Late game first. I hate the Falcons ( I don't care about the OL) and I hate the Saints and I get a wicked sense of which way the wind is blowing here. And believe me I don't think the Eagles , who I don't much care for either, has little chance to beat the Falcons without Wentz. Negativity has engulfed me once again so I suspect neither Carolina or the Vikings will reach the Super Bowl. The Rams looked stale last night and the punt returner pretty much assured they would lose. The only positive I could find was the Goff to Kupp connection should be a mainstay for years to come. Connor Barwin has been a plus player his entire career but he is not in his prime anymore.
The first game was sickening. And kudos to the posters above who mentioned the "HIT" on Kelce. Think back to the Monday Night game in October against the Redskins. Kelce was on his way to an epic game with a stat line of 7-111-1 with plenty of time to spare then BOOM a black DB skulled him on purpose and knocked him out of the game and I believe Kelce missed some games after that with a concussion.
On his way to another epic game with a very early stat line of 4-66-1 a black DB lowered the boom once again with one of the most vicious head shots I have seen this season. Kelce was KNOCKED OUT. Yet and maybe someone can clear up the rule here but I do know refs check replays after brawls so why was there NO FLAG thrown on this hit which I believe was an intentional skull shot? And consider even if the Chiefs pulled the game out it looked unlikely Kelce would be able to return anytime soon.
For a league that has been paying a lot of lip service in trying to cut down on these skull shots and I know the NFL rules don't include ejections like in college ( which they SHOULD ADOPT) how is it that that bastard wasn't penalized for 15 yards? In fact if you watch the DB Jon Cyprien after the play he was strutting back to the huddle. Give that guy the game ball because that CHANGED the entire game. Granted the black DL of KC sucks and got ran over but the BEST PLAYER on the field was Travis Kelce. Eliminating him from the equation opened the door for a Titans win.. With some added assistance from the refs.
There was a call where the Chiefs recovered a fumble that the refs CLEARLY botched. The late fumble recovery they probably got right. On yet another play when Sorensen was sacking Mariota causing a fumble late in the game they said he was down and wiped away the fumble recovery by the Chiefs. I suspect if Mariota had escaped Sorensen's grasp they would not have ruled down. They would have let the "hero" make a splash play. So the refs clearly botched two or three KEY calls.
A bitter pill only relieved somewhat by Decker catching the winning TD after being quiet the whole day--actually he was only targeted three times. But another nail in the growing coffin of Andy Reid and they can't get there star QB out of town quick enough. With probably three to five good years left in Alex Smith ( he is remarkably athletic for someone who has played 13 plus years in the NFL), there are several teams who could use him. Off the top of my head Arizona, Buffalo, Cleveland, Denver ( same division though),Jets and the Redskins if they part way with Cousins. If I were any of those teams I would grab him in a heart beat. He is a winner despite the media's ongoing hatred of him which has eased just a touch this past season Without him look for KC to fall into the middle of the pack.