You don’t have to be Pat Mahomes to excel in Andy Reid’s offense

In the weekend leading up to the trade deadline, the NFL was full of excitement. From quarterback changes to historic victories and one clever mascot, here are five takeaways from Week 8’s action.

You don’t have to be Pat Mahomes to excel in Andy Reid’s offense

The Kansas City Chiefs had the unfortunate task of facing Green Bay in the Chiefs’ first full game without Patrick Mahomes. Though Mahomes actually practiced last week after dislocating his knee in Week 7 (probably not the best move), veteran backup Matt Moore earned the start and stepped in seamlessly for the Chiefs offense.

Moore completed 24-of-36 passes for 267 yards and two scores—not quite Mahomes numbers, but still not bad—and nearly pulled off a victory over the one-loss Packers.

Much of the credit has gone to 2018 MVP Mahomes for Kansas City’s past success, but Sunday’s game proved head coach Andy Reid’s brilliant offensive mind can benefit even a backup QB who spent last season as a scout for the Miami Dolphins.

That said, despite his genius, Reid made a questionable decision to punt on fourth-and-3, as Kansas City trailed by seven with five minutes to go, ultimately costing the Chiefs a chance to attempt a comeback. The Packers ran out the clock from there, and the Chiefs left with loss No. 3. Still, they should consider it a win to know KC will be just fine with Moore until Mahomes is healthy enough to return.

Goodbye Teddy, Brees is back

2019 has been a coming-out party for second-string QBs across the league. Aside from Moore’s promising debut as a starter, Kyle Allen, Ryan Tannehill and Gardner Minshew have each experienced some level of success as backups promoted to starting roles.

The most impressive of all, though, has been the New Orleans Saints’ Teddy Bridgewater, who went 5-0 as a starter, while Drew Brees nursed a thumb injury.

On Sunday, Brees reclaimed his starting job after a five-game absence and piled on 373 yards passing and three touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals. The 40-year-old QB left little doubt he’s ready to lead the Saints from here on out, but Bridgewater deserves a ton of praise for his stint as the starter.

It would be nice to see him get the lead job back one day in the future, even if it’s on another team.

OBJ wishes he could play for the Patriots

The New England Patriots hosted the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon and quickly embarrassed the underwhelming Browns in a 27-13 drubbing. Baker Mayfield threw one boneheaded interception, running back Nick Chubb had two fumbles, and the Pats surged to a 17-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Odell Beckham put up a decent showing and caught five passes for 52 yards, but failed to score. Following the Browns’ loss, he approached the G.O.A.T Tom Brady to congratulate him on his victory and gifted the legend with custom cleats made of goat hair.

 

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OBJ got Brady his goat hair cleats ? (photo via @logan_bowles)

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In the pregame presser, OBJ praised the Patriots signal-caller for his excellence in the game and recalled a time when he had been hopeful of becoming Brady’s teammate. Long after Sunday’s game, Brady reportedly met up with Beckham to introduce him to his son, a huge Odell fan, and had a “lengthy chat” after the locker rooms cleared.

Is there a chance the Pats could pull some strings and make OBJ’s dreams of playing for Brady come true? Probably not, but the Patriots could sure use the help on offense.

From one GOAT to another—Belichick makes history

Can you blame any player for wanting to play for Brady or his legendary coach? In the Patriots’ beatdown of Cleveland, Bill Belichick recorded his 300th win, placing him third all time—behind Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324)—for the most victories by an NFL head coach.

Belichick is in his 20th season as head of the Patriots and coached the Browns from 1991-95. In his NFL career, he’s achieved eight Super Bowl wins (two as defensive coordinator of the Giants), made 12 Super Bowl appearances, the most by an NFL head coach or assistant, and has claimed the most conference championships by a head coach in the Super Bowl era, with nine.

On top of that, Belichick has played a more active—albeit mysterious—role in the defense, as New England has yet to name a defensive coordinator in 2019. Even so, the unit has transformed into one of the best in NFL history, and we’re inclined to give Bill credit, even if he refuses to accept it.

Jaxson de Ville is a major troll

Speaking of Belichick’s defense, Sam Darnold learned firsthand just how lethal it is in the Jets’ Week 7 matchup. With the newly healthy quarterback mic’d up for Monday Night Football, Darnold could be heard saying he sees “ghosts” on the field while facing the Pats D.

Darnold threw four interceptions against New England and tallied just 86 yards through the air in a 33-0 shutout.

In Week 8, the second-year signal-caller took on the Jacksonville defense and was greeted by a major troll job from the Jaguars’ mascot. Jaxson de Ville paraded around the field in a ghost costume just days before Halloween, though it became clear the outfit had nothing to do with the holiday celebration. Jacksonville went all out to taunt Darnold and even blasted a blooper reel of the QB on the jumbotron with the “Ghostbusters” theme playing over top of it.

Darnold continued to see ghosts in both the literal and figurative sense, as he tossed another three interceptions in the Jets’ 29-15 loss to the Jaguars.

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