Chiefs secure No. 1 seed in AFC with franchise-record 15th win; Lamar Jackson makes history in Ravens rout on Christmas Day
By Wayne Sterling and Jacob Lev, CNN
(CNN) — The Kansas City Chiefs secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC with their franchise-record 15th victory after overwhelming the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Day.
With the top seed, the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champion captured the lone first-round bye in the playoffs and home-field advantage.
“I thought it was a full team performance, defense stepped up, offense stepped up. Everybody had their imprint on the game,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said after the game. “I told my pregnant wife I was going to get her the number one seed so we can go have that baby. So, we got the one seed.”
It was a record-breaking day for the Chiefs’ stars — Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce — at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
The three-time Super Bowl winner broke Hall of Famer Peyton Manning’s record for most career touchdown passes in his first eight seasons.
Up 22-10 in the fourth quarter, Mahomes threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Kelce for his 245th touchdown pass. Kelce caught his 77th career receiving touchdown to surpass Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez for most touchdown receptions in franchise history.
“Tony’s been a mentor to me,” Kelce said after the win. “I feel like I’m still trying to fill that guy’s shoes. He is such an unbelievable competitor, and I got so much love for him. It’s just an honor to even be in a conversations with him.”
Mahomes finished 29-of-38 for 320 yards and three touchdowns. Kelce, who had eight receptions for 84 yards, also became the third tight end in league history with at least 1,000 receptions.
With the victory, Kansas City became the second defending champion to win 15 games in a season. The 2011 Green Bay Packers were 15-1 that season.
Kansas City (15-1) concludes its season against the Denver Broncos on the road next week.
Pittsburgh struggled offensively as quarterback Russell Wilson was sacked five times and threw an interception in the end zone. Wilson had 205 passing yards in the defeat.
The Steelers (10-6) look to snap a season-high three-game losing streak against the Cincinnati Bengals at home in the season finale next week.
Lamar Jackson makes history in Ravens blowout win over Texans
In the second of two games on Christmas Day, the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Houston Texans 31-2 at NRG Stadium in what was deemed the “Beyoncé Bowl.”
It was the usual quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Derrick Henry show for Baltimore.
The two-time Most Valuable Player also sprinkled in a little history in the rout.
In the third quarter, Jackson ran for six yards to get to 87 rushing yards for the day and 6,110 in his career. The mark passes Michael Vick to become the NFL’s all-time leading rushing quarterback, while playing in 41 fewer games.
Jackson strengthened his resume for his second consecutive MVP award, finishing with 168 yards passing, 87 yards rushing and three total touchdowns.
It was all Ravens from the jump.
‘King Henry’ didn’t waste much time, finding the end zone on a two-yard rush to give the Ravens an early lead. Longtime kicker Justin Tucker added a field goal late in the first quarter.
In football, you take points how you can get them and thats what the Texans did.
Henry was met by Houston cornerback Kamari Lassiter in Baltimore’s end zone which resulted in a safety to cut into the lead 10-2.
Shortly before halftime, Jackson and the poignant Ravens offense couldn’t be silenced after he found tight end Isaiah Likely for a nine-yard touchdown to make it a 17-2 game.
After Beyoncé brought fans and viewers on Netflix a “Cowboy Carter” Christmas during halftime, it was more of the same for both teams. And no, Jackson did not watch the halftime show despite saying he would earlier this week, according to the Netflix broadcast.
Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton picked off Houston quarterback CJ Stroud on the first possession out of half. Baltimore wasn’t done there.
Jackson broke off a 48-yard rush for a touchdown to grow the lead to 24-2 and silence an already tame crowd in Houston.
It didn’t stop there.
Jackson found tight end Mark Andrews for a one-yard touchdown as the lead grew to 31-2.
Come the fourth quarter, Jackson took a seat on the bench as the game was out of reach.
Jackson gave credit to his teammates for helping him accomplish the feat.
“I’m grateful, I’m thankful and I got a great group of guys with me thats helping me along the process,” Jackson said on Netflix after the game.
The Ravens improve to 11-5 on the season and will host AFC North division foe Cleveland Browns to round out the regular season. Baltimore can win the division with a win or a Steelers loss next week.
Texans fall to 9-7 and travel to Nashville to take on the Tennessee Titans next week.
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