.
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Obviously this season has been a bit tough for the Cowboys, but seeing CeeDee continually perform is a bright spot throughout it all. Kudos and congratulations to him, hopefully there is a lot more history on the way for him and the team in sunnier days.
In August, when the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System filed a lawsuit against City Hall, we winced in concern.
The difference boiled down to which entity, the city or the pension board, had the authority to send a plan to the Texas Legislature to get the badly underfunded system back on track.
Well, the pension system won that fight in district court in Travis County. The plan it has crafted would offer substantially more funding to the pension system, with cost-of-living increases and a reduction in employee contributions in later years.
The city could drag this through an appeal, but as things stand, the pension system’s plan would become the required funding formula.
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Most readers know the pension system is underfunded by more than $3 billion. The difference here boils down to how much additional money the city will contribute per year to get us back on track. Under the pension system’s plan, it would be millions more per year.
But this is a wholly negotiable matter. Two sides have different figures in mind. The sides need to hash out those differences in a way that ensures the city is aligned with a 2017 state law that was passed for the express purpose of getting this pension funded.
There are serious people on both sides. What we need now is a leader at City Hall who has the standing to get this done. Normally, that would be the mayor, but our mayor hasn’t been doing the hard work at City Hall for a long time and we don’t expect him to start now. It could be the city manager, but that job is in the hands of an interim manager now.
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Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins has been doing the heavy lifting for the city, but whether he can lead the city’s side in negotiations is unclear.
All we know is that there is an opportunity for a solution that gets this thing out of court and a solid plan to the Legislature that, yes, includes sacrifices but that also stops the drumbeat about this important public benefit.
Someone needs to get on the phone, book a conference room, order some takeout and work the spreadsheets. There is time, but the clock is ticking.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
Something I have come to realize is that if you are a Dallas Cowboys fan around the age of 40 (a little room for flexibility at the top) or younger, you have only gotten the bad in this. Your friends, family, co-workers, etc. all tease you and mock you when your team loses and for the majority of your life, for all of your adult life, that has been the case.
You get the treatment that fans of the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Yankees get in terms of meme-ability but without any sort of hardware to make crawling through the mud worth it. Consider that each of those teams are dealing with droughts of their own, the youngest of which was born when Dallas’ was already 14 years old.
It is for this reason that when CeeDee Lamb said following Monday night’s loss that teams are looking to “embarrass” the Cowboys that I found it interesting. I’m not here to act like playing the Cowboys “is so and so’s Super Bowl”, but I do put some stock into the idea that opposing teams smell blood in the water so to speak and know that a domination against America’s Team lives a little bit louder than most. Consider all the fanfare that the New Orleans Saints picked up earlier this season as a recent example.
These are just my two cents though so I was curious how someone who has actually been in those shoes/cleats feels about the whole thing. Thankfully I had an opportunity to talk to former New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz earlier this week and asked him about the idea among other things.
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You can watch our conversation here:
Cruz’s Giants team won the Super Bowl 13 years ago when Dallas’ drought was already 16 years old (I’d imagine Jerry Jones bought them a brand new Mercedes for the occasion). They famously defeated the Cowboys in an NFC East title game in Week 17 at MetLife Stadium, the first of three in a row that Dallas would lose to each of their division rivals. I lived those three years like every one of you and still cannot believe that they actually happened in that exact way.
The Murphy’s Law of who the Cowboys are speaks for itself in that what can go wrong will and while Cruz didn’t exactly agree with that particular sentiment, he did note that playing the Cowboys comes with a little bit of extra motivation. He added that playing for the Giants brings with it a big stage in and of itself, an objectively true statement, and said the right things about how you want to embarrass anybody you play because it’s the NFL.
Whatever the case you can add Cruz to people who at least partially share the sentiment that CeeDee Lamb offered on Monday night. The whole thing is depressing and it is hard to know when it will end.
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Cruz and I discussed a variety of things, including his recent partnership with Captain Morgan and a particularly sweet new crewneck.
Starting November 22, limited quantities of the Captain Morgan Crewneck will drop on KidSuper.com. Miss the drop? You’re in luck – Captain Morgan is unlocking access for fans 21+ to score the coolest merch of the season. Head over to FollowTheCaptain.com, and while you’re there, dive into a world of hidden clues and surprises, because you never know what Captain Morgan has in store as we gear up for Super Bowl LIX.
Our thanks to Victor Cruz and Captain Morgan for the time.
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