Kansas City Chiefs implode against Denver Broncos, Baker Mayfield sets remarkable stat and Lamar Jackson suffers new setback - NFL Sunday Review

Kimi Antonelli turned up for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix knowing he need not do much to clinch his crown as Formula 1 world champion. Unbeknownst to him beforehand, Baker Mayfield would learn he too could put his feet up with victory beckoning on NFL Sunday.

Did you ever have the friend at school who did nothing in the group project? Mayfield was said friend as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 without completing a single pass. Not one.

It was the first time since 1974 a team had won a game without completing a pass, the former No 1 pick finishing zero of three as Tampa leaned on the run in the pouring rain a week on since Mayfield threw for just 64 yards in his side’s 43-14 win over the Carolina Panthers.

Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell combined for 310 rushing yards on 52 carries to sink a Falcons team marred by Michael Penix Jr’s four interceptions and sorry 12.0 passer rating. It would encapsulate a bizarre Week Eight in the NFL, one of the lead stories from which came in Mile High.

Patrick Mahomes, Kenneth Walker and the Kansas City Chiefs were right there at the one-yard line, primed to shatter Broncos’ hearts in the final seconds of a thriller at Empower Field. Just moments earlier Jonah Coleman had punched in a five-yard touchdown run to give Denver a 28-24 lead amid an 11-point fourth-quarter comeback.

Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph spoke earlier this week of the ‘desperate’ brand of football he was seeking from a porous unit under fire for its league-leading missed tackle tally. The Broncos have been a toothless shade from the ferocious defense that spearheaded their march to the No 1 seed last season, but Joseph’s wishes were about to be fulfilled.

Kansas City’s first play from the one-yard line was an incomplete pass. Their second saw Walker stuffed by JL Skinner for no gain. Their third, on fourth-and-goal, was a touchdown pass to Rashee Rice… until it wasn’t. Right tackle Jaylon Moore was flagged for a false start on the biggest play of the game to epitomise his side’s final stanza implosion, the Broncos sensing blood on the ensuing play as Patrick Mahomes was swarmed for a game-icing sack by Malcolm Roach.

According to Next Gen Stats, the Chiefs had a 76 per cent chance of winning upon reaching first-and-goal at Denver’s four-yard line in the final minute, only to come up empty.

Andy Reid’s side hurt themselves a drive earlier when Harrison Butker fired his 54-yard field goal attempt wide for what would have been a 27-21 advantage. And perhaps even earlier in the fourth quarter when Reid elected to punt on fourth-and-one from his own 41 rather than trusting both himself and his generational quarterback to move the chains. This was Reid, this was Mahomes. And yet somehow he forgot.

By the close the Chiefs were guilty of 11 penalties for 105 yards, none more costly than Moore’s false start, while Butker departs Colorado under mounting pressure following the controversial addition of Justin Tucker. The former Ravens kicker was signed to the Chiefs’ practice squad earlier in the week despite serving a 10-game suspension last season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following allegations of sexual assault. Butker is now two of seven from 50-plus yards and has missed a league-high 16 field goals since last season.

With Sunday’s collapse the Chiefs squandered a golden opportunity to take ownership of the AFC West, having beaten Denver 31-10 in Week One. It would mark a second straight defeat after last weekend’s blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks, while wasting a commanding Patrick Mahomes performance that saw him go 30 of 41 for 321 yards and three touchdowns. This offense has sputtered through the last three years desperately fighting to rediscover its old spark – here it was and yet foot-shooting errors would cost them once more.

Broncos quarterback Bo Nix has been widely-criticised for his disappointing start to the season, but Sunday’s result was the third time in his career he has brought Denver back from a double-digit fourth quarter deficit to win, the most since 2024. In Jonah Coleman Sean Payton may have found his coveted answer to a stagnant run game, while Denver’s goalline stand was a self-reminder of their capabilities after another modest performance in the face of a ticking Chiefs attack, which unleashed its own rising backfield asset in rookie Emmett Johnson with 143 total yards on the day.

The Chiefs fall to 5-2. The Broncos take top spot in the division at 6-2. Another twist. No outright frontrunners. It’s heating up as we enter the holiday season.

What we learned

There is a voodoo doll that doesn’t want Lamar to win. It is spooky season, and Baltimore’s worst nightmares came true, not for the first time. You really couldn’t write it. The Ravens had arrived at Highmark Stadium enthused by the return of their two-time MVP quarterback from a three-game absence due to a high ankle sprain, only to see Jackson suffer a game-ending thumb injury on his first play from scrimmage in Baltimore’s 36-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Jackson entered Sunday having missed 17 games through injury since his first full season as starter in 2019, including four last year as the Ravens missed the playoffs. It has been a recurring, unavoidable and yet cruel hindrance to a Super Bowl contender, Baltimore an entirely different proposition without No 8 and, arguably, so too Derrick Henry. Jackson will undergo surgery on his thumb and miss at least the next four games on injured reserve, while further injury to backup Tyler Huntley leaves undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano as their only option, unless Jesse Minter dips into the trade market. The Ravens season is on the brink.
The Bengals are still impossible to trust as contenders. No matter how box office Joe Burrow is, no matter how dynamic the league’s best wide receiver tandem is. Cincinnati’s three-time Pro Bowler became the second quarterback in NFL history and the first in 75 years to record 450 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown as the Bengals survived to beat the Tennessee Titans 43-36 in overtime; he also threw three interceptions to Amani Hooker, had to overcome a 13-0 deficit for the second week in a row and saw his defense allow Cam Ward his first career 300-yard game alongside 117 rushing yards from Tony Pollard. It took the talents of a top-five quarterback to dig both himself and his team out of trouble; not all teams have that luxury, and it forever remains the question as to how sustainable said box office fireworks are for a prospective Super Bowl team. It would notably come down to a Bengals defensive hold to seal it in overtime, and the 5-2 Bengals remain capable of hurting every team in football. But can they be trusted? Not yet.

Overreaction or reality?

Darnell Washington is the scariest player in football. Seriously, what are you supposed to do with a human polar bear running towards you? Last weekend saw Paris play stage to his spectacular bully ball reach-over touchdown catch on Kool-Aid McKinstry, as if the uncle dwarfing his nephews at Thanksgiving dinner. On Sunday he cut the figure of a freight train while marauding down the sideline with ball in hand on his way to a 58-yard gain that would tee up Jaylen Warren’s one-yard touchdown in Pittsburgh’s 27-6 win over the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers tight end is listed at 264lbs; I’m here to tell you that is probably a lie. He looks upwards of 300, while standing at six-foot-seven as the most daunting mismatch in the NFL.

Winners & Losers

Winners:

Drew Petzing: The jury has been out on the Lions offensive coordinator. A Ben Johnson-set bar will do that. But Sunday was a win for Petzing as his persistence in the running game finally broke through the Minnesota Vikings and their famed Brian Flores defense. Petzing’s offense ran the ball 39 times for 230 yards and a touchdown, 153 yards of which came courtesy of Jahmyr Gibbs. The ground game was defining, but Petzing’s flashpoint arrived on a third-and-eight in the third when he lined up Amon-Ra St Brown 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage before checking it down to his chief receiver, who followed two blockers to move the chains. If that is Ben Johnson, the league is losing its mind.

Kirk Cousins: The man that just refuses to go away. Kirk Cousins might be having as much fun playing Las Vegas Raiders football as he has ever had in his career. Every week you wonder if Klint Kubiak is edging closer towards Fernando Mendoza time, only for Cousins to fend him off. The veteran quarterback went 19 of 26 passing for 247 yards and three touchdowns, including a Brock Bowers beauty, to lead the Raiders to a 38-33 win over the New York Jets, lifting Las Vegas back to 4-4. He is still hanging around.

Losers:

Indianapolis Colts: The Colts began the week by trading away All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, and ended it in a dismal 42-7 defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Somewhere in between they also reportedly placed star running back Jonathan Taylor on the trade block. Their season is over and an ugly rebuild looms for a spiralling franchise that last month fired its General Manager in a consequence of its failure to find a long-term quarterback solution. They are 2-6 and starring down the barrel.

Christian Parker: The Cowboys entered the season with fresh hope of a defensive turnaround with which to complement their high-powered passing attack behind first-year coordinator Christian Parker. His defense, though, came into Week Eight ranked fourth worst in total yards allowed, before surrendering 467 yards on offense and blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead against a Cardinals team that replaced its quarterback three quarters in. Time is ticking for both Parker and head coach Brian Schottenheimer.

Player of the Weekend – Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Liam Coen’s Jags offense is purring. And with balanced football comes a growing contender, the only blemishes on which are marginal defeats to the Broncos and Texans that they will feel they should have won. As Trevor Lawrence continues to play the best football of his career, the Jags are welcoming a breakout year for running back Bhayshul Tuten, who recorded 104 rushing yards and a touchdown alongside two catches for 55 yards and a score in Jacksonville’s win over the Colts. In doing so he became the first Jags player ever to rush for 100-plus yards with a rushing touchdown and record 50-plus receiving yards with a touchdown catch in the same game. Shout to his teammate Rayuan Lane III, who scored a 92-yard pick-six.

Game of the Weekend

How about a 79-point overtime thriller between the Bengals and Titans? Burrow accounted for six total touchdowns, including five touchdown passes in regulation and an overtime rushing score, while former No 1 pick Ward diced open Cincinnati’s defense to the sight of 304 yards and two touchdowns in arguably the best game of his NFL career. A back-and-forth contest saw three lead changes and a tied score in the fourth quarter, the Bengals escaping as winners.

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