Kimi Antonelli turned up for Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix knowing he need not do much to clinch his crown as Formula 1 world champion. Unbeknownst to him beforehand, Baker Mayfield would learn he too could put his feet up with victory beckoning on NFL Sunday. Did you ever have the friend at school who did nothing in the group project?
Mayfield was said friend as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons 16-0 without completing a single pass. It was the first time since 1974 a team had won a game without completing a pass, the former No 1 pick finishing zero of three as Tampa leaned on the run in the pouring rain a week on since Mayfield threw for just 64 yards in his side's 43-14 win over the Carolina Panthers. Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell combined for 310 rushing yards on 52 carries to sink a Falcons team marred by Michael Penix Jr's four interceptions and sorry 12.0 passer rating.
It would encapsulate a bizarre Week Eight in the NFL, one of the lead stories from which came in Mile High. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Patrick Mahomes, Kenneth Walker and the Kansas City Chiefs were right there at the one-yard line, primed to shatter Broncos' hearts in the final seconds of a thriller at Empower Field. Just moments earlier Jonah Coleman had punched in a five-yard touchdown run to give Denver a 28-24 lead amid an 11-point fourth-quarter comeback.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph spoke earlier this week of the 'desperate' brand of football he was seeking from a porous unit under fire for its league-leading missed tackle tally. The Broncos have been a toothless shade from the ferocious defense that spearheaded their march to the No 1 seed last season, but Joseph's wishes were about to be fulfilled. Kansas City's first play from the one-yard line was an incomplete pass.
Their second saw Walker stuffed by JL Skinner for no gain. Their third, on fourth-and-goal, was a touchdown pass to Rashee Rice... until it wasn't. Right tackle Jaylon Moore was flagged for a false start on the biggest play of the game to epitomise his side's final stanza implosion, the Broncos sensing blood on the ensuing play as Patrick Mahomes was swarmed for a game-icing sack by Malcolm Roach.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Chiefs had a 76 per cent chance of winning upon reaching first-and-goal at Denver's four-yard line in the final minute, only to come up empty. Andy Reid's side hurt themselves a drive earlier when Harrison Butker fired his 54-yard field goal attempt wide for what would have been a 27-21 advantage. And perhaps even earlier in the fourth quarter when Reid elected to punt on fourth-and-one from his own 41 rather than trusting both himself and his generational quarterback to move the chains.
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