Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs have dug themselves in a bit of a hole with a sloppy 0-2 start following Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in their Super Bowl rematch. They only lost this game by three points and had a slim chance to pull off a comeback at the end, but they came up short and couldn’t get across the finish line again. 

For a team with Patrick Mahomes as their starting quarterback, 0-2 is hardly the same hole as other teams with the same record, but the quality of play around Mahomes is becoming hard to ignore. Mahomes is still very much a super elite quarterback and has not actually become worse over the past few years even as his statistics drop, but the Kansas City Chiefs are so limited right now that we’re getting a version of Mahomes that is normally reserved for the playoffs.

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Life is not easy in this Chiefs’ offense. The offensive line, while talented, is going through a retooling with a youth movement up front. They don’t have any credible threats at running back, and the wide receiver room is barren with Rashee Rice serving a six-game suspension and Xavier Worthy out with a shoulder injury. For most quarterbacks, this would just be too much to overcome — and for good reason! It’s incredibly hard to generate offense in an ecosystem like this, but Mahomes is so damn good he’s still given this lackluster team a small chance to win over the first two weeks. However, the way he’s doing it is not sustainable.

Right now, Mahomes is doing an impression of Atlas. The passing game has become an extremely high-difficulty operation, but now he’s been scrambling like a trip to the Super Bowl is on the line. Mahomes is currently the Chiefs’ leading rusher with 123 rushing yards and two touchdowns so far on the season on 13 carries. His 10 first downs on 13 rushing attempts is making this an efficient play, but Mahomes has run over defenders in back-to-back weeks, which is a risk the Chiefs would rather not have to take. Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco, the Chiefs' main running back duo, have combined for 94 yards on 28 carries. Mahomes is one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game and is athletically capable of churning out yards with his legs, but his current pace (only two games) of 1,045 rushing yards is a failure for Kansas City.

The problem is, there isn’t one sure fix coming. Getting Rice back will be huge, but he hasn’t played a regular season game since Week 4 last season when he tore his ACL. Worthy has dangerous speed, but he hasn’t developed into a consistent threat yet, and everyone else beyond that can’t be counted on just yet. Travis Kelce is clearly at the end of his career with good plays becoming increasingly infrequent, and there are just no easy buttons to press on this offense. It’s a boon for this Chiefs team that Mahomes is so damn good that they have a chance in almost any game as long as he suits up, but at some point they need to take a hard look in the mirror at where they stand organizationally.

They have the best quarterback in football! Life should not look this hard on Sundays, but this year is really going to stress the limits of the personnel they’ve acquired over the years. At 0-2, no one should be saying their season is on life support just yet, but their Week 3 game against the Giants will define where their season can go from there.

Awfully silly talk for a team with a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback in his prime. The bar has gotten too low, and it looks like the Chiefs are set to slog through another year with Mahomes pulling off mythological feats each week.

It was a whirlwind week for new Atlanta Falcons kicker Parker Romo. After being unemployed Monday, Romo signed with the team Tuesday. On Saturday, he learned he would be the team's primary kicker in Week 2. And on Sunday, he drilled five field goals to lead the the Falcons to a win.

Given the hectic nature of the week, that didn't leave a lot of time for Romo to meet his new teammates. But that changed following Sunday's game, when Romo was introduced to teammate Leonard Floyd on live television.

The meeting happened on the "Sunday Night Football" broadcast. Romo was one of the three Falcons players who spoke to Melissa Stark after the 22-6 win. At the end of the interview, Stark asked, "I know you're learning your teammates' names. You know their names, right?" Stark was referring to Floyd and Falcons running back Bijan Robinson. 

Romo answered, "I know Bijan," prompting laughs from everyone on the broadcast. Stark then introduced Floyd and Romo, who shared a hand shake and a "nice to meet you" while on the field.

It was the perfect encapsulation of Romo's week. Of course he didn't have time to meet his teammates, he was too busy with the 9,000 other things he needed to do to prepare himself to play again.

Romo, 28, had NFL experience prior to Sunday's game, but not much. In 2024, he appeared in four games with the Minnesota Vikings. Romo hit 11-of-12 field goals and 7-of-8 extra points during that stretch. Once regular Vikings kicker Will Reichard was back from injury, Romo was waived.

He was picked up by the New England Patriots, but did not appear in a game the rest of the way in 2024. Romo competed with Patriots kicker Andres Borregales for the starting job in training camp this year, but lost out on the opportunity. The Patriots cut Romo in August. 

Following Younghoe Koo's last-second miss in Week 1, the Falcons opted to sign Romo ahead of the team's Week 2 game against the Vikings. Romo rewarded the team with five field goals and one extra point in his first game. The performance was likely enough to win the starting job for now ... and potentially walk away from the week with the special teams player of the week award. 

That's not a bad way to end an otherwise chaotic week for Romo. Hopefully Week 3 provides some stability for the kicker, allowing him to finally meet the rest of the team.

After his dominant performance in Week 2, however, Romo should already be pretty well-known around the locker room.