What We Learned From Week 14 in the N.F.L.
The New York Times
Kansas City’s defense could give Patrick Mahomes the breathing room to grab home-field advantage, and Micah Parsons made good on the Cowboys’ promise to beat Washington.
A strange thing happened as quarterback Patrick Mahomes continued to struggle with the Rubik’s cube known as the two-deep shell. As he looked so unfathomably human against N.F.L. defenses that played their two safeties deep to prevent long passes, the Kansas City Chiefs methodically built a juggernaut in a less celebrated area: their defense.
The team’s latest beatdown — a 48-9 drubbing of the Las Vegas Raiders (6-7) in Kansas City, Mo. — added a sixth game to the Chiefs’ win streak, gave them the same 9-4 record as the New England Patriots and the Tennessee Titans, and gave us our top takeaway of Week 14:
This has been a cluttered mess of a conference. Titans running back Derrick Henry had been on a pace to set the career rushing record when he broke his foot in November. That was right when Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, who had looked like contenders for the Most Valuable Player Award, began to stammer against inferior opponents.
