WATCH: Chiefs DB L’Jarius Sneed forces clutch fumble vs. Ravens

#Chiefs DB L’Jarius Sneed forced a clutch fumble against the #Ravens in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday afternoon.

The Kansas City Chiefs nearly saw their 10-point lead over the Baltimore Ravens get compromised early in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship Game.

Baltimore drove down the field to get near Kansas City’s end zone late in the third period and seemed to be in prime position to score when Lamar Jackson hit Zay Flowers with a beautiful pass inside the 10-yard line.

Flowers darted for the goal line but was met by Chiefs defensive back L’Jarius Sneed, who punched the ball and forced a fumble.

Second-year defensive back Trent McDuffie pounced on the ball in the end zone, giving Kansas City possession at the 20-yard line.

This play may prove to be the difference in the outcome of this game and was among the most important moments of the Chiefs’ postseason run to this point.

Stay tuned to see if Kansas City can close out Baltimore in the fourth quarter.

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce apologizes for his block on WR Mecole Hardman’s fumble

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce apologizes for his block on the play where WR Mecole Hardman fumbled out of the end zone

In the latest episode of “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce,” the Kelce brothers recapped the Chiefs’ divisional-round victory over the Buffalo Bills. Travis Kelce made it a point to apologize to teammate Mecole Hardman for his block on the play where Hardman fumbled at the goal line, leading to a touchback.

“I’m not gonna lie, man. I owe Mecole a [expletive] new car or something. I owe so much to him. My block was the one that knocked the ball out. And I’ve been [expletive] sick. I told him I apologized to him every time I [expletive] saw him and would apologize again. My bad, Mecole, man,” said Kelce. “Yeah, my guy was just trying to be great and get the ball in the end zone, and I’m thinking it’s a type (of) speed. We’re outside of the guy, (he) goes inside. … And he just finished the play better than I did and got a hand on the ball. And man, I owe my guy big time, man.”

The touchback didn’t come back to haunt the Chiefs as they held on for the 27-24 victory. Afterward, head coach Andy Reid immediately came to the defense of his receiver. Kelce’s admission puts better context on the play as the team continues to support and rally behind Hardman.

“I feel bad for him. And there’s nothing worse than giving up the ball, especially in a situation too.” said Kelce. “He wants another opportunity to get the ball and show what he can do with it. And sure enough, you’ll see him next Sunday. Come up in right on time, baby.”

Hardman is one of the fastest players in the league and when given an opportunity in space can be a game-changer for the Chiefs on Sunday in the passing game or on special teams.

Chiefs HC Andy Reid addressed Mecole Hardman’s goal line fumble vs. Bills

Kansas City #Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke about wide receiver Mecole Hardman’s goal line fumble vs. the Buffalo #Bills.

The road to the AFC Championship game doesn’t lead through Arrowhead Stadium for the first time in six seasons. Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory sends them to take on the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens for the right to return to the Super Bowl and defend their title.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has led his team back to this point regardless of the miscues in the win over the Buffalo Bills. The turnover at the goal line late in the game from wide receiver Mecole Hardman stood out as it was a pivotal part of the contest. Reid shared his thoughts on the ill-timed fumble and touchback during his post-game press conference.

“Well, listen, he’s had so many big plays for us over time. And on that play, you can’t reach out,” said Reid. “He was trying, so you give him [credit for] the effort, but we know that you can’t do that down there because of that reason, and so you got to protect that football, and he’ll get better for that.”

Hardman’s inability to secure the football on Sunday didn’t come back to haunt the Chiefs, as the defense was able to stall a promising Bills drive to get the ball back. Since returning from injured reserve, Hardman showed flashes of greatness during the regular season finale and is always a threat with the ball because of his speed.

Twitter reacts to untimely fumble by Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman vs. Bills

Twitter was not pleased with #Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman after his untimely fumble in the fourth quarter against the #Bills.

Mecole Hardman may have cost the Kansas City Chiefs their season after fumbling the ball through the end zone against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.

In a game that had gone back and forth through the first three quarters, Hardman’s dumbfounding mistake gave the Bills possession at their own 25-yard line with a chance to take the lead late in the game.

A miscue like this could cost Kansas City the game, and with their season on the line, the Chiefs will now have to take the road less traveled to advance to the AFC Championship Game next week.

Fans on social media sites were not shy in expressing their frustration about this absolutely brutal mistake and were perplexed by head coach Andy Reid’s decision to put the ball in Hardman’s hands in such a crucial situation.

Check out some of Twitter’s top reactions to the consequential sequence below:

WATCH: Jordan Howden, Pete Werner team up for much-needed takeaway vs. Panthers

WATCH: Jordan Howden, Pete Werner team up for much-needed takeaway vs. Panthers

The New Orleans Saints needed this. Facing the Carolina Panthers offense at midfield, rookie safety Jordan Howden was tasked with blitzing the quarterback — and he did his job well, catching Panthers rookie quarterback  Bryce Young at the top of his drop to jar the ball out of Young’s hand.

And linebacker Pete Werner was in the right spot at the right time to snag the recovery. Initially announced as an interception, the play was reviewed and changed to a sack-fumble for Howden and a fumble recovery for Werner. That’s a small adjustment, but it’s something they’ll be happy to share a laugh over with a win. Let’s see if the Saints can hold onto their league in the second half.

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Saints force their own fumble to give the Lions the ball

Yikes. The Saints forced their own fumble to give the Lions the ball, setting up a too-easy lead-extending touchdown:

Look, somethings the ball just doesn’t bounce your way. Sometimes your pulling guard clips the quarterback and forces a fumble right into the arms of the defense. These things happen in pro football. They just seem to happen to the New Orleans Saints more often than many other teams.

And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time on Sunday. The Saints defense held the Lions offense to a short field goal and got off the field at the start of the fourth quarter, only for disaster to strike. Left guard James Hurst right hand accidentally struck Derek Carr’s hands as he received the snapped ball from center Erik McCoy, interrupting the exchange. Carr lost his grip on the ball and it bounced away and into the hands of the Lions defense.

That let the Lions offense set up shot on the New Orleans 26-yard line. A Jahmyr Gibbs run got them into the red zone, and a creative Jameson Williams end-around reverse sent the speedy receiver rocketing into the end zone for a lead-extending touchdown.

It’s near-impossible to win football games when your team is making these kind of mistakes and compounding them with bad luck. But that’s been the story of Dennis Allen’s team far too often.

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Numbers do lie: Saints lost the turnover battle vs. Falcons

The Saints and Falcons had an equal number of takeaways, but the Saints still lost the turnover battle due to not capitalizing off Atlanta’s mistakes:

If you simply look at the stats at the end of the game, you’ll see the New Orleans Saints forced two turnovers and gave up two turnovers to the Atlanta Falcons. Mathematically, that means each team tied in the turnover battle. Numbers do lie, or at least don’t tell the full story.

Despite having the same amount of turnovers, New Orleans’ turnovers were met with more consequences. Both of the Saints turnovers came in the red zone and took points off the board. Derek Carr’s interception to Jessie Bates III was returned for a touchdown, taking points away from the Saints and directly giving them to the Falcons. Atlanta then turned a Taysom Hill fumble into another touchdown after a nine-play, 95-yard drive.

While teams may have forced two turnovers (with Tyrann Mathieu twice intercepting Desmond Ridder), Atlanta turned those opportunities into 14 points. The Saints got zero points from their takeaways. The Saints get a slight pass on one turnover because it was at the end of the half.

Still, the point discrepancy was a major difference in the game. The battle can’t be equal when one team scored over half their points from turnovers and the other couldn’t capitalize on their opponent’s mistakes. The Saints were the latter on Sunday.

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Washington defender bungles pick-six by dropping the ball early

Washington linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala nearly had a pick-six before he made a shocking mistake at the 2-yard line.

The Washington Huskies clung to a 33-28 lead against Utah on Saturday when linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala seemed to make the play of the season.

He grabbed a pass from Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes and raced all the way up the sideline and into the end zone for a Huskies touchdown, potentially giving Washington an imminent 40-28 lead.

Take a closer look at what Tuputala does as he approaches the end zone, however.

Not only did the Washington linebacker drop the ball early, he wasn’t even close to the end zone.

A Utah offensive lineman jumped on the ball, saving the day for the Utes and giving them the ball back at the 1-yard line.

The Huskies’ defense wouldn’t leave Tuputala out to dry, however. The defensive line blew up Utah’s first play on the ensuing possession for a safety, giving Washington a 35-28 lead and the ball back on offense.

Former Steeler Rashard Mendenhall stays bitter about his former quarterback

Rashard Mendenhall is still upset about how his career went in Pittsburgh.

There have been plenty of former Pittsburgh Steelers who left the team on less-than-ideal terms only to mend fences and find their way back. One former Steeler who is never going to do that is former running back Rashard Mendenhall. He was been petty every chance he could get someone to listen about his time in Pittsburgh and especially his issues with former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Mendenhall was a guest on the Raw Room podcast where he took advantage of having a microphone in front of him to vent all his past frustrations in public once again.

“Whenever we doing great, ‘The quarterback’s amazing, he’s awesome.’ Whenever we struggling, ‘Fire Tomlin, oh Le’Veon [Bell].’ Every time it’s not going well, are we a team or not? When we lose, certain people are shielded from the loss and then everybody and anybody else taking the blame happens to look like us a lot of the time.”

In case anyone wonders why Mendenhall is so bitter, you need look no further than Super Bowl XLV. Which ironically was against the same foe, the Green Bay Packers, who the Steelers will face this weekend.

Fans have never let Mendenhall live down his fumble from that game. Despite the fact it happened very early in the fourth quarter in a game the Steelers only trailed 21-17. The tale gets retold like it was on the final drive of the game and Pittsburgh had no chance to correct it. This was never the case.

Nevertheless, we hope Mendenhall can eventually get past this and stop letting something that happened so long ago impact him now.

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WATCH: Paulson Adebo forces and recovers his own fumble vs. Bears

WATCH: Paulson Adebo forces and recovers his own fumble vs. Bears

Have a day, Paulson Adebo. The New Orleans Saints cornerback continued his strong day against the Chicago Bears by forcing a fumble out of wide receiver DJ Moore with a well-timed punch — but he wasn’t done yet. Adebo fell on the loose ball for a recovery, his second takeaway of the game.

Plenty of defenders force fumbles. Many of them come away with recoveries, too. But it’s not too often you’ll see a player recover his own fumble. Adebo deserves a lot of credit for his hustle and situational awareness on a heads-up play. He’s quickly becoming a reliable playmaker in the Saints secondary.

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