NETFLIX SHOWS MAHOMES TO THE WORLD, WITH EARLY FLAWS, ON A NEW CHRISTMAS
Welcome to a streaming planet, with 282.3 million paid subscribers in more than 190 countries receiving American football — including Mahomes and Jackson, who were brilliant after network glitches
Remember when Christmas was cherished for gifts, trees, lights, candy canes, Charlie Brown, Jimmy Stewart, gingerbread, nice carols, ugly sweaters, Yule Logs, eggnog, drunk uncles, Santa Claus, reindeer and, oh, the birth of Jesus? Those charms took a step back on a civilization-melting Wednesday.
Imagine, good heavens, that we preferred two NFL games seen globally on Netflix.
Patrick Mahomes is easy to say in any language, including English, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. He was available on this and any day as a trustworthy present, throwing for three touchdowns in Kansas City’s 29-10 victory in Pittsburgh that moved the Chiefs to 15-1. The occasion was new and culturally futuristic. Mahomes keeps winning like tenderloin, as he has the last two years and maybe for a third time in February, even if his high ankle sprain doesn’t matter.
More significantly, the network’s customer service number — 800-585-7265 — wasn’t necessary for most of us. Glitches? The microphone didn’t work for host Kay Adams in the first 15 seconds, before Mina Kimes was interrupted by a Squid Game 2 video. But other than vague reports of late buffer hitches, there were few problems, techies. Throughout the world, 282.3 million paid subscribers had access to the Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens and Texans, who produced viewership digits perhaps approaching the 108 million who saw Mike Tyson tank against Jake Paul. More than 190 nations were on the list, some asking why the ball is a prolate spheroid and not round.
China, North Korea, Russia, Crimea and Syria were not involved. They missed out on master performers in Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, who led the Ravens to a 31-2 rout with two touchdown passes and a rushing score.
“Yeah, it’s really cool,” Mahomes said. “We’re not America’s team but the world’s team. … We’re playing, especially offensively, our best football of the year.”
This was a Super Bowl 46 days before the real Super Bowl, with Beyonce performing in Houston and making us forget the cranberries. Netflix decided to boom-box its advertising platform and push aside religion and faith, funding $150 million for what officially became known in society as a monumental streaming multicast — even for those who don’t know what Netflix is and haven’t discovered cord-cutting. The league was overjoyed, describing events as a “new global holiday tradition” and a “staple with families coming together to celebrate and watch NFL games around the world.” Netflix also is coming next Christmas and the year after, with Amazon Prime airing as well next year. When Roger Goodell visits countries beyond our own, what he has in mind is an international football jubilee. His owners are thrilled.
“Christmas Day is Christmas Day, and it doesn’t wait around for what day it’s on. We want to be there on Christmas Day,” Jerry Jones said. “I would think the future is whatever day it’s on, so we’re going to be there on Christmas.”
Did the commissioner ask any of us if his whim was OK? Did he ask the players? What happened to the real Christmas? Do we only care about extra angles from 50 cameras?
“As far as my family, we traded gifts,” said Mahomes, praising his wife as “a champ because I’m not there to build the toys all my family got.”
“I do want to celebrate at home sometimes with my family,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to be playing on Christmas all the time.”
But they are the massive entertainers, joining Josh Allen and Saquon Barkley as the four biggest MVP candidates, with Jackson a thread ahead. And they were joined by a media mishmash that included a father and son as play-by-play announcers — Ian and Noah Eagle — along with analysts and reporters from various networks. Drew Brees and Robert Griffin III returned after they were bounced by NBC and ESPN. Greg Olsen returned as a lead analyst with Tom Brady elsewhere. Comedians showed up. And when Beyonce appeared at NRG Stadium in an all-white look? Ravens coach John Harbaugh had to make sure his quarterback stayed in the locker room.
“Going to go out there and watch, man,” Jackson had said. “First time seeing Beyonce perform and it’s at our game, that’s dope. I’m going to go out and watch. Sorry, Harbaugh. Sorry, fellas.”
The Chiefs, with homefield advantage in the AFC playoffs, remain the favorites to win a fourth championship under the leadership of Mahomes and coach Andy Reid. “Getting the No. 1 seed is important. It’s like winning a playoff game,” Mahomes said. They are based in a small Midwestern community, but the quarterback understands the massive appeal of his sport. He’s not only the biggest athlete in America. Should Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe move aside? Real Madrid? In his first eight seasons, he has thrown for an all-time high of 245 TD passes, one more than Peyton Manning. With 75 games of multiple TD passes, he has the most of any passer under 30. He’s just 29.
“He spoils the dog out of us,” said Reid, who dressed like Santa Claus afterward. “He’s so tough. Mentally. And physically. You just get used to it. Most guys don’t come back (an injury) like he did. But he set his mind to it.”
“He tries to elevate the play around him in any way he can,” right guard Trey Smith said. “He puts his body on the line. He’s the ultimate competitor in my mind. I’ve never been around a guy like that. I think it’s almost more demoralizing for the other team. They put a lot of credence into the injury and he just sort of laughed it off.”
Mahomes was humble, when Travis Kelce was anything but, dunking the ball over the goal post after a fourth-quarter touchdown. “It showed the toughness of the team, and I think we got better as obviously the games went on. The guys, they’re mentally tough and they’re physically tough and we played some really good teams with some hard-fought battles,” he said. “The No. 1 seed is important. It’s like winning a playoff game, so I was happy to get that done.”
Sixteen games, 15 victories.
The planet couldn’t get enough of the winners. “We love you in Croatia!” Noah Eagle said.
Even the college football playoffs can’t begin to hang. Last weekend, the Chiefs and Texans drew 15.5 million on NBC when Penn State and SMU drew 6.4 million on TNT, while the Steelers and Ravens drew 15.4 million on Fox when Texas and Clemson drew 8.6 million on TNT. A non-competing game, Ohio State and Tennessee, drew 14.3 million and still couldn’t beat the regular-season NFL when it was splitting time.
The NBA? Luka Doncic left a holiday game and Devin Booker missed one, while LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum played after they were listed as questionable. Without special Christmas uniforms, James tweeted annoyingly: “Not having Xmas day unis anymore really sucks!” At least Victor Wembanyama bid a French bonjour with 42 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in a San Antonio loss at Madison Square Garden. Yet, who was watching?
“You get to see us play ... a lot of eyes on us,” Jackson said. “I believe a lot of people are watching us at the right time.”
He leads the league in offensive yardage and set the all-time record for QB rushing. With one game to play, he has thrown for 39 touchdowns with only four interceptions while adding 852 rushing yards and four scores. Derrick Henry ran through the Texans for 147 yards. They might face Mahomes in another AFC championship game.
That will air on CBS, incidentally.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.