By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs dropped a big one to the Philadelphia Eagles at home last night. Actually they dropped several, increasing their NFL-worst record for dropped passes to 26.
Dropped passes including two as the Chiefs tried to regain the lead with time running out, penalties and two turnovers in the red zone added up to a 21-17 loss that drops the Chiefs to 7-3 whle the Eagles go to 9-1.
Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a perfectly-thrown pass bounce off his hands for what would have been a go-ahead 51-yard touchdown play in the last Chiefs drive. Wide receiver Justin Watson let the ball through his hands on the Chiefs’ final play, a pass on fourth and 25 that would have been a first down.
The Chiefs were held scoreless in the second half after Philadelphia found a way to stop what had been an effective run game in the first two quarters and th Kansas City offense seemed out of kilter in the second half.
(CARDINALS)—-Sometimes, seasoned lumber is the best thing to use when you start a rebuilding process. The St. Louis Cardinals have picked up two pieces of it, one as a player and one as a coach.
The Cardinals’ first significant signing of the team’s rebuilding winter is former starter Lance Lynn who has signed a one-year deal, reportedly for a guaranteed $10 million or so with incentives to earn another three million. The Cardinals have a $12 million option for 2025.
Lynn pitched his first six years with St. Louis, went 72-43 with a 3.78 ERA. One important thing about him is that he ate innings, 977 of them in 161 starts. He’s 36 now. Last year he started 6-9 for the White Sox but finished the year 7-2 with the Dodgers and helped them advance in the playoffs. He has a World Series ring from 2011. He left the team as a free agent after the 2016 season and signed a deal with the Twins. The Twins dealt him to the Yankees in mid-year and then to the Rangers for three years, then two years with the White Sox. It was a disappointing experience for Lynn but he had one strong game when he tied a team record by striking out 16 Mariners and set a Manor League record for strikes by a pitcher who went into the game with an ERA of 6.00 or more.
In his career, he’s 136-95 with a 3.74 ERA.
ON THE BENCH: The Cardinals have hired their third bench coach during the Marmol managing era. The newest one is former Redbird utility man Daniel Descalso. He replaces Joe McEwing who is moving up to the front office as a special assistant to John Mozeliak, the President of Baseball Operations. The team says it expects to make more coaching additions as the winter wears on.
Descalso spent half of his ten-year MLB career with the Cardinals.He also was with the Cubs, Diamondbacks, and the Rockies. He spent last year as a special assistant in baseball operations with Arizona.
Former outfielder Matt Holliday was hired as bench coach a year ago but he decided he wanted to spend more time with his family and resigned after a few weeks.
(MIZ)—Missouri’s win over Florida has allowed the Tigers to inch up one spot in the Associated Press and the Coaches Poll. They’re tenth in each. They hold at 9th in the playoff rankings. They’re the nation’s top-ranked two-loss team.
It began to appear as the game went along that the team that had the ball last was likely to win the game. The Missouri Tigers had the ball last, down a point with a minute and a half to go…and then inside of thirty seconds had it with fourth and 17
And they found a way to win.
The lead had changed for the eighth time in the game when a Florida field goal put the Gators on top 31-30. But Florida left too much time on the clock for Missouri. Here’s how the last minute-36 seconds brought the ninth lead change of the game, and gave 28 seniors on the football team a beautiful memory to take away from their last game on Faurot Field.
1:36—Missouri 25 yard line after a touchback on the Florida kickoff. Quarterback Brady Cook throws short to Cody Schrader for two yards.
1:20—pass incomplete. Third down and eight. Cook to Mekhi Miller good for 13 yards. First down.
1:00—False start, Missouri. First and 15. Cook finds no one open downfield, throws to Schrader, who loses two yards but gets out of bounds.
Second and 17 now. Incomplete pass to Theo Wease Jr.
Third and 17, Cook tries to hit Mookie Cooper but leads Cooper too far and he can’t pull it in .
:38—Fourth and 17. The game rides on this play, maybe the whole season if the Tigers want a 10-win year and a New Year’s Day bowl game. Missouri calls its final timeout because of some confusion about what play to call. Cook drops deep, throw a bullet that Luther Burden III jumps to catch amid Florida defenders and bulls his way for 27 yards and puts Missouri in Harrison-Mevis long field goal range. The ball is on the 40. It would be about a 57-yard kick.
:21—Incomplete pass. Missouri needs more yards to make the kick easier for Mevis. Cook connects with Miller at the Florida 29. First down
:13—Cook spikes the ball to stop the clock. Second and ten. Schrader fires to Cooper, who backs out of bounds at the 13-yard line. First down but not enough time to get closer. Mevis walks on to deliver his second walk-off field goal of the year. Florida calls time out, giving Mevis time to get nervous. Mevis won’t be iced. He’s just thinking about the mechanics of thekick, “keeping my head down and making good contact…I knew if I do those two things then good things are gonna happen,” he says afterward.
Head down, good contact and the ball arcs high and through the uprights with four seconds on the clock.
On-field celebrations are interrupted by officials who say the clock still shows a handful of seconds. Florida tries the hook-and- ladder return of the Missouri kickoff but the runner is finally on the ground with the clock at zero.
Cody Schrader racked up 127 yards rushing in the first half but the Gators found a way to stop him in the second two quarters. He had only 32 more yards but upped his conference-leading total to 1,272. Cook finished 20 for 34 for 326 yards and no interceptions. Burden went over 100 yards receiving for the first time since week six with 158 and now has 1,142 yards for the year, third best in the SEC. Cook has topped the 3,000 yard mark, and ranks third in the conference.
On the other side of the line, Darius Robinson’s eight sacks tie him for second in the league. Only Mississippi State’s Nathaniel Watson has more—10. Kris Abrams-Draine’s four interceptions put him a tie for second, one behind Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston.
Harrison Mevis and Texas A&M’s Randy Bond lead the conference with 22 field goals. Mevis is third in points scored, 103. Eight of the top ten scorers in the conference are kickers. Cody Schrader ranks 11th with 12 touchdowns and a two-point conversion.
Missouri is fourth in total offense at almost 450 yards a game, trailing LSU, Georgia, and Ole Miss.
One game left in the regular season. Friday afternoon, against Arkansas, which beat up on Florida International 40-22 Saturday to run the Razorback’s record to 4-7. (ZOU)
(ROUNDBALL/MIZBOO)—This had to be a learning experience of some kind. It certainly was an embarrassment.
Just two days after a scintillating rush from far back against Minnesota to claim a 70-68 victory Friday night on the road, Missouri’s basketball team choked big time against Jackson State. Missouri, which outscored Minnesota 31-9 in the last half of the second half at Minnesota to come from 20 down to a 70-68 win, was up 57-50 against a team that is opening its season with nine straight road games and five straight losses.
But the Jackson State Tigers outscored the Missouri Tigers 11-2 to take the lead at 61-59 with about seven minutes left. The Tigers re-established a lead at 69-63 but let the game slip away, with Chase Adams hitting a jumper with three seconds left to give his team the win.
Missouri crippled itself ith 18 turnovers. Eleven of them in the first half turned into 17 points and a final one trying to get off a shot under the basket just before the clock hit zero.
Jackson State Coach Mo Williams called it a “signature win” for his team: “To beat an SEC opponent on the road, not to mention this is 15 days straight on the road since Nov. 5. To have that performance from multiple guys, O’Neal going 8-for-11 from the field and Young bouncing back from a few tough games that he has had and to hit some big shots for us and to make his free throws and continue to be aggressive was huge for us… We beat SMU last year and they are considered more of a mid-major than a Power Five just because of the conference. You beat an SEC team, a Missouri team that is not going to be at the bottom but an upper-echelon team in the SEC.”
It was the eighth meeting between Missouri and Jackson State, the first in 22 years. It’s the second SWAC team Missouri has faced this year, the first being Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a season-opening 101-79.
Missouri meets South Carolina State tomorrow night. (ZOU, but not as enthusiastically)
Getting up to speed—
(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen, who earlier appeared unimpressed by the hoopla surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix enjoyed himself so much Saturday night that he said afterwards, “I’m already excited to come back here next year and hopefully try to do something similar.”
He won his 18th race of the year, the 33rd victory out of the 43 Formula 1 races.
(INDYCAR)—The kickoff of the 2024 big-time racing season in the United States will be January 25-26 on the high banks of Daytona. IndyCar has not raced there since 1958 but the track has become a showcase for the series’ talent in recent years and next year will continue that trend.
At least sixty cars will run in the Daytona 24 Hours. Three-time winner and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon; last years winner of the Indianapolis 500 winner, Josef Newgarden; James Hinchcliffe, and the winner of the 2016 Centennial 500, Alexander Rossi are the healdiners from the series.
IndyCar owners will have entries: Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, and Jimmy Vasser.
Dixon will team with, and with four-time IndyCar series champion Sebasian Bourdais—who won the 24 hours in 2014—and Dutch driver Renger van der Zande. Tom Blomqvist, an English driver who will join the Meyer Shank IndyCar team for 2024 will team with two other drivers on the Whelen Cadillac entry.
Newgarden will be one of four drivers in a Penske Porsche. Colton Herta and 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button will be half the team in a car from Wayne Taylor Racing. Marcus Ericsoon, who won the 2022 Indianapolis 500, will be one of four drivers in the other Acura run by WTR.
Rossi, Hinchcliffe and two other driers will be in a McLaren 720s. Kyle Kirkwood and former IndyCar driver Jack Hawksworth will be tw-thirds of a team entered by Pfaff Motorsports.