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NFL Thursday: KC Streaking vs. Denver

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DENVER – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The last time the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Denver Broncos, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes was a sophomore at Texas Tech. Kansas City began its dominance prior to Mahomes’ arrival and now looks to post its 16th straight victory over the visiting Broncos when the teams meet on Thursday night.

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Mahomes, a two-time MVP, is 11-0 as a starter against AFC West rival Denver. However, he said the streak doesn’t matter on game night.

“When you play a team like the Broncos, same with any division opponent, there’s just another level of intensity,” Mahomes said Tuesday. “I’m not worried about necessarily a streak or anything like that. I’m worried about winning against a division opponent. … It doesn’t matter what the records are. It’s gonna be a close game.”

The Chiefs (4-1) enter Thursday with a four-game winning streak while the Broncos (1-4) have been one of the worst teams in the NFL in Sean Payton’s first season as coach. Still, Denver quarterback Russell Wilson points to last season’s two meetings as evidence of his team being able to stick with Kansas City. The Chiefs won 34-28 at Denver and 27-24 at home in 2022.

“We had good battles against them last year, both of them came down to the wire,” Wilson said Tuesday. “It’s a great football team on their side and we have to play great football, we have to play clean. We’re going into a tough environment.”

The Broncos have been abysmal on defense this season and rank last in scoring defense (36.2 points per game), total defense (450.6 yards allowed per game) and rushing defense (187.6 yards allowed per game). Denver is the lone team to allow over 2,000 yards so far this season (2,253).

The Broncos have allowed a staggering 877 yards on the ground over the past four games. The New York Jets rushed for 234 yards — 177 by Breece Hall — in a 31-21 road win over Denver on Sunday.

“It’s going to be tough to win games if we can’t stop the run defensively, and we have to get it cleaned up,” Payton said.

Perhaps Kansas City’s hard-running Isiah Pacheco (325 rushing yards, three touchdowns) is in line for a big game.

Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce is aiming to play on Thursday. He sprained his right ankle on Sunday in Kansas City’s 27-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. He missed practice Monday and was limited Tuesday.

Kelce caught 10 passes against the Vikings — five before he hurt the ankle late in the first half and five during a single third-quarter drive after returning to action. He caught a touchdown pass to end that excursion.

Mahomes expects Kelce to answer the bell on Thursday night.

“That’s a legendary type game,” Mahomes said of Kelce’s performance at Minnesota. “I mean, to be able to battle through that. I didn’t see the injury live, so I didn’t know how bad it was, but looking back at it now and seeing how the ankle rolled and then being able to come back out there and play at a high level and score a touchdown that we needed to win the game — it speaks to not only the talent that he has, but the toughness that he has.”

The Broncos began the 21-day window to activate tight end Greg Dulcich from injured reserve on Tuesday. Payton said Dulcich, who injured his hamstring in the season opener, is “close” to being ready for activation. Dulcich was limited during Tuesday’s practice.

Denver defensive tackle D.J. Jones (knee) and outside linebacker Frank Clark (illness) missed practice on Tuesday. Among the five Broncos who joined Dulcich as limited were safety Justin Simmons (hip) and center Lloyd Cushenberry III (quadriceps).

Joining Kelce as limited during the Chiefs’ Tuesday practice were linebacker Nick Bolton (ankle) and defensive end George Karlaftis (hamstring).

–Field Level Media

MLB Postseason: Texas Ousts O’s

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ARLINGTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Texas Rangers took the hard route after blowing a 2 1/2-game lead in the American League West in the final week of the regular season and landing in the wild-card round. Five consecutive victories later, the Rangers are headed to the AL Championship Series after a solid 7-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in Texas.

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Texas swept the Tampa Bay Rays in two games in an AL wild-card series before outscoring the Orioles 21-11 in three AL Division Series contests. The Rangers are headed to their first ALCS since making back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and ’11.

“We regrouped on that flight,” Texas star Corey Seager said of a trip from Seattle following the end of the regular season to Tampa Bay to start the playoffs. “We wanted to punch our ticket (as AL West champion) and we didn’t. We wanted to finish it off and try to win the division, but it didn’t happen. We moved on really fast, and we knew we had an opportunity in front of us.”

Seager hit one of three Rangers’ homers on Tuesday in the club’s first home game of the postseason. Adolis Garcia smacked a three-run homer, Nathaniel Lowe also went deep and Mitch Garver contributed a two-run double for Texas.

Garver, Garcia and Josh Jung each had two hits for the Rangers.

Nathan Eovaldi (2-0) allowed one run and five hits over seven innings for Texas. He struck out seven and walked none in his second straight stellar effort this postseason.

“It is more so just trusting my pitches,” Eovaldi said. “I have a game plan going in, but it’s going to change at times. I had a really good feel for my splitter.”

Texas will face either the Houston Astros or Minnesota Twins in the ALCS, with Game 1 on Sunday in either Houston or Minneapolis.

The Rangers went just 68-94 last season before manager Bruce Bochy was lured out of a three-year retirement by Chris Young, the Texas general manager who pitched for Bochy in 2006 with the San Diego Padres.

Bochy, 68, won three World Series titles as skipper of the San Francisco Giants and is hopeful of adding another.

“It’s just unreal. This is what I came back for, hoping something like this would happen,” Bochy said. “These guys have been warriors. Road warriors. The kind of baseball they’ve been playing is awesome.”

Gunnar Henderson had three hits and an RBI for the Orioles, who have lost eight straight playoff games dating back to 2014. Baltimore won an AL-best 101 games in the regular season.

It was a bittersweet ending for the Orioles.

“They defied all the odds. Nobody gave us a chance,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “These guys played their butts off for six months. We just didn’t play well for these last three, unfortunately. It’s definitely a successful season, and these guys are going to be really good going forward.”

The contest was the first at home for the Rangers since Sept. 24. Texas had played its previous 11 games — seven to end the regular season, four to start the playoffs — on the road.

Seager came up as the second batter in the game against Dean Kremer (0-1) and hammered a 445-foot homer into the seats in right-center. The blast was his first of these playoffs and 14th postseason shot of his career.

Texas loaded the bases with two outs in the second before Garver ripped a double down the third base line to score two. The big hit came two days after Garver hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in Game 2.

Garcia followed with a three-run blast to left-center to make it 6-0 and end Kremer’s night. The 418-foot shot was Garcia’s second career postseason homer, both coming this year.

Baltimore got on the board in the fifth inning when Henderson’s two-out single scored Jordan Westburg from second.

Lowe led off the sixth with a 437-foot homer off Kyle Gibson. It was the first postseason blast of Lowe’s career.

Kremer allowed six runs and seven hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out none.

–Field Level Media

Patriots Beaten Down (Again)

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FOXBORO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Saints veteran QB Derek Carr threw two touchdown passes and the New Orleans’ defense forced three turnovers in a 34-0 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.

Carr passed for 183 yards, Alvin Kamara rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown and Tyrann Mathieu got the rout started by returning an interception of Mac Jones for the game’s first score.

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The Saints (3-2) ended their NFL-worst streak of 10 consecutive games scoring 21 or fewer points.

For the second straight week, Jones had two interceptions and a lost fumble before being replaced by Bailey Zappe in the fourth quarter.

The Patriots (1-4) nearly matched the futility of their 38-3 loss at Dallas a week earlier, the most lopsided defeat in Bill Belichick’s 29 seasons as a head coach. Sunday’s margin was the largest in a home shutout loss in franchise history.

Belichick failed for a second consecutive week to join Don Shula and George Halas as the only NFL head coaches to win 300 games.

New England, which finished with 156 yards and eight first downs, went 1-of-14 on third-down conversions and 0-for-2 on fourth downs.

Jones lost a fumble on the first possession of the third quarter, leading to Blake Grupe’s 54-yard field goal and a 24-0 New Orleans lead at the end of the third quarter.

Pete Werner intercepted Jones at the New England 31, and Carr’s ensuing 6-yard touchdown pass to Foster Moreau made it a 31-0 lead. Grupe’s 53-yard field goal completed the scoring with 5:43 left.

Jones, who had an interception and a fumble returned for touchdowns last week, was intercepted on New England’s second possession Sunday by Mathieu, who returned it 27 yards for a touchdown that gave New Orleans a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

On the second play of the second quarter, Kamara ran 2 yards for the Saints’ first offensive touchdown in 20 possessions, increasing the lead to 14-0.

They made it two touchdown drives in a row when Carr threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Chris Olave for a 21-0 halftime lead.

–Field Level Media

USA Basketball Pursuing Holiday

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COLORADO SPRINGS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Point guard Jrue Holiday was highly coveted by the Boston Celtics, who traded for the All-Star in late September. As it turns out, he’s still being pursued — by Team USA.

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Officials with USA Basketball are attempting to convince Holiday to return for a second straight Olympics for the 2024 Paris Games, it was reported by ESPN this Sunday.. Holiday, 33, helped lead the Americans to a gold medal in 2021, a much more desirous outcome than Team USA’s recent fourth-place finish at the FIBA World Cup.

Overall, the Americans have won four straight golds at the Olympics, but that has been largely achieved via stronger defensive performance, an approach U.S. coach Steve Kerr and men’s managing director Grant Hill continue to favor.

Holiday is one of the better on-ball defenders in the NBA.

Multiple NBA superstars are expected to participate in 2024, per ESPN, including such players as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid.

A five-time All-Defensive selection in the NBA, Holiday was traded to Boston by the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for center Robert Williams, guard Malcolm Brogdon and multiple draft picks.

Portland acquired Holiday as part of the three-team deal that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Holiday helped lead the Bucks to their second-ever NBA championship in 2021 following his acquisition from the New Orleans Pelicans. Over 14 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans and Milwaukee, he has averaged 16.4 points and 6.5 assists.

He averaged 19.3 points, 7.4 assists and a career-best 5.1 rebounds in 67 games (65 starts) last season with the Bucks.

–Field Level Media

NFL on SNF: San Fran vs Dallas Preview

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Sunday Night Football Preview

49ers (4-0) vs. Cowboys (3-1): Everything is going right for San Francisco, which is one of two undefeated teams still standing along with Philadelphia. Running back Christian McCaffery is coming off a four-touchdown performance (three rushing, one receiving) and leads the NFL with 459 yards on the ground. QB Brock Purdy is still undefeated in the regular season, carrying a 9-0 record into the meeting with Dallas. But if any defense is equipped to contain the 49ers, it’s the Cowboys’. Dallas leads the league with three defensive TDs, holds the best turnover differential (plus-9) and is tied for the fifth-most sacks (14). The Cowboys haven’t been slouches on offense, either, averaging 360 total yards of offense per game and winning by at least 20 points in all three of their victories. While the Niners have eliminated Dallas from the postseason in each of the past two seasons, the Cowboys have taken seven of the last nine regular-season meetings between the teams.

–Field Level Media

Big Game for Patriots and Saints

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FOXBORO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The New England Patriots are coming off the most lopsided loss in Bill Belichick‘s 29 seasons as a head coach while the New Orleans Saints are in the midst of one of the worst stretches of offense in the NFL.

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Both teams are seeking significant improvement when they meet Sunday afternoon in Massachusetts.

New England (1-3) lost 38-3 at Dallas last Sunday as quarterback Mac Jones turned the ball over three times, including a pick six and a scoop and score.

“The biggest thing is moving on from it and learning from it,” Jones said. “(I need to) take care of the football, go through my reads. That’s all I can do as the quarterback, and I feel like the guys are doing a good job. So, I just have to get the ball out to them and let them make plays.”

Belichick, who’s in his 24th season as Patriots head coach after five seasons as Cleveland’s head coach, has a chance to achieve a far more positive milestone this week. If New England beats New Orleans, Belichick will join George Halas and Don Shula as the only coaches with 300 career regular-season victories.

“That wasn’t our best game,” Belichick said of last week’s loss. “We’re capable of more than that. We just have to play collectively better complementary team football, and that includes everything – offense, defense, special teams.”

The Patriots rank 30th in scoring and 17th in yards. The Saints are tied for 25th in scoring and are 23rd in yards.

New Orleans has scored 21 or fewer points in 10 consecutive games, the longest such streak in the NFL.

The Saints (2-2) have lost two games in a row and failed to reach the end zone in a 26-9 home loss to Tampa Bay last week.

Derek Carr passed for just 127 yards while playing with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder that forced him to miss two days of practice last week.

“I feel much better this week than I did at this time last week,” Carr said after practice Wednesday. “I’ve been through tougher times than this. We’re going to be all right. We’ve got the right kind of people in our room.”

New Orleans ranks 25th in rushing offense even after leading rusher Alvin Kamara returned last week from a three-game suspension. He had 51 yards on 11 carries against the Bucs.

“The sense of urgency is extremely high,” guard James Hurst said. “We’re not playing up to the level that we hoped to at this point in the season.

“It’s extremely frustrating because we know we have the potential to move the ball and score points, but at the same time we’re hopeful because you look around the offense and see players who have proven they can make plays.”

Two Patriots injured against the Cowboys missed practice Wednesday – rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) and pass rusher Matthew Judon (elbow). New England addressed Gonzalez’s absence when it re-acquired former All-Pro cornerback J.C. Jackson in a trade with the Chargers on Wednesday.

Two Saints starters besides Carr were limited Wednesday: cornerback Paulson Adebo, who has missed the past two games because of a hamstring injury, and center Erik McCoy (knee).

– Field Level Media

NFL in London: Bills vs Jaguars

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Bills (3-1) vs. Jaguars (2-2), in London: The Jaguars will become the first NFL team to play two consecutive games overseas; they are the designated away team after beating the Atlanta Falcons 23-7 last week in their home away from home. It’s Buffalo’s second-ever trip overseas after it lost to Jacksonville 34-31 in London in 2015. The Bills have won three straight and rank second in the league at 34.8 points per game. Their veteran edge rusher, Von Miller, has indicated he expects to be activated from the physically unable to perform list to make his season debut. A Jaguars-Bills game also offers the rare opportunity for Josh Allen to sack Josh Allen: The Jacksonville linebacker by that name already has six sacks this season, tied with Khalil Mack and T.J. Watt for the league lead.

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NFL: Patriots vs Saints Preview

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New England Patriots vs New Orleans Saints Preview

Patriots (1-3) vs. Saints (2-2): The sky is seemingly falling in New England. The Patriots’ feeble offense is averaging just 13.8 points per game, third-fewest in the league. Bill Belichick is coming off the worst loss of his head-coaching career — a 38-3 setback against Dallas — and Mac Jones is hitting on just 63.7 percent of his passes with five touchdowns to four interceptions.

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Things won’t get any easier against a New Orleans defense that has held three of four opponents under 20 points. The Saints’ offense is also trending in the right direction, with star running back Alvin Kamara looking to build off a season debut in which he went for 84 yards (51 rushing, 33 receiving) and had 13 catches. Kamara will look to take advantage of a New England front seven without Matt Judon, who is out indefinitely with a lower bicep tendon tear. The Patriots bolstered their secondary, though, trading for cornerback J.C. Jackson in the wake of what will likely be a season-ending shoulder injury for rookie Christian Gonzalez.

MLB Postseason: Blue Jays at Minny

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MINNEAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Minnesota Twins will try to end a nearly 19-year-old playoff victory drought when they host the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of an American League wild-card series on Tuesday afternoon in Minnesota.

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The Twins’ most recent playoff victory was Oct. 5, 2004, against the New York Yankees. Since then, Minnesota has lost a record 18 straight postseason games.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays also are eager to turn around their recent playoff fortunes. Toronto has been swept in each of its past two wild-card series, in 2020 against the Tampa Bay Rays and last season against the Seattle Mariners, and it is searching for its first postseason win since Oct. 18, 2016, against Cleveland.

Toronto (89-73) won more games this season than Minnesota (87-75), but the Twins will have home-field advantage because they won a weaker AL Central. The Blue Jays finished in third place behind the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

The winner of this series will play the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series.

Toronto manager John Schneider said he and his players felt relief and excitement.

“Baseball is hard and this (East) division is hard,” Schneider said. “I think getting here probably takes a lot of weight off of the players’ shoulders. Looking back at spring training, there were very high expectations.

“People can say we either met them or fell short of them, but the fact that we are in. I think the guys really like that. They’re really looking forward to it because of how good they are.”

The Twins’ lineup includes several young players without playoff experience, but veteran shortstop Carlos Correa is looking to provide leadership and perspective. Correa went to the World Series three times with the Houston Astros.

Correa hit only .230 this season with 18 homers and 65 RBIs. He said those statistics carried no weight anymore, and that he felt healthy and ready to start in Game 1.

“You throw the numbers out the window and the (new) season starts,” Correa said. “This is the season that matters. It’s time to go.”

High-quality, consistent pitching helped propel both teams into the playoffs.

Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez will get the ball in Game 1 after posting an 11-8 record with a 3.66 ERA in 32 starts during the regular season. Lopez recorded a team-high 234 strikeouts in 194 innings, and he limited batters to a .238 average.

This will be Lopez’s second career playoff start. His first opportunity came with the Miami Marlins in 2020, when he allowed two runs on three hits in five innings against the Atlanta Braves.

In two career starts against Toronto, Lopez is 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA.

The Blue Jays will turn to right-hander Kevin Gausman to start the series. He went 12-9 with a 3.16 ERA in 31 starts this season, and he led the American League with 237 strikeouts in 185 innings.

Gausman has appeared in seven playoff games and started two. He is 0-1 with a 4.57 ERA in those contests, which have included appearances with Baltimore, Atlanta, San Francisco and Toronto.

In 11 career starts against the Twins, Gausman is 1-4 with a 6.35 ERA.

The Twins and Blue Jays faced each other six times this season, with each club winning three games. Minnesota had a narrow 28-26 advantage in runs.

–Field Level Media

MLB Postseason: D-Backs at Brewers

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MILWAUKEE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Milwaukee Brewers will turn to ace right-hander Corbin Burnes when the National League Central champions host the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday in the opener of the best-of-three wild-card series.

Burnes (10-8, 3.39 ERA) will be opposed by rookie right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (3-9, 5.72 ERA), facing the Brewers for the first time. Arizona (84-78) won four of the six regular-season meetings with Milwaukee (92-70).

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The Brewers received devastating news Monday when they learned that right-hander Brandon Woodruff, scheduled to pitch the second game, would miss the entire series with a right shoulder injury, with the remainder of the postseason in doubt.

“We’ve got good pitching, we’ve got really good pitching,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said Monday. “We feel good about how we’re going to get through this series with a lot of guys on the mound. Giving the ball to Corbin on Day 1 is as good a feeling as you can have.”

The Diamondbacks, in the postseason for the first time since 2017, finished the regular season with four consecutive losses but secured the final wild card on Saturday when other contenders also lost.

Arizona was 52-39 at the All-Star break and tied with the Dodgers for the NL West lead but finished 16 games behind Los Angeles. The Diamondbacks, who lost 110 games in 2021, are just the third team in major league history to go from a 110-plus loss season to the playoffs within three years.

“It’s a first for a lot of people, not just our pitcher, and I think there’s just a certain readiness that they’ll all have because they’ve worked hard to get here,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “The team is extremely hungry, they have a lot to prove, they’re very connected, and we feel like we’re very dangerous.”

In getting swept by Houston to end the season, the Diamondbacks scored just two runs and were 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position. Arizona also used its two top starters, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, against Houston.

Milwaukee, appearing in the postseason for the fifth time in six seasons, was 27-13 over its final 40 games.

Catcher William Contreras brings an 18-game hitting streak into the playoffs. He hit .342 (52-for-152) with five homers, 11 doubles, 24 RBIs, 25 walks and 33 runs over his final 39 games.

Milwaukee improved its offense with the trade deadline acquisitions of Mark Canha and Carlos Santana. Canha’s 33 RBIs from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 trailed only Contreras (34) for most on the team. Santana had 11 homers and 33 RBIs in 52 games after being acquired from Pittsburgh.

Outfielder Tyrone Taylor, injured much of the first half, hit .291 (23-for-79) over his final 23 games with five homers, nine doubles and 17 RBIs.

“These guys have done it for a lot of years, so adding them to our lineup, it lengthens it a bit,” said outfielder Christian Yelich. “I just feel like we have quality at-bats up and down the lineup and it puts a lot of pressure on people.”

Burnes was 1-1 with a 2.51 ERA in five starts in September, including three scoreless starts. In his final two outings, he scattered seven hits over nine scoreless innings.

Burnes struck out 200, the third consecutive season he reached that mark, and walked 66. Opponents are batting .200 against him, but just .183 in September.

Burnes is 2-1 in five career starts vs. Arizona, including 1-1 with 4.85 ERA in two games this season.

Pfaadt was 2-2 with a 4.32 ERA in five appearances in September, including four starts. In two of his last three starts, he did not allow a run.

In his last start, he allowed five hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out eight and walking none in a crucial 3-0 win over the White Sox.

Arizona right fielder Corbin Carroll, the likely NL Rookie of the Year, had 25 homers and 76 RBIs, hitting .285.

–Field Level Media