NFL: Texans and Chiefs Showdown

NFL passing pace-setter Patrick Mahomes, nursing a sore left ankle, leads the Kansas City Chiefs against visiting Houston on Sunday in a showdown of division leaders and top young quarterbacks.

The Chiefs, coming off a loss to Indianapolis, still top the AFC West division at 4-1, a game ahead of Oakland, while the Texans are level with Indianapolis atop the AFC South at 3-2 after routing Atlanta 53-32.

Mahomes, who like Houston counterpart Deshaun Watson turned 24 last month, tweaked an ankle injury suffered in the season opener but says he will be fine for the pivotal matchup.

“It’s feeling pretty good, so I’m glad to be able to go out there and practice on it and get it moving around,” Mahomes said.
“I feel like I’ll be fine playing and moving around and still doing what I need to do to win.

“It’s not perfect.
But it’s good enough where I can run, cut and do all that type of stuff.”

Mahomes will need full mobility to evade the Texans defenders, led by defensive end J.J. Watt, who have made 15 quarterback sacks this season.

“We’re not going to put him in harm ‘s way,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
“That’s not how we roll here.
If we thought it was going to hurt him down the road, he wouldn’t be in there.”

Mahomes, last year’s NFL Most Valuable Player, has completed 65.6 percent of his passes for an NFL-best 1,831 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions as well as rushing for 81 yards.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Watt said of Mahomes.
“It’s a great challenge for us, which we’re really looking forward to. But the guy deserves all the credit he gets.
He’s a great player.”

Watson, who like Mahomes entered the NFL in 2017, has completed 69.2 percent of his passes for 1,364 yards and 11 touchdowns with only one interception while rushing for 122 yards and three touchdowns.

But the Texans’ offensive fireworks finally exploded last week as Watson, who has been sacked 18 times this season, threw for 426 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions or sacks and only five incompletions.

He was the first passer in NFL history with more than 400 yards and five touchdowns with five or fewer incompletions in the same game as Houston’s attack rolled up 592 yards.

“That’s Deshaun,” said Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
“The things he can do with the football in his hands, not a lot of quarterbacks can do that.
Stay in the pocket and take hits, make throws on the run, make the right calls, but the offense in — I’m proud of him .”

 He’s a Magician

The Texans rank second in the NFL in scoring when they reach an opponent’s 20-yard line.

It helps that Houston’s offensive line has improved, with left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who only arrived last month in a trade from Miami, anchoring Watson’s protectors and watching as the signal-caller ran 10 yards after recovering his own fumble.


“I was right there and I was like, ‘There’s no way he picked it up and ran for a first down,'” Tunsil said.
“He’s a magician, bro.
A magician.”

NFC East co-leader Philadelphia (3-2) visits Minnesota (3-2) while co-leader Dallas travels to New York to face the winless Jets (0-4).

Undefeated San Francisco (4-0) will visit the Los Angeles Rams (3-2) while Seattle, also in the hunt for the lead with those NFC West rivals, takes a 4-1 mark to Cleveland (2-3).

NFC South leader New Orleans (4-1) travels to Jacksonville (2-3) while NFC North leader Green Bay (4-1) hosts Detroit on Monday night.

source: usa.inquirer.net

Houston Texans Hurting After Saints Defeat

Drew Brees and Wil Lutz supplied the accuracy and poise New Orleans needed to overcome another officiating gaffe and its defense’s late collapse.

Lutz made a 58-yard field goal as time expired, and the Saints beat the Houston Texans 30-28 on Monday night in a game that had three scoring plays in the final minute.

“That one’s got to be a top-one moment for me,” Lutz said, adding that as much as he tries to treat each kick the same, “I got to be honest.
That one felt a little different.”

New Orleans had lost its previous five season openers.
And after last season ended with a bitter loss in the NFC title game, the Saints had expressed urgency to start the 2019 campaign well.

“I knew how big this win would be,” Lutz said.

The moment the ball left Lutz’s foot, punter Thomas Morstead, who holds on field goals, turned toward his kicker, triumphantly flexing both arms at his side.
Moments later, the crowd noise in the Superdome reached an ear-splitting crescendo as the ball split the uprights and Saints players jubilantly streamed onto the field.

Deshaun Watson threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to ex-Saints receiver Kenny Stills with 37 seconds left, capping a two-play, 75-yard drive that put the Texans in front after they began their final possession down by six with 50 seconds left.

But that left just enough time for Brees, who capped a 370-yard, two-touchdown performance by completing a 15-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr., an 11-yarder to Michael Thomas and another pass to Ginn for 9 yards in quick succession.
That allowed New Orleans to save its final timeout until just 2 seconds remained and set up Lutz’s career-long kick.

“When you have Drew as your quarterback, all I cared about was getting ready for the kick, because I knew with 37 seconds left there was going to be a chance,” Lutz said.

New Orleans Saints

Had the Saints lost, it would have marked the second straight game in the Superdome in which a league-acknowledged officiating mistake worked against New Orleans.
In last season’s NFC championship game, missed pass interference and helmet-to-helmet contact fouls against the Los Angeles Rams went uncalled in the final minutes.
This time, a botched ruling left the Saints with 15 fewer seconds to run their hurry-up offense at the end of the first half.
New Orleans had to settle for a 56-yard field goal try that Lutz narrowly missed.

The Saints came back from an 11-point, third-quarter hole to win anyway, but Brees wasn’t letting the officials or the league off the hook.

“That can’t happen.
That’s a game-changer,” Brees said. “If we had 15 more seconds, are you kidding me?”

The 40-year-old Brees completed 32 of 43 passes, mirroring his NFL-record 74.4 completion percentage last season.
One of his TD passes went to reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill, who also subs in as a tight end or slot receiver.
The other went to second-year pro-Tre’ Quan Smith.

“Playing on the road against a great quarterback like Drew Brees, you’ve got to be able to put the game away,” Watson said.
“We had the opportunities.”

CLOCK QUESTIONS

The officiating mistake occurred when replay review officials stopped the game with 26 seconds left in the first half to determine if Thomas’ catch was long enough for a first down after he was initially marked just short.
After the review resulted in a first down, officials called for a 10-second runoff to begin from when the game was stopped, not when Thomas came down with the ball 15 seconds earlier.

Brees animatedly disputed the decision, which left the Saints just 16 seconds to work with from their own 47.

After the game, NFL vice president of officiating Al Riveron said: “We should have reset it to 41 (seconds), not 26, and then ultimately to 31 (seconds) after the 10-second runoff.”

Fans in the Superdome, who won’t soon forget last year’s officiating gaffes, booed during the runoff and after Lutz’s long miss.

STAT LINES

Thomas caught 10 passes for 123 yards, and Ginn’s seven-catch, the 101-yard night was highlighted by his 41-yard reception deep downfield at the 2-minute warning.

Alvin Kamara had 169 yards from scrimmage, including an 11-yard run set up the first score of the final minute on Lutz’s 47-yard kick.

Watson completed 20 of 30 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns two of them to DeAndre Hopkins.
Watson also ran for a 21-yard score on a fourth-down play.

The Texans finished with 180 yards rushing 68 yards more than the Saints allowed in any game last season with Carlos Hyde rushing for 83 yards and Duke Johnson 57.

Linebacker Whitney Mercilus intercepted Brees deep in Texans territory and also had Houston’s only sack.

The Saints, by contrast, had six sacks of Watson, two by reserve end Trey Hendrickson.

PASS PROTECTION

Saints right tackle Ryan Ramczyk and the offensive line kept 2018 AFC sack leader J.J. Watt from getting to Brees.

“We didn’t do a good job of stopping the run and we didn’t do a good job of stopping the pass,” Watt said, adding that he felt his unit let Watson and the Texans offense down.

INJURIES

Saints safety Marcus Williams, who had a momentum-swinging interception in the third quarter, stayed down on a knee after Johnson’s 32-yard run in the fourth quarter.
He left the field on his own after a trainer briefly spoke with him.

UP NEXT

Texans: Hosts Jacksonville on Sunday.

Saints: Visit the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

source: usa.inquirer.net

Redskins lose Smith for season to broken leg; Mariota hurt

Thirty-three years to the day after the Redskins lost quarterback Joe Theismann to a broken leg, Alex Smith’s season ended on an eerily similar injury in Washington’s 23-21 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday.

Smith broke his right tibia and fibula on a sack by Kareem Jackson midway through the third quarter and will require surgery. The veteran quarterback’s leg turned the wrong way, much the way Theismann’s did when he was sacked by Lawrence Taylor on a Monday night game in 1985. Theismann’s injury ended his career.

“I know it was very painful for him and heartbreaking for a lot of people,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “He’s a great guy and hard worker and one of the key leaders on this football team. These things happen in pro football, unfortunately. Just hate to see them happen with a guy like Alex.”

Theismann attended the game and said he turned away after Smith went down.

“It brought back vivid memories,” Theismann said.

Smith wasn’t the only quarterback hurt during Sunday’s early games. The Titans lost quarterback Marcus Mariota in the final minute of the first half of their blowout loss to the Colts when he reinjured his right elbow.

The Texans lost both of their starting guards against Washington — Zach Fulton to a shoulder injury on the first drive and Senio Kelemete to an ankle injury in the second quarter. For the Redskins, defensive lineman Jonathan Allen was evaluated for a concussion but returned.

The Detroit Lions also suffered a blow on offense when rookie running back Kerryon Johnson hurt his left knee against the Carolina Panthers. He left in the third quarter and didn’t return after running for 87 yards on 15 carries.

Panthers quarterback Cam Newton suffered an apparent ankle injury against the Lions. He left briefly in the third quarter but returned.

Ravens offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley, who’s had ankle issues lately, limped off the field twice against the Bengals.

In the Giants’ win over the Buccaneers, New York defensive lineman Kerry Wynn left in the second half with a concussion. Tampa Bay tight end O.J. Howard left in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.

Jaguars right guard A.J. Cann injured a hamstring in Jacksonville’s loss to the Steelers.

The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles were banged up even more as they were humiliated by the Saints. Center Jason Kelce hurt his elbow in the first quarter, safety Avonte Maddox left early with a knee injury, defensive back Rasul Douglas had to be helped off the field with a left leg injury and long snapper Rick Lovato was evaluated for a concussion.

For the Saints, right guard Larry Watford left in the third quarter to be evaluated for a concussion.

The Los Angeles Chargers lost defensive tackle Corey Liuget to a knee injury during the second quarter of their loss to the Broncos, and coach Anthony Lynn said after the game that the eighth-year player might miss the rest of the season. Denver wide receiver DeSean Hamilton hurt a knee in the second quarter, and cornerback Bradley Robey was evaluated for a concussion in the fourth quarter.

Brandon LaFell had a touchdown catch for the Raiders before he left in the second half of their win over the Cardinals with an Achilles tendon injury. Oakland cornerback Leon Hall hurt his back.

Cardinals linebacker Deone Bucannon left in the second half with a chest injury.

source: sports.inquirer.net