KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) \u2014 The Houston Texans visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night squarely in the fight for a division title.<\/p>\n
Kansas City is simply fighting for its playoff life.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a strange situation for Chiefs coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of a bunch that has won nine straight AFC West titles, appeared in the last seven conference championship games and reached the past three Super Bowls. The Chiefs are 6-6 with five games to go, and they may need to win out \u2014 and get some help \u2014 just to qualify for this postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just have to execute at a higher level. We\u2019ve done a lot of good things but we\u2019ve made a lot of mistakes that we haven\u2019t been able to overcome,\u201d Mahomes said. \u201cAt the end of the day, you have to go prove it. You have to prove it on game day.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve proven they can still play at an elite level, at least occasionally, like they did in wins over the Lions and Colts. But they\u2019ve also had a propensity for committing too many penalties, dropping too many passes and blowing too many late leads.<\/p>\n
They can fault all three last week against Dallas, when they blew a 21-20 fourth-quarter lead in an eventual 31-28 defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about consistency,\u201d Chiefs center Creed Humphrey said. \u201cIt\u2019s about coming in game day and executing, doing your job, things like that. The ship\u2019s not sinking or anything. We\u2019re still right where we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
That might be a stretch.<\/p>\n
The Texans (7-5), by contrast, are closing in on exactly where they want to be. They\u2019ve won four consecutive games for the first time since a nine-game streak in 2018, and are now just a game behind Indianapolis and Jacksonville in the AFC South. Keep the momentum going and Houston could become just the fifth team since 1990 to start 0-3 and qualify for the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it all goes back to preparation, and how confident you walk in those stadiums,\u201d Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said. \u201cOur preparation has to be even better than last week, because every game gets bigger and bigger. So, it\u2019s exciting times. I think everybody knows what\u2019s at stake. So it\u2019s just trying to rise up to those levels and go 1-0 every play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Backups up front<\/p>\n
The Chiefs put left tackle Josh Simmons on injured reserve following left wrist surgery this week, while right tackle Trey Smith has an ailing ankle and right tackle Jawaan Taylor a triceps injury. That means Kansas City will have three fill-ins \u2014 Wanya Morris, Mike Caliendo and Jaylon Moore \u2014 protecting Mahomes against the NFL\u2019s top-ranked defense.<\/p>\n
Other issues in KC<\/p>\n
The Chiefs aren\u2019t without problems beyond the penalties, especially on defense. They have only managed 22 sacks, better than five other teams, and they have produced 11 turnovers, a total that is better than just three teams.<\/p>\n
On a streak<\/p>\n
The reason Houston has been so successful in recent weeks is quite simple, at least according to coach DeMeco Ryans: \u201cThe common thread for us winning is our players making the plays. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys have done a great job of finding a way to make, whether that\u2019s special teams, offense, everybody stepping up, making a play when we need to make a play,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cThat won\u2019t change this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Collins\u2019 contributions<\/p>\n
Wide receiver Nico Collins had 98 yards receiving last week to give him 4,025 in his career, making him only the fifth player in Texans history to eclipse 4,000. Collins also had his first rushing TD on a 7-yard run in the fourth quarter that put the Texans on top.<\/p>\n
\u201cNico is such a valuable piece to our team,\u201d Ryans said. \u201cHe\u2019s humble; there\u2019s not an ego with Nico, even though he\u2019s one of the best receivers in the league. He doesn\u2019t walk around that way, like somebody owes him something. He\u2019s a very humble guy, respectful guy. He brings it every single day that he\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penalty problems<\/p>\n
One of the biggest culprits of the inconsistent play by Kansas City this season has been penalties. Only four teams have surrendered more penalty yardage than the Chiefs, and several flags ruined any chance of a comeback in last week\u2019s loss in Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to get out of your game. You don\u2019t want to let calls affect what you do on the field,\u201d Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie said. \u201cWe have to play football. If they throw a flag, they throw a flag. You have to wash it away and get ready for the next play.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Kristie Rieken in Houston contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n
Dave Skretta, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) \u2014 The Houston Texans visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night squarely in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-325854","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}