December 26, 2025 • 79 mins
All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet.
Best of Nick Wright's weekly reactions to Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs 2025 NFL season starting with Nick predicting Andy Reid and KC to win the Super Bowl to Mahomes' ACL tear and KC being eliminated. Buckle up, it was a wild ride. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right
with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
week on the show. Enjoy Now to the easiest bet
every single year, the Chiefs hitting there over under Andy Reid.
It has failed to happen one time, and they made
(00:20):
up for it that year by winning the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs win total getting even money over eleven and
a half wins. That's an easy one. I will take
over eleven and a half every day with Kansas City.
Twelve and five would disappoint me. I expect thirteen and
(00:42):
four or better. They are not going eleven and six
the Chiefs. We don't need to spend more time on it.
Everyone knew I was going Chiefs over because it is
the right bet. I am going over with the Kansas
City Chiefs. Our annual tradition EXACTA. Three years ago we
(01:04):
had Chiefs Niners, and the Niners found themselves in the
Conference championship game. Last two years ago we had Chiefs Cowboys,
and the Cowboys found themselves with twelve wins. Last year
we had Chiefs Bears, and the Bears had a season
from hell and missed the playoffs. This year, the Super
(01:27):
Bowl EXACTA at fifty five to one is a drummer.
We please, Demonse.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We got Kansas City versus Tampa Bay and the Super
Bowl exact plus fifty five hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
How about the and then obviously spoiler Super Bowl exactly
the winner.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Right, Kansas City defeat Tampa Bay at plus eleven thousand.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Indeed, so, Demonse, here's something I didn't even think about
when I made this pick. Brew mentioned it. The Chiefs
with Mahomes have been to five Super Bowls, all rematches,
played Philly twice, played San Francisco twice. The one other
(02:12):
team they played Tampa Bay, another Super Bowl rematch bake
Show against Patrick revisiting the greatest, the craziest college football
game ever played. Do you know about their college.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Game, Demonsemes and Baker against each other? Yeah, I'm sure
they each other up.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Hold on, well let me, Demonse, so let me just
tell you real quick, twenty sixteen, because they have played
in the playoffs before. All right, so the final score, Demanse,
let me, I'm just actually hold on. Let me just
go to Patrick Mahomes college stats. Final score was sixty
six to fifty nine. So that gives you a little
(02:58):
bit of a preview. It was Texas Tech where Baker
started against Oklahoma, and hold on, where is it here?
It is? The final stats are as follows. Uh. Joe
Mixon was in the game. He ran for two sixty
(03:19):
okay and four touchdowns. But that wasn't the story. The
story was Baker. Baker was twenty seven of thirty six
only through thirty six passes for five hundred and forty
five yards, seven touchdowns, no picks. Jesus okay, okay. Patrick
(03:41):
Patrick was fifty two of eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh was slee.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
For seven hundred and thirty four yards five touchdowns. Running
back well, no, they did have a running back go
twelve carries for eighty five five yards and two touchdowns.
That running backs name was Patrick Mahomes. So Mahomes in
that game combined for eight hundred and ten yards, seven touchdowns,
(04:13):
one pick. Bake show in that game never ran the
ball through for five forty five and seven touchdowns on
just thirty six attempts. Mahomes threw at eighty eight times.
It is an all time legendary college football game.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
October twenty second, twenty sixteen, all timer. And so they've
played in the playoffs before Patrick got hurt against the
when Baker was there in the Browns, and yeah, that's
my uh, that is most Super Bowl EXACTA. I Am
(04:57):
not going to sit here and act like everything's fine
with the Chiefs right now. It isn't. There are some
I want to focus on the concerning things that have
occurred in both games. Okay, So for instance, Week one,
(05:21):
the secondary, which has been a strength of this team,
looked hugely problematic against Herbert and the Chargers. Week two,
I thought the secondary looked really good, right, So like
that's the one good game, one bad game. I'm not
focusing on that. Here is what through two weeks looks problematic,
(05:43):
and I don't know where the solve for it is.
The Chiefs running game is as inept right now as
it's ever been since Patrick's been there. Pachecko sadly, he
just does not look like the same player he was
before he broke his leg. And what's odd about it
(06:08):
is his biggest problem through two weeks doesn't seem to
be explosion. It seems to be vision and hitting the
right hole. You wouldn't think that is related to a
lower body injury, but he just hasn't been effective. Kareem
Hunt is who he is. He if you need one
(06:29):
yard more way more often than not, he will get
it for you. But he has no chance of getting
you ten. And they brought in Elijah Mitchell. Nothing's happened there.
They drafted Brischard Smith in the I think seventh round.
He's seventh round rookie. Like they just right now don't
have the horses in the running back room, and that
(06:52):
is a spot that I would not at all hate
for him to be active on. In the trade market,
I think we have There has been a lot of
discussion of should the Chiefs trade for Tyreek Hill? The
wide receivers are coming back, Okay, I if I were
(07:15):
doing a trade with Miami, I might be equally, if
not more, interested in Devin h Chan Like I think
that there are you running backs will be and should
be available, and that might be a spot that they
have to bite the bullet and spend some draft capital
(07:36):
via trade on. So that's one piece, and here's another one.
As good as Josh Simmons has been at the left
tackle spot, Patrick still doesn't feel totally comfortable in his protection. Now,
some of that's been the left guard spot's been really problematic.
(07:57):
But Creed's great, Trade's great, Simmons is really good, Joan
Taylor when he's not committing penalties is fine. And Patrick
just seems like he doesn't trust it right now. And
I am as confident in Patrick Mahomes as any player
that's ever played in the league that he will figure
(08:19):
stuff out. And there have been times this season where
it has felt like he's out there. I don't want
to say by himself, but nobody can get opening. They
can't run the ball, which has forced him to and
this is the part of the season that I have
liked the absolute least. It has forced him to activate
(08:40):
playoff running Mahomes in weeks one and two, and I
despise that because obviously it puts him in jeopardy, which
is the biggest concern. But the other thing is one
of the reasons he has had the post season's success
(09:01):
that he's had. One of the reasons he has been
so much more dynamic and effective statistically and from a
winning perspective on a per game basis than any other
quarterback in the history of the league come the postseason
is because every single postseason he adds a huge weapon
(09:23):
to his game that is not there in the regular season,
which is the quarterback runs the scrambles, and if he's
using that during the regular season, it has just multiple concerns.
One is he can get banged up. Another is you're
not getting that auto postseason boost. Like Josh Allen and
(09:45):
Lamar are unbelievable runners at the quarterback position, they do
it starting in Week one and never stop. So it
doesn't add an element to their game come the playoffs.
It has for Patrick and the last listen issue on
offense is the greatest tight end in the history of
the league has had a really rough two weeks. There's
(10:08):
no way around it. Third play of the season. I
thought it was Xavier's mistake. He says. It was his
mistake that he ran the wrong depth of his route
and Xavier's hurt. Later in that game, he and Patrick
aren't on quite the same page. When they're down nine,
about to score, they don't connect on what would have
(10:29):
been a touchdown. And then obviously the Eagles game, they're
about to take the lead and he bobbles a pass
and it turns into a game changing interception. That's all.
It's been highly damaging. I don't know if it's yet
(10:49):
highly concerning, but it's highly damaging. Okay, So there is
that piece of it on the defensive side of the ball.
The only complaint I have after week two is they
cannot seem to get pressure without sending a blitz, like
(11:11):
if they rush for they just cannot get home. So
I don't know if that means the rookies Ashton Jalot
or Omar Norman lot need to be more effective. Certainly
Charles Amena who needs to be more effective. Mike Dana
got hurt in this game. That didn't help. George Karloft
has just got paid by this team, he needs to
(11:33):
be more effective. Like Chris Jones is a man on
an island at times. And so those are real problems, okay,
And right now the Chiefs don't deserve to be anything
close to Super Bowl favorites. I'm not gonna sit here
(11:53):
and act like, ah, they got unlucky, they got this. No.
If anything, it is surprising that they have had a
chance to win both of these games when they haven't
played well. They've missed kicks in both games. They haven't
(12:13):
forced a turnover. So that is the true and fair,
sober analysis of where the Chiefs are through two weeks.
Anything past that is nonsense. Anyone trying to pedal Wow,
(12:34):
should they be worried about making the playoffs? I think
has lost their mind. Now is the division for the
first time in Jeopardy? Yeah, when you're zero to two
and a team that beat you is two to zero
(12:56):
with a divisional win, it's understandable that the Chiefs are
no longer the favorites in the division. Demanse and where
where does hard Rock Bet have them at? Right now?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
They've got them at plus two forty to win the division?
Should you hammer that?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I mean, listen, as it's not surprising to you. Probably
I have a lot of exposure already on the Chiefs,
you know, futures and season and win total. But I
think plus two point forty is good value right now
when I do right now, if I had to pick it,
(13:38):
I would still pick the Chiefs to win the division.
What I do think though, and I told this story
on the TV show. I'm going to tell it again
here because having an encyclopedic memory about the Patrick mahomes
Erra for the Kansaity Chiefs can pay dividends and so
let me tell you guys. A quick story. In twenty twenty,
(14:00):
the Chiefs with the defending champions, went back to the
Super Bowl and got blasted by Tampa Bay. The next year,
not only did they start out three and four, but
Mahomes had the first real slump of his career. Is
with Kelsey this Tyreek. They get blown out by Buffalo,
(14:22):
they get blown out by Tennessee. They then play the
Giants and need a field goal with a minute left
to be a foreign and eventually four win. Joe Judge
Giants team to get to three and four. The very
next week, they play the Packers in the game Aaron
(14:45):
Rodgers can't play in because of That's how we found
out he didn't have the COVID vaccine because he was
on the COVID list. And Jordan Love, in his first
career start, comes to town and it's one of the
ugliest games ever. And with two minutes left it is
thirteen to seven Kansas City and Mahomes has played terribly okay,
(15:12):
And it is third and ten and a first down
wins the game, and they don't get a first down
and they could lose outright and fall to three and five,
and Patrick play breaks down. Patrick scrambles to his right
off one leg, zips in a laser down the sideline
(15:33):
to ice the game. And I went on TV the
next day and said, I believe that's the moment Patrick
snapped out of his funk. I believe that is the
moment that the Chiefs will be the Chiefs again. And
the rest of the season they lost one time and
made it to the AFC Championship Game, where they did
(15:55):
lose to the Cincinnati Bengals, But the rest of it,
from that moment forward, there were good. What does any
team in football this year? They get blown out in
the Super Bowl, they look terrible through two weeks. They
are playing the New York Giants. It is a tie game.
(16:17):
Approaching halftime, Patrick attempts to swing past Isaiah Pacheco, who
runs in the wrong direction. The ball is live, it
is about to be Giants thirteen to six, and the
Chiefs are going to be in dire straits and Patrick
(16:37):
Mahomes runs down the Giants player who's about to scoop
and score, takes the ball back from him, steadies the team,
And from that moment forward in that game was Patrick
Mahomes again, I do think we are going to look
(16:58):
back on that moment as the moment the Chiefs studied themselves.
Where I am, though, Demons is fully relaxed and comfortable
and relieved about the Chiefs. Let's get right to the
game of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, so we all saw what happened on Sunday. Your
Chiefs crushed my Ravens. We were obviously riddled with injuries.
Our quarterback went down very early into the third quarter.
But she said, after starting in.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Ten, it is not hold on. Your quarterback did not
go down early in the third the end of the
third quarter when when he tapped out when they were
down seventeen.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
But go ahead, all right, you said, your Chiefs had
the chance to rewrite history after starting oh and two
after this game, do you think they did so well?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Listen, they studied themselves and the on and to start,
what they had to do was beat the Giants. That
was an ugly game that obviously turned on the tackle
that turned the tide. And then they had to go
take care of business against the Ravens. And take care
(18:12):
of business they did, and not shockingly the moment the
Chiefs had close to a competent receiving corps. The offense
looked good again the last And we don't have to
do this full history in depth, but it is worth
(18:33):
mentioning that the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill Mahomes snap
in an offseason changed the way he played based on
the receivers they had one league MVP. The very next year,
dealt with more drops than any quarterback literally in modern
NFL history, figured it out by the playoffs, won the
(18:57):
Super Bowl. The next year, dealt with the most injured
wide receiver and running back room in the NFL, got
all the way to the super Bowl. And the next year,
which was this year, walked into the season with his
number one receiver suspended for six games and his number
(19:18):
two receiver knocked out of Game one three plays in.
And it looked shaky for a bit. And I told
you guys that I knew real like I guess insight
that that Chargers Week one game plan Xavier Worthy was
the ePIE center of it, and him being knocked out
(19:41):
three plays in threw everything off. But this, the fatalism
surrounding the Chiefs from almost everyone else in the media
was And I don't want to be a scold and
I don't want to be more annoying than I naturally am.
But it was embarrassing, and it was so fickle and
(20:06):
so myopic, my opic, pardon me, as if they don't
have a Hall of Fame head coach, a Hall of
Fame caliber decoordinator, and the most talented quarterback to ever live,
that they couldn't figure it out. And it was as
(20:27):
if they were getting boat raced in these early games,
or as if they were playing terrible teams and losing.
Neither were true. Now, I want to make this clear.
I don't think the Chiefs are, you know, quote fully back.
If back means being the highest scoring team in the league,
(20:48):
I don't think that's who they're going to be. I
don't think the Chiefs have solved all their issues. I
still think the running back room leaves a lot to
be desired, and their ability to get pressure on the
opposing quarterback without sending a blitz at the moment leaves
a lot to be desired. But you look, if you
(21:11):
going into the Baltimore game, if you looked around the AFC,
the only team that really you could say had no
holes to poke at it was the Chargers going into
Week four, But they already were dealing with some potentially
(21:35):
mounting injuries that sadly, they dealt with more of during
Week four in a game they had no business losing
but lost, and so the Bills were undefeated. But the
Bills defense had looked shaky, and they they had and
have played three consecutive games against just bottom feeders. The
(21:55):
Ravens were given this huge benefit of the doubt despite
having the same record as the Chiefs, and then every
other team that had a good record, like the Steelers
or the Jags, you had real reason to be concerned about.
I didn't really sleep last night and then got up
this morning, took your sister to school, picked your mom
(22:15):
up from the gym. I don't know if I said
ten words to either one of them. I then just
laid on the couch, which I never do in the mornings,
and tried to like take a nap. That didn't work.
You know how I can tell your mom knows I'm
in a teetering emotional place. I could probably, well, here's
(22:39):
here's how I know that she knows and that she's empathetic,
because there were she's doing like a whole giant house
cleaning thing. Prior to I knew it her birthday. Well, no,
hold on there. Within the ninety second when I came downstairs,
(23:02):
there were three things I saw her do that she
had asked me to do previously, and she wasn't even
mad at me. Yep, I was like, oh, she legit
feels bad for me right now. She's like, she is
really showing a real amount of empathy because I was
supposed to put those coffee cups away. I was supposed
(23:24):
to throw that backpack away. And she's doing all of it,
and she's doing with a smile on her face, which
means she has correctly clocked that I'm not doing great.
Hopefully this will be my Catharsis. Let's get to Monday
night football.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Shout out to Madre. So we saw what Trevor Lawrence
did to the Chiefs yesterday. It was also his twenty
sixth birthday, and he walked out of there with a dub.
What do you want to talk about first, your prince's
success or your chief's downfall in this game?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Okay, as much as I'd like to start with Trevor,
we have to start with the chief. And here's the
reason that game is so so much more upsetting than
the Charger game or the Eagle game, and so much
(24:16):
more upsetting than any recent memory regular season loss. One
thing about the Chiefs being the Chiefs is they simply
do not lose games like that. Now they get out played.
(24:37):
Sometimes the offense we've seen over the last couple of
years get stuck in the mud. They you know, there
are ways that they can lose a game, and other
people panic or you know, talk about in what bad
shape the team is in, and I do not because
(24:59):
of the the full confidence that by the end of
the year Patrick will have figured stuff out, or the
team will get healthier or whatever it is. Losing a
game like that last night, they don't blow two touchdown leads.
Every other team in the league mate, they don't. They
(25:19):
did last night. While the Chiefs don't blow teams out
the way the other excellent teams in football do over
the last few years, they just simply never beat themselves,
and yesterday they beat themselves. Yesterday is the first game
in four years the Chiefs have won the turnover battle
(25:42):
and lost the game. There have only been three games
in the last four years where they have won or
tied the turnover battle and lost the game. Week one
against Detroit couple of years ago, the pick six Week
one against the Chargers. This year team turned it over,
and then this week with a pick six, and so
(26:09):
all of that just it. It's just a horrible loss.
All is right in the world again, Ye're pretty happy
this he's and it's just everything's back the way it's
supposed to be. You guys, check the latest MVP odds.
(26:30):
Who's the favorite? Patrick go on hard Rock Bet Check
the latest Super Bowl odds, who's the favorite the Chiefs.
Everything's everything is the way it's supposed to be. And one,
and what is so gratifying about this is we don't
(26:53):
I thought the way this was going to go was
all the folks that wrote the Chiefs obituary three weeks ago,
we're going to have to answer for that commentary in
January instead, because of how even with the loss nine
(27:21):
days ago by the Chiefs, because of how the rest
of the league has looked and how Kansas City looked
on national TV Sunday night, all those folks have to
eat it immediately. We're not to Halloween yet, and they
all have to be like, all right, I'm dumb, you're right,
(27:43):
I'm wrong. It's so good it's so much fun. And
the fact that they're winning this way with the offense
humming back to you're shocked when they don't get a
touchdown doing Patrick things and they don't have their best
(28:04):
offensive weapon not named Patrick Mahomes yet And then you
just you watch the rest of the league and and
we'll get to these games. But you watch the Broncos
do everything they can to try to lose to one
of the worst teams I've ever seen in the Jets.
You watch the Chargers do everything they can. Great play
(28:26):
at the end by the Chargers, but the Chargers struggle
with a Dolphins team that seems to actively hate each other.
You watch the Bills what they did last night, the
Eagles that are ripping themselves a part of the seams,
the Lions, we saw them play. And the other reason
I'm happy is, you know the one team, Demonsey, that
(28:48):
you can hold up next to the Chiefs right now
and be like, hey, what what are you what's the
what are you gonna say bad about this team? And
I'm gonna say, no, there isn't anything. The Bucks, the Bucks,
who are my pick going into the year. I'm feeling good.
(29:11):
I had to eat it a lot those first couple
of weeks. I had to come on here talk about
all these concerns. I had to listen to the great
my beloved Kevin Wilde's act like Andy Reid and Travis
Kelsey are not essentially family and worry about the fact
that Andy bumped Travis. I do all that, and less
(29:33):
than a month later, you know the other way, I
know we're back because we're back to the refs. We
are so the Chiefs are.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Bad about to say.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
The level of whining I expected from some of the
media and certainly fans. But did you see Kirby Joseph
First team All Pro last year? Kirby Joseph for the
Detroit Lions sent out twenty four tweets after the game
whining about the refs. Get it together, Detroit.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
He's one safety study that came out was a study
that came on that screened.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
By the way, I have never seen Can I just
say something that that that UTEP I paid the eight
and here's so that UTEP study that, by the way,
no one has read. Everyone has just read the news
article about it. You know how I know because to
(30:32):
read that study you got to subscribe to that journal,
which either is going to cost a couple hundred bucks
or you can pay eighteen dollars for twenty four hour access.
Guess who paid the eighteen dollars for twenty four hour access.
This guy hand up. Guess who didn't everyone else. It's
one of the most ridiculous studies I've ever seen. The
(30:56):
too long, didn't read version of it is the Chiefs
have played the most play off games, and therefore their
opponents have been called for the most penalties. That like,
give you it is, but I don't even give it.
I don't care about that. I do care about high
leverage spots. Again. The games are on TV. Thirty million
(31:18):
people watch him find Me, Find Me? The the call
we're all mad about. But I don't even want to
talk about it. I don't I'm gonna get I'm gonna
get mad. That's not what today is for. It's not
for the idiots in El Paso. The so one Lion
safety took the loss so well he went on tweet storm,
(31:40):
tweeting out photoshops of Mahomes kissing a raft. The other
Lion's safety took the loss so well he hit Juju
Smith Schuster in the face and now he's going to
have to miss a massive game against Tampa and then
goes in the locker room and I don't know if
(32:02):
you guys watched that video, but it sure seemed like
he was about to cry while saying and I quote
they were bullying me out there, and the quote whim
what you were bullied out there? Is this Sunday night
(32:27):
football with the big bad Detroit Lions or the Great Recess?
What are you talking about? You got bullied? Should Juju
have to sit by himself at lunch? Is Patrick gonna
have to miss the not get a juice box tomorrow?
(32:48):
You got bullied. You're supposed to be the bullies. And
instead of being the bullies. On fourth and goal, to
set the tone on your first drive of the game
and handing the ball to David Montgomery from the six
inch line, you pop Jared Goff out wide on a
(33:12):
play because you're that you don't even know the rules
on and throw them a pass. You got bullied. That's
a bad look, buddy, That's a bad look. It's where
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or Virginia. Here are my snap takeaways from it. Okay, so, Patrick,
for just the second time all year made costly miss.
The pick that Lattimore got was at the time his
(35:06):
third pick of the year. Two of what the Jags
pick and the Latimore pick were, you know, bad throws
and or bad decisions. And then all later in the
first quarter, for the second time all year, Patrick made
a great throat to Travis that Travis bobbled and got picked.
(35:27):
And because of that, the Commanders were able to hang around. Luckily,
the Chiefs are back to being the Chiefs in full
and because of that, it flatly did not matter. They
had a drive in Demondsey, they had a drive in
this game that was one hundred and nineteen yard touchdown
(35:48):
drive because they got it started on the six and
they got penalties on it to where they had to
recoup those yards. And as I have been and screaming
from the mountaintops for the better part of two years.
All Patrick Mahomes needs is a competent offensive line and
(36:14):
a league average receiving corps, which now they have above
league average, and now they do have. Demon's a real
AFC playoff team gauntlet coming up Sunday at the Bills,
then a bye week, than at the Broncos, than home
(36:35):
for the Colts, and that will that three game stretch
will determine the AFC West. It will go a long
way to determining the AFC East for the Bills purposes,
and it will go a long way to determining the
number one seed in the AFC. And so I could
not feel better about where this team is right now.
(36:58):
And oh yeah, by the way, the defense has allowed
seven points in the last two weeks. Let's get to
Bills Chiefs. All right, it's that time.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
So the Bills won their Super Bowl against your Kansas
City Chiefs. Kansas City has heads into the by five
and four as the eight seed, and the Bills are
the favorite to win the one seed. How are you
how do you want to do this one? How are
you feeling? I mean, well, they did get the first one.
They got the first one, so now they'll get them
(37:27):
in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
If the user, I mean, that's that's the way it goes.
But I let me give Buffalo credit because I got listen.
I picked the Chiefs. I bet the Chiefs. I did
not think the Bills defense, even if the Chiefs had
their typical regular season against Buffalo vanilla game plan, I
did not think the Bills defense would be able to
(37:50):
keep up with Kansas City. And not only they keep
up with Kansas City, they dominated most of that game,
and Josh played great and Patrick played really shaky. That
was the first game in Patrick's entire career he completed
less than fifty percent of his passes, and they pressured
(38:11):
the Chiefs at will, and the Bills were the far
better team. It was a miracle. The Chiefs had multiple
possessions down seven in the fourth quarter, and that last
possession when McDermott chose to go for a field goal,
was coaching malpractice. You have to punt there, like the
going for that field goal and giving the Chiefs a
(38:33):
short field when they're only going to have twenty three
or twenty two seconds if you punt is just insanity.
I couldn't believe he did it, but set that aside,
Buffalo steadied themselves. Buffalo stayed very alive for their division
as the Patriots have just a cake schedule moving forward,
(38:55):
and Buffalo ran the ball great, Josh was awesome, and
the defense, which was my concern with them, more than
stepped up. So all of that is true. That can
be true, while it's also true that this does not
(39:17):
change my opinion one percent about what a Chiefs Bill's
playoff game could look like. And I thought the Bill's
young secondary players Cole Bishop and Xavier Hairston after the
game talking about the tells they saw on tape was
(39:38):
a big unforced error. Save that info, kids like, you're
probably going to have to play this team again, and
so listen. Kansas City has its work cutout form. But
the whole if the playoffs started today thing is just
(39:59):
meaningless to me. The playoffs don't start today. They have
eight more games to play. If I now, did this
hurt their chances of winning the division? Sure do I
still right now? Would I still pick them to win
the division? I? Would? And I think that the Chiefs
(40:21):
are going.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
To bass them as the Super Bowl favorites.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, because they're the best team, and I don't know
how long we're going to talk Broncos Chiefs, and I
didn't want to not have time, and the people in
the chat saying, quit stalling and get to it, guys,
I am. I do I do about more live media
than at least sports media than anyone in the field.
(40:47):
I'm not you know, I'm not in I certainly don't
do more media than everyone who does sports media if
you include their asinine and ridiculous political talk shows. But
when it comes to actual sports talk, I do quite
a bit. I'm not going to be able to run
from any story, and I certainly can't run from this one.
(41:10):
The Chiefs went to Denver and arguably their biggest regular
season game of Patrick's career, and got thoroughly outplayed and
blew a more than winnable game multiple times, blew a
(41:35):
fourth quarter lead, and in that singular game, Bo Nicks
played better than Patrick Mahomes. That is what happened. I
could not have been more shocked watching a game than
I was watching that one. Because the Chiefs are healthy
(42:00):
for the most part. I know they don't have Pacheco.
The Chiefs right now are a healthier than average NFL
team for this point the season. They were off a bye,
they had full motivation, a lot of familiarity with that opponent,
and Patrick was off and the defense could not get
(42:26):
a stop when it mattered, and so on the offensive
side of things, first second play of the game, you
have Xavier Worthy open for six. Yeah, it's a tough
throw because it's sixty yards in the air, but those
(42:48):
are the throws that you know partly made Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes, he missed him. That would have been a
chance to just basically set the tone for the game.
Immediately missed that opportunity. Obviously. You know they had a
sequence right before the Patrick interception, and this might have
(43:15):
been the single biggest swing of the game. Patrick throws
a little swing pass to Kareem Hunt. He gets down
to the two yard line. They're gonna have first and
goal from the two. Juwan Taylor the illegal formation lined
up too far back. Instead of first and goal from
(43:39):
the two, it becomes first and fifteen. Two plays later,
Patrick makes a terrible throw, and instead of at least
being without the penalty, it's probably gonna be thirteen to
six with the penalty, it still should be at least
nine to six throws a pick, Denver dry down and scores.
(44:03):
Despite all that, Kansas City fights back, scores a couple touchdowns,
takes the lead, has the ball in the fourth quarter
with a lead, go down, score a touchdown, game over
three and out, then gets the ball back, tie game
(44:25):
four minutes perfect, not going to cover the three and
a half, but still drive down the field, kick a
field goal, win the game three and out. And then
on the defensive side of the ball, first drive of
the game, first play sack, have them in second and sixteen,
(44:48):
which turns into third and seven, and give it up.
Later in that drive, have them in third and eleven
outside a field goal range, and give it up. And
on the final drive of the g game, after those
two offensive three and outs, you instantly have bon knicks
in third and fifteen and you can't get a pass rush,
(45:13):
and you give up a twenty yard completion. Three plays later,
it's third and six, still not in field goal range,
and you give up a seven yard completion. Denver made
the high leverage plays, Kansas City did not, and Denver
(45:36):
now is a stranglehold on the division. And I can
think what I want and still think about bone Nicks
and his long term viability as a franchise quarterback. But
the fact of the matter is on Sunday, he played,
(45:58):
in my opinion, the best game of his career in
the second biggest game of his career. The only game
that would have been bigger is the playoff game, and
he was excellent. Excellent might be strong. He was good.
They are five and five. Obviously, if they go seven
(46:18):
and oh, they're a lock for the playoffs. And at
seven and oh they actually would have a chance to
come all the way back and win the division. But
it would be and even though they're favored in every
game remaining, given the fact that they're five and five,
(46:40):
just sitting here saying they're gonna rip off seven straight
would be overly optimistic, even for me. But seven and
oh definitely gets them in. Six and one, which would
put them at eleven and six almost assuredly gets them in.
(47:05):
But five and two probably does not. And that is
the thing that I think, if we're gonna have an
honest conversation about where the Chiefs are, what has to
(47:29):
be acknowledged is they probably only have one more loss
to play with, barring a true collapse by the Jags
or the Chargers. We start with the Chiefs saving their season,
(47:55):
because while they would not have been mathematically eliminated, and
I probably would have even convinced myself, well, if they
just go six and zero down the stretch, they'll make
the playoffs, which what is true. By the way, eleven
wins almost assuredly will get a man and five and
(48:16):
six they would have still been alive. For eleven wins,
that would have been a season ending loss. Dominating the
time of possession, dominating the yardage battle, and just not
making championship plays would have signaled that this Chiefs team
(48:39):
simply doesn't have the juice of Chiefs teams in years past. Thankfully, however,
they are the Chiefs. They do still have Patrick Mahomes
and Chris Jones and Andy Reid, and despite fumbling inside
(48:59):
the five yard line while trailing by eleven in the
fourth quarter, they then played perfect defensive football, good but
not great offensive football, and it was enough to potentially
derail is probably too strong, but really throw a wrench
(49:24):
in this magical Indie season and give Kansas City a
chance to in forty eight hours be for the first
time or just the second time all year two games
above five hundred really have their head above water and
(49:45):
be able to have the many buy take a deep
breath before a very difficult stretch run of final five games,
two of which are cupcakes, the Tight and the Raiders,
and three of which are teams fighting for exactly what
(50:05):
the Chiefs are fighting for, AFC playoff spots and AFC
playoff seeding with games against the Texans, Chargers and Broncos.
So how did they do it? Because right now they
are still the ten seed. They went into the week
the nine seed, but they come out of the week
despite the win the ten seed because every because the
(50:26):
Texans won, the Chargers were off, the Jags won. We'll
get to those games later. So how did they do it?
They did it because the defense absolutely shut down start
to finish Jonathan Taylor in one of the most impressive
(50:50):
defensive performances any team has had all year. They allowed
twenty but seven of them were on a drive that
started at the three thanks to Patrick's interception, and so
to essentially hold the highest scoring, highest yardage, most efficient
(51:13):
offense in the NFL to thirteen points without forcing a
turnover is just a remarkable job by that Chiefs defense,
and for the Colts to have the ball up eleven
and go run, pass pass, and then have the ball
(51:40):
up three and go pass, pass, pass, and then have
the ball up three again and go pass pass pass,
before you go to overtime and you go pass, run, run.
(52:03):
It's just it is a testament to the fact that
the Chiefs defense was able to convince the Colts by
the fourth quarter of this game, you're simply not going
to get Jonathan Taylor going. But it also and it
(52:23):
also was a testament to the fact that the Chiefs defense,
right or wrong, simply said Daniel Jones, go ahead and
beat us. We don't think you can, and he couldn't.
And that gave the Chiefs offense and Patrick just enough
(52:43):
bites at the apple that they were able to overcome
a really sloppy game, not just the turnovers, but the
red zone inefficiency, the missed open guys, and the hurky
jerking nature of the offense. And Rashi Rice in the
(53:08):
second half of that game, really, for the first time,
maybe since his suspension, certainly since his first game back
from the suspension, looked like the player that we saw
at the end of his rookie year, and the beginning
of last season before he got injured, which is just
(53:29):
a dynamic, elite yard after catch player. Xavier Worthy made
a huge play. Noah freaking Gray made a catch while unconscious,
which is still one of the more remarkable feats of
this NFL season, and the Chiefs offense did just enough
(53:57):
against the lou Anarumo Colts defense to where they're now stabilized.
By the way that is now four consecutive wins by
Patrick against lou Anarumo, his alleged kryptonite four wins in
(54:17):
a row. After losing the first three games he faced
against him, He's now one four straight. But the story
of the game is the defense. The fact that the
Colts had thirteen to three and outs all year going
(54:38):
into that game, which is remarkable, and I don't know
how many they had total in the game, but I
do know they had four straight to end the game.
And Chris Jones, who has been I think it's fair
to say underwhelming this year, picked a hell of a
(55:02):
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Speaker 2 (55:36):
The Chiefs are a rough spot. You've always said, with
the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, that they've
always had a shot. But now your Chiefs are six
and six in two games out of the Wildcard, not
two games out of the Arrowhead Invitational. With the Wildcard, yep, yeah,
they have none of the key tie breakers with the
head to add teams.
Speaker 1 (55:55):
How were are you at the state the Chiefs are
in right now? I mean, you've got to be really
concerned that the only way they guarantee themselves a spot
in the playoffs is by winning out. And I am listen,
some folks are it is not a mathematical certainty that
(56:17):
winning out gets them in, but winning out gets them in,
and so they they are alive and the AFC to me,
does feel as wide open as it has at any
point in my life, maybe since eight, the year Brady
(56:40):
went down with an injury, and it wasn't a great
Peyton Manning year, and so certainly the most wide open
it's been in more than a decade. So if they
were to get hot, play their best football, get in,
I think that they would be immediately the Vegas favorites
(57:03):
to win the conference. The problem is getting in is
going to be very difficult because of those tiebreakers they
don't have that you mentioned now. If they were to
beat Houston and then the Chargers, which are their next two,
(57:23):
then maybe they could lose to Denver and sneak in
at ten and seven because they would have a tiebreaker
over the Colts, tiebreaker over the Ravens which won't matter,
and a tiebreaker over Houston. Maybe there would be a
path there, But the only certain path is winning out,
(57:47):
and right now it is very difficult to trust this team.
Even though Patrick's had at least a five game winning
streak every year of his career, it is very difficult
to trust this team to win five straight because quite simply,
(58:08):
they can't get off the field, and this was a
problem in Week one against the Chargers, it was a
problem against Josh Allen, it was a problem against bow Knicks,
and it was a huge problem against Dak Prescott and
the Dallas Cowboys, where historically what the Chiefs defense would
(58:37):
do really well is one good run stop on a
drive to put you in second and nine, one forced
in completion to put you in third and nine, and
then dial something up to get you off the field.
(59:00):
All game long and all season long, this team has
been forcing third and longs and then been totally unable
to get off the field. And that is why despite
(59:20):
Patrick playing at the level that he is, and he
was brilliant on Thursday, and he's currently he's third in
the league in yards, fourth in the league in touchdowns,
for second in the league in QBR, the ESPN stat,
first in the league in the nerd stat that I
(59:42):
don't love EPA. He's having an awesome year, but poorly
time turnovers by the Chiefs in previous games, and the
total inability all season long, aside from the Colts fourth
(01:00:03):
quarter against the Colts to make impact plays on defense
might wreck the season. It's very precarious. It's the most precarious.
It's ever been in Kansas City. There's no getting around that. Now.
(01:00:23):
With that said, I know myself and I don't think
it will be unreasonable or irrational that if if they
win Sunday, and I'm telling you right now with that
(01:00:44):
offensive line situation, Chiefs minus three and a half are
not going to be one of my picks this week.
If they win Sunday, then I will feel like, all right,
beat the Chargers now next week and you're gonna go
to another super Bowl. That's how all feel I will.
(01:01:06):
I feel like they're a win away from being a
win away. If that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.
And so I I have not my hope. I have
not given up hope or given up belief, but my
confidence has been shaken because it should be. The Chiefs
(01:01:34):
are six and seven demos.
Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Yeah, it's grim. They have lost now four of their
last five. After that game with Houston. This is the
first time I think it kind of looked like the
cold was affecting the Chiefs. O. Lione was cook, Kelsey
had some drops, Rice had some drops. Mahomes was limping around.
Is there any type of silver lining or any type
of hope that you're holding on to after those last
(01:01:58):
game through the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
All right, Well, listen, the hope is like, do they
have a path to the playoffs? And the answer is
yes technically, but and the simplest way to explain their
path to the playoffs and then we'll get into what has happened,
But let me just get this out of the way.
(01:02:22):
They have to go four and oh home Chargers at Titans, home,
Broncos at Raiders. The Colts can't go three and one.
Not worried about that. They're they're they're I mean, they're
thinking about starting Philip Rivers. So the Colts part of it,
to me is easy because the Colts have Seahawks, Niners, Jags, Texans,
(01:02:48):
So the the let's just say the Colts are out
and then the Chargers have to go either ohero and
four or one in three, with one of the losses
being to Denver in week eighteen. The simplest way to
(01:03:10):
look at can the Chiefs make the playoffs is they
have to beat the Chargers this weekend. They then have
to beat the Titans, the Broncos, and the Raiders, and
the Chargers have to then lose to Denver in week
eighteen and to either the Texans or the Cowboys in
(01:03:34):
week sixteen seventeen. If that happens, the Chiefs make it.
Chiefs lose. Chiefs eliminated, Patrick injured.
Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
One of the weirdest, saddest reasons that I've had to
do for this show. It was very strange. Chiefs eliminated
from the playoffs after the loss of the Chargers, Patrick
Mahomes with the torn ACL and LCL. They're done. Yes, Jayson,
you said that this was the end of a chapter
or in the yeah chapter.
Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
So I'll get into that part in a second. First,
I want to say this, this is pro football, and
this Yes, this is my hometown team, and yes I
have a personal relationship for with Patrick, and so Andy's
(01:04:21):
the face of the league and one of the defining
players in league history. All of those things make this
extra gutting in the short term, and we'll see what
it means in the long term. But I don't want
(01:04:42):
to overstate the how do I put this, because the
devastation of the moment is real. The sympathy or empathy
that folks should have for me, or for Chiefs fans
(01:05:04):
or whatever right now, I think that's overstated, because this
is pro football, and this happens. And it was the
Chiefs turn to have the year from hell, and it
was sadly Patrick's turned to roll craps and he was
(01:05:30):
fighting through a knee injury. The last few weeks. He
was on the injury report the last few weeks. You
saw him laboring. We said after Week one, man, he
sure ran a lot and sure took a lot of hits.
And there's a tax to all of it. There just is.
(01:05:50):
And there is a cost to the twenty game seasons.
There is a cost to the offensive line injury. There
is a cost to Patrick's refusal to sit out a
game when his knee was obviously bothering him. There is
(01:06:10):
a cost to the Chiefs being in must win, gotta
have it elimination games this early in the season. You
extend your body, you extend plays, you put yourself out there,
and this happens. This is not I am sick for Patrick.
I'm sick for myself, but I'm also the Patriots and
(01:06:33):
their fans watch Tom Brady go down the first week
of a season. The Colts and their fans watched Peyton
Manning miss a whole year with a neck injury. The
Packers and their fans watched Pete Aaron Rodgers knocked out
for half a season with a snapped collar bone, like
the Ravens twice have had Lamar Lateney get hurt and
(01:07:02):
never come back. The Bengals and Joe Burrow have had
multiple seasons derailed by the guy getting hurt. Like this
is pro sports and this sport in particular, and so
I I am trying to balance how much it sucks
(01:07:26):
that Patrick is going through this, how much the reality
of We now have a line of demarcation in Patrick's
career that's going to be before and after the ACL
and we're going to see how he recovers from it,
how he attacks it, how it changes for good or
(01:07:49):
for bad, the player that he is, and I and
I can recognize that and do me a favorite. Guys,
(01:08:10):
don't put questions in the rundown near the top of it. Sorry,
this is a production note while we're doing it. It's
good I lose my train of thought and I can
recognize all of that while also not feeling like woe
(01:08:30):
is me is appropriate. This has been as good of
a seven year run as any football fan base has
ever gotten seven years of conference championship games, five Super
(01:08:52):
Bowl appearances, three Super Bowl victories that you can put
it up against anything any team has done in the
history of the sport. This seven years matches any seven
years the Patriots had, any seven years the Niners in
the eighties had, and the Steelers in the seventies is
(01:09:15):
a weird one because they won four super Bowls, but
they didn't get to the conference championship game every year,
and they didn't get to five super Bowls. That's a
tomato tomato thing. You can say that one was better,
but it's at least in the argument. And now the
Chiefs received back into football general population and then see
(01:09:46):
if they can emerge once again. And I hate that
I have talked about this comp so much and now
it is even more apropro apropos. But you guys have
heard me whenever we have done the Brady Mahomes career stuff,
(01:10:09):
talk about in his eight years a starter, Tom blew
out his knee and then that team had its only
real low. Obviously, they missed the playoffs the year Tom missed.
They still won eleven games, by the way, which is
shout out to how unbelievable the seven pats and eight
(01:10:29):
Pats were as a roster, and then in two thousand
and nine Tom wasn't his best. They won ten games
and got annihilated in round one of the playoffs. And
in twenty ten Tom was exceptional. That team was fourteen
and two, and then they lost one of the weirdest
(01:10:50):
playoff games ever to Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets.
And then in twenty eleven they started their run and
I don't know what is I here is as far
(01:11:13):
as this not being what's the right way to put this?
In a weird way, I feel worse for Packer fans
with the Mica injury than for chief fans with the
Mahomes injury. In this regard, I was wrong about this team.
(01:11:40):
They didn't have it this year. And so had they
been eleven and three in that game, and or I
guess ten and three because that was right? How do
I have this right? I'm all scattered ten and three
going into that game and had looked great. It was like, man,
(01:12:04):
this is another championship level team. I think this would
sting even more, but it was pretty clear it became
I came to terms with where this Chiefs team was
(01:12:25):
about an hour and a half before Mahomes's injury, the
final drive of the first half up thirteen to three,
letting the Chargers drive the length of the field the
combo platter of not being able to punch in the
Herbert interception and getting seven, and then later in the
(01:12:50):
second quarter allowing them to go the length of the
field in forty seconds to take what could have been
a seven teen to three or at the very least
thirteen to three, or worst case scenario, thirteen to six
lead into halftime in a must win home game, letting
(01:13:12):
the Chargers, whose offense right now is not very good,
go the length of the field to make it thirteen
to ten, and then watching the Chiefs offense do nothing
the entire second half. They didn't have it, And so
this was not the Chiefs leaving a man, left a
(01:13:35):
potential championship on the table because the quarterback got hurt.
They were not good enough this year, and I was wrong.
I talked a lot of shit, poked at a lot
of folks as soon as they looked like the Chiefs. Again,
that was a brief mirage in who this seam was
(01:13:57):
this season, and I do feel demonse that they are
about to have a mirror held up to some of
their structural issues that Patrick was holding together over these
(01:14:18):
last three weeks of the year. Because I think they
are going to lose to the Tennessee Titans. I think
they are going to get beat up by the Denver Broncos. OK,
and then we'll see Week eighteen Raiders Chiefs in Vegas.
(01:14:41):
You know who shows up for that game. But I
think with these o line injuries, this lack of a
running game, and one of the bigger disappointments of this
season is the lack of development from the wide receivers,
(01:15:07):
I think you're going to see what this offense looks
like with bad quarterback play. Because I understand Mahomes numbers
after the bye. The Cowboys game notwithstanding, were ghastly. The
Cowboys game is the one thing propping them up. I
(01:15:31):
think you're about to see what actual bad quarterback play
would look like with the team right now with its issues,
and I do think that there needs to be some
real soul searching is too strong, but some personal accountability
(01:15:58):
by everyone involved in the team, and hey, how do
we make sure the next time Patrick takes the field
this team doesn't have as many glaring weaknesses as it
had in twenty twenty five. And listen, it's hard. There
(01:16:20):
is a reason only one team ever's gone to four
straight Super Bowls. There's a reason only one team ever
has gone to more than seven straight conference championship games.
There is a reason only three other teams ever had
gone to three straight Super Bowls. What the Chiefs accomplished
(01:16:45):
was certain things were unprecedented, and certain things were only
you know, had only been accomplished by one or two
of the other greatest dynasties ever. But you saw some
of the where of the late draft picks, of guys
(01:17:11):
not developing, of some a draft miss here, a free
agency missed there, a poorly timed injury there. And they
couldn't run the ball, and they couldn't rush the passer
all year long. And these receivers who I like, I
(01:17:37):
think Rashid Rice has the ability to be excellent. I
saw him be exceptional for the second half of his
rookie season. I know the talent Xavier Worthy has. But
those guys not developing into fully formed, legitimate man beating
wide receivers hurt this team a lot too. And so
(01:18:01):
those are the things that you address moving forward for
the Chiefs, and then you see what version of Patrick
we have when he comes back. I believe the type
(01:18:23):
of competitor and legendary athlete he is, that there is
a very good chance he comes back as a better
player as a player that if he especially if he
can't early on rely as much on his athleticism, is
(01:18:50):
even more precise in the pocket and traditional drop back
since then he's been the last couple of years, and
so I'm not worried about Patrick, and I would put
I understand it was a terrible injury and he tore
two ligaments. I would put all my money on him
(01:19:14):
being back for Week one next year. It's right at
nine months, and I think he'll do it. And what
will the team around him look like is the question
Welcome to the best of the week for What's Right
with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
week on the show. Enjoy Now to the easiest bet
every single year, the Chiefs hitting there over under Andy Reid.
It has failed to happen one time, and they made
(00:20):
up for it that year by winning the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs win total getting even money over eleven and
a half wins. That's an easy one. I will take
over eleven and a half every day with Kansas City.
Twelve and five would disappoint me. I expect thirteen and
(00:42):
four or better. They are not going eleven and six
the Chiefs. We don't need to spend more time on it.
Everyone knew I was going Chiefs over because it is
the right bet. I am going over with the Kansas
City Chiefs. Our annual tradition EXACTA. Three years ago we
(01:04):
had Chiefs Niners, and the Niners found themselves in the
Conference championship game. Last two years ago we had Chiefs Cowboys,
and the Cowboys found themselves with twelve wins. Last year
we had Chiefs Bears, and the Bears had a season
from hell and missed the playoffs. This year, the Super
(01:27):
Bowl EXACTA at fifty five to one is a drummer.
We please, Demonse.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
We got Kansas City versus Tampa Bay and the Super
Bowl exact plus fifty five hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
How about the and then obviously spoiler Super Bowl exactly
the winner.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Right, Kansas City defeat Tampa Bay at plus eleven thousand.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Indeed, so, Demonse, here's something I didn't even think about
when I made this pick. Brew mentioned it. The Chiefs
with Mahomes have been to five Super Bowls, all rematches,
played Philly twice, played San Francisco twice. The one other
(02:12):
team they played Tampa Bay, another Super Bowl rematch bake
Show against Patrick revisiting the greatest, the craziest college football
game ever played. Do you know about their college.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Game, Demonsemes and Baker against each other? Yeah, I'm sure
they each other up.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Hold on, well let me, Demonse, so let me just
tell you real quick, twenty sixteen, because they have played
in the playoffs before. All right, so the final score, Demanse,
let me, I'm just actually hold on. Let me just
go to Patrick Mahomes college stats. Final score was sixty
six to fifty nine. So that gives you a little
(02:58):
bit of a preview. It was Texas Tech where Baker
started against Oklahoma, and hold on, where is it here?
It is? The final stats are as follows. Uh. Joe
Mixon was in the game. He ran for two sixty
(03:19):
okay and four touchdowns. But that wasn't the story. The
story was Baker. Baker was twenty seven of thirty six
only through thirty six passes for five hundred and forty
five yards, seven touchdowns, no picks. Jesus okay, okay. Patrick
(03:41):
Patrick was fifty two of eighty eight.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Oh was slee.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
For seven hundred and thirty four yards five touchdowns. Running
back well, no, they did have a running back go
twelve carries for eighty five five yards and two touchdowns.
That running backs name was Patrick Mahomes. So Mahomes in
that game combined for eight hundred and ten yards, seven touchdowns,
(04:13):
one pick. Bake show in that game never ran the
ball through for five forty five and seven touchdowns on
just thirty six attempts. Mahomes threw at eighty eight times.
It is an all time legendary college football game.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
October twenty second, twenty sixteen, all timer. And so they've
played in the playoffs before Patrick got hurt against the
when Baker was there in the Browns, and yeah, that's
my uh, that is most Super Bowl EXACTA. I Am
(04:57):
not going to sit here and act like everything's fine
with the Chiefs right now. It isn't. There are some
I want to focus on the concerning things that have
occurred in both games. Okay, So for instance, Week one,
(05:21):
the secondary, which has been a strength of this team,
looked hugely problematic against Herbert and the Chargers. Week two,
I thought the secondary looked really good, right, So like
that's the one good game, one bad game. I'm not
focusing on that. Here is what through two weeks looks problematic,
(05:43):
and I don't know where the solve for it is.
The Chiefs running game is as inept right now as
it's ever been since Patrick's been there. Pachecko sadly, he
just does not look like the same player he was
before he broke his leg. And what's odd about it
(06:08):
is his biggest problem through two weeks doesn't seem to
be explosion. It seems to be vision and hitting the
right hole. You wouldn't think that is related to a
lower body injury, but he just hasn't been effective. Kareem
Hunt is who he is. He if you need one
(06:29):
yard more way more often than not, he will get
it for you. But he has no chance of getting
you ten. And they brought in Elijah Mitchell. Nothing's happened there.
They drafted Brischard Smith in the I think seventh round.
He's seventh round rookie. Like they just right now don't
have the horses in the running back room, and that
(06:52):
is a spot that I would not at all hate
for him to be active on. In the trade market,
I think we have There has been a lot of
discussion of should the Chiefs trade for Tyreek Hill? The
wide receivers are coming back, Okay, I if I were
(07:15):
doing a trade with Miami, I might be equally, if
not more, interested in Devin h Chan Like I think
that there are you running backs will be and should
be available, and that might be a spot that they
have to bite the bullet and spend some draft capital
(07:36):
via trade on. So that's one piece, and here's another one.
As good as Josh Simmons has been at the left
tackle spot, Patrick still doesn't feel totally comfortable in his protection. Now,
some of that's been the left guard spot's been really problematic.
(07:57):
But Creed's great, Trade's great, Simmons is really good, Joan
Taylor when he's not committing penalties is fine. And Patrick
just seems like he doesn't trust it right now. And
I am as confident in Patrick Mahomes as any player
that's ever played in the league that he will figure
(08:19):
stuff out. And there have been times this season where
it has felt like he's out there. I don't want
to say by himself, but nobody can get opening. They
can't run the ball, which has forced him to and
this is the part of the season that I have
liked the absolute least. It has forced him to activate
(08:40):
playoff running Mahomes in weeks one and two, and I
despise that because obviously it puts him in jeopardy, which
is the biggest concern. But the other thing is one
of the reasons he has had the post season's success
(09:01):
that he's had. One of the reasons he has been
so much more dynamic and effective statistically and from a
winning perspective on a per game basis than any other
quarterback in the history of the league come the postseason
is because every single postseason he adds a huge weapon
(09:23):
to his game that is not there in the regular season,
which is the quarterback runs the scrambles, and if he's
using that during the regular season, it has just multiple concerns.
One is he can get banged up. Another is you're
not getting that auto postseason boost. Like Josh Allen and
(09:45):
Lamar are unbelievable runners at the quarterback position, they do
it starting in Week one and never stop. So it
doesn't add an element to their game come the playoffs.
It has for Patrick and the last listen issue on
offense is the greatest tight end in the history of
the league has had a really rough two weeks. There's
(10:08):
no way around it. Third play of the season. I
thought it was Xavier's mistake. He says. It was his
mistake that he ran the wrong depth of his route
and Xavier's hurt. Later in that game, he and Patrick
aren't on quite the same page. When they're down nine,
about to score, they don't connect on what would have
(10:29):
been a touchdown. And then obviously the Eagles game, they're
about to take the lead and he bobbles a pass
and it turns into a game changing interception. That's all.
It's been highly damaging. I don't know if it's yet
(10:49):
highly concerning, but it's highly damaging. Okay, So there is
that piece of it on the defensive side of the ball.
The only complaint I have after week two is they
cannot seem to get pressure without sending a blitz, like
(11:11):
if they rush for they just cannot get home. So
I don't know if that means the rookies Ashton Jalot
or Omar Norman lot need to be more effective. Certainly
Charles Amena who needs to be more effective. Mike Dana
got hurt in this game. That didn't help. George Karloft
has just got paid by this team, he needs to
(11:33):
be more effective. Like Chris Jones is a man on
an island at times. And so those are real problems, okay,
And right now the Chiefs don't deserve to be anything
close to Super Bowl favorites. I'm not gonna sit here
(11:53):
and act like, ah, they got unlucky, they got this. No.
If anything, it is surprising that they have had a
chance to win both of these games when they haven't
played well. They've missed kicks in both games. They haven't
(12:13):
forced a turnover. So that is the true and fair,
sober analysis of where the Chiefs are through two weeks.
Anything past that is nonsense. Anyone trying to pedal Wow,
(12:34):
should they be worried about making the playoffs? I think
has lost their mind. Now is the division for the
first time in Jeopardy? Yeah, when you're zero to two
and a team that beat you is two to zero
(12:56):
with a divisional win, it's understandable that the Chiefs are
no longer the favorites in the division. Demanse and where
where does hard Rock Bet have them at? Right now?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
They've got them at plus two forty to win the division?
Should you hammer that?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I mean, listen, as it's not surprising to you. Probably
I have a lot of exposure already on the Chiefs,
you know, futures and season and win total. But I
think plus two point forty is good value right now
when I do right now, if I had to pick it,
(13:38):
I would still pick the Chiefs to win the division.
What I do think though, and I told this story
on the TV show. I'm going to tell it again
here because having an encyclopedic memory about the Patrick mahomes
Erra for the Kansaity Chiefs can pay dividends and so
let me tell you guys. A quick story. In twenty twenty,
(14:00):
the Chiefs with the defending champions, went back to the
Super Bowl and got blasted by Tampa Bay. The next year,
not only did they start out three and four, but
Mahomes had the first real slump of his career. Is
with Kelsey this Tyreek. They get blown out by Buffalo,
(14:22):
they get blown out by Tennessee. They then play the
Giants and need a field goal with a minute left
to be a foreign and eventually four win. Joe Judge
Giants team to get to three and four. The very
next week, they play the Packers in the game Aaron
(14:45):
Rodgers can't play in because of That's how we found
out he didn't have the COVID vaccine because he was
on the COVID list. And Jordan Love, in his first
career start, comes to town and it's one of the
ugliest games ever. And with two minutes left it is
thirteen to seven Kansas City and Mahomes has played terribly okay,
(15:12):
And it is third and ten and a first down
wins the game, and they don't get a first down
and they could lose outright and fall to three and five,
and Patrick play breaks down. Patrick scrambles to his right
off one leg, zips in a laser down the sideline
(15:33):
to ice the game. And I went on TV the
next day and said, I believe that's the moment Patrick
snapped out of his funk. I believe that is the
moment that the Chiefs will be the Chiefs again. And
the rest of the season they lost one time and
made it to the AFC Championship Game, where they did
(15:55):
lose to the Cincinnati Bengals, But the rest of it,
from that moment forward, there were good. What does any
team in football this year? They get blown out in
the Super Bowl, they look terrible through two weeks. They
are playing the New York Giants. It is a tie game.
(16:17):
Approaching halftime, Patrick attempts to swing past Isaiah Pacheco, who
runs in the wrong direction. The ball is live, it
is about to be Giants thirteen to six, and the
Chiefs are going to be in dire straits and Patrick
(16:37):
Mahomes runs down the Giants player who's about to scoop
and score, takes the ball back from him, steadies the team,
And from that moment forward in that game was Patrick
Mahomes again, I do think we are going to look
(16:58):
back on that moment as the moment the Chiefs studied themselves.
Where I am, though, Demons is fully relaxed and comfortable
and relieved about the Chiefs. Let's get right to the
game of the weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, so we all saw what happened on Sunday. Your
Chiefs crushed my Ravens. We were obviously riddled with injuries.
Our quarterback went down very early into the third quarter.
But she said, after starting in.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Ten, it is not hold on. Your quarterback did not
go down early in the third the end of the
third quarter when when he tapped out when they were
down seventeen.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
But go ahead, all right, you said, your Chiefs had
the chance to rewrite history after starting oh and two
after this game, do you think they did so well?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Listen, they studied themselves and the on and to start,
what they had to do was beat the Giants. That
was an ugly game that obviously turned on the tackle
that turned the tide. And then they had to go
take care of business against the Ravens. And take care
(18:12):
of business they did, and not shockingly the moment the
Chiefs had close to a competent receiving corps. The offense
looked good again the last And we don't have to
do this full history in depth, but it is worth
(18:33):
mentioning that the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill Mahomes snap
in an offseason changed the way he played based on
the receivers they had one league MVP. The very next year,
dealt with more drops than any quarterback literally in modern
NFL history, figured it out by the playoffs, won the
(18:57):
Super Bowl. The next year, dealt with the most injured
wide receiver and running back room in the NFL, got
all the way to the super Bowl. And the next year,
which was this year, walked into the season with his
number one receiver suspended for six games and his number
(19:18):
two receiver knocked out of Game one three plays in.
And it looked shaky for a bit. And I told
you guys that I knew real like I guess insight
that that Chargers Week one game plan Xavier Worthy was
the ePIE center of it, and him being knocked out
(19:41):
three plays in threw everything off. But this, the fatalism
surrounding the Chiefs from almost everyone else in the media
was And I don't want to be a scold and
I don't want to be more annoying than I naturally am.
But it was embarrassing, and it was so fickle and
(20:06):
so myopic, my opic, pardon me, as if they don't
have a Hall of Fame head coach, a Hall of
Fame caliber decoordinator, and the most talented quarterback to ever live,
that they couldn't figure it out. And it was as
(20:27):
if they were getting boat raced in these early games,
or as if they were playing terrible teams and losing.
Neither were true. Now, I want to make this clear.
I don't think the Chiefs are, you know, quote fully back.
If back means being the highest scoring team in the league,
(20:48):
I don't think that's who they're going to be. I
don't think the Chiefs have solved all their issues. I
still think the running back room leaves a lot to
be desired, and their ability to get pressure on the
opposing quarterback without sending a blitz at the moment leaves
a lot to be desired. But you look, if you
(21:11):
going into the Baltimore game, if you looked around the AFC,
the only team that really you could say had no
holes to poke at it was the Chargers going into
Week four, But they already were dealing with some potentially
(21:35):
mounting injuries that sadly, they dealt with more of during
Week four in a game they had no business losing
but lost, and so the Bills were undefeated. But the
Bills defense had looked shaky, and they they had and
have played three consecutive games against just bottom feeders. The
(21:55):
Ravens were given this huge benefit of the doubt despite
having the same record as the Chiefs, and then every
other team that had a good record, like the Steelers
or the Jags, you had real reason to be concerned about.
I didn't really sleep last night and then got up
this morning, took your sister to school, picked your mom
(22:15):
up from the gym. I don't know if I said
ten words to either one of them. I then just
laid on the couch, which I never do in the mornings,
and tried to like take a nap. That didn't work.
You know how I can tell your mom knows I'm
in a teetering emotional place. I could probably, well, here's
(22:39):
here's how I know that she knows and that she's empathetic,
because there were she's doing like a whole giant house
cleaning thing. Prior to I knew it her birthday. Well, no,
hold on there. Within the ninety second when I came downstairs,
(23:02):
there were three things I saw her do that she
had asked me to do previously, and she wasn't even
mad at me. Yep, I was like, oh, she legit
feels bad for me right now. She's like, she is
really showing a real amount of empathy because I was
supposed to put those coffee cups away. I was supposed
(23:24):
to throw that backpack away. And she's doing all of it,
and she's doing with a smile on her face, which
means she has correctly clocked that I'm not doing great.
Hopefully this will be my Catharsis. Let's get to Monday
night football.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Shout out to Madre. So we saw what Trevor Lawrence
did to the Chiefs yesterday. It was also his twenty
sixth birthday, and he walked out of there with a dub.
What do you want to talk about first, your prince's
success or your chief's downfall in this game?
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Okay, as much as I'd like to start with Trevor,
we have to start with the chief. And here's the
reason that game is so so much more upsetting than
the Charger game or the Eagle game, and so much
(24:16):
more upsetting than any recent memory regular season loss. One
thing about the Chiefs being the Chiefs is they simply
do not lose games like that. Now they get out played.
(24:37):
Sometimes the offense we've seen over the last couple of
years get stuck in the mud. They you know, there
are ways that they can lose a game, and other
people panic or you know, talk about in what bad
shape the team is in, and I do not because
(24:59):
of the the full confidence that by the end of
the year Patrick will have figured stuff out, or the
team will get healthier or whatever it is. Losing a
game like that last night, they don't blow two touchdown leads.
Every other team in the league mate, they don't. They
(25:19):
did last night. While the Chiefs don't blow teams out
the way the other excellent teams in football do over
the last few years, they just simply never beat themselves,
and yesterday they beat themselves. Yesterday is the first game
in four years the Chiefs have won the turnover battle
(25:42):
and lost the game. There have only been three games
in the last four years where they have won or
tied the turnover battle and lost the game. Week one
against Detroit couple of years ago, the pick six Week
one against the Chargers. This year team turned it over,
and then this week with a pick six, and so
(26:09):
all of that just it. It's just a horrible loss.
All is right in the world again, Ye're pretty happy
this he's and it's just everything's back the way it's
supposed to be. You guys, check the latest MVP odds.
(26:30):
Who's the favorite? Patrick go on hard Rock Bet Check
the latest Super Bowl odds, who's the favorite the Chiefs.
Everything's everything is the way it's supposed to be. And one,
and what is so gratifying about this is we don't
(26:53):
I thought the way this was going to go was
all the folks that wrote the Chiefs obituary three weeks ago,
we're going to have to answer for that commentary in
January instead, because of how even with the loss nine
(27:21):
days ago by the Chiefs, because of how the rest
of the league has looked and how Kansas City looked
on national TV Sunday night, all those folks have to
eat it immediately. We're not to Halloween yet, and they
all have to be like, all right, I'm dumb, you're right,
(27:43):
I'm wrong. It's so good it's so much fun. And
the fact that they're winning this way with the offense
humming back to you're shocked when they don't get a
touchdown doing Patrick things and they don't have their best
(28:04):
offensive weapon not named Patrick Mahomes yet And then you
just you watch the rest of the league and and
we'll get to these games. But you watch the Broncos
do everything they can to try to lose to one
of the worst teams I've ever seen in the Jets.
You watch the Chargers do everything they can. Great play
(28:26):
at the end by the Chargers, but the Chargers struggle
with a Dolphins team that seems to actively hate each other.
You watch the Bills what they did last night, the
Eagles that are ripping themselves a part of the seams,
the Lions, we saw them play. And the other reason
I'm happy is, you know the one team, Demonsey, that
(28:48):
you can hold up next to the Chiefs right now
and be like, hey, what what are you what's the
what are you gonna say bad about this team? And
I'm gonna say, no, there isn't anything. The Bucks, the Bucks,
who are my pick going into the year. I'm feeling good.
(29:11):
I had to eat it a lot those first couple
of weeks. I had to come on here talk about
all these concerns. I had to listen to the great
my beloved Kevin Wilde's act like Andy Reid and Travis
Kelsey are not essentially family and worry about the fact
that Andy bumped Travis. I do all that, and less
(29:33):
than a month later, you know the other way, I
know we're back because we're back to the refs. We
are so the Chiefs are.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Bad about to say.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
The level of whining I expected from some of the
media and certainly fans. But did you see Kirby Joseph
First team All Pro last year? Kirby Joseph for the
Detroit Lions sent out twenty four tweets after the game
whining about the refs. Get it together, Detroit.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
He's one safety study that came out was a study
that came on that screened.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
By the way, I have never seen Can I just
say something that that that UTEP I paid the eight
and here's so that UTEP study that, by the way,
no one has read. Everyone has just read the news
article about it. You know how I know because to
(30:32):
read that study you got to subscribe to that journal,
which either is going to cost a couple hundred bucks
or you can pay eighteen dollars for twenty four hour access.
Guess who paid the eighteen dollars for twenty four hour access.
This guy hand up. Guess who didn't everyone else. It's
one of the most ridiculous studies I've ever seen. The
(30:56):
too long, didn't read version of it is the Chiefs
have played the most play off games, and therefore their
opponents have been called for the most penalties. That like,
give you it is, but I don't even give it.
I don't care about that. I do care about high
leverage spots. Again. The games are on TV. Thirty million
(31:18):
people watch him find Me, Find Me? The the call
we're all mad about. But I don't even want to
talk about it. I don't I'm gonna get I'm gonna
get mad. That's not what today is for. It's not
for the idiots in El Paso. The so one Lion
safety took the loss so well he went on tweet storm,
(31:40):
tweeting out photoshops of Mahomes kissing a raft. The other
Lion's safety took the loss so well he hit Juju
Smith Schuster in the face and now he's going to
have to miss a massive game against Tampa and then
goes in the locker room and I don't know if
(32:02):
you guys watched that video, but it sure seemed like
he was about to cry while saying and I quote
they were bullying me out there, and the quote whim
what you were bullied out there? Is this Sunday night
(32:27):
football with the big bad Detroit Lions or the Great Recess?
What are you talking about? You got bullied? Should Juju
have to sit by himself at lunch? Is Patrick gonna
have to miss the not get a juice box tomorrow?
(32:48):
You got bullied. You're supposed to be the bullies. And
instead of being the bullies. On fourth and goal, to
set the tone on your first drive of the game
and handing the ball to David Montgomery from the six
inch line, you pop Jared Goff out wide on a
(33:12):
play because you're that you don't even know the rules
on and throw them a pass. You got bullied. That's
a bad look, buddy, That's a bad look. It's where
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or Virginia. Here are my snap takeaways from it. Okay, so, Patrick,
for just the second time all year made costly miss.
The pick that Lattimore got was at the time his
(35:06):
third pick of the year. Two of what the Jags
pick and the Latimore pick were, you know, bad throws
and or bad decisions. And then all later in the
first quarter, for the second time all year, Patrick made
a great throat to Travis that Travis bobbled and got picked.
(35:27):
And because of that, the Commanders were able to hang around. Luckily,
the Chiefs are back to being the Chiefs in full
and because of that, it flatly did not matter. They
had a drive in Demondsey, they had a drive in
this game that was one hundred and nineteen yard touchdown
(35:48):
drive because they got it started on the six and
they got penalties on it to where they had to
recoup those yards. And as I have been and screaming
from the mountaintops for the better part of two years.
All Patrick Mahomes needs is a competent offensive line and
(36:14):
a league average receiving corps, which now they have above
league average, and now they do have. Demon's a real
AFC playoff team gauntlet coming up Sunday at the Bills,
then a bye week, than at the Broncos, than home
(36:35):
for the Colts, and that will that three game stretch
will determine the AFC West. It will go a long
way to determining the AFC East for the Bills purposes,
and it will go a long way to determining the
number one seed in the AFC. And so I could
not feel better about where this team is right now.
(36:58):
And oh yeah, by the way, the defense has allowed
seven points in the last two weeks. Let's get to
Bills Chiefs. All right, it's that time.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
So the Bills won their Super Bowl against your Kansas
City Chiefs. Kansas City has heads into the by five
and four as the eight seed, and the Bills are
the favorite to win the one seed. How are you
how do you want to do this one? How are
you feeling? I mean, well, they did get the first one.
They got the first one, so now they'll get them
(37:27):
in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
If the user, I mean, that's that's the way it goes.
But I let me give Buffalo credit because I got listen.
I picked the Chiefs. I bet the Chiefs. I did
not think the Bills defense, even if the Chiefs had
their typical regular season against Buffalo vanilla game plan, I
did not think the Bills defense would be able to
(37:50):
keep up with Kansas City. And not only they keep
up with Kansas City, they dominated most of that game,
and Josh played great and Patrick played really shaky. That
was the first game in Patrick's entire career he completed
less than fifty percent of his passes, and they pressured
(38:11):
the Chiefs at will, and the Bills were the far
better team. It was a miracle. The Chiefs had multiple
possessions down seven in the fourth quarter, and that last
possession when McDermott chose to go for a field goal,
was coaching malpractice. You have to punt there, like the
going for that field goal and giving the Chiefs a
(38:33):
short field when they're only going to have twenty three
or twenty two seconds if you punt is just insanity.
I couldn't believe he did it, but set that aside,
Buffalo steadied themselves. Buffalo stayed very alive for their division
as the Patriots have just a cake schedule moving forward,
(38:55):
and Buffalo ran the ball great, Josh was awesome, and
the defense, which was my concern with them, more than
stepped up. So all of that is true. That can
be true, while it's also true that this does not
(39:17):
change my opinion one percent about what a Chiefs Bill's
playoff game could look like. And I thought the Bill's
young secondary players Cole Bishop and Xavier Hairston after the
game talking about the tells they saw on tape was
(39:38):
a big unforced error. Save that info, kids like, you're
probably going to have to play this team again, and
so listen. Kansas City has its work cutout form. But
the whole if the playoffs started today thing is just
(39:59):
meaningless to me. The playoffs don't start today. They have
eight more games to play. If I now, did this
hurt their chances of winning the division? Sure do I
still right now? Would I still pick them to win
the division? I? Would? And I think that the Chiefs
(40:21):
are going.
Speaker 2 (40:22):
To bass them as the Super Bowl favorites.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, because they're the best team, and I don't know
how long we're going to talk Broncos Chiefs, and I
didn't want to not have time, and the people in
the chat saying, quit stalling and get to it, guys,
I am. I do I do about more live media
than at least sports media than anyone in the field.
(40:47):
I'm not you know, I'm not in I certainly don't
do more media than everyone who does sports media if
you include their asinine and ridiculous political talk shows. But
when it comes to actual sports talk, I do quite
a bit. I'm not going to be able to run
from any story, and I certainly can't run from this one.
(41:10):
The Chiefs went to Denver and arguably their biggest regular
season game of Patrick's career, and got thoroughly outplayed and
blew a more than winnable game multiple times, blew a
(41:35):
fourth quarter lead, and in that singular game, Bo Nicks
played better than Patrick Mahomes. That is what happened. I
could not have been more shocked watching a game than
I was watching that one. Because the Chiefs are healthy
(42:00):
for the most part. I know they don't have Pacheco.
The Chiefs right now are a healthier than average NFL
team for this point the season. They were off a bye,
they had full motivation, a lot of familiarity with that opponent,
and Patrick was off and the defense could not get
(42:26):
a stop when it mattered, and so on the offensive
side of things, first second play of the game, you
have Xavier Worthy open for six. Yeah, it's a tough
throw because it's sixty yards in the air, but those
(42:48):
are the throws that you know partly made Patrick Mahomes.
Patrick Mahomes, he missed him. That would have been a
chance to just basically set the tone for the game.
Immediately missed that opportunity. Obviously. You know they had a
sequence right before the Patrick interception, and this might have
(43:15):
been the single biggest swing of the game. Patrick throws
a little swing pass to Kareem Hunt. He gets down
to the two yard line. They're gonna have first and
goal from the two. Juwan Taylor the illegal formation lined
up too far back. Instead of first and goal from
(43:39):
the two, it becomes first and fifteen. Two plays later,
Patrick makes a terrible throw, and instead of at least
being without the penalty, it's probably gonna be thirteen to
six with the penalty, it still should be at least
nine to six throws a pick, Denver dry down and scores.
(44:03):
Despite all that, Kansas City fights back, scores a couple touchdowns,
takes the lead, has the ball in the fourth quarter
with a lead, go down, score a touchdown, game over
three and out, then gets the ball back, tie game
(44:25):
four minutes perfect, not going to cover the three and
a half, but still drive down the field, kick a
field goal, win the game three and out. And then
on the defensive side of the ball, first drive of
the game, first play sack, have them in second and sixteen,
(44:48):
which turns into third and seven, and give it up.
Later in that drive, have them in third and eleven
outside a field goal range, and give it up. And
on the final drive of the g game, after those
two offensive three and outs, you instantly have bon knicks
in third and fifteen and you can't get a pass rush,
(45:13):
and you give up a twenty yard completion. Three plays later,
it's third and six, still not in field goal range,
and you give up a seven yard completion. Denver made
the high leverage plays, Kansas City did not, and Denver
(45:36):
now is a stranglehold on the division. And I can
think what I want and still think about bone Nicks
and his long term viability as a franchise quarterback. But
the fact of the matter is on Sunday, he played,
(45:58):
in my opinion, the best game of his career in
the second biggest game of his career. The only game
that would have been bigger is the playoff game, and
he was excellent. Excellent might be strong. He was good.
They are five and five. Obviously, if they go seven
(46:18):
and oh, they're a lock for the playoffs. And at
seven and oh they actually would have a chance to
come all the way back and win the division. But
it would be and even though they're favored in every
game remaining, given the fact that they're five and five,
(46:40):
just sitting here saying they're gonna rip off seven straight
would be overly optimistic, even for me. But seven and
oh definitely gets them in. Six and one, which would
put them at eleven and six almost assuredly gets them in.
(47:05):
But five and two probably does not. And that is
the thing that I think, if we're gonna have an
honest conversation about where the Chiefs are, what has to
(47:29):
be acknowledged is they probably only have one more loss
to play with, barring a true collapse by the Jags
or the Chargers. We start with the Chiefs saving their season,
(47:55):
because while they would not have been mathematically eliminated, and
I probably would have even convinced myself, well, if they
just go six and zero down the stretch, they'll make
the playoffs, which what is true. By the way, eleven
wins almost assuredly will get a man and five and
(48:16):
six they would have still been alive. For eleven wins,
that would have been a season ending loss. Dominating the
time of possession, dominating the yardage battle, and just not
making championship plays would have signaled that this Chiefs team
(48:39):
simply doesn't have the juice of Chiefs teams in years past. Thankfully, however,
they are the Chiefs. They do still have Patrick Mahomes
and Chris Jones and Andy Reid, and despite fumbling inside
(48:59):
the five yard line while trailing by eleven in the
fourth quarter, they then played perfect defensive football, good but
not great offensive football, and it was enough to potentially
derail is probably too strong, but really throw a wrench
(49:24):
in this magical Indie season and give Kansas City a
chance to in forty eight hours be for the first
time or just the second time all year two games
above five hundred really have their head above water and
(49:45):
be able to have the many buy take a deep
breath before a very difficult stretch run of final five games,
two of which are cupcakes, the Tight and the Raiders,
and three of which are teams fighting for exactly what
(50:05):
the Chiefs are fighting for, AFC playoff spots and AFC
playoff seeding with games against the Texans, Chargers and Broncos.
So how did they do it? Because right now they
are still the ten seed. They went into the week
the nine seed, but they come out of the week
despite the win the ten seed because every because the
(50:26):
Texans won, the Chargers were off, the Jags won. We'll
get to those games later. So how did they do it?
They did it because the defense absolutely shut down start
to finish Jonathan Taylor in one of the most impressive
(50:50):
defensive performances any team has had all year. They allowed
twenty but seven of them were on a drive that
started at the three thanks to Patrick's interception, and so
to essentially hold the highest scoring, highest yardage, most efficient
(51:13):
offense in the NFL to thirteen points without forcing a
turnover is just a remarkable job by that Chiefs defense,
and for the Colts to have the ball up eleven
and go run, pass pass, and then have the ball
(51:40):
up three and go pass, pass, pass, and then have
the ball up three again and go pass pass pass,
before you go to overtime and you go pass, run, run.
(52:03):
It's just it is a testament to the fact that
the Chiefs defense was able to convince the Colts by
the fourth quarter of this game, you're simply not going
to get Jonathan Taylor going. But it also and it
(52:23):
also was a testament to the fact that the Chiefs defense,
right or wrong, simply said Daniel Jones, go ahead and
beat us. We don't think you can, and he couldn't.
And that gave the Chiefs offense and Patrick just enough
(52:43):
bites at the apple that they were able to overcome
a really sloppy game, not just the turnovers, but the
red zone inefficiency, the missed open guys, and the hurky
jerking nature of the offense. And Rashi Rice in the
(53:08):
second half of that game, really, for the first time,
maybe since his suspension, certainly since his first game back
from the suspension, looked like the player that we saw
at the end of his rookie year, and the beginning
of last season before he got injured, which is just
(53:29):
a dynamic, elite yard after catch player. Xavier Worthy made
a huge play. Noah freaking Gray made a catch while unconscious,
which is still one of the more remarkable feats of
this NFL season, and the Chiefs offense did just enough
(53:57):
against the lou Anarumo Colts defense to where they're now stabilized.
By the way that is now four consecutive wins by
Patrick against lou Anarumo, his alleged kryptonite four wins in
(54:17):
a row. After losing the first three games he faced
against him, He's now one four straight. But the story
of the game is the defense. The fact that the
Colts had thirteen to three and outs all year going
(54:38):
into that game, which is remarkable, and I don't know
how many they had total in the game, but I
do know they had four straight to end the game.
And Chris Jones, who has been I think it's fair
to say underwhelming this year, picked a hell of a
(55:02):
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Speaker 2 (55:36):
The Chiefs are a rough spot. You've always said, with
the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, that they've
always had a shot. But now your Chiefs are six
and six in two games out of the Wildcard, not
two games out of the Arrowhead Invitational. With the Wildcard, yep, yeah,
they have none of the key tie breakers with the
head to add teams.
Speaker 1 (55:55):
How were are you at the state the Chiefs are
in right now? I mean, you've got to be really
concerned that the only way they guarantee themselves a spot
in the playoffs is by winning out. And I am listen,
some folks are it is not a mathematical certainty that
(56:17):
winning out gets them in, but winning out gets them in,
and so they they are alive and the AFC to me,
does feel as wide open as it has at any
point in my life, maybe since eight, the year Brady
(56:40):
went down with an injury, and it wasn't a great
Peyton Manning year, and so certainly the most wide open
it's been in more than a decade. So if they
were to get hot, play their best football, get in,
I think that they would be immediately the Vegas favorites
(57:03):
to win the conference. The problem is getting in is
going to be very difficult because of those tiebreakers they
don't have that you mentioned now. If they were to
beat Houston and then the Chargers, which are their next two,
(57:23):
then maybe they could lose to Denver and sneak in
at ten and seven because they would have a tiebreaker
over the Colts, tiebreaker over the Ravens which won't matter,
and a tiebreaker over Houston. Maybe there would be a
path there, But the only certain path is winning out,
(57:47):
and right now it is very difficult to trust this team.
Even though Patrick's had at least a five game winning
streak every year of his career, it is very difficult
to trust this team to win five straight because quite simply,
(58:08):
they can't get off the field, and this was a
problem in Week one against the Chargers, it was a
problem against Josh Allen, it was a problem against bow Knicks,
and it was a huge problem against Dak Prescott and
the Dallas Cowboys, where historically what the Chiefs defense would
(58:37):
do really well is one good run stop on a
drive to put you in second and nine, one forced
in completion to put you in third and nine, and
then dial something up to get you off the field.
(59:00):
All game long and all season long, this team has
been forcing third and longs and then been totally unable
to get off the field. And that is why despite
(59:20):
Patrick playing at the level that he is, and he
was brilliant on Thursday, and he's currently he's third in
the league in yards, fourth in the league in touchdowns,
for second in the league in QBR, the ESPN stat,
first in the league in the nerd stat that I
(59:42):
don't love EPA. He's having an awesome year, but poorly
time turnovers by the Chiefs in previous games, and the
total inability all season long, aside from the Colts fourth
(01:00:03):
quarter against the Colts to make impact plays on defense
might wreck the season. It's very precarious. It's the most precarious.
It's ever been in Kansas City. There's no getting around that. Now.
(01:00:23):
With that said, I know myself and I don't think
it will be unreasonable or irrational that if if they
win Sunday, and I'm telling you right now with that
(01:00:44):
offensive line situation, Chiefs minus three and a half are
not going to be one of my picks this week.
If they win Sunday, then I will feel like, all right,
beat the Chargers now next week and you're gonna go
to another super Bowl. That's how all feel I will.
(01:01:06):
I feel like they're a win away from being a
win away. If that makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense.
And so I I have not my hope. I have
not given up hope or given up belief, but my
confidence has been shaken because it should be. The Chiefs
(01:01:34):
are six and seven demos.
Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Yeah, it's grim. They have lost now four of their
last five. After that game with Houston. This is the
first time I think it kind of looked like the
cold was affecting the Chiefs. O. Lione was cook, Kelsey
had some drops, Rice had some drops. Mahomes was limping around.
Is there any type of silver lining or any type
of hope that you're holding on to after those last
(01:01:58):
game through the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
All right, Well, listen, the hope is like, do they
have a path to the playoffs? And the answer is
yes technically, but and the simplest way to explain their
path to the playoffs and then we'll get into what has happened,
But let me just get this out of the way.
(01:02:22):
They have to go four and oh home Chargers at Titans, home,
Broncos at Raiders. The Colts can't go three and one.
Not worried about that. They're they're they're I mean, they're
thinking about starting Philip Rivers. So the Colts part of it,
to me is easy because the Colts have Seahawks, Niners, Jags, Texans,
(01:02:48):
So the the let's just say the Colts are out
and then the Chargers have to go either ohero and
four or one in three, with one of the losses
being to Denver in week eighteen. The simplest way to
(01:03:10):
look at can the Chiefs make the playoffs is they
have to beat the Chargers this weekend. They then have
to beat the Titans, the Broncos, and the Raiders, and
the Chargers have to then lose to Denver in week
eighteen and to either the Texans or the Cowboys in
(01:03:34):
week sixteen seventeen. If that happens, the Chiefs make it.
Chiefs lose. Chiefs eliminated, Patrick injured.
Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
One of the weirdest, saddest reasons that I've had to
do for this show. It was very strange. Chiefs eliminated
from the playoffs after the loss of the Chargers, Patrick
Mahomes with the torn ACL and LCL. They're done. Yes, Jayson,
you said that this was the end of a chapter
or in the yeah chapter.
Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
So I'll get into that part in a second. First,
I want to say this, this is pro football, and
this Yes, this is my hometown team, and yes I
have a personal relationship for with Patrick, and so Andy's
(01:04:21):
the face of the league and one of the defining
players in league history. All of those things make this
extra gutting in the short term, and we'll see what
it means in the long term. But I don't want
(01:04:42):
to overstate the how do I put this, because the
devastation of the moment is real. The sympathy or empathy
that folks should have for me, or for Chiefs fans
(01:05:04):
or whatever right now, I think that's overstated, because this
is pro football, and this happens. And it was the
Chiefs turn to have the year from hell, and it
was sadly Patrick's turned to roll craps and he was
(01:05:30):
fighting through a knee injury. The last few weeks. He
was on the injury report the last few weeks. You
saw him laboring. We said after Week one, man, he
sure ran a lot and sure took a lot of hits.
And there's a tax to all of it. There just is.
(01:05:50):
And there is a cost to the twenty game seasons.
There is a cost to the offensive line injury. There
is a cost to Patrick's refusal to sit out a
game when his knee was obviously bothering him. There is
(01:06:10):
a cost to the Chiefs being in must win, gotta
have it elimination games this early in the season. You
extend your body, you extend plays, you put yourself out there,
and this happens. This is not I am sick for Patrick.
I'm sick for myself, but I'm also the Patriots and
(01:06:33):
their fans watch Tom Brady go down the first week
of a season. The Colts and their fans watched Peyton
Manning miss a whole year with a neck injury. The
Packers and their fans watched Pete Aaron Rodgers knocked out
for half a season with a snapped collar bone, like
the Ravens twice have had Lamar Lateney get hurt and
(01:07:02):
never come back. The Bengals and Joe Burrow have had
multiple seasons derailed by the guy getting hurt. Like this
is pro sports and this sport in particular, and so
I I am trying to balance how much it sucks
(01:07:26):
that Patrick is going through this, how much the reality
of We now have a line of demarcation in Patrick's
career that's going to be before and after the ACL
and we're going to see how he recovers from it,
how he attacks it, how it changes for good or
(01:07:49):
for bad, the player that he is, and I and
I can recognize that and do me a favorite. Guys,
(01:08:10):
don't put questions in the rundown near the top of it. Sorry,
this is a production note while we're doing it. It's
good I lose my train of thought and I can
recognize all of that while also not feeling like woe
(01:08:30):
is me is appropriate. This has been as good of
a seven year run as any football fan base has
ever gotten seven years of conference championship games, five Super
(01:08:52):
Bowl appearances, three Super Bowl victories that you can put
it up against anything any team has done in the
history of the sport. This seven years matches any seven
years the Patriots had, any seven years the Niners in
the eighties had, and the Steelers in the seventies is
(01:09:15):
a weird one because they won four super Bowls, but
they didn't get to the conference championship game every year,
and they didn't get to five super Bowls. That's a
tomato tomato thing. You can say that one was better,
but it's at least in the argument. And now the
Chiefs received back into football general population and then see
(01:09:46):
if they can emerge once again. And I hate that
I have talked about this comp so much and now
it is even more apropro apropos. But you guys have
heard me whenever we have done the Brady Mahomes career stuff,
(01:10:09):
talk about in his eight years a starter, Tom blew
out his knee and then that team had its only
real low. Obviously, they missed the playoffs the year Tom missed.
They still won eleven games, by the way, which is
shout out to how unbelievable the seven pats and eight
(01:10:29):
Pats were as a roster, and then in two thousand
and nine Tom wasn't his best. They won ten games
and got annihilated in round one of the playoffs. And
in twenty ten Tom was exceptional. That team was fourteen
and two, and then they lost one of the weirdest
(01:10:50):
playoff games ever to Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets.
And then in twenty eleven they started their run and
I don't know what is I here is as far
(01:11:13):
as this not being what's the right way to put this?
In a weird way, I feel worse for Packer fans
with the Mica injury than for chief fans with the
Mahomes injury. In this regard, I was wrong about this team.
(01:11:40):
They didn't have it this year. And so had they
been eleven and three in that game, and or I
guess ten and three because that was right? How do
I have this right? I'm all scattered ten and three
going into that game and had looked great. It was like, man,
(01:12:04):
this is another championship level team. I think this would
sting even more, but it was pretty clear it became
I came to terms with where this Chiefs team was
(01:12:25):
about an hour and a half before Mahomes's injury, the
final drive of the first half up thirteen to three,
letting the Chargers drive the length of the field the
combo platter of not being able to punch in the
Herbert interception and getting seven, and then later in the
(01:12:50):
second quarter allowing them to go the length of the
field in forty seconds to take what could have been
a seven teen to three or at the very least
thirteen to three, or worst case scenario, thirteen to six
lead into halftime in a must win home game, letting
(01:13:12):
the Chargers, whose offense right now is not very good,
go the length of the field to make it thirteen
to ten, and then watching the Chiefs offense do nothing
the entire second half. They didn't have it, And so
this was not the Chiefs leaving a man, left a
(01:13:35):
potential championship on the table because the quarterback got hurt.
They were not good enough this year, and I was wrong.
I talked a lot of shit, poked at a lot
of folks as soon as they looked like the Chiefs. Again,
that was a brief mirage in who this seam was
(01:13:57):
this season, and I do feel demonse that they are
about to have a mirror held up to some of
their structural issues that Patrick was holding together over these
(01:14:18):
last three weeks of the year. Because I think they
are going to lose to the Tennessee Titans. I think
they are going to get beat up by the Denver Broncos. OK,
and then we'll see Week eighteen Raiders Chiefs in Vegas.
(01:14:41):
You know who shows up for that game. But I
think with these o line injuries, this lack of a
running game, and one of the bigger disappointments of this
season is the lack of development from the wide receivers,
(01:15:07):
I think you're going to see what this offense looks
like with bad quarterback play. Because I understand Mahomes numbers
after the bye. The Cowboys game notwithstanding, were ghastly. The
Cowboys game is the one thing propping them up. I
(01:15:31):
think you're about to see what actual bad quarterback play
would look like with the team right now with its issues,
and I do think that there needs to be some
real soul searching is too strong, but some personal accountability
(01:15:58):
by everyone involved in the team, and hey, how do
we make sure the next time Patrick takes the field
this team doesn't have as many glaring weaknesses as it
had in twenty twenty five. And listen, it's hard. There
(01:16:20):
is a reason only one team ever's gone to four
straight Super Bowls. There's a reason only one team ever
has gone to more than seven straight conference championship games.
There is a reason only three other teams ever had
gone to three straight Super Bowls. What the Chiefs accomplished
(01:16:45):
was certain things were unprecedented, and certain things were only
you know, had only been accomplished by one or two
of the other greatest dynasties ever. But you saw some
of the where of the late draft picks, of guys
(01:17:11):
not developing, of some a draft miss here, a free
agency missed there, a poorly timed injury there. And they
couldn't run the ball, and they couldn't rush the passer
all year long. And these receivers who I like, I
(01:17:37):
think Rashid Rice has the ability to be excellent. I
saw him be exceptional for the second half of his
rookie season. I know the talent Xavier Worthy has. But
those guys not developing into fully formed, legitimate man beating
wide receivers hurt this team a lot too. And so
(01:18:01):
those are the things that you address moving forward for
the Chiefs, and then you see what version of Patrick
we have when he comes back. I believe the type
(01:18:23):
of competitor and legendary athlete he is, that there is
a very good chance he comes back as a better
player as a player that if he especially if he
can't early on rely as much on his athleticism, is
(01:18:50):
even more precise in the pocket and traditional drop back
since then he's been the last couple of years, and
so I'm not worried about Patrick, and I would put
I understand it was a terrible injury and he tore
two ligaments. I would put all my money on him
(01:19:14):
being back for Week one next year. It's right at
nine months, and I think he'll do it. And what
will the team around him look like is the question
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.