Berry kicks cancer, Falcons in the butt
Chiefs safety the star in Atlanta homecoming, returning interception and two-point conversion for scores
Dozens of NFL players every year get to play in their hometowns. In his seven-year NFL career, Eric Berry never had the chance until Sunday. What a homecoming. Few, if any, NFLers have had more cause for an emotional return or performed more impactfully or dramatically in that return than the Kansas City Chiefs’ cancer-defeating safety. Berry returned two interceptions for scores in the Chiefs’ 29-28 victory over the Falcons at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
Born and raised in the south Atlanta suburb of Fairburn, Berry gave the Chiefs their first lead 37 seconds before halftime with a 37-yard interception return. Then with 4:32 left, he dramatically turned a one-point deficit into a one-point lead by intercepting another Matt Ryan pass — this one on a two-point conversion attempt — and returning it more than 100 yards for what stood as the winning safety.
After the pick-six in the first half, Berry reached up into the stands and handed the football to his mother.
In December 2014, Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He left the Chiefs and was treated successfully with standard chemotherapy at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
By the end of July 2015, Berry was declared free of cancer and returned to the Chiefs. He had a Pro Bowl season and was named the NFL’s comeback player of the year.
Sunday was the first time Berry played a pro football game in Atlanta. He was the standout performer.
“It means a lot,” Berry told CBS afterward. “The last time I came home during the season, it was to get a treatment for cancer. Now I’m here to play a game.
“I take pride in things that a lot of people might take for granted, so it’s just the little things — being here, being able to play, being on this turf, having my family present … I went through so much.”
Berry wore purple-ribbon cleats to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer and leiomyosarcoma. This, by good timing, came on the only day the NFL has allowed players to wear shoes with personal messages painted on them, so long as those messages promoted a charity. What a story his is. “I shed a few (tears) during the game and I shed a few after,” Berry told reporters. “I think I held it together pretty good. But it was just a lot of emotions, so I just tried to contain them and let it show through my play.” What were the tears for? “So many things,” he said.
As for the Falcons ...
Sometimes the right thing to do is also the only thing to do. And when it turns out to be the wrong thing to do, what can you do? Just curse and move on. The Falcons and their fans will be shaking their heads for a long time after losing to the Chiefs because of that disastrous (for them) two-point conversion attempt.
To revisit it from the Falcons’ point of view:
After scoring a touchdown with 4:32 left to take a 28-27 lead, Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn decided to go for two — because if the Falcons kicked the extra point, they would have led 29-27 and Kansas City could have won the game on a field goal.
Every other NFL coach would have done likewise.
Instead, Berry leaped in front of a pass intended for tight end Austin Hooper in the end zone, snared it and returned it for two points. Call it a pick-two. Because the Falcons scored a touchdown right before the wrong-team, wrong-way conversion, they had to kick off. Ryan and his high-power Falcons offence never got the ball back.
The Chiefs drained the remaining time by picking up two first downs.
“I reminded (Falcons players) in the locker-room that it never comes down to one play,” Quinn said. “When you have a loss like this, it’s hard mentally to find a good space to put that. We’ll come back to fight.”
Atlanta fell to 7-5 and into a firstplace tie with Tampa Bay in the NFC South after the Buccaneers beat the Chargers 28-21 in San Diego. The Falcons had led the division all on their own since September.
Kansas City improved to 9-3, still one game back of 10-2 Oakland in the AFC West. The Raiders rallied again in the second half, this time from a 24-9 third-quarter deficit to thump the visiting Buffalo Bills 38-24.
The Raiders can nullify the Chiefs’ head-to-head tiebreaker advantage (the Chiefs won in Oakland in October) with a victory Thursday night in Kansas City.
Denver does it
Rookie replacement QB Paxton Lynch, subbing for injured Trevor Siemian, did almost nothing of note in Denver’s 20-10 win at Jacksonville. Lynch completed 12 of 24 pass attempts for 104 yards and no touchdowns.
Once gain, Jacksonville lost in large part because quarterback Blake Bortles — again, under the nearly game-long strain of having to pass his team back into victory contention — messed up big time. Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby returned a Bortles interception 51 yards for a score to put Denver up 17-3 midway through the third quarter.
Denver improved to 8-4, Jacksonville dropped to 2-10.
Bengals blowout
Philadelphia’s slim NFC playoff hopes were obliterated by the Bengals in Cincinnati with a 32-14 loss. Andy Dalton was fantastic, completing 23 of 32 pass attempts for 332 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. For Philly, rookie Carson Wentz threw 60 passes, completing 36 for 308 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted three times.