Hometown Broadcasting Sports Monday 10/28/19
28 October 2019 Sports
It was supposed to be a prime-time showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs, division leaders each led by two of the most talented and exciting quarterbacks in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers lived up to the billing. Patrick Mahomes never got the chance. Aaron Rodgers threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Aaron Jones on a big night for the Green Bay running back, and the Packers held off fill-in quarterback Matt Moore and the rest of the banged-up Chiefs for a 31-24 victory Sunday night. Jones, who briefly left with a shoulder injury, had seven catches for 159 yards and added 67 on the ground — a big chunk of them in the closing minutes, when the Packers (7-1) sealed their first win at Arrowhead Stadium since Nov. 4, 2007.
The Chiefs (5-3) hoped Mahomes could make a miraculous recovery 10 days after dislocating his kneecap in Denver in time to play. But after the league MVP was limited all week in practice, coach Andy Reid announced Friday his franchise quarterback would be inactive for the game. Moore took the reins of the high-powered offense and fared well, throwing for 267 yards with two touchdowns and no picks in the ex-high school coach’s first start in more than two years. It wasn’t the Rodgers-Mahomes matchup everyone wanted, but Moore and Co. made sure it was still an entertaining game between teams with Super Bowl aspirations.
It started like most outside the walls of 1 Arrowhead Drive expected, with Rodgers slicing up the defense and Green Bay marching for two quick touchdowns. But after a shaky start by Moore, the journeyman quarterback found a groove. He led the Chiefs on an 89-yard drive that ended with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce, then found Mecole Hardman on a 30-yard pitch-and-catch to knot the game. The Chiefs led 17-14 at halftime.
But, coach Matt LaFleur made a couple adjustments, though, and Rodgers and Co. began to move the ball once more. They used a 15-play drive that soaked up more than half the third quarter to get a tying field goal, then got the ball back when LeSean McCoy fumbled on the very next play. Five players later, Rodgers conjured up more of his magic.
With third down at the 3, he dropped back and was flushed from the pocket. He rolled to his right and threw a blind pass to the back corner of the end zone, where Damien Williams somehow took the ball away from Chiefs linebacker Ben Niemann while tapping both feet inbounds. The Chiefs answered with another long drive, and just when it appeared they had finally been stopped, the Packers’ Tramon Williams was flagged for illegal use of hands. That gave Kansas City the ball inside the 5, and Damien Williams scored on the next play to tie it again. It took the Packers all of 56 seconds to score the eventual winner. Rodgers again found Jones out of the backfield, and this time he found a lane through the entire Kansas City secondary. It was a foot race from there and the speedy ran it in for a 67-yard touchdown reception. The Chiefs were forced to punt on the ensuing possession and never got the ball back.
Packers WR Davante Adams (toe) went through pregame warmups before he was scratched. But they did have LB Blake Martinez (hand) and SS Darnell Savage (ankle), who had missed the last two games.
The Packers are on the road again next Sunday when they play the Chargers.
Elsewhere in the NFC North the Bears missed a 41-yard field goal as time expired and lost at home to the Chargersl, 17-16 and the Lions won at home over the Giants 31-26. Last Thursday night the Vikings beat the Redskins 19-9. Tonight, Pittsburgh hosts winless Miami.
Wisconsin dropped to 18th in the latest AP rankings after losing at Ohio State on Saturday, 38-7. LSU is number one, followed by Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Penn State. Florida, Oregon, Georgia, Utah and Oklahoma round out the top ten.
The Houston Astros won their third straight road game and are now just a win away from their second World Series title in three years, after beating Washington 7-1 Sunday night. The teams are off today, then the series resumes tomorrow night in Houston. Stephen Strasburg will start for Washington against Houston’s Justin Verlander.
In the NBA tonight, the Bucks host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Both teams are 1-1.
The Wisconsin Herd, the NBA G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks, selected Stevie Thompson Jr. (30th overall) and Shannon Bogues (31st overall) in Saturday’s 2019 NBA G League Draft.
Thompson Jr. finished his career at Oregon State fourth all-time in points (1,767)
and first all-time in 3-pointers made (230). As a senior in 2018-19, the 6-4 guard
started all 31 games for the Beavers and averaged 16.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.2
assists and 1.5 steals while earning All-Pac-12 Second Team honors. In his career at Oregon State, Thompson Jr. appeared in 121 games, making 94 starts, and averaged
14.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Most recently, Thompson Jr. played in three games with the Dallas Mavericks Las Vegas Summer League Team where averaged 4.3 points in 8.3 minutes per contest.
Bogues, a 6-3 guard, played the last two seasons (2017-19) at Stephen F. Austin
State, appearing in 65 games (33 starts) while holding averages of 16.5 points, 2.7
rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He earned All-Southland Conference
Second Team honors in each of his two seasons with the Lumberjacks after playing the previous two seasons at NJCAA McLennan Community College where he was an Honorable Mention All-American his sophomore season.
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