Arrowhead Pride
Chiefs headlines for Saturday, January 25
A Complete History of the 2024 Chiefs’ Dark Magic | The Ringer
Week 2 brought another AFC rival, the Bengals. Kansas City trailed by two points after the two-minute warning, but managed to win the game 26-25 after Cincinnati safety Daijahn Anthony was called for pass interference on a fourth-and-16 throw from Mahomes. The pass was incomplete, but the penalty gave the Chiefs a new set of downs and set up Harrison Butker’s game-winning 51-yard field goal.
It was a sliding-door moment for the season. The Bengals, of course, missed the playoffs by a single win. The Chiefs probably would have needed an additional loss in a meaningful game to lose the no. 1 seed in the AFC to the Bills, but who knows. It’s possible that Anthony’s contact with Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice, which was only a split-second early and decided a game in which Mahomes threw for just 151 yards, wound up altering the AFC playoff picture.
In Week 3, the Chiefs got two fourth-down stops in the final five minutes to beat the Falcons, 22-17. Before the first stop, it looked as though officials missed a pass interference penalty on Chiefs safety Brendan Cook, who ran into tight end Kyle Pitts in the end zone before the ball arrived. Noted.
One of the best matchups of Championship Sunday isn’t one that immediately springs to mind: Chiefs DE George Karlaftis vs. Bills RT Spencer Brown. Kansas City’s third-year edge rusher is coming off the best performance of his career: a three-sack outing in the Divisional Round win over Houston. This season, Karlaftis aligned at left edge on 78.4 percent of snaps, per Next Gen Stats. Meanwhile, Brown allowed the lowest pressure percentage (4.8) among right tackles (min. 300 snaps), while yielding just one sack on 495 pass-blocking snaps — the lowest sack rate (0.2 percent) among all qualified offensive tackles. It won’t be easy, but Karlaftis continues his impressive run with a second straight three-sack performance.
Taylor Rapp will be out for Bills on Sunday | NBC Sports
Head coach Sean McDermott said on WGR 550 on Friday morning that Rapp will miss the game against the Chiefs because of a hip injury. Rapp has not taken part in practice at all this week.
Rapp had three tackles in the first two playoff games and nabbed an interception against the Ravens. He had 82 tackles, two interceptions, six passes defensed, and a forced fumble in the regular season.
Cole Bishop and Cam Lewis are in line for more playing time with Rapp out.
The Texans repeatedly failed to stop Kelce, even though they knew he was Mahomes’ top option. Mahomes’ other...
