Happy Monday, my friend! We’ve got a short week ahead of us with the holiday coming up so Tyrese Haliburton Jersey we’re going to have to make the most of our time together this week. I’m ready if you are.And speaking of the holiday, I decided to put up my Christmas tree yesterday and I don’t want to hear a single complaint that it’s too early. (Yes, the tree is fake.) I typically subscribe to the idea that Christmas season begins as soon as Thanksgiving dinner ends but I felt compelled to get into the Christmas spirit a little earlier this year … aka 2020 has made me sad and I’m trying to force joy into my life any way po sible. Plus, time is completely meaningle s this year so we may as well throw away any and all holiday rulebooks. Put up those lights and trees if you want.Anyway, I hope you had a good weekend yourself, even if it wasn’t full of early Christmas cheer. We’ve got plenty of stuff to get to from the weekend that was so pour some peppermint mocha into that coffee and let’s get to it. What you need to know 1. , rally late to beat Getting to watch Mahomes go to work in primetime is always a pretty good time and last night was no different. We got the Chiefs and Raiders in our Sunday Night Football showdown this weekend and it’s hard to say it didn’t live up to the hype. The Raiders are the only team to beat the Chiefs this season (they handed KC a 40-32 lo s in Week 5) and Las Vegas gave them a damn good game once again last night. Ultimately, though, Mahomes and the Chiefs got the final strike in another explosive battle, winning 35-31 in pretty dramatic fashion. Let’s get Why the Chiefs won: Mahomes made a few mistakes on Sunday night, but he once again proved he’s capable of rising to the occasion during the game’s biggest moments. After the Raiders took the lead late in the fourth quarter, Mahomes and his top weapons put together a surgical and awe-inspiring game-winning touchdown drive that took all of 75 secondsWhy the Raiders lost: Vegas played really well but they weren’t perfect, and their imperfections cost them — especially toward the end of the game. They broke down defensively on the Chiefs’ final drive and let Mahomes & Co. dice them apart. They had trouble covering all night and nobody was even in the tight end’s zip code when he hauled in the game-winning TDThis was really one of those games where both teams can go home feeling pretty good about the way they played. That’s especially true for , who had an outstanding night throwing the ball for the Raiders. Unfortunately, his team Chris Webber Jersey couldn’t quite go punch-for-punch with the Chiefs but, if it makes him feel any better, not many teams can. Considering the fact that Las Vegas had a bunch of COVID-19 complications that disrupted their preparations this week, they played better than I expected. But, uh, here’s a pretty wild stat for you: Last night marked the first time in his career that Mahomes has thrown a go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes of a game. I have no idea how that can po sibly be true, but apparently it is? Insane. 2. fear is done for season after leg injury We had a really solid day of action but there was one major gut-punch that left a black cloud hanging over the rest of the day’s action: . Burrow suffered an apparent knee injury when a defender fell on his left leg during the third quarter of Sunday’s game in WashingtonThe rookie QB was carted off the field and the Bengals reportedly fear he’s torn his ACL and MCL but won Sacramento Kings T-Shirts ‘t know officially until they get results from an MRIBurrow appears to believe his season is over, tweeting out “Can’t get rid of me that easy. See ya next year” about an hour after his injuryWe can try to stay positive and hope it’s not as bad as it looks, but the writing sort of seems to be on the wall at this point, and . It’s just such a bummer for Burrow and for the NFL. There hasn’t been a whole lot to slow down the hype since he was taken with the top overall pick in this year’s draft. Unfortunately for the Bengals, they checked off an important rebuilding task — draft a star quarterback — but forgot to follow up with an equally important task: Protect the star quarterback. Injuries can happen to anyone at anytime — that’s just the nature of the brutal sport — but Burrow has gotten crushed behind a weak line all year long. He deserved better than this.Now, it seems he’ll have a long road to recovery and it may be a while before we see him dropping back again. That just sucks for everyone. 3. NFL Week 11 grades We’ve hit a few of the bigger NFL stories but there are plenty more notables to discu s and, with it being Monday, it’s time for us to celebrate . If you tuned into yesterday’s slate of action, there’s a pretty good chance you know who’s going to end up with the worst mark of the day: The . Our John Breech penned a great line to describe Matt Patricia’s job security after his club delivered one of the most embarra sing performances of any team this entire season: “Lions (F) shut out in awful lo s to (B+): Patricia, whose calling card is his defensive acumen, saw his D give up Robert Woodard II Jersey big play after big play to a former XFL quarterback. On the other side, Carolina’s defense gave Matt Stafford terrors all day, sacking him five times. The Panthers held the Lions to 185 total yards — the first time since 2017 that they’ve given up le s than 200 yards , (A-) crush (D): Many people questioned Sean Payton’s decision to roll with Hill as starting quarterback instead of but (and now .) Hill threw for 233 yards and rushed for another 51 with a TD. barely had time to think as he was sacked eight times benched in ‘ (C-) lo s to (C+): Miami’s defense had a tough day and their offense couldn’t get anything going either. Tua was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of , but that didn’t really solve anything. They’ll go back to the rookie next week, but their five-game win streak is now goneYou can find the rest of the weekend’s grades right . 4. Is Auburn’s self-imposed ban acceptable? We got some news out of the college basketball world yesterday when Auburn announced that it has . The ban comes in response to an NCAA probe that has generated a notice of allegations against the program. (That case has yet to be resolved by the NCAA.)So, why exactly would Auburn punish itself before the NCAA has finalized the case against the school? And why would they do it three days before the start of the 2020-21 season? According to our Gary Parrish, it’s a savvy move by the school to: Get credit for being Mike Bibby Jersey proactiveTake advantage of a pandemic-shortened season in which the Tigers probably won’t qualify for the anywayThe presumption is that, when the NCAA