Chiefs HC Andy Reid provides injury updates following Week 10 bye

Andy Reid gave a few injury updates during his Monday press conference.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t play a football game last week due to a Week 10 bye week. Chiefs HC Andy Reid did his best to provide answers to questions about players who’ve recently been injured or those who are on the mend on Monday.

First, he spoke on the status of DE Taco Charlton, who recently confirmed that he suffered an ankle fracture and would miss time. Reid also confirmed the ankle fracture but didn’t have any specific timeline on if or when Charlton would go on injured reserve.

“I’ll get that out to you whenever we put out there whatever we’re going to put out there,” Reid said of Charlton’s status. “He did hurt and he did fracture it, so we’ll see what we do from that point.”

It’d stand to reason that a move to injured reserve will be coming later this week, perhaps with a corresponding move of activating standout rookie CB L’Jarius Sneed. The fourth-round draft pick had been on injured reserve since Week 3 when he suffered a collarbone injury. Sneed still needs to practice and prove he’s ready to get back out there, though.

“Yeah, he’ll be back working with us this week,” Reid said of Sneed. “We’ll just see how he does.”

Finally, news of Mecole Hardman’s addition to reserve/COVID-19 list came late last week. Reid was unable to confirm his status and whether he’d be available to play on “Sunday Night Football” against the Las Vegas Raiders.

“I don’t know what I can get into and what I can’t get into on that, but he is on the list,” Reid said of Hardman. “He’s got to wait here, his days and right now he’s feeling good which is a good thing. Again, he’s on that list and I’m not sure exactly what I can tell you other than he’s on the list and he’s feeling good right now.”

Hardman could be on the list due to contact tracing or he could have contracted the virus himself. Either way, the good news is that he’s feeling well. The Chiefs could stand to be without Hardman this week as Sammy Watkins is set to return from a hamstring injury.

Expect more updates to come on injured players for Kansas City ahead of Wednesday’s practice when the team begins their preparations for the Raiders in Week 11.

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Florida Gators sit, slip a spot in Week 8 of Amway Coaches Poll

Florida Gators football lost some ground in one of the latest polls after another COVID-19 bye weekend and the Big Ten starting its season.

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Another week of college football is in the books and with the Big Ten joining the national action this week, the sports world continues to move on without the Florida Gators, who sat on the sidelines for the second Saturday in a row after a COVID-19 outbreak shut the team down.

The latest Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports for Week 8 was published on Sunday with the Gators remaining in the top 10, but moving one spot down in the rankings to No. 9 after the Texas A&M Aggies leapfrogged into the eighth spot with a 28-14 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The Clemson Tigers maintained their dominance in the poll, retaining the top spot for the eighth-straight week this fall while the Alabama Crimson Tide retained their second-place perch for the same length of time. The Ohio State Buckeyes move from fifth to third after a shellacking of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first week of Big Ten play, leaving the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs to close out the top 5, respectively.

The Southeastern Conference features four of the top 10 teams in the nation this week — which also represents the league’s total number of member schools in the Coaches Poll top 25. The Auburn Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Missouri Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers all received votes but remain on the outside looking in.

Here are the complete poll results from Week 8.

Rank Team RCD PTS 1ST PREV CHG Hi/Lo
1 Clemson 6-0 1540 52 1 1/1
2 Alabama 5-0 1493 8 2 2/3
3 Ohio State 1-0 1374 2 5 2 2/10
4 Notre Dame 5-0 1368 0 3 -1 3/10
5 Georgia 3-1 1293 0 4 -1 3/5
6 Oklahoma State 4-0 1209 0 6 6/19
7 Cincinnati 4-0 1058 0 10 3 7/22
8 Texas A&M 3-1 1055 0 9 1 8/20
9 Florida 2-1 1010 0 8 -1 3/9
10 Brigham Young 6-0 941 0 11 1 10/23
11 Wisconsin 1-0 928 0 14 3 11/18
12 Miami 5-1 911 0 11 -1 7/NR
13 North Carolina 4-1 796 0 13 6/19
14 Michigan 1-0 789 0 17 3 14/21
15 Oregon 0-0 674 0 15 9/17
16 Kansas State 4-1 592 0 19 3 16/NR
17 Penn State 0-1 413 0 7 -10 7/17
18 Marshall 5-0 309 0 25 7 18/NR
19 Indiana 1-0 302 0 NR 32 19/NR
20 Southern California 0-0 271 0 23 3 17/NR
21 Coastal Carolina 5-0 268 0 24 3 21/NR
22 Iowa State 3-2 215 0 18 -4 18/NR
23 Southern Methodist 5-1 192 0 16 -7 16/NR
24 Oklahoma 3-2 138 0 NR 6 3/NR
25 Army 6-1 130 0 NR 2 25/NR

Schools Dropped Out:

No. 20 Virginia Tech; No. 21 Minnesota; No. 22 NC State.

Others Receiving Votes:

Auburn 118; Liberty 112; Memphis 88; Boise State 79; Minnesota 67; UL Lafayette 62; Utah 45; Louisiana State 37; Boston College 28; Purdue 26; Missouri 25; Northwestern 24; Virginia Tech 22; NC State 20; Tulsa 18; Texas 18; Arkansas 17; Appalachian State 16; Central Florida 13; Arizona State 10; California 8; West Virginia 6; Tennessee 6; Iowa 6; Wake Forest 5; Stanford 3; Houston 2.

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After Week 6, Seahawks are NFC’s only undefeated team

After the Packers lost to the Buccaneers in Week 6, the Seattle Seahawks are the NFC’s only remaining undefeated team.

The Seattle Seahawks did not play a snap of football over their Week-6 bye but still ended up coming out of the weekend winners none-the-less.

After the Packers’ 38-10 loss to the Buccaneers, the Seahawks remain the NFC’s only undefeated team at 5-0 on the year.

As far as the NFC West is concerned, the Seahawks are the clear division leaders for now. San Francisco (3-3) did Seattle a favor Sunday night, beating Los Angeles and handing the Rams (4-2) their this second loss this season.

Arizona (3-2) still has a game to play this week and has a chance to climb in the divisional standings after squaring off against the Cowboys for “Monday Night Football.” Win a win, the Cardinals could tie the Rams at 4-2.

The Seahawks have a bonus practice Monday afternoon but no participation reports are required to be released until after Wednesday’s session.

Coach Pete Carroll will address the media at 3:50 p.m. PT.

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NFL approves expansion of playoffs starting in 2020 season

The NFL owners have officially approved the expansion of the postseason, providing for two extra wild-card teams beginning in 2020.

The NFL playoffs will look dramatically different following the 2020 season and the changes have nothing to do with the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Clubs around the league have now voted to expand the playoffs by two additional teams starting this year.

Owners voted during a remote league meeting on Tuesday to follow the recommendation of the Competition Committee, Management Council Executive Committee and Media Committee to increase the playoff teams from 12 to 14.

The two extra teams will play in the wild-card round, one each from the AFC and NFC. Only the top seed in each conference will receive a first-round bye. The remainder of the wild-card round will proceed as follows: No. 2 seed will host the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed will host the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed will host No. 5.

This is the first time since 1990 the NFL has expanded the postseason. NBC and CBS have the broadcast rights to the additional wild-card games.

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Seahawks stand at No. 6 in Touchdown Wire’s Week 12 power rankings

Despite having a bye week, the Seattle Seahawks remain at No. 6 in Touchdown Wire’s Week 12 NFL power rankings.

Coming off their bye, the Seattle Seahawks remain in the top 10 of Touchdown Wire’s NFL power rankings. For the second week in a row, Seattle lands at No. 6 heading into Week 12.

Here’s what Doug Farrar wrote:

We’re going to give opposing defenses a little tip here: DO NOT apply man coverage when you’re playing the Seahawks. Just don’t do it. Through the first 10 weeks of the season, per Sports Info Solutions, Russell Wilson completed 79 of 136 passes for 1,022 yards, 14 touchdowns and one interception against any iteration of man coverage. No other quarterback had more than nine touchdowns against man. Rookie receiver DK Metcalf is one of four receivers (Amari Cooper, Mike Evans and Marvin Jones are the others) with five touchdown receptions against man coverage, and Tyler Lockett has four more.

Schematically, this is where we hope for a re-run of Super Bowl XLIX, because the Patriots are by far the NFL’s best man-coverage team, with 10 interceptions and just one touchdown allowed in Cover-0, Cover-1 or 2-Man. Anyone else needs to zone up, because Wilson, one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in a crowded MVP race, will demolish you if you decide to track his receivers too closely.

But before the Seahawks can eye the Super Bowl or even the playoffs, they must get past the Eagles in Philadelphia this Sunday. Don’t forget, the game has been flexed out of prime time, with kickoff now set for 10 a.m. PT.

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