10 Takes with Kyle Brandt: Onto Vegas!

We have the Super Bowl Matchup and still just 10 minutes to dissect it:

• Mahomes has earned the praise
• Inspired by Travis Kelce
• The Ravens had nothing
• A special kind of loss for the Lions
• Who adapted and who didn't?
• 49ers redemption
• The refs were better?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Ten Takes is a production of the NFL in partnership
with iHeartRadio. Ten Takes. That's the name of the show.
Ten minutes is the amount of time we have to delivery.
You know how this works. At this point, we're all
the way into the Pro Bowl week pre Super Bowl week.

(00:25):
Tough mourning for the wacky conspiracy theorists online who believed
that the Super Bowl logo is going to dictate the
two teams that play in it. Sorry, a lot of
purple in that logo. No purple in either the Chiefs
or the forty nine ers. That was fun wet last time.
Here we go ten minutes. If I don't get the
ten takes in in time, it explodes directly in my
face and I'm scarred for life. Let's find out how

(00:46):
we're going to do today. Ten minutes start the clock. Factor.
Mahomes is back in the Super Bowl and he has
an idiotic offensive playoff record. Get ready for the next
thirteen days of hyping Patrick Mahomes deservedly so. The best
I can do it is just completely fact based, number

(01:07):
base and just say this over and over. Patrick Mahomes
is fourteen and three in the playoffs in the NFL playoffs.
Patrick Mahomes record is fourteen and three, and it's so
good because you can remember all the three losses clearly
and quickly if you follow football. The three losses he
has ever had at any level of the playoffs one
when he was a young pup practically a baby, lost

(01:29):
to the Tom Brady Patriots in overtime. Two the one
he lost to Joe Burrow at Home and Arrowhead in overtime,
and then three in the Super Bowl, again to Tom Brady,
this time with the Buccaneers, when Mahomes was running around
like a rodeo clown because he had no offensive line.
So let me explain that to you. The only times
Mahomes has ever lost in the playoffs are one time
in the Super Bowl, completely outmanned, and then the two

(01:51):
other losses are not only in the title game, they're
both in overtime of the title game. So to beat
him in the title game you need an extra period,
or you need him to have no offensive line. In
the Super Bowl, he doesn't lose the divisional We already
cover that. It is absolutely incredible than in the modern
NFL with an AFC as good as it is an
AFC quarterback field as talented as it is, and a
league as good as it is and as offensive driven.

(02:13):
Mahomes is fourteen and three in the playoffs. Think about that,
somebody like Lamar who will get into in a second
as gifted and as talented as he is, also with
a winning franchise and a super Bowl winning head coach.
Lamar's two to four in the playoffs. Mahomes is fourteen
and three, and he's trying to go fifteen to three.
Take number two. I was inspired by Travis Kelcey yesterday.

(02:35):
I really mean that he was the best player in
the game at his age. With the wearing tear he's
been on. He was targeted eleven times and made eleven catches.
That was I think Travis Kelsey's best game. You can
find bigger statistics. Maybe you're bigger catches or bigger moments.
I don't care. It's fine it may put it this way.
That was my favorite game of Travis. Kelcey's set the
tone really early. Everyone's hearing about this. Kyle Hamilton, this

(02:58):
young safety had a notre dame for the Ravens. Kelsey
scored on him early. He spiked it. There was no
dance no hipswivel. It was a big means spike. He
was not doing the heart up to the crowd or
to tailor or whatever. Just pissed off business like Kelsey,
who was amazing. Here's the thing about Kelsey. I've been
on him this year too, because he's disappeared at times
for long stretches. Statistically, he just hasn't produced when the

(03:19):
Chiefs really needed him. Fine, he flipped a switch last week.
He kept the switch in the same direction this week. Dominant.
And you gotta know that guy's been through some stuff
this year, by his own choice. He seems very happy
and everything, but his life has changed dramatically. His fame
has skyrocketed, his lifestyle, his privacy, all of that. He
was a very famous football player before and now he's

(03:39):
like a global figure. That's got awigh on your mind.
That's got to mess you up. I don't know if
everybody can handle it. That would eat people alive. You
wouldn't be able to do your job, you wouldn't be
able to leave the house. It's incredible that he's done that,
considering what he's got going on off the field, how
good he still is on the field. I was personally
inspired by Dravis Kelce yesterday, to be as good as
you can, to produce like you can in the biggest moments.

(04:01):
That was just unbelievably cool. Take number three. Lamar and
the Ravens were terrible. I wish it couldn't be so blunt,
but I only have ten minutes. That was not a
good game. The NFC game was really fun, back and
forth first half, second half, two team putting up points.
The Ravens had just next to nothing. They really did.
Here's the story. You'd show up and it's the greatest
atmosphere that that stadium has ever produced. There's all the history,

(04:24):
there's all the old players, there's the smoke, there's the fire,
there's the music. You start with the ball and it's
a three and out, Bam, three and out. Then the
defense comes out. This defense is incredible, and it's ro
quant and it's queens, go right down the field, touchdown.
Then Lamar gets a touchdown. It was really good play,
incredible play, and then it just went fumble, punt, punt, punt, punt, interception,

(04:45):
fumblefield goal. See later, We're going to Cabo. Just like that,
just absolutely nothing on offense. It was bizarre. It was frustrating.
It was disappointing as someone like me who just wants
a really good product, who wants these guys to go
back and forth. They didn't go back and forth. And
the caricature of Lamar and for so many people, is
that you know, he's going to make some really good highlights,

(05:05):
but you can't count them in the playoffs, and he's
not gonna win the big games. That was their birthday
yesterday because Lamar had this amazing play where he threw
the ball and it got inflected and he caught it. Wow,
what a cool play. But who cares? Who cares? They
scored one touchdown in the biggest game in the history
of that stadium. They came up woefully short. And I
don't know, it's just wrong generation, I guess ask Alan,

(05:27):
asked Tua, ask Lamar. Those guys play with mahomes and
he beats them. It sucks. I feel very disappointed for
Ravens fans. But at least the Lions showed up, put
up some points before their tragedy. The Ravens thing was
tragedy almost from the start, really really bad. Take number four.
The Lions couldn't just lose normally, could they They couldn't
just show up, maybe have a couple of lead changes,

(05:50):
and then the Niners end with the ball and they
make a field goal at the buzzer, and then Nines
lose thirty one to twenty. It couldn't go that way.
It had to be a full, gut wrenching, heart ripping,
throat slashing tragedy. Didn't it. It did seventeen points. I
can't believe they lost that game. And don't give me
the same old line stuff. I'ven't butught on that all year.

(06:11):
It was just a series of unconscionable plays. The Reynolds
drop on fourth down was obviously big, but then there
was another Reynolds drop on third and ten. There was
a very easy catch, and Reynolds has made catches all year.
He's not some loser who just showed up out of
nowhere and can't catch. He's been really clutched for them. Then,
all of a sudden, I don't know what happened to

(06:32):
bruck Perdy started running a four to two forty. This
scrambling was unbelievable. Jamir Gibbs is not a fumbler, and
it merely the most critical point in the game. Jamir
Gibbs fumbles pretty overthrows. Ayuk. It's not a good play.
The Lions should have intercepted it. It hits their defensive
back and the bleeping face, and then he catches it

(06:53):
on top of it. Ayuk. If any of those things
don't happen, I think the Lions win the game. Not
to mention, do you remember at the end of the
game when the Lions punter kicked an eighty yard punt
that landed on the one yard line, bounced directly up
in the air and they still couldn't down it as
a touchback. There was about seven really bad plays. I
feel like if they made six, they win the game.
There were seven really bad mistakes. If they make six mistakes,

(07:15):
they're going to the super Bowl. They made seven. Take
number five. Frustrated with Dan Campbell. There's a whole culture
war this morning and then armshare quarterbacking Monday morning quarterback
in mathematics analytics? Should he have gone for those fourth downs?
Where I come out is I don't like the cliched,
tried and true corny jock speak of Listen, you've ridden

(07:38):
this all year as a guy who's gonna be aggressive.
You stay true to who you are as a coach.
So you're telling me that you just adapt one philosophy
in training camp and you don't evolve, You don't go
case per case. You don't feel the game and don't
feel the crowd, you don't feel your team. It's stupid,
it's overly simplistic, and it's reductive to what coaching is.
You don't just say Dan Campbell's a guy who's gonna

(08:01):
go for it, so you go for it. No, you
see what we got, you see how you feel. There's
an intangible judging of the game. You look in your
quarterback size, you feel the rhythm, you feel the crowd.
Should we kick here? If Dan Campbell really felt in
those situations that he should go for it and he
should keep the kicker off, well, then go for it. Dan,
do it. But there's all this apologizing for Campbell with

(08:23):
that dumb Corny Disney cliche of you go with who
you've been all season. No, you go with the moment demands.
And I'll give you an example of that. Take number
six Mahomes. After the game was absolutely nails, he was
asked bout how Well's defense was playing. Remember, Mahomes only
scored seventeen points, and he went on and said, sometimes
you feel the game. So that's Mahomes saying listen as

(08:44):
well as our defense was playing. I'm aware of that,
and I let that dictate how I play and the
decisions that I make. I don't just chuck it around
like I normally would. I can feel when maybe our
defense needs meet up to put up thirty points, when
our defense is playing that well, I've been in enough
games to since maybe throw it out of bounds, maybe punt,
let's let the defense win the game. Brilliant, It's insightful.

(09:05):
I think that's what Dan Campbell, as a coach, not
a quarterback, should have done. Take number seven. Forty nine
Ers are back in the Super Bowl, and I think
it's really cool. I was there working the Pro Bowl
in Las Vegas last year, a few days after they
lost to the Eagles in the Brock pretty injury game.
I got stuck to Kittle, I got to talk to Yustcheck,
got talked to McCaffrey. Guys. I noticed a little bit
over the years, I have never seen losing athletes after

(09:28):
a game be that flu mixed and that almost catatonic
about what the hell happened. I've seen a lot of
guys lose the game. It sucks. Ah, yeah, tough break.
We'll get him next year. Uschack and Kittle they could
barely talk about how strange that game was and what
to do about it, and they were so shook by it,
and I really felt for them as human beings. They're
back and I'm excited for him. Take number eight. Rock
Purty is a robot, after all. I've said it for

(09:48):
all year. That's what you want, that little machine like
android who has all the most regurgitated artificial intelligence cliches
after the game, how we never gave up and never
did this. He's perfect. I love the guy. I don't
know if he's gonna make the big mistake in the
Super Bowl. Mahomes is going to be better. I don't know,
but I like the way he handled himself really bad

(10:09):
first half after not playing Wuggins. The Packers nail second half.
Take number nine. The officiating was passable. That's a big
win for us guys. We're not talking about the officials today.
I know the Ravens feel like they got jobbed. I
don't at all. This A Flowers thing was crazy. He
did three different things. You can't do to showboat on
a guy. If you had done two, they wouldn't call.
He did all three. The Clowney call was fine. The
van neut thing was fine. The officials you got us home.

(10:32):
We're not talking about you. Take number ten. I love ladybugs,
and I didn't know they were good luck. Did you
know that Brandon Ayuk credited his big catch that changed
the game to a ladybug landing on his foot before
the game. That was good luck. I'm not making this up.
Ladybugs are going to be hot going to Vegas. That's incredible.

(10:53):
A ladybug take at the buzzer ten minutes, Brandon Ayuk,
I'm not supposed to elaborate because I'm over ten minutes.
But he did tell Aaron Andrews last night that he
was able to make that catch because a ladybug landed
on his damn foot before they and their good luck.
I don't even know they were good luck. I had
to google it. People really swear by that. I swear
by you guys listening to ten takes every single week.
I love you. It's Pro Bowl week next Monday, I'm

(11:14):
working the Pro Bowl, so I'm going to Orlando, and
I'm gonna intermix with all those guys there. I'll come
back with stories and anecdotes and selfies and all that stuff.
I got all type stuff to talk about next Monday,
and we'll preview with the super Bowl going into it.
But that's it. I'm not supposed to go over. I
got it in under the buzzer again. Ten Takes, ten minutes.
Tell your friends, see you next week. Ten Takes is

(11:38):
a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
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