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[B. @verygoodchat]

I’ve been keeping a list of all the news stories dominating my algorithm and the general news cycle in 2026. It is wild to see how quickly we move on and sometimes even forget some of these things.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

The NFL has a Big 3:

Mahomes, Allen, Lamar

Burrow is closer to Herbert than with that group.

[Jeremy Karp @jkarpsportsfan1]

Number of seasons as starting QB to reach 5 Super Bowl appearances:

Patrick Mahomes (7 seasons)
Tom Brady (11 seasons)
John Elway (16 seasons)

No other quarterback has even appeared in 5 Super Bowls.

#ChiefsKingdom #NFL

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

The mission is simple.

Just make the tournament.

Doesn't matter if they're the 7th seed. Just make the tournament, the thing they didn't do last year, and they'll always have a chance with that QB.

I actually look forward to some underdog playoff runs from him.

[Dr. Nicole LePera @Theholisticpsyc]

If you're going to have a difficult or emotionally triggering day, eat protein and fat when you wake up. The stabilization of your glucose levels will help you regulate your emotions and think more clearly.

[Andrew Barber @fakeshoredrive]

30 years ago today…

Do or Die drops “Po Pimp” featuring Twista

Produced by The Legendary Traxster

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

Career losses as a starter
Mahomes - 35
Burrow - 35
Lamar - 36

Interesting coincidence.

Career wins as a starter
Mahomes - 112
Burrow - 48
Lamar - 79

Burrow only has to go 64-0 in 2026-29 to match Mahomes through 147 starts.

By Expected Score, he (analytically) can do it...

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

Top 10 defenses in points per drive for the QB's career:

Allen - 5
Lamar - 5
Rodgers - 4
Stafford - 3
Dak - 3
Goff - 3
Herbert - 2
Burrow - 2
Hurts - 2
Mahomes - 1

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

I got a table comparing Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, Herbert, and Burrow in 17 different stats so far.

Mahomes is the best in 14 categories.

Burrow is the worst in over half

[Barry @BarryOnHere]

Patrick Mahomes has had 14 drives in the 4th Q/OT of the playoffs where his team was trailing by 1-8 points.

He erased the deficit on 13 out of 14 of them (92.9%), including the final 13 in a row.

2018 vs NE / Down 14-17 / Punt
2018 vs NE / Down 14-17 / TD
2018 vs NE / Down 21-24 / TD
2018 vs NE / Down 28-31 / FG
2019 vs SF / Down 17-20 / TD
2021 vs BUF / Down 26-29 / TD
2021 vs BUF / Down 33-36 / FG
2021 vs CIN / Down 21-24 / FG
2022 vs PHI / Down 21-27 / TD
2023 vs BUF / Down 20-24 / TD
2023 vs SF / Down 13-16 / TD
2023 vs SF / Down 16-19 / FG
2023 vs SF / Down 19-22 / TD
2024 vs BUF / Down 21-22 / TD

Pretty incredible.

[Jarrett Bailey @JBaileyNFL]

Last season, Mahomes had a higher pass EPA and success rate.

In pure dropback situations, he had a higher pass EPA, lower sack %, higher success rate, more TDs, and more yards.

In late downs, Mahomes had a higher pass EPA.

The idea that Mahomes was bad is frankly stupid.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

What happens if I move it to 200 total yards and 17 points?

Wins after the wild card round:

Patrick Mahomes - 14

Matthew Stafford - 4
Joe Burrow - 3
Jalen Hurts - 2
Jayden Daniels - 1
Bo Nix - 1
Lamar Jackson - 1
Drake Maye - 0
Josh Allen - 0
Herbert - 0

TOTAL - 12

[Kansas City Chiefs @Chiefs]

QB1 knows his stuff 😮‍💨

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

America already made daylight saving time permanent once. In December 1973, 79% of Americans supported it and Nixon signed it into law. By February 1974, eight weeks into the experiment, support had collapsed to 42%. The policy never changed. Winter arrived.

Sunrise in Washington DC came at 8:27am. Kids left for school in total darkness, carrying flashlights and wearing reflective tape. When Congress moved to repeal, members cited the deaths of eight Florida schoolchildren in the first weeks of the change.

The energy case collapsed too. The whole point was the oil embargo, and the Department of Transportation concluded the fuel savings were too small to matter. Ten months after signing it, Congress repealed it and Ford put the country back on standard time.

There's a mechanism that makes this cycle repeat: permanent DST is only ever voted on when the sun is up. Polls run in the abstract, votes happen in warm months, and the benefit, a free hour of evening light, is easy to imagine year-round. The cost is concentrated in about 10 weeks of dark winter mornings and only becomes real after implementation. So the policy polls beautifully right up until January.

Today's vote happened in July. The 1974 law passed in December, right before the exact winter that killed it. If this clears the Senate, the first real test arrives in January 2027, when sunrise in Indianapolis comes after 9am.

Sleep researchers have watched this loop for 50 years, which is why the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the AMA, and the National Sleep Foundation all back the opposite reform, permanent standard time. Congress just picked the one version of clock reform America has already tried, hated, and repealed.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

Likely to do a separate article on this, but part of making sure a franchise QB doesn't peak early is finding him Phase II weapons that can be around for Phase III.

Mahomes is close to Phase III while still throwing to his Phase I TE and it's Year 5 of "Hope" as KC's WR1

This is dangerous territory to be in as they possibly won't have Kelce or Rice on the roster in 2027, and Worthy doesn't look ready to step up as WR1 and they have no replacement ready for Kelce.

But if you look at history, Montana would have had Rice/Taylor/Jones if he stayed healthy in the 90s. All Phase II pickups.

The Patriots gave Brady in 07-09 (Years 8-10) Moss, Welker, Edelman, and Gronk, the last two staying with him thru the 6th SB win.

By the time Marvin Harrison was slowing down in Indy, Manning had Wayne and Clark ready to eat more.

Roethlisberger moved on from the days of Bettis and Ward and had Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell.

Rodgers got Davante Adams and Aaron Jones for his Phase II in GB.

Brees got Jimmy Graham, then later it was Brandin Cooks followed by Michael Thomas.

Why did Marino peak so early in Miami and not continue his offensive dominance in the 90s, defense be damned? The Dolphins never evolved his weapons beyond Phase I (Duper and Clayton). He had his best group right away (Nat Moore too).

That's the worry about what the Chiefs are doing with Mahomes. It's Year 10 and he's still got the same TE who just married the most famous woman in the world, and this is the 5th season since they traded Tyreek Hill and they don't even know if they can count on the guy who is supposed to be WR1 on this team.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

Mahomes is 5-1 in the playoffs when his defense doesn't force a turnover.

And they gave up 24+ points in 4 of the wins.

The gap in achievements between these QBs is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

I've been very consistent for a long time about not overreacting to the last NFL season in ranking QBs.

That's why I had Manning, Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Ben as the top 5 for half a decade in the 2010s.

Once a QB is established, they rarely play significantly different skill wise.

Any statistical gains or losses are usually some combo of health, teammates, change in coaching, schedule, etc.

[Charles M. Blow @CharlesMBlow]

This was my first time meeting @isaiahrmartin , and the first thing I said to him was that as black man of a certain age, I swell with pride with I see young black men like him doing their thing. I wanted to encourage him — not that he needed it — the same way that I would want people to encourage my children, all of whom are older than Isaiah by the way. Lol

Black people must always resist the competition-for-the-only-spot foolishness that the world tries to force on up. I went to Black schools all my life. Our philosophy was different: you rise, I rise, we rise together. The world said there was limited space for black faces and black voices; we simply made more. We encourages, fought for and cheered each other.

Isaiah is whip smart and good on tv. He has a bright future ahead of him. And this uncle will be cheering.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

Losses after leading a go-ahead drive in 4Q/OT

Burrow since 2022 (4 seasons) - 3
Mahomes in 2025 - 3
Drew Brees in San Diego before he was even good (2001-03) - 3

People need to stop pretending Burrow is some clutch QB who has been let down by his defense over and over.

[Scott Kacsmar @ScottKacsmar]

"The receiving trio of Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, and Hollywood Brown never blossomed into a consistent threat."

That sells it way short.

The trio only played together with Mahomes in 7 out of 33 potential games in 2024-25.

Hard to develop with young and new WRs this way.