No contender was safe on Sunday with several close games, a few major upsets, and a highlight-reel touchdown catch by an offensive lineman.
No contender was safe on a wild Sunday with several close games, a few major upsets, and a highlight-reel touchdown catch by an offensive lineman. Here’s what we learned in Week 14:
• It was a bad day to be one of the A. F. C.’s best teams. The Texans’ nine-game winning streak ended, and the Patriots had to watch the Dolphins lateral their way 69 yards to a last-second victory. The Chiefs had a bad enough day on their own, very nearly losing to the Baltimore Ravens, but their overtime victory, combined with the losses of their chief rivals, makes it far more likely that they will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
• George Kittle > Denver Broncos. Kittle, the 49ers’ breakout star at tight end, almost single-handedly beat the Broncos. He finished the day with seven catches for 210 yards and a touchdown. He fell just 4 yards short of Shannon Sharpe’s N.F.L. record for receiving yards by a tight end and was the centerpiece of an offense that raced to a 20-0 lead and then watched as the team’s defense held on for the upset win.
