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    N.F.L. to Crack Down on Taunting This Season

    The league’s competition committee said that acts of baiting had gotten out of hand.The N.F.L. announced on Tuesday that as part of its stated commitment to “protecting players from unnecessary risk, while keeping the game fair, competitive and exciting,” it would implement new rules and emphasize others for the betterment of the game.Chief among its priorities for the coming season: disciplining players for hits targeting an opponent’s head, a Covid-19-related relaxing of rules around how long injured players are ineligible and making sure that players do not tease each other too much.Making it a point of emphasis, the league told officials to strictly enforce taunting rules, which include automatic ejection of players who accrue two taunting penalties in a game. The player may also be fined or suspended, or both, depending on the severity of his transgression.“The N.F.L. Players Association, coaches and competition committee have all made a strong statement regarding respect among everyone on the field,” the league said on Tuesday in its annual rule changes and points of emphasis video. “We saw an increase in actions that clearly are not within the spirit and intent of this rule and not representative of the respect to opponents and others on the field.”The renewed effort to enforce taunting rules will target “baiting or taunting acts or words” and “abusive, threatening or insulting language or gestures” toward players, coaches and game officials, as defined by the N.F.L.’s unsportsmanlike conduct rules.Taunting between Bears receiver Javon Wims and Saints cornerback Chauncey Gardner-Johnson led to a skirmish between the teams last season.Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressBut the broad and subjective definition of taunting could mean a crackdown on some of the game’s most spontaneous and entertaining displays of personality, which could include gestures that have become trademarks for some players.In one of the most memorable moments of the last Super Bowl, Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr. thrust a peace sign into the face of Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, mocking Hill’s usual touchdown celebration. Winfield was flagged for taunting and fined $7,815 for the gesture, a fraction of the maximum, $15,450, that can be levied against a player by the league, depending on the severity of his action.Hill was not penalized for having flashed the peace sign at Winfield on the way to the end zone in a Week 12 game, the play that prompted his Super Bowl revenge.Some notable instances of taunting last season, however, spilled beyond a play or two. The Ravens were flagged for taunting in their wild-card playoff win against the Titans after members of the defense celebrated a fourth-quarter interception by stamping on the Titans’ logo. Baltimore cornerback Marcus Peters, who pulled in the interception, was fined $15,000.Peters and the Ravens were retaliating for an incident before a game in Week 11 in which Malcolm Butler and other Titans players gathered on the Ravens’ logo, sparking a confrontation with Baltimore players and Coach John Harbaugh. Tennessee was not penalized for taunting.In Week 8, Bears receiver Javon Wims was ejected from a game, and later suspended, for punching Saints defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, leading to a midfield scuffle between the teams that was broken up by officials. Wims said Gardner-Johnson had provoked the fight by spitting on him and ripping out his mouthpiece. No one was flagged for taunting.Tennessee Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler yelled at Baltimore Ravens Coach John Harbaugh before a game in November.Nick Wass/Associated PressTaunting calls result in a 15-yard penalty for the offending team, though flags for gestures like stare-downs or first-down celebrations have dwindled alongside the N.F.L.’s scaling back of rules against excessively celebrating touchdowns, which began in 2017. The league issued 10 penalties for taunting last season and eight in 2019, down from an average of 24 flags each season from 2013 to 2018.This spring, the competition committee sent to all 32 teams its report recommending that the officiating department pay more attention to taunting, reportedly because coaches on the committee felt enforcement had become lax.“Any flagrant acts or remarks that deride, mock, bait or embarrass an opponent are considered taunting,” the report said.Under the league’s new plan, that means no spiking or spinning the ball, pointing the ball or a finger, verbal taunting, or standing or stepping over an opponent for too long or in a way that provokes them. Gestures that simulate handcuffs would be considered taunting, as outlined in the report.In the video announcement of the change, released on Tuesday, the N.F.L. used as an example a clip of Colts receiver Parris Campbell flexing in Myles Jack’s face after taking a hit from the Jaguars linebacker in a game last season, for which Campbell was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. It also included Browns receiver Jarvis Landry spiking the ball near a Texans defender after a first down in a 2020 game. Landry was called for taunting. More

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    Why the Chiefs Will Beat the Buccaneers: Super Bowl 2021 Prediction

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Super Bowl 2021Chiefs Fans’ Generational DivideReconsidering Tom BradySuper Bowl Party TipsThe N.F.L.’s ‘First’ Women Want CompanyAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySuper Bowl LV Prediction: Why the Chiefs Will Beat the BuccaneersNo one has won more Super Bowls than Tom Brady, but in a high-scoring game, Patrick Mahomes has a slight advantage.In his four-year N.F.L. career, Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs is 38-8 in the regular season — including a 27-24 win over Tampa Bay in Week 12 of this season — and 6-1 in the postseason.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFeb. 5, 2021, 12:01 a.m. ETAfter last season’s magical run, nearly everyone expected the Kansas City Chiefs to be back in the Super Bowl this year. An appearance by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, coming off a 7-9 season in 2019 but given new life by a 43-year-old quarterback, came as more of a surprise.Florida turned out to be a fountain of youth for Tom Brady, and his team’s late-season surge has continued into the postseason, setting up a clash of quarterbacks some people call the GOAT (Brady) and the Baby GOAT (Patrick Mahomes), as in “greatest of all time.”The quarterbacks did not get to the championship game on Sunday by themselves. Both teams finished in the N.F.L.’s top 10 in most points scored and fewest points allowed, and while this game may end up having a high score, there are likely to be big defensive plays along the way.Here is a look at how the game should play out.Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay BuccaneersSunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, CBS | Line: Chiefs -3 | Total: 56What to Expect:When Tampa Bay Has the BallWhen Kansas City Has the BallHow It Will Play OutWhen Tampa Bay Has the BallAfter a few years of making things work in New England with a mediocre group of wide receivers, Tom Brady is surrounded by talent at Tampa Bay.Credit…Doug Murray/Associated PressIt is not hard to figure out why Tom Brady wanted to play with the Buccaneers.After struggling to get anything going with a mediocre group of wide receivers in his last few seasons with New England, Brady saw limitless opportunities in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But if he was going to roll the dice with a new team, Brady didn’t want to stop with two Pro Bowl wide receivers, so he persuaded his old pal Rob Gronkowski, a tight end, to come out of retirement as well.When Tampa Bay’s season began with inconsistency and injuries, Brady lobbied the team to add wide receiver Antonio Brown, vouching for him as someone whose productivity would outweigh his troubles.There were flashes of brilliance and moments of frustration for the first three-quarters of the season. But after a loss to Kansas City in Week 12, the Buccaneers came out of their Week 13 bye looking like a new team. Over the next four weeks, Tampa Bay was 4-0 and averaged 37 points a game.That barrage has kept up in the postseason, with the Buccaneers scoring at least 30 points in each of their three road wins. They have a chance on Sunday to become the first N.F.L. team to have four 30-point games in a single postseason.While Tampa Bay can run effectively behind Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette, the expectation on Sunday is for Brady to move the ball downfield with short and medium throws to his four elite pass catchers, relying on them to gain yardage after the catch.The Chiefs will counter with a pass rush spearheaded by defensive tackle Chris Jones and a secondary largely controlled by safety Tyrann Mathieu, a run stopper and takeaway machine. Bashaud Breeland, the Chiefs’ top defensive back in terms of pass coverage, will have his hands full trying to stop Evans, Godwin and Brown.Brady is likely to put up quite a few passing yards, but Kansas City has a bend-don’t-break defense. It may not be as intimidating as some units — Tampa Bay’s included — but it has allowed the 10th fewest points in the N.F.L. this season. So while a 300-yard game from Brady may be expected, a continuation of Tampa Bay’s 30-point streak, which is at seven games over all, is less likely.When Kansas City Has the BallTight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill make sensational plays seem routine.Credit…Jack Dempsey/Associated PressMahomes isn’t fair. He uses speed and footwork to avoid sacks the way Aaron Rodgers does. He turns busted plays into huge runs the way Russell Wilson does, and he can zip an accurate pass to a receiver with a flick of the wrist the way Dan Marino used to. While it all plays out like a tightrope act, with Mahomes frequently drawing defenders in close before releasing the ball, he almost never panics, showing a precision in everything he does that belies the apparent improvisation.While it’s easy enough to explain his effectiveness by pointing to his 4,740 yards passing or his 38 touchdown passes this season, the two most significant statistics for Mahomes are probably his N.F.L.-best 1 percent interception rate and his 3.6 percent sack rate. You can let your eyes convince you that he is being reckless, but you would be emphatically wrong — as so many defenses have been.The Chiefs’ challenge was making sure they put players around Mahomes who could capitalize on his greatness, and they have two of the best in tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill. Kelce set a record for receiving yards by a tight end this season (1,416), and would probably have topped 1,500 had Kansas City not rested its starters in Week 17. Hill is a touchdown threat on every play, with his speed sometimes overshadowing his elusiveness, strength and ability to make difficult catches and break tackles.Speed is everywhere on Kansas City’s offense — Mahomes, Kelce and Hill have it, too — and the rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire added a threat to the running game that had been expected to be missing when Damien Williams opted out of the season.Considering Kansas City’s tendency to play its best when it is challenged most, this game seems to tilt in the Chiefs’ favor, with the biggest caveat being the team’s poor health on its offensive line. Kansas City is expected to be without its two starting tackles and multiple guards, leaving it short-handed against a Tampa Bay pass rush that has an extreme interior push from defensive tackles Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh and elite edge rushing from Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul.If Kansas City’s offensive line turns into a sieve — a possibility because it is essentially playing a backup at every spot — Mahomes will face a lot of pressure and his scrambling ability will be extremely tested. That, theoretically, could lead to a mistake or two on throws downfield — though relying on Mahomes to make mistakes is typically a fool’s errand.How It Will Play OutMahomes is in a place in his career where it is almost impossible to doubt him — something that should be familiar for Brady, who was once at the same peak with New England. It is easy to see the Buccaneers having a good day offensively, but even if they were to run up a significant lead, they should never feel safe, as the Chiefs have fallen behind by at least 9 points in four of their last five playoff games — including last year’s Super Bowl — and have won anyway.Mahomes has years of accomplishments ahead of him before his career can accurately be stacked up against Brady’s, but it seems like a safe bet that he will do something on Sunday that no quarterback has done since Brady: win back-to-back Super Bowls.Predicted Score: Chiefs 31, Buccaneers 26AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    NFL Playoffs: What We Learned From the Conference Championship

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From the N.F.L.’s Conference ChampionshipsThe Chiefs will try to defend their Super Bowl title against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers — who are playing at home.Patrick Mahomes is headed back to the Super Bowl. The 25-year-old has a chance to be the first quarterback to win the game in back-to-back years since Tom Brady did it after the 2003 and 2004 seasons.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesPublished More

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    Tested Again, the Chiefs Flex Their Survival Skills

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyChiefs 32, Saints 29Tested Again, the Chiefs Flex Their Survival SkillsKansas City (13-1) has come back in four of its last six games, winning all six, and while the Chiefs do not seem invincible, they hardly seem beatable.Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes reacted after throwing a touchdown pass in the first half.Credit…Brett Duke/Associated PressDec. 20, 2020, 9:17 p.m. ETTo an exclusive cohort in the N.F.L., the regular season serves as preamble, offering those powerful teams 16 opportunities to tinker, learn and adapt. What might work in September might not in January, when the playoffs beckon.At every checkpoint this season but one, the Kansas City Chiefs have scanned their irises and flashed their credentials. They beat lesser opponents and good ones. They outlasted legendary quarterbacks and overwhelmed ferocious defenses.That happened again on Sunday, when the Chiefs defeated the Saints, 32-29, in New Orleans, a win that flaunted their toughness and survival skills. Facing their best competition of the season, the Chiefs blew a 14-point lead, went up by 14, then held on to spoil Drew Brees’s return from a monthlong layoff forced by injury.It is possible that these teams will meet again in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 in Tampa, Fla., and if they do, both may come to view Sunday’s game as an inflection point in their seasons.The last six games have tested Kansas City (13-1) to a considerable degree, exposing flaws while revealing what must be, for the rest of the league, an uncomfortable truth. The Chiefs won all six, coming back in four of them, and though they do not seem invincible, they hardly seem beatable.Even with the Saints swarming Patrick Mahomes as they did, sacking him four times and forcing a lost fumble, he still threw for three touchdowns, the Chiefs still gained 411 yards and they still scored 32 points against what could be the league’s best defense.The play that will linger longest was Mahomes’s third-quarter touchdown to Mecole Hardman, the score that put them ahead to stay. Mahomes rolled left, pump-faked and, with a defender barreling in from his right, flicked the ball toward the back of the end zone. It sailed beyond the outstretched arms of Sammy Watkins and into those of Hardman, who dragged his feet in bounds, putting the Chiefs ahead, 21-15.The Saints (10-4), like Kansas City, occupy rarefied space among the league’s elite teams, and their defense was one of only two in the league that entered Sunday having allowed fewer than 300 yards per game. As that defense cracked, gashed by Mahomes and the running back tandem of Le’Veon Bell and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (141 combined yards rushing), the Saints couldn’t recover. Three weeks after defeating Tom Brady on the road, the Chiefs stifled Brees in his home.Playing for the first time since Nov. 15, and without the elite receiver Michael Thomas, Brees completed only 15 of 34 passes for 234 yards, with three touchdowns and an interception.Brees missed four games with 11 fractured ribs and a punctured lung, injuries that, presumably, made it difficult to breathe, eat, drink, sleep, sit and stand, let alone outwit the large men with bad intentions chasing him. Enticed by the prospect of facing the Chiefs, of dueling with Mahomes, Brees felt well enough to play. He slipped a protective shirt beneath his jersey and set about resuming his playoff preparation.Early on, his passes floated and wobbled, and his fourth of six straight incompletions to begin the game landed in the hands of the Chiefs rookie L’Jarius Sneed. Capitalizing on the takeaway, Kansas City scored seven plays later, on a 5-yard pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill, who fooled the Saints by motioning away from the play before reversing field to slip unnoticed into the end zone.It is ruthless, Kansas City’s combination of speed, offensive creativity and coaching acumen. Also, endless. On their next scoring drive, the Chiefs further excavated their inventory of imaginative plays. At the Saints’ 1-yard line, Mahomes did not receive the shotgun snap so much as redirect it to his right, a chest pass to tight end Travis Kelce for a touchdown. According to the N.F.L.’s Next Gen Stats, Mahomes’s release time of 50-hundredths of a second was the fastest of any completion this season.The Chiefs led, 14-0, and New Orleans, into the second quarter, had yet to record a first down or a completion. It took until the Saints’ fifth possession for them to get either, and on that same drive Brees seemed to summon all the strength in his right arm in connecting with Emmanuel Sanders down the sideline. The 51-yard pass play — Brees’s second-longest completion of the season — escorted the Saints to the 3-yard line and shoved Brees off the field.During Brees’s absence, Taysom Hill showcased his versatility across four full games, winning three of them. But the Saints’ endgame is a championship, and with Brees back, Hill resumed his duties as a positionless dynamo, running on consecutive plays to cut Kansas City’s lead to 14-7.Heading into halftime, the Saints nearly tied the score after the ball, stripped from the punt returner Demarcus Robinson, rolled into the end zone. But the Saints’ Alex Anzalone couldn’t fall on it in time, and it squirted away for a safety.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    Brady Puts Up a Fight, but It’s Mahomes and the Chiefs’ Day

    Tom Brady floundered for most of Sunday’s game against Kansas City’s incandescent quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. If the game was seen by some as a chance for a passing of the torch from one quarterback to another, from an N.F.L. legend to his heir apparent, that torch — if passed by Brady at least — very likely would have been intercepted.But Brady, after being picked off on successive drives late in the third quarter, rallied his still maturing Buccaneers in the fourth quarter with two touchdown passes that pulled Tampa Bay to within 3 points of the high-flying Chiefs. At that moment, it seemed as if the latest of Brady’s famed comebacks might have been in the offing.But the inconsistent Buccaneers are as far from the old days of Brady’s New England Patriots dynasty as Tampa is from Foxborough, Mass.Just as relevant, it was the unrivaled Mahomes, who each season takes his game to another level, in the opposing huddle. He coolly led the visiting Chiefs to three routine first downs in the closing minutes to cinch an entertaining 27-24 victory.Fittingly, the last Kansas City dagger was an 8-yard pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill, who terrorized Tampa Bay with 13 receptions for 269 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. Then, after the game, in a nod to just how high the expectations are for the defending N.F.L. champion Chiefs (10-1), they welcomed talk about how Sunday’s victory at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium — site of this season’s Super Bowl — might help make it easier to win back-to-back championships.“Man, I hope so, and we did get a familiarity with the stadium, the hotel, the city,” said Mahomes, who passed for 359 yards in the first half and added another 103 yards in the second. “If you get to the Super Bowl, you know you’ve been in this place and beat a good team.”Kansas City Coach Andy Reid was not making any Super Bowl comparisons, but he did compliment his team for a second consecutive road victory against a playoff contender. On Nov. 22, the Chiefs vanquished the Las Vegas Raiders, the only team that has beaten Kansas City in 2020.“It was a step forward for our guys, particularly after an emotional game like the Raiders game,” Reid said. “You’ve got to be able to do those things.”Indeed, the game felt a bit like a meaningful crossroads for both teams. The Chiefs made it plain that they are N.F.L. elite of the highest order, in a class that few of their rivals can match, especially offensively.Or as Mahomes said Sunday, “We have so many weapons it’s hard for a team to take them all away.”As for Tampa Bay (7-5), early this season, their defense was a strength against the run and the pass, but opponents have since found ways to move the ball through the air. In a pass-happy league, it will be tough for the Buccaneers to make an extended playoff run — if they make the playoffs — without more cohesive play by their secondary.Tampa Bay Coach Bruce Arians, however, wondered if his team would see any quarterback as gifted as Mahomes, unless it is in the Super Bowl.“Very few guys I’ve ever seen in this league, or any league, can backpedal eight, nine, 10 or 11 yards in the pocket and throw a dime 25 yards down the field,” Arians said of Mahomes. “He has an unbelievable skill set. We had a lot of good rushers on him and he just keeps backpedaling away and slings it sidearm or whatever, and he can read the defense as he does it, which makes him even more explosive. It’s very frustrating.”Asked if Mahomes might inspire Reid, 62, to extend his career, Arians joked that “Andy is going to be coaching until he’s about 80.”Tampa Bay fell behind by 17-0 in the first quarter largely because they allowed cornerback Carlton Davis, who was playing for the injured starter Jamel Dean, the Buccaneers’ fastest player, to try to defend Hill in man-to-man coverage with no help from a deep safety. Hill first caught a 75-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline, and on the Chiefs next possession he ran away from Davis for a 44-yard touchdown reception. Hill’s 20-yard touchdown catch midway through the third quarter put Kansas City ahead, 27-10.“We don’t get a lot of that,” Mahomes said of the single coverage Hill received, “especially with that guy and his ability. And when we get it, we try to take advantage of it.”Brady regained some of his old form in the final quarter by connecting with tight end Rob Gronkowski, who had six catches for 106 receiving yards. Brady, who completed 27 of 41 passes for 345 yards, then cut the Kansas City lead to 27-17 with a precisely thrown 31-yard touchdown to wide receiver Mike Evans. Evans’s second touchdown of the game, a 7-yarder, made it a 3-point game with 4 minutes 10 seconds remaining. But Mahomes twice scrambled for first downs on the Chiefs’ final drive, and boldly threw on occasion as well as Kansas City closed out its victory.Asked about his aggressiveness in the waning seconds, Reid said: “I learned a long time ago that you don’t give the ball back to Tom Brady. Don’t give him a shot.” More

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    NFL Week 12: What We Learned

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat We Learned From Week 12 of the N.F.L. SeasonThe Titans demolished the Colts, the Chiefs won again and the Broncos, with no quarterback, were crushed in a week defined as much by the coronavirus as the action on the field.Tennessee’s Derrick Henry absolutely dominated in a crucial win over Indianapolis that gave the Titans sole possession of first place in the A.F.C. South.Credit…Darron Cummings/Associated PressBy More