Bills hand Chiefs first loss; Chargers outlast Bengals; Georgia stays alive; Jake Paul-Mike Tyson disappoints

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🏈 The Football Five

1. If you haven’t watched the Chargers given their low preseason expectations or their lack of national games or whatever, I hope you watched last night. Justin Herbert led a jaw-dropping final drive, capped by J.K. Dobbins‘ 29-yard touchdown sprint, to give Los Angeles a thrilling 34-27 win over the Bengals. The Chargers led 27-6 more than halfway through the third quarter before Joe Burrow brought Cincinnati all the way back. But Evan McPherson missed two late field goals, and Herbert, Dobbins and Ladd McConkey had the last laugh. What an amazing game.
2. Geno Smith scrambled in from 13 yards out with 12 seconds left to lift the Seahawks to a 20-17 win over the 49ers. San Francisco lost Nick Bosa to an oblique injury, and Seattle scored twice after he exited. All four NFC West teams are within a game of each other, and Jeff Kerr says San Francisco’s playoff chances are in grave danger.
3. This Broncos defense is legit, and Bo Nix might just be figuring it out, too. Nix threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns, and the Denver defense overwhelmed Kirk Cousins in a 38-6 romp over the Falcons. Denver was one of two teams to earn an “A+” in John Breech’s weekly grades.
4. Scorigami! The Lions blasted the hapless Jaguars, 52-6, the first such score in NFL history. Jared Goff threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns in the largest win in franchise history. Speaking of history, Doug Pederson‘s time in Jacksonville might just be history. There are big moves on the horizon according to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones, and Pederson seems pretty resigned to his likely fate. Detroit, unfortunately, lost another key defender.
5. The Packers beat the Bears, 20-19, thanks to a last-second blocked field goal, just as Green Bay special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia apparently predicted the night before the game. 

🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE BUFFALO BILLS AND THE 1972 DOLPHINS

Pop the champagne, 1972 Dolphins! (Larry Csonka already did.) There will be no undefeated teams this season after the Bills beat the Chiefs, 30-21. When the Bills needed Josh Allen to be a superhero, he absolutely delivered, rumbling for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2 with just over two minutes left. Jim Nantz called it the “play of the year.”

I’m so impressed with Buffalo’s offense, with Allen leading it all. James Cook has become a much better, more physical runner, Amari Cooper made a couple of big catches, and Khalil Shakir is the consistent safety blanket.

I’m also so impressed by Sean McDermott going for that fourth-and-2. How many times have we seen teams settle late, only for Patrick Mahomes to break their hearts? Buffalo relied on its best player to make a play, and he delivered. He’s now the MVP favorite, and that iconic play might be the defining one if he wins it.

And let’s not forget about this defense, which picked off Mahomes on his first pass (Taylor Rapp) and last pass (Terrel Bernard) of the game.

Of course, time will tell if Buffalo can finally beat Kansas City in the playoffs, but for now, Buffalo can take pride in an impressive all-around performance.

… AND ALSO THE NO. 12 GEORGIA BULLDOGS

Turns out these ‘Dawgs still have some dawg left in them. No. 12 Georgia beat No. 7 Tennessee, 31-17, a crucial win for the Bulldogs’ playoff aspirations. Not only did Carson Beck finally bounce back, but the Bulldogs avoided a third loss that would have almost certainly pushed them out of playoff contention.

Georgia was outside the bracket in last week’s reveal. But now, Kirby Smart‘s crew have given the committee all the proof they need that they belong, Dennis Dodd writes.

• Dodd: “The Dawgs’ desperation was the mother of motivation. They fell behind 10-0, finished on a 31-7 run, and restored faith in themselves. … In the end, that heart Smart had snatched from his chest? It was beating in the bosom of a true Dawg. There was that much redemption Saturday night at Sanford Stadium.”

Georgia moved up to the No. 7 seed in Jerry Palm’s projected playoff.

👍 Honorable mentions

🏈 And not such a good morning for …

THE BALTIMORE RAVENS

If the Ravens ever want to hit their Super Bowl-caliber ceiling, they’d better figure out how to fix the holes in their floor. Baltimore lost to Pittsburgh, 18-16, an all-too-familiar result — the Steelers have won eight of the last nine between the two — thanks to all-too-familiar errors. Making things worse, the Steelers took the AFC North lead with the win.

Lamar Jackson threw a touchdown to Zay Flowers with just over a minute left, but a discombobulated two-point conversion attempt went nowhere, capping a long list of mistakes.

• Justin Tucker missed two more field goals as his stunning struggles continued. It was a stark juxtaposition to Chris Boswell nailing six field goals for Pittsburgh.
• Derrick Henry and Isaiah Likely both fumbled, gifting the Steelers two short fields, and Justice Hill had a potential catch wrestled away from him by Payton Wilson for an interception.
• The Ravens had 12 penalties for 80 yards, with damaging miscues on both sides of the ball.

So here are the Ravens, who have an MVP candidate quarterback, an excellent running back, a terrific run defense and … only a 7-4 record. They have committed the most penalties in the NFL by a wide margin. All four of their losses are by a single possession. They simply make too many mistakes, too often.

The Steelers are the opposite. This was the second time this season they won without scoring a touchdown. They’re only the second team in the last 20 years with multiple touchdown-less wins in a season. Bryan DeArdo explains why Pittsburgh belongs among the top tier.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 College football recap: BYU’s magic runs out, Oregon survives, LSU falling apart

No. 6 BYU fell from the ranks of the unbeatens Saturday, losing to Kansas, 17-13. The Cougars had pulled out several miracles en route to a 9-0 start, but this time, they were on the wrong end of a fourth-quarter rally.

On the other hand, No. 17 Colorado continued its surge with a 49-24 thumping of Utah, and Travis Hunter continued his surge to a potential Heisman Trophy. Yes, he even struck the pose after nabbing an interception. He also had 55 yards receiving and a touchdown rushing. The Buffaloes are right in the Big 12 title hunt and are in Jerry Palm’s projected playoff.

And I bet you never thought you’d see this: Will Backus wonders if Colorado is the country’s most underrated team.

On the other side of things, we have No. 22 LSU. The Tigers lost to Florida, 27-16, in yet another embarrassing scene for Brian Kelly, who appeared to call Chris Hilton Jr. “uncoachable” before getting yelled at by star receiver Kyren Lacy. It’s all ugly, and LSU — loser of three straight — is very much on the wrong side of Shehan Jeyarajah’s winners and losers.

Here’s more:

🥊 Jon Jones defends UFC heavyweight title; Jake Paul beats Mike Tyson in dud

Jon Jones defended his heavyweight title at UFC 309 on Saturday, knocking out Stipe Miocic with a vicious spinning back kick to the body in the third round. Miocic crumpled, and with Jones wailing away, the referee halted things. After the fight, Miocic, 42, retired.

Jones just wins — he has a UFC-record 16 victories in title bouts — and the fact that he’s doing it at 37 years old as a heavyweight adds to his legacy, Brian Campbell writes. Elsewhere on the card, Charles Oliveira defeated Michael Chandler, and Bo Nickal outlasted Paul Craig.

One night earlier, Jake Paul easily defeated Mike Tyson by unanimous decision. Paul is 27, Tyson is 58, and after two somewhat entertaining rounds, that age gap showed, and the fight predictably reduced to a slog.

Stars across the sporting world trashed the fight on social media, Drake and Conor McGregor lost a lot of money, and pretty much everyone was a loser except for Paul and Tyson, who scored major paydays.

Was there symbolism of an aging champ trying to grab one last moment of glory … and all of us watching, maybe hoping for the same? Absolutely. Tyson sure was grateful for the experience.

But in the end, it felt like a huge waste of time, Brian writes.

• Campbell: “Whether it was Paul showing a merciful side, Paul being too fearful of Tyson countering or, worse, the two having some form of pre-fight (or even silent) agreement not to finish the other one off, Paul’s decision to carry Tyson took any remaining air left in the balloon and completely turned the event into a sham.”

As disappointing as that was, the co-main event of Katie Taylor defeating Amanda Serrano was sensational, the follow-up to their sensational 2022 bout. So at least we got that.

📺 What we’re watching Monday

🏀 Rockets at Bucks, 8 p.m. on NBA TV
⚽ USMNT vs. Jamaica, 8 p.m. on truTV/TNT
🏈 Texans at Cowboys, 8:15 p.m. on ABC/ESPN
🏀 No. 4 Gonzaga at San Diego State, 10 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
🏀 Warriors at Clippers, 10:30 p.m. on NBA TV