Patrick Mahomes on Sunday threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Kansas City Chiefs clinched an eighth straight NFL playoff berth.
Jerick McKinnon’s 26-yard touchdown run in overtime gave the Chiefs a hard-fought 30-24 victory over league-doormat the Houston Texans, clinching Kansas City’s seventh straight American Football Conference (AFC) West division title.
Mahomes completed 36-of-41 passes in Houston, including 20 in a row to finish the game, for 336 yards without an interception and ran for 33 yards to spark a second-half comeback.
Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY
“We’ll enjoy it, then we will get right back to it,” Mahomes said. “We’ll go back and watch some film. We’ve got to get better and better as we try to work our way into the playoffs.”
Mahomes was concerned about two lost fumbles and 10 penalties for 102 yards against a Texas team that fell to 1-12 with one draw.
“Guys had to continue to battle,” Mahomes said. “We hurt ourselves a lot. We’ve got to cut out the penalties, cut out the turnovers and be cleaner or there are going to be a lot more battles for us.”
Photo: Jeremy Reper-USA TODAY
The Chiefs followed the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings into the post-season, and the Dallas Cowboys also advanced with a little help from the New York Giants.
In Florida, Dallas missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot by losing 40-34 to the Jacksonville Jaguars on a 52-yard overtime interception return touchdown by Rayshawn Jenkins.
The Cowboys lost another chance to reach the playoffs when the Detroit Lions edged hosts New York Jets 20-17 on Jared Goff’s 51-yard touchdown pass to Brock Wright with 1 minute, 49 seconds to play.
The Cowboys claimed a spot when the Giants beat the Washington Commanders 20-12 in a National Football Conference (NFC) East division battle that capped the day’s action.
The Eagles improved the NFL’s best record to 13-1 with a 25-20 triumph over hosts the Chicago Bears.
Jalen Hurts ran 17 times for 61 yards and three touchdowns while also throwing for 315 yards as Philadelphia won, despite three turnovers.
“There was so much that we overcame. We persevered,” Hurts said. “It was ugly at times, but we found a way. Great teams find a way. We stuck together. There was adversity. We turned it over. We gave them some things. When it mattered most, we found a way.”
In a showdown of division leaders in Florida, Joe Burrow threw for four touchdowns and the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-23.
A sixth consecutive victory put the Bengals at 10-4, one game ahead of the Baltimore Ravens atop the AFC North division, while Tom Brady’s Buccaneers fell to 6-8, one game atop the rest of the NFC South.
The wildest ending came in Las Vegas, where the New England Patriots tried a rugby-style lateral on the last play of regulation in a deadlocked game against the Los Angeles Raiders.
An errant backward toss went to Raiders’ defender Chandler Jones and he ran 48 yards with the fumble recovery to give Vegas a 30-24 victory.
Also on Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Tennessee Titans 17-14, the New Orleans Saints edged the visiting Atlanta Falcons 21-18, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Carolina Panthers 24-16 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and hosts the Denver Broncos overcame the Arizona Cardinals 24-15.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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