By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
This one is probably going to be pretty short.
(CHIEFS)—It seemed to be inevitable. The malaise that has infected major league sports in Missouri this year finally caught up with the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that has not lived up to the expectations of their fans or themselves this year.
The Denver Broncos, who never let the Chiefs get away from them in their first game together this year, never let the Chiefs get off the mat in Mile High Stadium Sunday. Five (count ‘em, FIVE) turnovers, failures on fourth down, and the inability to make their usual big plays doomed Kansas City, which didn’t even get a touchdown during the game, something that last happened almost two years to the day.
“I saw things that I haven’t seen before,” said Coach Andy Reid in his news conference yesterday. “They did a better job than we did.”
It was a team loss. The next game is in Germany against the Miami Dolphins and their fleet of fleet=footed receivers led by Chiefs expatriate Tyreek Hill who already has more than 1,000 yards receiving and is averaging almost 17 yards per catch.
The Dolphins’ field goal kicker, Jason Sanders, has only had to kick nine times, hitting seven of them. The Chiefs have 18 field goals and only 19 touchdowns. The Dolphins have 36 touchdowns.
(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers will have had two weeks to heal and work up some new plays and get some ideas how to stop the nation’s number one team by the time they play Georgia next weekend. Oddsmakers have installed Georgia as almost-three touchdown favorites.
Last year, Georgia had to score two touchdowns in the last quarter to squeeze out a 26-22 win in Columbia as Missouri held George to its second-lowest total of the year. This is the first time since the 1960 Orange Bowl that Missouri and Georgia have met with both teams inside the top 20. Missouri will go into the game ranked 14th in both major polls.
For what it’s worth, Georgia was a FOUR touchdown favorite last year. (ZOU)
A baseball note:
(XCARD)—Former Cardinals second baseman Tommy Pham didn’t know what he was doing Saturday night when he told teammate Jace Peterson to bat for him in Arizona’s 9-1 blowout of the Texas Rangers. Pham was 4 for 4 on the night and had a chance to be the third player to get five hits in a World Series game and the first to do it in five at-bats. Peterson ran the count to 3-2 before grounding out.
The only players in World Series history with five hits in one game are Albert Pujols in 2011 and Paul Molitor of the Twins in 1982. But they batted six times.
Now for the zoom stuff:
(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney raced his way into the NASCAR final four who will run for the 2023 championship next weekend in Phoenix. He’ll be joined by 2021 champion Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell (who won races previously in the cut-down round) and William Byron, who struggled to a 13th place finish Sunday at Martinsville and squeezed in on points.
(L-R: Byron, Bell, Larson, Blaney)
These four are the top young guns of the sport, at least for this year. Their average age is 28 (Larson is 31, the oldest, and Byron is 25, the youngest. Larson has been in the Cup series for a decade, Blaney for eight years, Byron for six, and Bell for only four.
Denny Hamlin is still without a NASCAR championship in his 18-year career that has seen him record 51 victories, finishing in the top ten in the standings 15 times, and in the top five nine times. Hamlin appeared on the way to the top four until the final pit stops that dropped him and Blaney behind several cars that didn’t stop. Hamlin got back to third, behind Byron, but came up four points short of the final four.
Martin Truex Jr., was one of the top three finishers in the first stage but later was caught speeding when he left pit road and had to start at the end of the line of cars on the leader’s lap. He got as high as 12th at the finish, but the speeding penalty torpedoed his chance for the final four.
Next weekend’s race will be the final Cup appearances for Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola. Harvick will be stepping away after 23 years in NASCAR’s top series, with 60 wins (so far), a championship in 2014 and 17 years finishing in the top 10 in the standings.
Almirola has been in the Cup series for 16 years. His best finish in the standings was fifth in 2016.
(Formula 1)—Max Verstappen broke his own record by winning his 16th race of the year during the weekend. It’s his 51st career win, tied for fourth on the all-time list. Lewis Hamilton, who finished second in the Mexico Grand Prix, is the all-time leader with 103 victories. Hamilton finished second in the race, 14 seconds back.
(Photo credits: Kansas City Chiefs, NASCAR)