Blogging The Boys
Thanksgiving Day in Arlington will be a homecoming in the most literal sense possible for the visiting team, but it will be the Dallas Cowboys fresh off their historic comeback win against the rival Philadelphia Eagles that will be hoping to spoil it. Before the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, it was the Dallas Texans, who relocated to Kansas City in 1963 and became the Kansas City Chiefs we know to this day.
Jerry Jones’ Cowboys have made a bigger impact on football in Texas than the Dallas Texans ever did in their short existence, but it’s the current Chiefs that have owned recent history with the Hunt family keeping their namesake trophy as AFC champions in five of the last six seasons – winning three Super Bowls. It’s the type of success the Cowboys have only been able to dream about over the last three decades.
The game will feature longtime Eagles head coach Andy Reid making his first trip to AT&T Stadium since 2017, a win for his Chiefs 28-17. Patrick Mahomes is making his first professional start from AT&T Stadium. The former Texas Tech Red Raider played the final game of Tech’s 2014 season at Jerryworld against Baylor, and lost a 48-46 shootout to another future NFL QB Bryce Petty.
Mahomes may not be asked to throw the ball as much as he did in college, but his attempts have been up in some of the games the Chiefs have struggled in lately. Similar to the Cowboys, the Chiefs pulled off an improbable home comeback against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 12 for their first win since Week 8 versus the Commanders. That win against the Commanders was the last win of a three-game streak where Mahomes never threw the ball more than 35 times in any game. Playing for their life to remain in the AFC West race at the Broncos in Week 12, Mahomes dropped back 45 times against Denver and KC lost their second straight 22-19.
The Chiefs’ hopes of returning to the playoffs likely rest on being a Wild Card team, an effort that was helped significantly by their overtime win against the Colts where Mahomes threw 46 times and was sacked four times. The Chiefs were able to amazingly stay balanced with the game going to overtime, running the ball 41 times, which went a long way in their comeback efforts despite going 1-6 in the red zone.
The catalyst for this type of comeback was the immense trust the Chiefs were able to put in longtime defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The Chiefs defense got four straight three-and-outs between the fourth quarter and overtime to pull off their 11 point comeback. Spagnuolo did what he is known for and turned up the pressure to the maximum against Daniel Jones, and despite not getting home for any sacks, the Chiefs defense made this game a test of which quarterback could operate the best – and saw Mahomes do what he’s known for and just...
