The talk all offseason surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs has been the way general manager Brett Veach's front office has surrounded young quarterback Patrick Mahomes II with the weapons to succeed.

They already had speedster Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce. They brought in Kareem Hunt in last year's draft and he led the league in rushing. This offseason Sean Monahan Jersey , they spent lavishly to sign wide receiver Sammy Watkins to a three-year deal to provide another downfield threat.

However, Mahomes' success probably will be dictated by the offensive line. The big guys whose job it is to protect Pat.

The Chiefs brought back their line from last season almost entirely intact, and that may not be a bad thing. They finished middle-of-the-pack when it came to protecting veteran quarterback Alex Smith and they bulldozed enough holes that Hunt ran for 1,327 yards and three touchdowns.

Yet the returns from their preseason opener last week were mixed 鈥?Mahomes took far too many shots in the short time he was in the game 鈥?and injuries could cripple an otherwise stable bunch.

"You see on the first play of the game, our quarterback got hit. As an offensive line that's not acceptable to us," offensive line coach Andy Heck said. "We know the importance of protecting the quarterback, particularly early in the game. So we're busting our butts out here."

As rough as things looked against the Texans, Heck said there were reasons to be optimistic. When the Chiefs gathered to review game film, an offensive front that's played together for years knew exactly where they went awry.

"We definitely need a little sense of urgency with the one group," center Mitch Morse said. "We did a few good things, but there's some things we definitely need to work on. That's with every game and every practice. This was just a glorified practice, which was tough. There's definitely things you look back at and have to look at yourself in a difficult and critical manner."

The time to correct things is quickly closing.

The Chiefs practiced Tuesday for the last time at Missouri Western, splashing through an early rain shower before packing up their training camp base. They will have a few days off before visiting the Falcons on Friday night Youth Chris Kunitz Jersey , then get back to work at the practice facility in Kansas City.

The Chiefs hope by then their offensive line will be healthy.

The biggest piece presently missing is Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, their medical student-turned-right guard who graded out among the best in the league at his position last year. He's been out of practice since sustaining a concussion, and it's unclear when he'll be cleared to return.

That means Andrew Wylie, an undrafted free agent who spent last year on three different practice squads, has been pressed into duty with the first team.

Wylie has earned some praise from new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who called him "a dirty, tough kid." He showed that mean streak when he got into a fight this week in practice.

Wylie has been a pleasant surprise. So has Cameron Erving, a former first-round pick of the Browns who arrived in a trade last season. He spent the year as a backup, filling in wherever he was needed, but he beat out Parker Ehinger early in camp before locking to the left guard job.

The left tackles should be the strength of the offensive line. Eric Fisher on the left side is a former No. 1 overall pick who was good enough to earn a second contract, and Mitchell Schwartz was a big free-agent acquisition last year that held down the right side.

Throw in Morse, another draft pick of the Chiefs, and there should be no excuses for poor play. These guys either were drafted or signed big contracts to protect Mahomes in the pocket.

"We've been a young offensive line in the past. Right now Roberto Luongo Jersey , we're one of the older and more experienced groups on this team," Heck said. "We expect a lot out of those guys. We expect a lot out of ourselves in that area. We know that we've got to amp up the intensity, put the pressure on ourselves, raise that bar a little bit and keep working hard."

Notes: SS Eric Berry (heel), RB Damien Williams (shoulder), OL Jimmy Murray (knee) and DE Allen Bailey didn't participate in practice. Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he's being "cautious" with Berry, who is coming off a torn Achilles tendon. "Trying to be smart," Reid said. "Eric's been playing a long time." ... Missouri Gov. Mike Parson attended camp along with members of the military.


The Boston Bruins appear to be quite ready for the playoffs.

And the Tampa Bay Lightning are slumping at the wrong time of the season.

The top two teams in the Eastern Conference slugged it out Thursday night and Boston prevailed, knocking Tampa Bay out of first place for the first time since October with a 4-2 win on Thursday night.

”This definitely had a playoff feel to it,” said Brand Marchand, whose empty-net goal with 56 seconds left sealed it for the Bruins, who took over first place in the conference with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.

”Obviously we all know how big it was for the standings and what it meant for both teams. So it was great to see the guys react the way they did and have the game we did.”

Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists, Tim Schaller and David Pastrnak scored goals 32 seconds apart in the final minute of the first period and Tuukka Rask made 26 saves for the Bruins http://www.officialhockeypanthersshop.com/authentic-adidas-james-reimer-jersey , who have 107 points and lead Tampa Bay by a point.

Boston has six games remaining in the regular season to five for Tampa Bay.

For the first time since Oct. 18, a team other than the Lightning leads the Eastern Conference.

”I think it means that we’ve been playing pretty good hockey the last couple of months,” said Rask, who also helped set the emotional tone by unloading a flurry of punches on Tampa Bay’s Cory Conacher during a scrum in the second.

It was one of many times in the game that postseason implications were apparent, including a rare fight for Pastrnak in the third period and several more battles before the officials had to separate both sides one final time – after the third-period buzzer.

”There was a ton of passion,” Tampa Bay’s Alex Killorn said. ”There was a lot of hits and a lot of scrums after the whistle. It seems like it could potentially be a playoff matchup. It definitely had a playoff atmosphere tonight.”

J.T. Miller scored a power-play goal for Tampa Bay in the second and Victor Hedman added a goal in the third. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 26 saves for the Lightning, who have lost three straight and are 0-3 against the Bruins this season.

”Playing in here is always difficult,” Killorn said. ”The second and third period, I think we did a pretty good job. We created a lot more opportunities for ourselves.”

Killorn had an apparent goal waved off in the third when a teammate was in the crease with Boston leading 2-1. A few minutes later, Torey Krug passed to Bergeron at the side of the net for a goal to put Boston up 3-1 at 11:59 of the third.

The Lightning cut it to 3-2 when Hedman beat Rask through his legs with 6:06 remaining in the third, but Marchand’s empty-netter sealed it and Boston took over the top spot in the division and conference.

”It was a big win for us. Finally we jumped them after a whole season chasing them,” Pastrnak said.

The Bruins outshot the Lightning 17-6 in the first period and took a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals in the final minute.

Schaller put Boston up 1-0 after stealing the puck from Ryan McDonagh just inside the blue line and started a 2-on-1 break with Tommy Wingels, who got off a shot as Schaller crashed the net and poked in the rebound.

Killorn took an interference penalty with 31 seconds remaining and Pastrnak scored 5 seconds into the penalty Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Jersey , putting the Bruins up 2-0 with 26 seconds left in the period.

The game paused for a few minutes with 8:44 left in the second after Rask took a few shots at Conacher when he was slow to get up after getting tangled with Brandon Carlo in the crease.

Rask landed several punches with his glove before players from both teams jumped in and were eventually separated.

Vasilevskiy skated toward the other end, but was cut off at the blue line by referee Francois St. Laurent, who kept the Tampa Bay goalie from entering the fray. Boston fans roared their approval by shouting ”Tuuuuuuuuk!” throughout the altercation.

Later in the second, it was Pastrnak stepping in after a hit on Bergeron and squaring off with Tampa Bay’s Dan Girardi. Pastrnak said it was his first fight and his inexperience showed when Girardi quickly took him down, but the Bruins appreciated his effort.

”I don’t think I’ve fought ever – like ever,” he said. ”I’m a pretty calm-down guy.”

NOTES: Krug finished with two assists. The Lightning and Bruins play one more time in the regular season, Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. … Boston improved to 7-1-0 in its past eight against Tampa Bay. … Boston D Zdeno Chara, who signed a one-year contract extension with the Bruins on Wednesday, missed his seventh straight game with an upper-body injury. … Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper entered the game with 239 wins, tied with John Tortorella for the most in franchise history. … The Bruins haven’t lost in regulation since Florida shut them out 3-0 on March 15.

UP NEXT

Lightning: At New York Rangers on Friday night.

Bruins: Host Florida on Saturday afternoon.

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