–Defensive end Allen Bailey picked up a sack for the third straight game Monday night against the Broncos, the first time he’s pulled off that feat in his career, and finds himself on pace to shatter his personal-best five-sack season in 2014.
“I guess it really is just taking practice to the game,” Bailey said about his recent string of sacks. “You try things in practice and you try it in the game. You see what works, what doesn’t work, and just the flow of the game and the feel you get.”
This marks a contract year for Bailey, who can become a free agent in the offseason after eight years in Kansas City. Only punter Dustin Colquitt and safety Eric Berry have longer tenures in Kansas City than Bailey, who arrived in 2011 along with linebacker Justin Houston. Bailey now serves as a mentor for a young Chiefs defense with more than a few new faces this season.
“Each week we try to come together more and more,” Bailey said. “This is a new group of guys so we’re still getting that bond and molding together with each other.”
While Bailey enjoys a career-year thus far, the Chiefs defense continues delivering uneven performances. Monday night the defense struggled making tackles, allowing some big gains after contact in the run game.
“It was a little troubling, but like I said we’ll continue to work on it and we’ll come together in more gang tackles,” Bailey said.
–The Jaguars coming to town means a visit from Jacksonville’s Jalen Ramsey, and Tyreek Hill can’t hide his enthusiasm for facing off against one of the league’s premier cornerbacks.
“He’s a great player and I’m always up for a challenge,” Hill said. “To get my name out there more, I need to go up against more talent like him.”
Ramsey appeared on an NFL Network panel over the summer and said he planned to press Hill at the line of scrimmage during their meeting in Week 5. Hill’s response: bring it on.
“Obviously he thinks high of his self,” Hill said. “He’s alright I guess. I can’t wait to line up against him and I hope he presses me.”
Hill averages 91 receiving yards per game and remains on pace to set new personal bests for yards, receptions and touchdowns. He believes he’s capable of much more as the season progresses.
“Sky’s the limit for me,” Hill said. “I’ve just got to keep pounding, just keep doing what coach asks me to do, no matter what it is. Block, I’m going to take somebody’s head off because that’s what I do.”
–Patrick Mahomes displayed his nimble footwork during Monday night’s win over Denver, even clocking in a top speed of 18.9 miles per hour on a touchdown scramble, according to NFL Next Gen stats, but teammate Tyreek Hill holds a different view of his quarterback.
“Tyreek thinks I’m slow and can’t jump and all this stuff,” Mahomes said.
Hill and many of his teammates love basketball, often shooting baskets and playing one-on-one using a goal installed in the locker room. Mahomes tried to burnish his athletic credibility by telling Hill he dunked in a high school game.
“Pat cannot dunk,” Hill said, who hosted a charity basketball game during the offseason in which Mahomes served as coach. “He tried to dunk a couple of times during warmups and he clearly failed.”
Lo and behold, video of the alleged dunk appeared on Twitter. Mahomes retweeted the video and tagged Hill.
“He always says thank you, so I said thank you and throw out the peace sign to him,” Mahomes said, referencing Hill’s touchdown celebration of flashing the peace sign as he enters the end zone. “But he still doesn’t believe it was me.”
No way, indeed, Hill claims.
“You all know how it is, people can go back and find old videos,” Hill said. “That is clearly not Pat. The kid, like whoever the kid is, he’s skinny, short-haired, that is not Pat, man, I’m trying to tell you all.”
Hill even took time to kid Mahomes while complimenting his scrambling ability when plays break down.
“Just knowing what Pat’s going to do, so when you see his slow roll out or whatever he’s doing, in my mind I got alert, alert, alert, I’ve got to go deep or I’ve got to come back to him,” Hill said.
BY THE NUMBERS: 6,540 – Number of consecutive snaps played by Chiefs right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, the longest active streak in the NFL. Schwartz has never missed a snap in his seven-year NFL career and made his 100th straight start in Week 4, the longest active streak among offensive tackle.
