10 Takes with Kyle Brandt: A great weekend of football

Can you squeeze everything from this Divisional round in 10 minutes? Let's find out: 

• Spent from good football, at least no ref controversies!
• Mahomes is inevitable and we found Kelce
• The Bills aren't evolving
• Lamar Jackson needed this
• An early Lions prediction
• Meeting Jack Black
• Sneaking in an extra take at the end?

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ten Takes is a production of the NFL in partnership
with iHeartRadio. Welcome to ten Takes. I'm spent. I'm spent emotionally, physically.
The best weekend of football all year. It just fried me.

(00:25):
And yet I'm getting that second wind and where I'm
just ready to talk about it. I better be already
did it for three hours on TV today. Now I
get to talk to you guys. Let's just get into it.
Best weekend of the year. Ten takes and ten minutes.
Start the clock. Take number one, Bill Chiefs this year
was better than the Bill Chiefs thirteen second game. It

(00:45):
was better than the overtime game. I'd loved this game
from start to finish. I think it was cleaner, I
think it was better football. There were no interceptions thrown,
there were no sacks. There was only seven penalties combined,
which you'll take. Can we all just thank the lords
right now that we're not sitting here this morning talking
about some wow theficiating controversy that happened in any of

(01:06):
these games. It's great. I thought this one was better, though,
a lot of the stuff that happened in the thirteen
second game and the meltdown by the Bills. Was bad football,
was really bad defensive football for them, and then there's
all this controversy about the coin toss and whatnot. This
is just a really good football game between two really
good teams, and the better team won. I'd loved this
game from start to finish. I'd love the weird twists
and turns. I mean, you could go through and talk

(01:27):
about it for twenty minutes and not even mention DeMar
Hamlin was running a fake punt what or that the
Chiefs bubbled out the back of the end zone and
ended up not burning them. And then DeMar Facott punt
didn't burn the Bills either, the field goal, the tragedy, everything.
I loved this game so much. It was two great teams,
great great NFL product, just awesome. Was that a great game.

(01:50):
I would rewatch that game like i'd rewatch a movie,
just to put it on. Six weeks from now, six
months from now, six years from now. I would watch
Bills Chiefs in January twenty twenty four, just enjoy it.
Take number two Mahomes is inevitable. It's an amazing thing
because you get tongue tied when you're trying to say
all right, Shoot, I gotta praise Mahomes again. I've kind
of done that for years. What can I do now?

(02:12):
I just think it is so unbelievable that he only
plays title game seasons at worst. That's it. That's the
streak that I want to remember Mahomes by years and
years from now, when I'm a grandfather or he's retired,
that he didn't. He doesn't do lose in the divisional rounds.
It just doesn't. It's not what he does, never mind
the wild card round. He doesn't even ever bow out

(02:34):
in the divisional It's almost as if it's his contract
or his agreement written in blood with the football gods.
Just know, I never ever lose earlier than the title
game round. I don't always win the title game, but
I always get to it. I usually host it, I
always play in it. It is like a concert performer
or a headliner who only does stadiums, not arenas, not amphitheaters.

(02:57):
I'm so big and so good, and it's just such
a badass. I only play the largest possible venue in
every city that I go to. Mahomes' only title games.
We've talked dad nauseum this week about oh I never
played a road game, no, not a true road game
in the playoffs. He's never lost in the divisional round,
and he was probably mad this year because he actually
had to play in the wild card round when one again,

(03:19):
it's just an amazing testament to him and how good
he is. Take number three, Kelsey showed up big time man.
Travis Kelsey hadn't scored a touchdown, which felt like months,
and you know why because it was months. And sure enough,
big game, bright lights, cold atmosphere, unfriendly crowd, Bam, right
out of the gates, long touchdown, Bam, another one of
these old Andy Reid bag of tricks, touchdown on something

(03:42):
called flash screen. The second touchdown Travis Kelsey run. They
hadn't run that place since Alex Smith was the quarterback
that predates Mahomes, which goes back to twenty seventeen somewhere
around there, and they did it. You know, I had
been on Kelsey. I've been taking pot shots and cracking
jokes and the way I do harmlessly is just to
bus chops that he really hadn't shown up much this year,

(04:04):
and I'm like, is he hurt? Is he old? Is
he falling apart? And then you put them against buffal
He just kills them. You have to respect it. Just
kills them, absolutely kills them. Take number four. The Bills
aren't growing, They're not evolving. This is the same deal
over and over, division round loss, division round loss. They're
Chiefs that they play every year. The Chiefs have been

(04:27):
to six title games. The Bills have been to one,
and in that title game that got hammered by the Chiefs.
This is the cold, hard reality if you're if you're
not evolving, you're dying. And I look at the Bills
right now, a lot of the ways you look at
the Cowboys, it's groundhog team. You show up, is an
exciting regular season, you have some really talented players, and
it's kind of a similar loss. That's what's so deflating.

(04:48):
I think about Bills fan this morning. It's not just
so we lost in the playoffs again, it's we lost
a home game in the playoffs to the team we
can't beat, who's playing on the road. For the first time.
We did it in a year when Joe Burrow, who's
the other guy who really really matters in the AFC playoffs,
is completely out, which leaves a gap which I don't
think because insignificant, and our kicker missed again and our
star wide receiver dropped of huge pass. They're not growing.

(05:11):
And Strager was saying this morning and Good Morning Football
that there is an incredible club of quarterbacks who are
Hall of famers or just generally really respected franchise quarterbacks
over years who never even so much has played in
a Super Bowl. I'm not talking about Marino or Kelly
who got there and didn't win. Warren Moon, Dan Fouts,
Philip Rivers, on and on never played in a super Bowl.
Is Dason going to be in that club? God, I

(05:34):
hope not. I love watching him play, I love a
lot of the things he stands for. But this whole
take about the Bills can't get over the hump, guys.
They can't get to the hump. Getting over the hump
is not winning the divisional round. Getting over the hump
is winning a super Bowl. They can't even sniff that thing.
It's really frustrating. Take number five. They need their super friends,

(05:56):
they have Superman. Where's the super Friends. I'm really frustrated
with Stefan Diggs this morning because it's the end of
a really, really average, underwhelming season and he had another
average underwhelming playoff game. Specifically, on the drive that ended
in the missfield goal, Josh Allen threw what looked like
a two hundred yard pass and Dick's dropped it, and

(06:16):
like he's a big play receiver, right, He's made a
lot of big plays. He's made a lot of big
plays in playoff games. He just dropped it and it
just wasn't there this year. So where are they going?
They drafted tight end the first round last year, adult
cacad He mattered, He'll get better. He's a good player,
I promise him. There are they ever gonna say, screw it,
We're going to spend their first round pick on a
wide receiver and bringing a new guy in here the kicker.
Another thing about the kicker, I know that take is

(06:39):
out there that's very convenient, and it's very tired, and
it's very cliche about Hey, you can't put this all
on the kicker. There are a lot of other plays
being made. I know that, and I'm not putting it
all on the kicker, but you're damn well better be
sure I canna put some on the kicker. This is
not seventh grade. You're an adult professional, a multi millionaire,
who's getting paid a huge paycheck to make kicks to
forty four yard are in your home state, even know
like the back of your hand, and there was a

(07:01):
no doubt miss from the second to hit your laces.
I don't want Tyler Bass to be flombayed, but he
should take some dude, what the hell happened? It was
a terrible kick, really frustrating. You got to play better
than that. Take number six. Lamar Jackson needed that, He
needed that hit the spot, didn't it. Everything about Lamar
is always so contentious in the debate online and his
apologists and his defenders and his accusers. You can't do this,

(07:23):
can't do that. In the first half, he looked really
shaky in a sense. They just didn't score much. And
there's a long history that we've been talking about for
weeks now of the Ravens under Lamar showing up in
playoff games and not only just being flat, but being
really terrible and inefficient in the first quarter. Early. It
wasn't great in the first half. In that second half,
he just leaned back and unleash hell on Houston on
every one of his critics. One hundred yards rushing four

(07:46):
total touchdowns, just looked really, really good. You don't want
Lamar to go down that path where if you were
to lose that game or to underwhelm in that game,
you start getting this reputation of a really talented player
who's great in the regular season and shows up never
really amounts to much like the NBA equivalent being Carmelo
Anthony Chris Paul for a lot of his career. These
guys who did sometimes they'd be first team All NBA

(08:07):
and they'd be one and done in the playoffs. Like,
you don't want Lamar to do that, and he's not.
And now he's at home in the title game. He
needed that and he got it. Take number seven. I
think the Lions are gonna win the NFC title game.
I have a prediction right now Monday morning. I think
they're gonna win that game. I really like the Lions team.
I really like Golf. The storyline is going to be big.
He's the first pick in the draft rock Porty. He
was the last pick in the draft. Golf is going

(08:28):
back to where he played college ball and became the
number one pick in the draft at Cal. He's going
to a stadium in San Francisco. He's incredibly familiar and
comfortable with He played there a lot as a Rams quarterback.
I just think there's a lot of things that you
tout for the Niners, and I think the Lions have
an equal answer for them. I really do. McCaffrey's amazing,
Gibbs is amazing, Kittle, Laporta, Shanahan, Ben Johnson. I like

(08:51):
the Lions in this game because take number eight. The
forty nine ers really really need Deebo Samuel. It's a
huge deal. If you watch the game, he spent most
of it in a sweatshirt on the sideline cheering on
his team, wanted to go back in with a shoulder
injury and couldn't. Brock Berdy was not great. The Niners
kind of survived, whereas the Ravens dominated the other one seed.
If they don't have Deebo, they're a totally different team,

(09:13):
and I think they will lose to the Lions. I've
been wrong predicting against the Niners before. I like what
the Lions have going. I like what Campbell is going.
But never mind the mojo and the revenge and the
chip on the shoulder, the dumb SoundBite. I just really
like their players. I really like their talent. I don't
know right now if there's a non quarterback player left
in the playoffs that has impressed me more in the
last couple of weeks than Jamier Gibbs. He flies off

(09:35):
the screen man when you're watching him. Damn. He looks
like he's fast forward. He looks like he's more talent
than anybody out there. I like the Lions next week
take number nine. Jack Black is exactly the guy you
want him to be. I'm talking about the actor, the
rock star of the comedian, Jack Black. School of Rock.
I did a promo that I got to do for
his Kung Fu Panda movie that's coming out, and I
got to meet Jack Black. All I can tell you

(09:56):
is he shows up exactly like you want him to. Like,
Jack Black, What up? What's up? Kyle? How you doing? Man?
Rock and roll? Funny kind of cracking the everybody up
in the camera? People up. He's awesome. On set, he
was totally loose. They say, don't meet your heroes. That's nonsense.
I met Jack Black, one of my favorite celebrities in
the world, and he could not have been a cooler,
nicer guy. Take that home. I'm not gonna come back

(10:16):
and tell you, yeah, Jack Black was that kind of
a jerk. He was awesome. Take number ten, Back to
the Future. It is really hard to watch with your kids,
trying to do what will most of us do and
educate our kids and movie each from the nineties and eighties.
I had my ten year old watch Back to the Future.
He loved the Dolorean, he loved Marty. It's really hard
to explain to your ten year old the storyline whereby
Marty decides he's going to force himself on his mother
to try to get George to save him. Marty, what

(10:43):
kind of plan was that? So I'll be sitting in
the car with my mom and I'm gonna start putting
my hands on her against her will, and then you
come save us to what. I know, It's been said before,
and I've thought about it before, and I've laughed at it.
But when the movie's winding down and you're in that
last twenty minutes and your ten year old is really
riveted and trying to understand most of the time travel stuff,

(11:06):
and he goes, what is Marty doing and what is
he telling George? Never mind, let's just fast forward to
get to it. I don't even want to explain it
to you. It's just a ridiculous plan. I went over.
I'm not supposed to do that. I'm breaking my own rules.
That's ten minutes. That's ten takes with a little bonus
Marty McFly incredulous parenting take. I love you guys. Thank
you guys. The next time I speak to you, guys,

(11:28):
we're gonna know our Super Bowl matchup. I'll tell you
right now. I think it is going to be Lions Chiefs.
I do, which means I think both road teams are
going to win. I might be wrong. It might be
Niners Ravens and we'll celebrate the one seeds and that'll
be really cool and really fun and exciting. It doesn't
happen to all that often. I think it's gonna be

(11:48):
Lions Chiefs in Las Vegas. That's a bonus take. That
was like a twelve or thirteen take. I gotta stop
stop talking, Brant. You said ten takes in ten minutes.
I'm out here, see you guys next week. Ten Takes
is a production of the NFL in partnership with I
Heart Radio. For more iHeartRadio pods, go to the iHeartRadio app.

(12:09):
Go to Apple go anywhere you like, it'll be there.