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The Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs will meet for the second consecutive yr within the A.F.C. championship sport. Final season, the Bengals (12-4) got here again from an 18-point deficit to disclaim Kansas Metropolis (14-3) its third straight Tremendous Bowl look.
Kansas Metropolis quarterback Patrick Mahomes has dominated the N.F.L. since he turned the starter in 2018, successful the Most Beneficial Participant Award that season and a Tremendous Bowl the next one. However Cincinnati has been a persistent roadblock for Mahomes and Kansas Metropolis; the Bengals have prevailed of their final three matchups.
Sunday’s sport will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Japanese time on CBS. Betting strains recommend a good matchup, with Kansas Metropolis favored by 1 level. Listed here are story strains to observe:
Patrick Mahomes’s ankle
Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Arden Key landed on Mahomes’s ankle whereas making an attempt to drag him down through the first quarter in Kansas Metropolis’s win over the Jaguars within the divisional spherical final weekend. Mahomes limped again on the sphere after which was compelled to go to the locker room by his workforce’s medical workers, which prompted a pissed off outburst from him on the sidelines. He returned to the sport within the second quarter together with his proper shoe wrapped in athletic tape, transferring with out the elusiveness and scrambling that make him probably the most gifted gamers within the N.F.L.
The workforce known as Mahomes’s damage a excessive ankle sprain, and Mahomes practiced all through the week and mentioned he deliberate to play on Sunday. But when he’s not in a position to, or if he injures that ankle once more, Kansas Metropolis needs to be in good palms with its backup quarterback Chad Henne. Whereas Mahomes sat out towards Jacksonville, Henne led a 98-yard drive for a landing to increase Kansas Metropolis’s result in 10. And in 2021, when Mahomes sustained a concussion in a divisional spherical sport towards the Cleveland Browns, Henne led the workforce to a win.
The confrontation
The matchup between these two groups has developed right into a rivalry crammed with trash speaking. The confrontation started final yr between Bengals defensive again Eli Apple and Kansas Metropolis receivers Mecole Hardman and Tyreek Hill, who now performs for the Miami Dolphins. After the Bengals’ A.F.C. championship victory final yr, Apple mentioned on Twitter that he would purchase Hardman and Hill Super Bowl tickets. When the Bengals misplaced the Tremendous Bowl, Hardman posted a photograph of his Tremendous Bowl ring and instructed Apple he “may get certainly one of these someday.” (That tweet seems to have been lately deleted.)
After Cincinnati beat the Buffalo Payments within the divisional spherical final weekend, Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton said he would see Kansas City in “Burrowhead,” tweaking Kansas Metropolis’s Arrowhead Stadium to indicate how the Bengals have lately dominated Kansas Metropolis behind quarterback Joe Burrow.
So on Sunday, anticipate loads of spice on the sphere — after which run to social media to see what’s mentioned after the sport.
The style present and the celebrations
This sport options two of the league’s highest scoring offenses: Kansas Metropolis completed first within the league in factors per sport and Cincinnati completed eighth, regardless of taking part in in solely 16 video games. So anticipate a number of scoring, and landing celebrations, which gamers on each groups are identified for. Cincinnati receiver Ja’Marr Chase is in style for doing the dance the Griddy after he scores. Kansas Metropolis tight finish Travis Kelce, who has 12 touchdowns this season, modifications up his celebrations with every rating: he has executed every part from high-stepping into the top zone to choreographing invisible potato-sack races with teammates.
There’s additionally the pregame vogue present, in any other case often called the stroll from the bus to the locker room after arriving on the stadium. Burrow has been celebrated for his pregame appears, which have featured fur coats and designer glasses. Mahomes wears giant, bright-colored Oakley glasses. And Kelce has been praised for his type, as soon as making Sports activities Illustrated’s “Trendy 50” checklist for being “unafraid to combine patterns and take dangers together with his vogue,” alongside together with his “completely manicured beard.”
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