May 2020 - Kansas City Chiefs Wiretap
Patrick Mahomes became the fastest player to collect 10,000 career passing yards in Monday night's game against the Baltimore Ravens.
The reigning Super Bowl MVP was 31-of-42 for 385 yards and four touchdowns in prime time.
Mahomes, in his 34th regular-season start, completed a 13-yard pass to Travis Kelce in the first quarter that put him over the 10,000-yard mark. Kurt Warner had the old record at 36 games.
The Baltimore Ravens lost for the first time in 15 regular season games on Monday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Asked how the Ravens can get over the hurdle of beating the Chiefs, Lamar Jackson interjected by saying: "Our kryptonite."
Jackson is 0-3 against the Chiefs after passing for a career-worst 97 yards. He's 21-1 against the rest of the NFL in the regular season.
The Baltimore Ravens will host the Kansas City Chiefs in an early potential preview of the AFC Championship Game. M&T Bank Stadium will be empty for the game, but data from Vivid Seats suggests it would have been one of the most in-demand tickets for a Ravens' game in recent seasons, speaking to the quality of the matchup and the appeal of Patrick Mahomes.
Most in-demand Ravens home games, excluding playoffs, since 2016; avg. price/sold ticket:
Patriots at Ravens - SNF (11/3/19) - $235
Chiefs at Ravens (9/28/20) - $223
Steelers at Ravens (10/1/17) - $199
Steelers at Ravens (11/6/16) - $186
Washington FB Team at Ravens (10/9/16) - $177
Clyde Edwards-Helaire leads the NFL in rushing after the first week of the season, but the Kansas City Chiefs have some concerns about their rookie running back.
The first-rounder gained negative-2 yards in six carries in goal-to-go situation in Week 1's win over the Houston Texans.
"The bottom line is, if you follow all the keys we're coached up to do in our room, he scores," running backs coach Deland McCullough said. "Some of the things we're talking about right now would be a moot point. But again, as he continues to grow -- he took big growth after the last game and he'll take another big step in this game -- regardless of what the plan is, when we are down there, the running back's job is to score. And when we do everything we're coached to do, we'll score a touchdown."
McCullough suggested Edwards-Helaire would remain as the goal-line back in Sunday's game against the Chargers in Los Angeles.
A fan who attended the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 1 game at Arrowhead Stadium has tested positive for COVID-19.
The contact tracing mechanisms that the club has in place, including parking and ticket scanning data, as well as video record review, indicate that the individual who has presented positive and the individual's party entered the stadium in compliance with mask mandates. This process allowed the team to identify the other guests sitting with this individual, the service staff with whom this individual may have come in contact with, as well as any other ticket holders near this person at the time of entry into the stadium. Within hours of being notified, the Chiefs were able to pinpoint the names of the other members of the party as well as detailed information about the path and location of entry, and this information was provided to the Health Department. The tracing capabilities at the stadium allow the extension of communication to learn more about the guest's activity the days leading up to and after the game Thursday night.
The individual and the individual's group were seated in the lower level of the stadium.
The Week 1 opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans drew 19.3 million viewers, which is a drop of 12.3 percent from the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears to open the 2019 season.
In early numbers, the primetime NBC game scored a 5.2 among adults 18-49 and 16.4 million viewers between 8-11 p.m. ET.
The NFL is facing more competition this year as the NBA and NHL playoffs are competing for eyeballs. Total sports viewership is up in 2020 compared to 2019 while individual games are down.
Players and coaches from the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans met at midfield for a pregame "Moment of Unity" before their Week 1 game, which was met with a scattering of boos from the limited fans at Arrowhead Stadium.
Seven phrases developed by players on both teams were displayed on the scoreboard during the moment:
The "Moment of Unity" took place following the performance of the national anthem.
Fans in attendance at Thursday's season opener also took part in the "Arrowhead Chop," which the Chiefs have attempted to distance themselves from.
The Kansas City Chiefs have bought an insurance policy for their 10-year extension with Patrick Mahomes.
The insurance protects the Chiefs in the event an injury prevents Mahomes from being available to play.
It also has salary-cap implications, as Kansas City would receive a corresponding salary-cap credit.
Insurance policies are fairly rare in NFL contracts, but Mahomes received $140 million in guaranteed money.
The Kansas City Chiefs have added an insurance policy to the record-setting, 10-year extension given to Patrick Mahomes, according to a source.
The move protects the Chiefs in the event that an injury prevents Mahomes from being available to play.
Such policies are not common in the NFL, but given the $140 million in guaranteed money that Mahomes received, both sides knew the decision would be executed prior to the start of the regular season.
The contract is worth $450 million over the 10-year period and could grow to $503 million.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens are clear favorites in the AFC with +285 and +300 odds, respectively, to represent the conference in the Super Bowl, according to odds from BetOnline.
With a 26 percent implied probability for the Chiefs and 25 percent for the Ravens, they have a better than 50 percent combined chance to win the conference.
The Buffalo Bills rank third in odds at +1000, followed by the Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are the longest long shot at +25,000, which is an implied probability of 0.4 percent.
