Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm Rerett Lewis and this is the NFL Inside Report.
Mahomes crafts a comeback win for the Chiefs, but he
had some help. I think they don't get enough credit
for what they've done over there, and there was a
lot of talk around Kansas City that this could be
their best defense that Patrick Mahon became a starter. Jeffrey
Chidia joins us with the picture of a week one
win Sunday and a forecast of sustained success for Case Plus.
(00:36):
They fake it and run Murray to the right. He
sticks the ball out, walks into the end zone, pitches
it to the official. It's a two yard touchdown run.
That's j J. Watt eye candy on the left side.
That leads to Murray hitting paydirt on the right side,
and it's twenty three to six Arizona. A record setting
(00:58):
day for the Cardinals in Nashville. Callar is different um.
We've always known kind of what his ability was, but
there was times watching this game where I'm like, this
guy can win a VP this year. Cameron wolf On
Kyler's five t d s, Chandler Jones's five sacks and
a statement win for Arizona also ahead the news you
need to know around the league. But we begin at
(01:20):
Arrowhead Stadium, touch tratching, touchdown, Travis Kelsey touchdown, Chance City
and for the first time in this regular station, the
Chiefs have the lead. That's seven all four to go
in the game. The Browns winless in their last sixteen
(01:40):
season Openers were in control on the road against the
defending a f C champions for the first fifty minutes
of this game, up by nine in the fourth quarter
after a Kaream Hunt TD run, but backstorm Mahomes in
the Chiefs two touchdowns to close out a comeback win
at Arrowhead, and our Jeffrey Chidia was there to watch
(02:01):
it all unfold. Jeff so um, you know, naturally after
a fourth quarter full of Mahomes magic, we lead with defense,
because why not, right, let's lead with this Kansas City
Chiefs defense. We love stats, but they can be misleading.
So tell me why four hundred and fifty seven yards
of total offense surrendered by the Chiefs defense is actually
(02:24):
a good thing. Well, this was a game of two
halves forrit and I know people who watched it love
watching my homes And Tyree was down the field and
all the offense to Brown but the table. But you
look at what the Brown's in the second half. They
had twenty nine points for the game. Seven came in
the second half. They had four seven yards of offense,
about a hundred and thirty of that came in the
(02:44):
second half. And the Chiefs were playing without Tyron Matthew,
Frank Clark and Willie Gay, Um, you know, three of
their best defenders. And so you look at what they
had on the field and what they had to deal
with in their first game, seeing a team that they
had not seen since the last a year's playoffs. Uh,
it was a big challenge, and you saw them really
settled down in the second half. And what impressed me
(03:05):
was you saw players who aren't big names making plays.
You know, Chris Jones had his two sacks, but you
saw a reserve linebacker like Ben Dieman playing in place
of Willie Gay getting a key fumble recovery of the
Nick Chuck fumble. You saw Wan Thornhill, backup safety who
once had a really promising future. We don't know what
it's gonna be now for him, but he ends up
(03:27):
forcing that fumble, making a big pass defection late in
the game, Mike Hughes, a player they got from Minnesota
who was who you know, failed there as a first
round pick, making the game ending interception to the backfield
with big tail two receivers left, Turtle, all right, he's
got the step first out, sets up in the pocket,
Rose left, gotta get rid of it throughs, and it's
(03:47):
intercepted by my cues. He's got it. So for me,
this team, as much as they are about offense, when
they've won championships, they played defense at a pretty high level.
And they haven't won, they haven't had to go defense.
So that was a pretty good sign for me. You know,
just let me hit on that, because I think that's
always such a hot button topic. When you have quarterbacks
(04:08):
making big money like the Chiefs do with Patrick Mahomes,
is roster construction. And I knew you covered that team
a ton, Jeffrey. So to have that mix of veteran,
you know, established stars like a Chris Jones and a
Frank Clark and a Tyrone Matthew, but then to also
fill in the holes with really high quality you know,
I don't want to do them disrespect by calling them
(04:30):
role players, but guys like thorn Hill and snead and
young players that they've been able to find to kind
of fill in the gaps is so valuable, right, Yeah,
and they've been searching for that for quite a while now.
They've been searching for the for the last three years.
We all know again what my Homes has done with
that offense and what Travis Kelsey and Tyree Killer met
to the offense. But you look at that game for example,
(04:52):
they're getting to the point of offense where they are
so reliant on those players that to get a second
receiver like McCole Harman to evolved to find other options
in the offense is tougher, and so to get plays
that altar games the defense becomes a much better option
in some cases. And so, yeah, they have more young
players or whether they've invested in Lagarious Need as you mentioned,
(05:14):
a fourth round pick who was really blossomed as a corner. Uh.
They really like Willie Gant, I really like Nick Bolton.
They love what Jared Reids brought over from Seattle's the
defensive tackle and moving Chris Jones to defensive end. So
I think they don't get enough credit for what they've
done over there. And there was a lot of talk
around Kansas City that this could be their best defense,
that Patrick Mahomes became the starter. And I also love
(05:34):
the kind of redemption stories. You know, you touched on
Mike Hughes as a corner coming over from the Minnesota Vikings,
you know, where he had an a c L injury
early in his career kind of derailed what they hoped
he could be as a corner for them, and then
to have him kind of essentially come up with you know,
I don't want to call it the game ceiling interception,
but it was pretty close to it at that point. Um,
(05:56):
you know, kind of just had to again speak to
the ability of some of these play years to make
impacts on a team that does have stars. Yeah. Well
I always joked at that bread Beach and their general
manager and your Reid. When they look for offensive players, uh,
they look for they go to Sex with the Avenue.
For defensive players, they go to t J Max. They
try to get to the bargain basement ben and see
what they can get out of it. So Mike Hughes
(06:18):
again being released from the from from the Vikings, you
look at DeAndre Baker who was released from the Giants, Uh,
they've they've found ways to take these kinds of players
and turn them into something. And I understand it, because
you can't go out and spend a ton of money
on defense because you're so invested in the offense. But
by doing this, uh, you hope to find some diamonds
in the rough. And I think so far it's it's
(06:40):
worked out well for them, and this year may have
even work out better and for all the you know,
pomp and circumstance and the pizzas that this team has
um and and has earned with the way that they play,
particularly you know on offense. I feel like time and
again now the last couple of years they've show keis
some grit Jeff in the Billy to win hard thought
(07:02):
games that aren't blowouts, you know, like this one, and
had come from behind and win against the really good
Browns team. I feel like kind of shows you some
of that. You know, it's early, but super Bowl metal well,
and if you got them behind closed doors and really
had them open up about it, they would bristle at
this notion that they're not a physical team, not a
soft team, not a tough team. And when when teams
(07:23):
have really come after them, and try to take them apart.
Especially early in my Homes's career, was always trying to
push them around and trying to see if they could
handle some of that toughness. And you're right, they've been
able to show that on the field and also mentally.
You talk about a team that I think last year
they played nine games when all nine games they played
that were decided by six points or less. I think
(07:44):
the stat that they put on NFL now is that
they're they're four there four and wonning games that are
decided when they're trailing by ten points or more, including
the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. So they
take a lot of pride in that. And my Homes
talked about that after the game, that there's a brotherhood,
there's a brotherhood chemistry here, a sense that they will
rise to the occasion because so many guys on this team,
(08:05):
the core players, have been to those moments together. Yeah,
big piece of what the Chiefs kind of machine has
become here in these last couple of years. And add
that that final stat for you that Patrick Mahomes remains
undefeated as a starter in the month of September in
his career now eleven and oh, after this win. Let's
look at the Browns here as well, Jeff, because a
(08:29):
lot of talk about the Browns as a Super Bowl
contender this year, improving off a team that you know
got close last year, beat the Steelers in the playoffs
and you know fell to the Chiefs to make their
playoff exit. But does this game and the way it
went in control for the first fifteen minutes, does it
tell us that the Browns are better or that they're
still not good enough. I thought that they were better.
(08:53):
I came into this game and did a couple of
radio interviews and people asked me this, and I said, look,
this is their opportunity to show what they can be.
Even if they lose, they can show you something about themselves.
And just the fact that they led this game for
fifteen minutes, that they were pushing a Super Bowl championship
caliber team around for that long and really showcase a
lot of different aspects of their offense and defense that
(09:15):
you hadn't seen before. I thought Jadeveon Clowney really showed
up big in certain stretches. I think Anthony schwartz Wright
receiver has got some pretty good deep speed show what
he could be that offense. They lost Cedric Wills there.
You know, they're study left tackle early in that game,
which was a big loss for them. Did not have
Odell Beckham Jr. Playing In that game, which again was
a big absence for them. What they can do with
(09:37):
him stretching the field. You get those things back. You
look at what they have around them. But I feel
like this team a cipher. Maybe Tampa Bay has the
best roster in football, and and the way they've gotten
Baker Mayfield to buy into. Someone in that organization told
me this, They don't need Baker to be like Patrick
Mahomes has got to be a superstar nine percent of
(09:58):
the time for the Chiefs to win it. Baker is
a star of the time. This team can win a
lot of games. And so his buying too, that mentality,
I think it is a big factor and how this
team has evolved at what they can become going forward.
So then to have the ball though with tot nine
to go, getting the ball punted back to you because
your defense was able to hold off the Chiefs there.
(10:18):
So you've got the ball down four to go and
you get down to the Cleveland, you know, and you
throw a pick. Does that does that tell them that
they still have the guy they want to lead this
team to the next level in Baker Mayfield. I know
it's just one play, but it's all we have at
this point in this season. Yeah, you know, And I
(10:39):
heard somebody say, I don't know if it's Tony Romo
said it on TV that he suspected Maybeop was trying
to put the ball out of bounds and then got
tripped and lost, so that that would make more sense
of throwing the ball into double coverage in that situation,
because he that was really the only mistake he made
all game long. He'd been so accurate and so do
with his decision making that it seemed like he was
(11:00):
having a really good game at the best possible time.
I hear what you're saying, like he's going to have
to make those plays in in those moments because you
go back to the postseason last year and he had
a chance to go down the field leading the glory
and they couldn't do it. And so that's gonna be
his that's gonna be the scarlet letter he wears, like
(11:23):
exactly exactly. I mean, we've seen Matt Ryan go through this.
He has no excuses as far as supporting casts around him, right,
there's no question he has as much talent around him
as any quarterback and football. But he's got to be
able to make those plays, right, because those are the
plays the guys on the other the guy on the
other sideline makes and give it. It's a that's a
tough comparison to talk about. You know, the best quarterback
in football, Um, you know, Patrick Mahomes. But Baker Mayfield
(11:46):
for his part, nice day one, but that interception looms
large as the ability for the Browns to take the
next step does as well. Jeffrey Chadia setting straight here
after the chief in Brown's thank you, Jeffrey, thank you,
take care you still have to come on an NFL
in sign report. This is what third years for him.
(12:07):
They hadn't made the playoffs. Um, you know, all that
offensive genius stuff is fine and dandy, but when you
don't win, people start asking questions playoffs were a possibility
last year, why it feels more like a reality now
for the Cardinals, and why it might have to be next.
(12:33):
Snapped to Murray quick for over the middle, Hopkins has
a catch of the tent turned to his lap at
the five head hit. Taider touched down DeAndre Hopkins off
the play fake Tad Hill has had. The ball is loose.
It's loose on the sex It's picked up at the
five into the end zone, touchdown, Arizona Dueling. Playmaker's Key
(12:55):
of Cardinals Week one win. Kyler Murray five touchdowns, four
through the air, Chandler Jones five sacks of Titans quarterback
Ryan Tannehill, making them the first team duo to have
five plus offensive touchdowns and five plus sacks in a
game since sacks became a stat in two. Cameron Wolfe
saw it live from Nashville and joins us now as
(13:18):
Murray and Jones seemingly competing more with each other than
the Titans by the end of this thing. Let's start
this thing off with Chandler. What were his teammates saying?
What was the What was the Cardinals view of that
absolutely momentous performance from Chandler. Right first, I tweeted this
(13:38):
in the game, we must think a like I tweeted
the Spider Man mean that they're both showing off their superpowers.
But on Chandler man five sacks and it's crazy. I
think that the last guy who did it was a
sign Reddick with the Cardinals former teammates. So I think
the crazy part is like this offseason has been surreal
(13:58):
for Chandler Jones because he wanted a new contract, he
made the trade request. It was kind of an awkward situation,
but his teammates kept saying through the week, like, watch
out for Chandler. This dude has been working hard and
killing it. Tannahill on Fourth Town hit and sacked. It's
Chandler Jones. Five sacks on the day for fifty five.
(14:20):
Chandler Jones making some money. And I actually talked to
Marcus Golden before the game and he told me, hey, y'all,
people are sleeping on our pass room, JJ me Chandler.
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, everybody's talking
up their group. You hear that sort of thing. And
maybe I underplayed that because boy knows, you know, Chandler
(14:42):
really all those guys with especially Chandler, he was bringing
the juice and and the Titans really had no shot
once he started coming. Chandler Jones first player to have
three sacks in the first quarter of his team's first
game of the regular season since sacks became an official
stat in eighty two. By the way, that third was
his her rear sack. So yeah, he's been doing it
for a while and I feel like him anytime you
(15:05):
get the opposing left tackle to send out the old
I got my ass kicked. Tweet like taunted. I mean,
you've done something right, Like think about it from that perspective,
all pro versus all pro exactly. Yeah, it was surreal
because Taylor left the game at some point with Krantz,
and he came back in the fourth quarter and the
(15:25):
fans were booing when they announced that Taylor came back in.
That's how Russell the day. It was like, this is
one of the faces of faces of the Titans. When
you think of the Titans in the last five years,
you think of Derrick Henry and probably Taylor one amongst
the group right after him. So it was a rough day.
I mean, I'll give him Taylor a little bit of
a break. He's coming off the a c L. But
(15:46):
Taylor Jones made him look like he was just a
rookie out there. It was, you know, and they were
trying everything. You know, they put him on the left side,
right side, there was no way for him to be stopped.
You touched on the contract. Chandler Joe is playing in
the final year of a five year, eighty two and
a half million dollar contract that he signed with the
Cardinals back in two thousand and seventeen. Certainly some talk
(16:08):
about that this preseason and Chandler clearly proving his worth
and surely had to see what T. J. Watt got
now is the highest paid defensive player in the NFL.
Any talk camp besides the money celebration after some of
those sacks from Chandler Jones about that contract situation, there
(16:30):
wasn't you know, I think that that players tend to
support players and they kind of just say, hey, you know,
get your business done, and I don't want anything I
want to get in the way of that. But I
did talk to Kyler after the game, and the one
thing he said, He's like, hey, Chandler is one of
my closest guys on the team and this is what
he does. You know, he's a huge phase of our team.
(16:50):
So when you had your quarterback saying that sort of thing,
it's not a direct pay me pay that guy statement,
but I think it's as close as you can get.
So I think that you you look at a guy
like Chandler he's thirty one years old. You start to think, oh,
maybe he's slowing down, Maybe he isn't the right guy
to invest in long term if you're thinking the team perspective,
and then he goes out and puts out five sacks
(17:13):
and you're like, maybe we have to recalibrate our thought process.
And I'd imagine that if it hasn't already, this starts
to rerenite something, because you can't you can't let a
guy like Chandler Jones go if you feel like you're
in the super Bowl window, which, by the way, the
Cardinals feel like they are. Within Kyler Murray's rickey contract.
(17:34):
He's still making pennies compared to what he's gonna make
in a year or two. So this is the time.
You know, they're in a competitive division, but this is
the time. So i'd imagine they got to do whatever
they need to do, whether it's now or in the
off season, to take care of Chandler Jones. Well, let's
get to Kyler Murray. After you said you talked to
him after the game. I saw that interview that you
had with him out a post game on the field,
(17:57):
and do the Cardinals kind of get the sense like, man,
if this dude's healthy, Like if he's healthy down the
stretch last season, one, we're probably a playoff team. And
two it absolutely his playoffs are bussed this year with
that kind of performance from Kyler Murray. Who Kyler is different, Man,
Kyler is different. Um, We've always known kind of what
his ability was, but there was times watching this game
(18:18):
where I'm like, this guy can win m VP this year,
like he you know, and I'm trying not to overreact
this week one, you know, I know that's you know,
it's hard to it's easy to overreact on a Monday
after Week one. But he had that sort of a game.
There was one play where he was scrambling around for
like five seconds. I'm sure people have seen it all
over the internet, and scrambling around for five seconds and
(18:38):
he throws his deep ball and it's like that's video
game stuff. Murray stops on a dime, rolls to the
far side, not much just there, steps back and throws
at it's carlor water catch water play by Kyler Murray.
I think the way this offense is now, You've got
(19:01):
a lot more weapons, you know, A J Green didn't
really have a big game, but you have to respect him.
And then you get Rondel Moore, Christian Christian Kirk along
with obviously DeAndre Hopkins. It makes it easy for him.
You know, he could just do what he does. He
doesn't have to try too hard or throw it to
DeAndre Hopkins and triple coverage every time. You know. So,
I think this is gonna be a really good year
(19:21):
for Colin Murray. UM, And I'm excited really that whole
NFC West is is probably the best division of football
four no after your Week one Sunday, Um and the
Cardinals certainly uh one of the most resounding wins out
of that group for sure. And you know, to think
about this stylistically, I just I feel like the perception
of a Cliff Kingsbury lad you know, quote unquote air
(19:43):
raid offense with Kyler Murray, you know, putting up video
game numbers has kind of this sense as like a
finesse kind of team, a finesse offense. But to go
on the road in Week one and to beat up
a smash mouth team in Tennessee, like, stylistically, that's gotta
feel pretty good for a Cardinals team, you know, that's
trying to take the next step. Oh absolutely, I think that,
(20:05):
you know. And one thing they said in the game
that um before the game is they mentioned like Derrick Henry, right,
and you know, Derrick Henry being the two unify time back.
They were like, hey, we know they got Julio, we
know they got a j but we want to stop
Derrick Henry. That's that's our game. Seventeen carries fifty eight
yards three point four yards to carry. They did what
(20:26):
they wanted to do, and like that's before you even
get to six sacks on on Ryan Tanneil. They just
they stopped Derrick Henry and uh, up front. You know,
I talked to James are Chase the Edmond before the
game and he said, there's been a lot of hype
around you know, a j Green, but I think our
best edition is Rodney Hudson center they acquired in the trade.
(20:47):
They said, he's been the guy who's the leader up front,
doing all the past protection, doing all the run blocking,
really getting everybody settled down and being sort of the
man in the middle. And they looked a lot more
impressive up front, and and they were able to run
the ball, which they hadn't been able to do. You know,
they Chase Edmonds and James Conner combined for over a
huntre yards. I think they were the worst rushing team
(21:09):
of football last year, right, And you know that's an
underrated part of their offense where if you can keep
defenses honest, then that allows Kylar to cook even more. Yeah,
anytime you're out rushing the Tennessee Titans by like more
than fifty yards like the Cardinals did here, you you've
done something right. So like, do the Cardinals get the
sense that they're still just scratching the surface of this offense?
(21:32):
Is ultimate potential because it sure doesn't feel like they
have all the answers. Right, you have DeAndre Hopkins, who
can beat almost any one in any coverage at any time.
And then you've got these these quote unquote easy completions
with Christian Kirk and with ron Dale Moore, get him
the ball quick, watch them make plays with the ball
in their hands, and then an improved run game, Like,
(21:52):
is there still more out there for this team on offense? Oh? Absolutely?
You mentioned you mentioned click Kingsbury before, and I'm not
gonna lie. I was worried before the year if he
was on the hot seat. You know, this is a
guy who this is what third year for him, they
hadn't made the playoffs. Um, you know, all that offensive
genius stuff is fine and dandy, but when you don't win,
(22:13):
people start asking questions. So I thought there was a
lot of pressure coming on them this year. You know. Uh,
they came out and just really, I mean it's just
week one, so not saying they're gonna run through the season,
but they came out. All we have is week one
and they I would be hard pressed to find a
team that was more impressive. Maybe the Saints, but other
than them, you know, I think the Cardinal's got to
(22:34):
be top two most impressive team in Week one. And uh,
you know, going back to my chat with Chase Edmonds,
one thing he said that I think was interesting and
you know that hopefully the analogy hits home, but he said,
it's not chess for us anymore. He said, that's been
a kind of a focus for us that like obviously
clifts this big offensive mind, but sometimes it's really simple.
You got four or five playmakers, throw the ball whoever's open.
(22:56):
Doesn't have to be this fancy super play where you're
trying confused this guy. Sometimes it's just our guys are
better than your guys. And I think that's where the
Cardinals are right now in office. They think that in
every position they're better than you are. Sometimes it's okay
to play checkers. And the Cardinals said King me after
(23:17):
that win. Thanks Cam, appreciate you man. When we come back,
the news you need to know following your Week one Sunday,
including notable injury developments. Next, a resounding Week one win
(23:44):
for the Saints in Jacksonville over the Packers. Home game
moved from the Superdome in New Orleans due to Hurricane Ida,
but the Saints didn't skip a beat. Playing their first
game of the post. Drew brees Era and Jamis Winston
didn't skip a beat. Five touch downs in his debut
as the starter at quarterback, vastly out doing the reigning
m v P Aaron Rodgers in a victory that meant
(24:07):
more than the one in OH record it produced. That
was for the city, you know, so shout out to
the city of New Orleans. We did that for them.
We knew how much it would it would mean to
to get a great, big gree uh. For that reason,
they've been through so much UH and for us to
be able to celebrate this victor with them, it's just
hass outs to them for their resilience, right because they
(24:28):
motivated us, They inspired us to come out there. Saints
cornerback Marshawn Lattimore played exceptionally well against the Packers and
got a major bonus after the win, a new five year,
nineties seven million dollar contract extension, but also finds out
a thumb injury could now cause him to miss some
time going forward. Ian Rappaport saying Lattimore is considered weak
(24:50):
to week five rookie quarterbacks drafted in the first round
of this past year's draft. Three got the start on
Sunday Shotgun for ever dropping up the four man rush, scrambles,
still is left, hit stays honest, food fires, and a
wall is going to be picked off. A throw it
you're high, it is picked off and being run back
by the Texan Justin Reed May the interception he had
(25:14):
a man Trevor airmail that one. Plenty of rookie moments
to go around number one overall pick Trevor Lawrence included
putting together an uneven performance that saw some uncharacteristic inaccuracy
and turnovers. Three interceptions took a along with three touchdowns
in a Jaguar's loss to the Texans. Worst news for
(25:36):
the Washington football team starting quarterback as we get to
some injury notes, Ryan Fitzpatrick will go on injured reserve
after suffering a hip sub luxation in the loss of
the Chargers. Backup quarterback Taylor Heineke finished the game and
is in line to start for at least the next
three weeks. And Rapp Report also reporting Jets left tackle
McKay Beckton could miss four to five weeks with the
(26:00):
dislocated kneecap suffered in the loss to Carolina. Mike Garafolo,
says Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, confirming it's a high
ankle sprain. For wide receiver Jerry Judy will miss sometime.
That's gonna do it for this Monday edition of NFL
Inside Report, We're back with you on Wednesday with a
look at the Ravens depleted running back room following their
(26:22):
Monday night matchup against the Raiders, and ahead to the
biggest games on tap in Week two. For producers Thomas
Warren and Tim Peratka, I'm Rhet Lewis. NFL Inside Report
is the production of the NFL and partnership with I
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