December 19, 2024 • 33 mins
Voice of the Chiefs, Mitch Holthus and senior team reporter, Matt McMullen welcome safety, Justin Reid to the show to preview the upcoming Week 16 matchup featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans on Saturday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the AFC South champion will meet the AFC West
Champion in twenty twenty four. But a bigger story is
Kansas City's chase for the buye. There's also some uncertainty
at quarterback, but there's a lot on the line as
the Houston Texans come in one of the most treacherous
times for the Kansas City Chiefs, at least schedule wise.
(00:22):
This defending the Kingdom Like Them All or brought to
you by Ticketmaster for the screen.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Forthy fifteen ten Downfield Blog Touchdown.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Cansa city on a swing screen. I everyone, I'm Mitch
Holt's voice of the Chiefs along with senior team reporter
Matt McMullen. We'll just call this episode Houston take care
of the business. And with the Texans coming in to play,
they have wrapped up the AFC South. They have done
it for the eighth time they came into existence in
(00:53):
two thousand and two. When it's really unique about it,
they've done it all in back to back times, so
they've won eight times in the division, back to back,
back to back, back to back, back to back. So
when they won it last year, everybody thought, well, they're
going to win it again, probably won't win it next year,
but only the Colts with nine division titles have won
it more than the Texans. But here they come to
take on the Kansas City Chiefs, and we got a
(01:14):
lot to talk about, including the quarterback situation. But your
thoughts overall with the two division champions meeting and what
feels like the playoffs before the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, it kind of does. Setting right here with three
games left, were set to play I think the four seed,
the three seed, and the seventh seed over our final
three games in the AFC playoff field before the playoffs begin,
those things can obviously change. But it's a tough stretch
to end the year. It's well documented how difficult the
(01:44):
stretches in terms of time. Playing three games in eleven days.
Won the first one. Now we have two games between
now and next Wednesday. It's difficult, particularly considering the injury
situation with Patrick Mahomes. We're shooting this on Tuesday. Patrick
has had his presser said that he's going to give
it everything. He has. Coach reed said if he can go,
he's going to go. By the time you listen to this,
(02:05):
you might know more than we do. But no matter
who's at quarterback. It's an amazing opportunity for the Chiefs.
Two more wins, no matter what else happens, and we
get the one seed. And considering the injuries, considering the fatigue,
we've played a lot of games in a row. Now,
getting that buy as of the utmost importance.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, when I was asked about the Patrick situation and
it went viral, but I said, if he can go,
he'll go. But the other side of this story, and
I've seen it for twelve years and you've seen it
in your time here, Matt, is that this staff, this
head coach, this athletic trainer, this team will not rush
a player back if they deem Pat is not going
(02:44):
to go. They're not going to say Pat, we got
to have you. This is the playoffs, before the playoffs.
We need to win this game, we need to win
two of the next three. They will not do that.
And I've seen them go even beyond win the discretionary
decision making. So if Pat plays this game, it'll be
a full green light go from the athletic trainers, coach
and the team doctors.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, it'll be because he can play and play at
a high level. That's the most important thing. We're blessed
and fortunate to have Carson Wentz as our backup. And
think about all the backups across the league. Is there
a better one than Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz was an
MVP candidate at one point in his career. He's been
around this team and around this culture all season long.
If he has to go out there, I have full
confidence he can do it. I hope Patrick Mahomes can
(03:28):
play because he's Patrick Mahomes, but he's only going to
play if he can play at a high level and
if he can protect himself. And that's why we have
the infrastructure here that we do. We have the best
athletic training staff in the league. They're going to do
everything they can to get him ready, but they also
are able to tell him, hey, you are not ready
to play, and we'll find that out later this week.
But either way, we're in a great position, just a
(03:49):
matter of taking advantage of it.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And defensively, the Chiefs are coming in hot after six
takeaways against the Cleveland Browns. Later in this episode, we'll
check in with Justin Reid, by his own declaration, the
jack of all trades masters Mini including a Master chess
rating probably, But before we go further in this episode
of Houston Playoffs, before the playoffs, let's go around the world.
(04:14):
Why not, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I have sixteen today, oh for Lynn Dawson, for Lynn Dawson.
Maybe for sixteen hats last week, I don't know sixteen.
So I heard from Larry in Scotland. So we were
talking about how I need like a different title, right,
like senior team reporter is just confusing, like a different title.
Your friend was recommending I have a different title, right, Yeah.
So he had a recommendation.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Oh, this is based off that earlier recommendation exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, you've watched the Office, right, yeah. Okay, he said
that I can be the assistant to the regional manager.
That of course makes to you the regional manager, like
I'll be your Dwight Shrewd to you're Michael Scott, right,
I'm in for that, so thank you, Larry in Scotland.
I'll be the assistant to the regional manager, not the
assistant regional manager.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
We'll take that under advisement. Well, that's one of the possible.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We've a listener who's been a fan since nineteen sixty
seven and an stm for over twenty years. Even made
the trip to Germany last year. Looking back, that was
such an amazing trip. I can't believe we did that.
It's going to Frankfurt, you and I more time. Yeah,
well we're dropped in there for forty eight hours.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Restaurant was awesome. It was like five hundred years old.
Your mom found it right, yeah, Oh my gosh, right
off the square. It was so good. It was incredible.
It was so good. And the schnitzel Man.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The best terry is in Murray, Kentucky, home of the
Murray State Racers. Okay, there we go. I was wondering
that that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Edwin is in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was twelve
years old listening to the Chiefs one Super Bowl four
on the radio. Maybe a Super Bowl four rematch this year,
we'll see. We have a listener in Parkville, Missouri. Spent
much time in Parkville.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I love Parkville.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Well, let's a you know, we have so many kind
of like throwback Western Missouri's that to travel throughout the
Kingdom to those communities, but Parkville has just had its
own beauty right on the river and Park University is
a gorgeous campus. Yeah, but there's this kind of rustic
eighteen fifty five feeling to Parkville, so I love it. Yeah,
(06:10):
there's the modern part of Parkville, and of course there's
park Hill High School in park Hill South, but kind
of downtown older Parkville to me is charming.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's super cool. We used to live up north and
it feels very suburban, but then you could go into Parkville,
it feels like you're in a little small town, like
in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Mark Now when the Missouri River floods, though, it floods
like no other in Parkville.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I'm sure it does.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yes, it does.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
We heard from Adrian and New York. Doug's listening in Tucson, Arizona.
David is in Athens, Greece. George carloftis shout out. We
have a listener in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So Ellie and
I kind of decided on our vacation for this upcoming
year because we're going to South Korea in a couple
of years and that's going to be expensive. We wanted
to do something but nothing too crazy. So we're going
(06:55):
to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in junior. Yeah,
all the fantastic Jackson Hole is on the list. Kent
is listening in Dubai. So Kent moved there with his
family from Kansas City in August. He's originally from Winchester, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Sure, Jefferson North High School. Okay, the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
He also taught in Washington, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The Tigers. Yeah, in fact Washington. Do you remember the
movie twelve Strong? Yeah, and Mark Nutch who was the
first boots on the ground. He was. He was the
guy who led that ODA team in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan
back in two thousand and one. We were trying to
get a quick answer. They did a remarkable job. There's
(07:39):
a book called Swords of Lightning. Mark Neusch was from
that area, Washington, Kansas. Are the Tigers very cool?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, Kent's from that area as well, not far from
Marlville and had him all right, the more you know,
shout out to you, Kent. We heard from Devon and Topeka.
Devon is twenty three years old, but a fan since
the days of Trent Green and Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Is for you, my era right there.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
That's why whenever I'm around like Tony or Trent to
try to keep them my cool. It's like eight year
old me's freaking out. Heard from Tim. Tim predicted the
Browns game would end with a walk off dropkick field goal.
Not quite, but I do appreciate the creativity.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I love that idea because you know, Justin Reid could
do it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
He definitely can.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, we've seen him try it a drop kickfield goal.
Oh man, wait to think.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Just trying to keep the script interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
We're gonna hear from him in a second. He could
definitely do it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Sandy is in Mesa, Arizona. Shout out to Nathan Brunsie.
You know Nathan, He's awesome. Nathan's a longtime member of
our digital staff. He wanted me to say this week's
ago I keep forgetting. But Nathan's originally from Camdenton, Missouri,
and he's getting really tired the Lakers. He's getting really
tired of a shouting out people from Lebanon, Missouri, the Jackets.
They have an ancient feud and the fists are clinching
(08:54):
whenever Lebanon.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So this goes back to the eighteen fifties. I think
that the Camdenon Lakers are.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
A deal it's a great mascot.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Oh yeah, because it's right on the leg.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Makes sense?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, sure, make I love mascots that make sense. Now,
I think the Yellow Jackets make sense for Lebanon, Missouri.
But yes, the cana and Lakers are a powerhouse team.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So we've given Lebanon a lot of love. We have
to give Cayman to some love as well, according to Nathan,
So there you go. Lastly, a listener did a deep
dive into the hat collection. If you missed last week's episode,
we had all the championship hats, the nine division title hats,
the four conference title hats, and the three Super Bowl
championship hats all out on the desk. Well, this guy
(09:33):
really dug into it. This is like next gen stats
of the hats. So he said, since Coachrii took over
in twenty thirteen, we've earned forty seven percent of the
hats available to us. We've also accounted for thirteen percent
of all hats awarded during his tenure.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And then he's counting the NFC too.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, and he plotted out every team and their hats won.
We obviously have the most. We have more than New
England does now since twenty thirteen, and I knew this already,
but to see it actually like in text form. There
are teams that have zero hats over the last ten years,
and we have sixteen. So pretty good.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's awesome. Speaking of wearing a lot of hats, Yeah,
are we ready for our guest? Do you have some more?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
No, that's it sixteen today.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Well, speaking speaking of wearing a lot of hats, right now,
he wears more hats than probably anybody on this entire
football team. He is a remarkable human being and very versatile.
Number twenty Justin Reid. Okay, how do we introduce him? Kickoff?
Specialist stud safety, future governor of Louisiana, future President of
the United States, future chess master. I'll do this, those
(10:39):
of you who are watching and listening. This is the board.
When he was a Houston, Texan Okay, God, he's now
a Kansas City chief. Justin Reid. It's awesome to have
you here. How do we introduce you? Because you've got
I mean, your Wikipedia page is full.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Yeah, I don't know, man, maybe a jack of all
trades because I just like dabbling.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
When you first joined us several years ago and we
talked about how you love to kick, and you would
go out at training camp and kick field goals and stuff.
Did you ever think you'd had this many opportunities though,
because your first year here you actually had to step
in for Butcker for a while in that Cardinals game,
and now you're our kickoff specialist here while Harrison's getting healthy.
You ever think you'd have all these chances to kick?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
You know, I always wish that it would happen, but
it wasn't something that ever thought would actually happen. And
you know, the rules changing a little a little bit
helped push that along. And then you know, just me
being willing to do whatever the team needs and Harrison
being able to kick field goals and still get a
little bit more healthy and allow me to go do it.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
It's just a ton of fun.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So exciting to see a team go from minus four
to plus two in one game. Six takeaways? Yeah, what
did that mean? Short term and long term for this defense?
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Just well, I think that it's coming at the right time.
You know, you don't want to peak too soon. Would
have been great to have some of these earlier in
the year, but we're still getting a job done. And
we're playing great defense, but we just weren't getting the
turnovers and has been getting the ball. Coach Bags has
emphasized that he showed film on and throughout the week
anytime anyone punched the ball, every interception in practice, he
was showing it. And you know, it all came at once.
(12:10):
And like he said, we're not done yet. We're going
to keep it rolling and it's coming at a good time.
So we get six turnovers every week, we'll.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Be with this spot.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Let's just do that again.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
As a veteran and a leader on this defense, how
happy were you to see your young players, guys like
Trent get his first pick, Jayden Hicks gets a pick,
Brian Cook gets a pick? How great was that?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
As a leader on this defense, man.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Is awesome, so excited, so excited for all of bee.
Cook always has awesome interceptions with him, you know, floating
in the air like that. But Trent's interception is by
far the coolest. That's the first time I seen a
guy look up at the scoreboard to get intel and
when the ball's coming in, turn his head and make
a play on the ball and the end zone at
the time that it was great for us to steal
some momentum back. So Jayden's coming along nicely, He's getting
(12:51):
more reps on the field, developing really well. And then
Chris Roland Wallace with the force fumble on the punt
to start the game off and get us a quick
seven points. All huge plays in the game.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Roland Wallace has been like a playmaker for us this year.
He had that pick against Brock Purty earlier this season.
I'm just cool to see an undrafted free agent right
come in earn his spot and get two takeaways as
a rookie.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yeah, he was a guy that since training camp a
lot of guys, including myself, were really excited about, really
excited to see the way he played because he flew
around all training camp and when he gets his opportunities,
he makes a mess of him.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
There's a couple of things here and there. That's what
all rookies go through.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
But this guy's ceiling is just through the limit, man,
and you can't wait to see what he does next.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So excited for his future. But in the present, here
come the Houston Texans in a giant game. Here's the
offense from that year. D hops on here cause you
want to know, but he's now ours too. But this
Houston offense and they've now CJ. Strouds hit a little
bit of a sophomore slump. But just the layers at
this offense scheme and personnel. What you have to do
(13:51):
to mitigate these guys? Yeah, talented younon. You know, everyone
knows what CJ. Stroud's capble love.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Offensive Rookie Player of the Year, loves a scramble, can
make all the throws on the field. Talented people around him,
Larrymy Tunsel strong on the line against everybody, goes through.
Nico Collins, vertical thread, tall guy, nifty when he gets
the ball in and out of routes. Tank Dell very
good route runner, shifty Jess sweeps vertical routes, double moves,
Joe Mixon screen game. He did that when he was
(14:18):
with Cincinnati. He's still doing that now. Very patient in
the blocks, like less like his likes to let his
blocks set up, then likes to cut back off of him.
And then you got Dalton Schultz solid all the way around.
Tight end John Minchee able to recover from what he
was going through when he first got drafted, and now
he's the do it all player for him too, you
know whether they want a guy to the block or
run vertical routes on field, so they have.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
A lot of talent around him.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
As you see, I know these guys pretty well, so
I'm trying to feed guys information on what's going to
happen next and what we can do the best hold
him down.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And you know, we're excited for the challenge.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Now, Strout's been under pressure a lot this year. I
think he's the second one sacked quarterback in the league.
Spags obviously loves the blitz and blitz with his dbs.
We have trent this a few weeks ago. But when
spack S dials up the blitz for you or one
of your teammateser's in the secondary, how much fun is that?
Speaker 4 (15:04):
A huge, huge, You know, when you get a time
to let the leash off, you just get to go
rush the passer and you know the ultimate goal is
just to make sure you run your path. But then
once you get there, don't miss the layup man. It's
so fun. So we try and send trend as much
as possible, and sometimes it's not about you getting a blitz,
it's about you setting up the next man.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
To get the sack.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
And that's what's so great is the unselfishness of this
team that you know, sometimes I'm just going in there
as a decoy, trying to track tension. Maybe take somebody
with me so that the next man can come through
clean and get the sack. And we have everyone on
the field that's willing to do that in order to
have the end result be another sack for the defense.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, we've seen Chris do that too up front, which
is awesome. Okay, Stroud last year was not giving it away.
This year he's got thirteen giveaways. So sophomore slump, what
do we have there? And how do you keep the
takeaway machine going?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Well, the longer you're in the league, the more the
people have tape on you, you know what I mean,
And then people are able to gain plan some things
and things go up and throughout the season. We know,
I don't judge a man by what he's done at
its worst. I judge a man by what he's done
at his best. And his best is still there. And
people typically prepare their hardest when they're playing the defending champ.
So we're expecting to get the best version of CJ.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Stroud.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
We're going to continue to keep the pressure on them,
try and make them have some air and throws and
take advantage of those, keep this turnover train going. But
we're not expecting it to be a Kate walk. We're
not expecting it to be the games that we've seen
on tape the last couple of weeks. We're expecting him
at his best and we're going to prepare for it
that way.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Kind of talked about this earlier, But this is a
human game with momentum and emotions. It's not played as
a video game. How big is it late in the
year to have a game like he did defensively last
week with five sacks, six takeaways. Yeah, turnover on downs
to kind of propel you forward here at the end
of the season, and the.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Big momentum builder.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
One of the things about the human aspect that it's
hard to replicate in the game is the benefit of momentum.
Momentum is so big in this game, whether it's even
in the course of a game, first quarter, the second quarter,
after you have a big stop on defense, or after
you score a touchdown on offense. Momentum is literal energy
that courses through the entire team and just fuels everybody
(17:05):
to run a little bit faster. Hit'll be a little
a little bit harder, be a little bit more focused
and locked in. And now that's a big momentum builder,
and it's something that will be a stepping stone for
us to continue to elevate and continue to raise the
standard of what we do.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Final question kicking off? Was there ever a time did
you do it Stanford at all in a game? No?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
I tried to. I tried to convince my coach to
do it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
He didn't. Let wouldn't do it?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, come on, man, he convinced coach Readford.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
The other inventions kicking off in high school? Was ever
a dude that broke through? Because let's be honest, a
lot of kickers look like matter me okay, and they
break through and they're so excited, like, dude, you ain't
it's justin Reid. Did you ever have the looking?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
No guy has ever.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
The one or two times that guys that didn't kick
it in on the guys they come out, they usually
went out of bouncing with the other direction because I
was flying like a bat out of hell trying to
go out there and play, you know, But it's just
so fun and ps finding on huddle. I got a
fifty yard field goal in high school.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
All right, let's do it. Let's get it. We may
have to feature it.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
We've had all these crazy endings to games. I'm counting
on you now to make a fifty year od field
goal for us to win day.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
He's got to be different every time.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Exactly. You've got to be proud of a riseer. He's
trying to do this on punts. He went screaming down
the field to try to Jackson.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
No, we might need to put him in that linebacker.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Torpedo.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Here's the warning for all opponents. If you're going to
try to return a kick and Justin Reid is kicking off,
you might want to go out of bounds. He's our
number twenty. He's not Houston, he's ours. So the former
Houston Texan now Kansas City chief. Can you imagine the
terror of a kick returner? You know, you see him
bust through and you see him like all that's left
(18:49):
is the kicker, and they look like us, and they're like,
can you imagine him busting through? And it's Justin Reid
And you're like, I wasn't counting on.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
This, it'd be terrifying. Yeah, But like you were saying
to him at the end of the interview, matt Riza,
here's that statement and says watch this. Oh, matt Riza
is like like lunging head first.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
It's torpedo. He cannot wait to drill a dude and
force a funnel what he wanted to do. So can
I be gunner and punter all at the same time.
That's matt Riza.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Uh, and Ariza's kind of been like feeling himself after
each of those two, like he'll walk off like Connor McGregor.
You know, it's like, Matt you got to cal him down.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Man. Let somebody if you go watch the video of
him at San Diego State. Uh, he was rocking, dudes. Yeah,
he did on more than one occasion where he go
down like same thing right the returners, Like, hey, he
wasn't even busting through to the third level. It's like
the second level. He goes screaming down there like a
gunner and then just blow some guy up. So anyway,
justin Reid Anne, matt Riza, just be forewarned. If you're
(19:49):
going to return a kicker punt, look out let's jump
into the Houston team. A very intriguing team. Remember the
off season, they signed eighteen free agents. They got fourteen
defensive free agents. Of course, they got Stefan Diggs. He
now is an ACL out for the season. But this
is a very, very talented team. And let's give Dimico
Ryans and CJ. Stroud props here. They are the first
(20:12):
head coach quarterback duo in NFL history to win their
division the first two years that they've been in those roles.
That gives you an idea of the talent and the
ability of this team. Justin kind of put it out there,
this will be a hard game, tough game, and yes,
it feels like a playoff game before a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, this is a Texans team. It's going to be
good for a long time. They're building a foundation and
a culture there, and I think they're almost a little
bit ahead of schedule. I think Stroud was ready to
be the guy sooner than anyone could have guessed. Really
good last year, obviously the rookie of the year. The
numbers are a bit lower this year, and we can
dive into why, but I mean they're still division champs
and having a really nice season in Stroud and Demiko
(20:56):
Ryans are two major reasons why. It kind of reminds
me of the situation we were in back in twenty eighteen,
where you're not paying your quarterback a bunch of money,
so you can invest money elsewhere. You can go out
and get a player like Stefan Diggs, you can invest
money in your defensive line, go get daneil Hunter from
the Vikings, and they're reaping the rewards of that where
you have lots of players making money. Your quarterback's not
(21:17):
making a whole much, but he's a very good player.
So they're in a stage right here where they're trying
to take advantage of that rookie contract with Stroud. And yeah,
the numbers aren't quite as high this season, and again
we'll dive into why, but still a very good team
that will be a difficult test on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Let's dive into why Stroud's numbers are off from a
year ago. He was the youngest player to win a
playoff game in NFL history. He had the twenty three
touchdowns five picks last year. You mentioned he was Rookie
of the Year this year.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Pretty crazy, isn't it, Like really crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Wow, youngest quarterback to win a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I wouldn't have guessed that.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Now you back it up and then you go, what's
happening this year? And just a ton of tie on it.
This league will know when you brush your teeth, when
you get up, when you go to bed, you know
when you mow your lawne whatever. They just know and
this year and we'll jump in as there's other reasons here.
But his QBR is down about ten points now. He
rallied last week against Miami with a QBR of one
(22:13):
TOZH six. But and it's different against Zone and man,
it's pretty much of a divergence there. But he has
a struggle with the giveaways. Thirteen giveaways, which right now
in the league is in the TheInk top eight as
far as giveaways, nine interceptions, four fumbles lost. Didn't do
that last year. Now, again, he's got a talented group
(22:36):
around him. Some of it is he's been sacked and
hurried and harassed, but this is a guy capable of
lighting you up and hitting you for three and a
half or four bills passing because he's got the surrounding cast.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, it's interesting. It's one of those things where the
numbers and the stats are accurate, but also the eye test.
He still looks really good. So last year he led
the NFL in passing yards per game with two hundred
and seventy four. He's four teenth this season at two
hundred and thirty two. He can still make all the
throws though last week you might have seen this one.
It was third and short and he was fully in
(23:08):
the grasp of the defender and found whoever it was
for a conversion to move the chains very Patrick mahomes like.
It was just really impressive. But protection you kind of
touched on. This has been the issue all year long
for these guys. So only Caleb Williams has been sacked
more times this season than CJ.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Stroud.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
He's already been sacked seven more times this year than
he was all year as a rookie in twenty twenty three.
He's been sacked at least four times and seven of
his fourteen games. It's the most such games of any quarterback.
And in those games, the Texans are two and five.
When he's sacked three or fewer times, they're perfect seven
and l. So that kind of tells the story here.
(23:47):
He's been under a lot of pressure all year long,
and when they're able to protect or he's able to
escape and do things off schedule, they've been winning. But
when he's under a lot of pressure and they're in
second and sixteen doesn't work as well. And they have
faced the most negative plays in the league this year
with one hundred and eleven. They've lost five hundred and
twenty yards on those plays and the sacks are obviously
(24:09):
a big part of it, but they've also recorded fifty
five negative runs, third most in the NFL. So Stroud
is really good. Don't let the numbers fool you, But
there have been a lot of situations where he is
running for his life or is facing third and nineteen
because of how things are going with the negative plays.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Some of this is not having Nico Collins for five games.
He missed five games now since the beginning of twenty
twenty three, Nico Collins of the Houston Texans is second
in receiving yards per game, only to Justin Jefferson. Wow,
that's impressive. Plus this year he has tied for the
most in the league with four games of one hundred
(24:45):
and ten yards receiving or more. Nico Collins is like
the long striding four hundred meters runner. He runs great
routes when he's on the field. This is a very
dangerous team. You could throw in Tankdll. I mean, we
heard Justin talk about it, but I'm going to back
unless you want to jump into Collins a little bit
more to Joe Mixon because that feels like a real
(25:05):
key to this team. Seven one hundred yard rushing games.
Only Saquon Barkley has more the Texans. And you mentioned
that sack total where the demarcation line is there between
them being seven and zero two and five, they're five
and two and Mixon runs for one hundred yards and
he was held down in last week's game against Miami.
(25:26):
But Joe Mixon, we've seen him as a Bengal. Justin
talked about him running screens. But your thoughts on both
Nico Collins and Joe Mixon.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Well, Collins is a beast. You laid out all the numbers.
He's averaging sixteen yards per catch this year. He's only
played in nine games, but has excellent numbers. As it is,
He's been tremendous. He has fifty three catches for eight
hundred and forty nine yards. Six touchdowns. I mean, he's
their go to guy. I think sometimes it takes a
while for a player like that to earn kind of
(25:57):
like household name status. But he's right up theretically over
the last couple of years with the Justin Jeffersons and
Jamar Chases, and we have to treat him as such.
I'm with you, though, on Mixon because I think at
their offensive corps they want to be a power running team,
and I think Demiko Ryans wants them to be a physical,
downhill power running team, and Mixon's good. We know that.
(26:18):
What's kind of interesting, though, is only forty one point
five percent of their rushes this year have gained four
or more yards. That's twenty ninth in the NFL. Now,
Mixon missed some time this season, but I don't think
they necessarily have captured the power running scheme and success
that they want. They could do it at any time.
But fortunately the Chiefs have been very good against the
(26:40):
run this year and against opposing running backs. They continue
to be one of the very best in the NFL
at preventing explosive running plays. Of course, we saw one
last week, but when you are kind of shocked that
the opponent has a big, long run, that means you're
pretty good against the run normally, so that was kind
of an anomaly, the big run by Jerome Ford. Otherwise,
(27:00):
the Chiefs have been very good against the run this year.
Need to be good against the run here once again
against mixing and then kind of forced strad to be
one dimensional. And again, I mean, you need to get
these guys behind the chains because that's why they've struggled.
It's been with negative runs, sacks, stuff like that. And
the Chiefs got five sacks on the Browns last week.
So another performance like that would be great because that's
(27:21):
where the Texans have struggled all year long.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
But whether or not struggling against pressuring the quarterback. In fact,
Daniel Hunter, who they picked up in the offseason, we
talked about having that latitude and the cap room to
go good guys. Fourth highest average sack per game since
twenty sixteen. The three ahead of him are TJ. Watt,
Micah Parsons and Miles Garrett. Tells you the company he's in.
(27:46):
But this year it's not just the sacks, which he's
second in the league. It's the quarterback pressures. Daniel Hunter,
the Houston Texans has twelve more quarterback pressures than Sam
Hendrickson we've extolled his virtues, and eighteen more than Miles Garrett.
And I went back and reviewed the video. Oh my gosh,
Miles Garrett. Joe Toney held his own against him, but
(28:07):
he can do everything. Miles Garrett is a beast, but
so is Danil Hunter, and he has help. In fact,
you can argue that this is the best team at
pressuring the quarterback in the entire National Football League.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Will Anderson Junior on the other side is pretty good
as well. He has ten and a half sacks this year.
This defensive line can get after the passer. That's our
bread and butter. They've forced the second most negative plays
in the NFL this year, with ninety nine. Kind of
ironic talking about all the negative plays the offense for
the Texans has faced. Well, their defense forces a lot
of negative plays as well, second most in the league
(28:40):
behind only Cleveland, who, of course, we just saw last week.
Opponents have lost four hundred and fifty three yards on
those negative plays. I believe that's most in the NFL,
and takeaways as well. It's sacks and takeaways and negative
plays because they've forced twenty eight takeaways as a team
this year, the second most in the league to only Pittsburgh,
and they have ninety three takeaway points scored off those turnovers.
(29:04):
That's twenty eight point four of their total points this year.
That's the highest rate in the league. If you take
away the takeaway points for Houston this season, they're only
scoring sixteen point seven points per game. Now, I know,
you know got's convoluted, but still at point remains if
you just play a clean game against these guys where
you don't turn the ball over, their offense has not
(29:24):
put up a lot of points. So that's paramount for
the Chiefs here in this one. You can't get behind
the chains against these guys, as you laid out with
their pressure rate and all the sacks that they have,
and you cannot turn the ball over. And that's been
really one of the bright spots over the last several
weeks because we were tenth in the NFL and giveaways
through the first ten weeks of the year with fourteen.
(29:45):
It was just an issue kind of every game we
were turning it over at least once. We're one of
only two teams though to not turn it over at
all over the last four weeks, and the other being Buffalo.
They've only played three games, so the Chiefs have been
really good about protecting the football lately. When you're facing
a team like Houston that thrives off the takeaways and
they convert those takeaways into points and then you're playing
(30:07):
from behind and their pass rush pens their ears back.
That's their formula for the Chiefs in this game. Got
to get back to kind of condensing the game in
terms of possessions, and that's where it got away from
us a little bit last week. We had fourteen offensive
possessions last week and Cleveland had the ball a whole
bunch of times in the third quarter and it's back
and forth. Clock was stopping. You got to condense the game,
(30:29):
have like eight or nine possessions against these guys. Finish
in the red zone where they've actually struggled this year.
It's the number twenty eight red zone defense in the NFL.
Don't let these pass rushers wreck the game, then get
out of there with a win.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Darryl Stingley Junior has got five picks. He is the
only player in the league that's had five plus interceptions
in each of the last two seasons, and he is.
These guys are ballhawks. They'll also take some chances. But
one of the weird stats this is like Cleveland, they
have lost. They have three losses with two plus takeaways.
(31:03):
They're nine to five. You laid it out, they're nine wins.
This has happened. They're five losses. This has happened. But
the chance for the Chiefs to get takeaways has been
the bugaboo for Houston this year because you've got a
defense that has takeaways and still they won't win the game.
Cleveland has four. They lead the league. But here's Houston
(31:23):
tied for second three such plays. We'll wrap it up
this way. You're all asking, hey, is Patrick going to play?
That's the persistent question, got it? We understand it. We
don't know, but we'll tell you this. And Matt, I
think you if he can go, he'll go. There won't
be the oh, well, let's wait and see if we
can't win the last two games. Noop, if he can go,
(31:46):
he'll go. If he does it, the Chiefs have And
let's go back to OTA's as we close, you and
I said, is this the best backup quarterback the Chiefs
have ever had in a one to one pick. When
he came out of North Dakota State, he was steam
rolling towards the MVP in twenty seventeen and then he
tore his ACL. He's got one hundred and fifty three
touchdown passes. We're speaking of Carson Wentz, Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
This is a player who has been around the block,
had a lot of success in the NFL. And I
said this way back in Ota is that if there
is a game where Carson Wentz has to play, it's
a little bit different than maybe in the past where
you ask your backup just just a hold steady, make
sure things don't fall apart with wins. I actually think
he could make plays to win you a game, and
he's shown that over the course of his career. This
(32:30):
is also if he starts this week, or maybe if
we wrap things up and he starts in week eighteen,
this is a chance for him to show that he
could be a starter in the NFL. So it's a
great opportunity for him if he plays at some point.
We obviously hope it's Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes is one
of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and like you said,
if he can play, he will play. It's just a
matter of canny and we'll find that out later this week.
(32:53):
By the time you're listening to this, you might already know.
But regardless of if it's Mahomes or if it's Wins,
let's go take care of business against the tech and
moved to one win. Shy of locking up this first round.
By how's that sound?
Speaker 1 (33:04):
I doubt if they'll know before we post this.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
You might not know until Saturday morning.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
For I think it's going to be Saturday morning.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Pass on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
There you go. We might even know by then. But
that's here. We are the playoffs. Before the playoffs, it's Houston,
take care of the business and push on to try
to get that one seed in the bye
So the AFC South champion will meet the AFC West
Champion in twenty twenty four. But a bigger story is
Kansas City's chase for the buye. There's also some uncertainty
at quarterback, but there's a lot on the line as
the Houston Texans come in one of the most treacherous
times for the Kansas City Chiefs, at least schedule wise.
(00:22):
This defending the Kingdom Like Them All or brought to
you by Ticketmaster for the screen.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Forthy fifteen ten Downfield Blog Touchdown.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Cansa city on a swing screen. I everyone, I'm Mitch
Holt's voice of the Chiefs along with senior team reporter
Matt McMullen. We'll just call this episode Houston take care
of the business. And with the Texans coming in to play,
they have wrapped up the AFC South. They have done
it for the eighth time they came into existence in
(00:53):
two thousand and two. When it's really unique about it,
they've done it all in back to back times, so
they've won eight times in the division, back to back,
back to back, back to back, back to back. So
when they won it last year, everybody thought, well, they're
going to win it again, probably won't win it next year,
but only the Colts with nine division titles have won
it more than the Texans. But here they come to
take on the Kansas City Chiefs, and we got a
(01:14):
lot to talk about, including the quarterback situation. But your
thoughts overall with the two division champions meeting and what
feels like the playoffs before the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, it kind of does. Setting right here with three
games left, were set to play I think the four seed,
the three seed, and the seventh seed over our final
three games in the AFC playoff field before the playoffs begin,
those things can obviously change. But it's a tough stretch
to end the year. It's well documented how difficult the
(01:44):
stretches in terms of time. Playing three games in eleven days.
Won the first one. Now we have two games between
now and next Wednesday. It's difficult, particularly considering the injury
situation with Patrick Mahomes. We're shooting this on Tuesday. Patrick
has had his presser said that he's going to give
it everything. He has. Coach reed said if he can go,
he's going to go. By the time you listen to this,
(02:05):
you might know more than we do. But no matter
who's at quarterback. It's an amazing opportunity for the Chiefs.
Two more wins, no matter what else happens, and we
get the one seed. And considering the injuries, considering the fatigue,
we've played a lot of games in a row. Now,
getting that buy as of the utmost importance.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, when I was asked about the Patrick situation and
it went viral, but I said, if he can go,
he'll go. But the other side of this story, and
I've seen it for twelve years and you've seen it
in your time here, Matt, is that this staff, this
head coach, this athletic trainer, this team will not rush
a player back if they deem Pat is not going
(02:44):
to go. They're not going to say Pat, we got
to have you. This is the playoffs, before the playoffs.
We need to win this game, we need to win
two of the next three. They will not do that.
And I've seen them go even beyond win the discretionary
decision making. So if Pat plays this game, it'll be
a full green light go from the athletic trainers, coach
and the team doctors.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Yeah, it'll be because he can play and play at
a high level. That's the most important thing. We're blessed
and fortunate to have Carson Wentz as our backup. And
think about all the backups across the league. Is there
a better one than Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz was an
MVP candidate at one point in his career. He's been
around this team and around this culture all season long.
If he has to go out there, I have full
confidence he can do it. I hope Patrick Mahomes can
(03:28):
play because he's Patrick Mahomes, but he's only going to
play if he can play at a high level and
if he can protect himself. And that's why we have
the infrastructure here that we do. We have the best
athletic training staff in the league. They're going to do
everything they can to get him ready, but they also
are able to tell him, hey, you are not ready
to play, and we'll find that out later this week.
But either way, we're in a great position, just a
(03:49):
matter of taking advantage of it.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
And defensively, the Chiefs are coming in hot after six
takeaways against the Cleveland Browns. Later in this episode, we'll
check in with Justin Reid, by his own declaration, the
jack of all trades masters Mini including a Master chess
rating probably, But before we go further in this episode
of Houston Playoffs, before the playoffs, let's go around the world.
(04:14):
Why not, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I have sixteen today, oh for Lynn Dawson, for Lynn Dawson.
Maybe for sixteen hats last week, I don't know sixteen.
So I heard from Larry in Scotland. So we were
talking about how I need like a different title, right,
like senior team reporter is just confusing, like a different title.
Your friend was recommending I have a different title, right, Yeah.
So he had a recommendation.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Oh, this is based off that earlier recommendation exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, you've watched the Office, right, yeah. Okay, he said
that I can be the assistant to the regional manager.
That of course makes to you the regional manager, like
I'll be your Dwight Shrewd to you're Michael Scott, right,
I'm in for that, so thank you, Larry in Scotland.
I'll be the assistant to the regional manager, not the
assistant regional manager.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
We'll take that under advisement. Well, that's one of the possible.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
We've a listener who's been a fan since nineteen sixty
seven and an stm for over twenty years. Even made
the trip to Germany last year. Looking back, that was
such an amazing trip. I can't believe we did that.
It's going to Frankfurt, you and I more time. Yeah,
well we're dropped in there for forty eight hours.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Restaurant was awesome. It was like five hundred years old.
Your mom found it right, yeah, Oh my gosh, right
off the square. It was so good. It was incredible.
It was so good. And the schnitzel Man.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
The best terry is in Murray, Kentucky, home of the
Murray State Racers. Okay, there we go. I was wondering
that that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Edwin is in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was twelve
years old listening to the Chiefs one Super Bowl four
on the radio. Maybe a Super Bowl four rematch this year,
we'll see. We have a listener in Parkville, Missouri. Spent
much time in Parkville.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Oh yeah, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I love Parkville.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Well, let's a you know, we have so many kind
of like throwback Western Missouri's that to travel throughout the
Kingdom to those communities, but Parkville has just had its
own beauty right on the river and Park University is
a gorgeous campus. Yeah, but there's this kind of rustic
eighteen fifty five feeling to Parkville, so I love it. Yeah,
(06:10):
there's the modern part of Parkville, and of course there's
park Hill High School in park Hill South, but kind
of downtown older Parkville to me is charming.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's super cool. We used to live up north and
it feels very suburban, but then you could go into Parkville,
it feels like you're in a little small town, like
in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Mark Now when the Missouri River floods, though, it floods
like no other in Parkville.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I'm sure it does.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yes, it does.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
We heard from Adrian and New York. Doug's listening in Tucson, Arizona.
David is in Athens, Greece. George carloftis shout out. We
have a listener in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So Ellie and
I kind of decided on our vacation for this upcoming
year because we're going to South Korea in a couple
of years and that's going to be expensive. We wanted
to do something but nothing too crazy. So we're going
(06:55):
to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in junior. Yeah,
all the fantastic Jackson Hole is on the list. Kent
is listening in Dubai. So Kent moved there with his
family from Kansas City in August. He's originally from Winchester, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Sure, Jefferson North High School. Okay, the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
He also taught in Washington, Kansas.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
The Tigers. Yeah, in fact Washington. Do you remember the
movie twelve Strong? Yeah, and Mark Nutch who was the
first boots on the ground. He was. He was the
guy who led that ODA team in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan
back in two thousand and one. We were trying to
get a quick answer. They did a remarkable job. There's
(07:39):
a book called Swords of Lightning. Mark Neusch was from
that area, Washington, Kansas. Are the Tigers very cool?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, Kent's from that area as well, not far from
Marlville and had him all right, the more you know,
shout out to you, Kent. We heard from Devon and Topeka.
Devon is twenty three years old, but a fan since
the days of Trent Green and Tony Gonzalez.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Is for you, my era right there.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
That's why whenever I'm around like Tony or Trent to
try to keep them my cool. It's like eight year
old me's freaking out. Heard from Tim. Tim predicted the
Browns game would end with a walk off dropkick field goal.
Not quite, but I do appreciate the creativity.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I love that idea because you know, Justin Reid could
do it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
He definitely can.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, we've seen him try it a drop kickfield goal.
Oh man, wait to think.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Just trying to keep the script interesting.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
We're gonna hear from him in a second. He could
definitely do it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Sandy is in Mesa, Arizona. Shout out to Nathan Brunsie.
You know Nathan, He's awesome. Nathan's a longtime member of
our digital staff. He wanted me to say this week's
ago I keep forgetting. But Nathan's originally from Camdenton, Missouri,
and he's getting really tired the Lakers. He's getting really
tired of a shouting out people from Lebanon, Missouri, the Jackets.
They have an ancient feud and the fists are clinching
(08:54):
whenever Lebanon.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So this goes back to the eighteen fifties. I think
that the Camdenon Lakers are.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
A deal it's a great mascot.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Oh yeah, because it's right on the leg.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Makes sense?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, sure, make I love mascots that make sense. Now,
I think the Yellow Jackets make sense for Lebanon, Missouri.
But yes, the cana and Lakers are a powerhouse team.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So we've given Lebanon a lot of love. We have
to give Cayman to some love as well, according to Nathan,
So there you go. Lastly, a listener did a deep
dive into the hat collection. If you missed last week's episode,
we had all the championship hats, the nine division title hats,
the four conference title hats, and the three Super Bowl
championship hats all out on the desk. Well, this guy
(09:33):
really dug into it. This is like next gen stats
of the hats. So he said, since Coachrii took over
in twenty thirteen, we've earned forty seven percent of the
hats available to us. We've also accounted for thirteen percent
of all hats awarded during his tenure.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And then he's counting the NFC too.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, and he plotted out every team and their hats won.
We obviously have the most. We have more than New
England does now since twenty thirteen, and I knew this already,
but to see it actually like in text form. There
are teams that have zero hats over the last ten years,
and we have sixteen. So pretty good.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's awesome. Speaking of wearing a lot of hats, Yeah,
are we ready for our guest? Do you have some more?
Speaker 2 (10:15):
No, that's it sixteen today.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Well, speaking speaking of wearing a lot of hats, right now,
he wears more hats than probably anybody on this entire
football team. He is a remarkable human being and very versatile.
Number twenty Justin Reid. Okay, how do we introduce him? Kickoff?
Specialist stud safety, future governor of Louisiana, future President of
the United States, future chess master. I'll do this, those
(10:39):
of you who are watching and listening. This is the board.
When he was a Houston, Texan Okay, God, he's now
a Kansas City chief. Justin Reid. It's awesome to have
you here. How do we introduce you? Because you've got
I mean, your Wikipedia page is full.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Yeah, I don't know, man, maybe a jack of all
trades because I just like dabbling.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
And a little bit of everything.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
When you first joined us several years ago and we
talked about how you love to kick, and you would
go out at training camp and kick field goals and stuff.
Did you ever think you'd had this many opportunities though,
because your first year here you actually had to step
in for Butcker for a while in that Cardinals game,
and now you're our kickoff specialist here while Harrison's getting healthy.
You ever think you'd have all these chances to kick?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (11:21):
You know, I always wish that it would happen, but
it wasn't something that ever thought would actually happen. And
you know, the rules changing a little a little bit
helped push that along. And then you know, just me
being willing to do whatever the team needs and Harrison
being able to kick field goals and still get a
little bit more healthy and allow me to go do it.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
It's just a ton of fun.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So exciting to see a team go from minus four
to plus two in one game. Six takeaways? Yeah, what
did that mean? Short term and long term for this defense?
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Just well, I think that it's coming at the right time.
You know, you don't want to peak too soon. Would
have been great to have some of these earlier in
the year, but we're still getting a job done. And
we're playing great defense, but we just weren't getting the
turnovers and has been getting the ball. Coach Bags has
emphasized that he showed film on and throughout the week
anytime anyone punched the ball, every interception in practice, he
was showing it. And you know, it all came at once.
(12:10):
And like he said, we're not done yet. We're going
to keep it rolling and it's coming at a good time.
So we get six turnovers every week, we'll.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Be with this spot.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Let's just do that again.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
As a veteran and a leader on this defense, how
happy were you to see your young players, guys like
Trent get his first pick, Jayden Hicks gets a pick,
Brian Cook gets a pick? How great was that?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
As a leader on this defense, man.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Is awesome, so excited, so excited for all of bee.
Cook always has awesome interceptions with him, you know, floating
in the air like that. But Trent's interception is by
far the coolest. That's the first time I seen a
guy look up at the scoreboard to get intel and
when the ball's coming in, turn his head and make
a play on the ball and the end zone at
the time that it was great for us to steal
some momentum back. So Jayden's coming along nicely, He's getting
(12:51):
more reps on the field, developing really well. And then
Chris Roland Wallace with the force fumble on the punt
to start the game off and get us a quick
seven points. All huge plays in the game.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Roland Wallace has been like a playmaker for us this year.
He had that pick against Brock Purty earlier this season.
I'm just cool to see an undrafted free agent right
come in earn his spot and get two takeaways as
a rookie.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yeah, he was a guy that since training camp a
lot of guys, including myself, were really excited about, really
excited to see the way he played because he flew
around all training camp and when he gets his opportunities,
he makes a mess of him.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
There's a couple of things here and there. That's what
all rookies go through.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
But this guy's ceiling is just through the limit, man,
and you can't wait to see what he does next.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So excited for his future. But in the present, here
come the Houston Texans in a giant game. Here's the
offense from that year. D hops on here cause you
want to know, but he's now ours too. But this
Houston offense and they've now CJ. Strouds hit a little
bit of a sophomore slump. But just the layers at
this offense scheme and personnel. What you have to do
(13:51):
to mitigate these guys? Yeah, talented younon. You know, everyone
knows what CJ. Stroud's capble love.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Offensive Rookie Player of the Year, loves a scramble, can
make all the throws on the field. Talented people around him,
Larrymy Tunsel strong on the line against everybody, goes through.
Nico Collins, vertical thread, tall guy, nifty when he gets
the ball in and out of routes. Tank Dell very
good route runner, shifty Jess sweeps vertical routes, double moves,
Joe Mixon screen game. He did that when he was
(14:18):
with Cincinnati. He's still doing that now. Very patient in
the blocks, like less like his likes to let his
blocks set up, then likes to cut back off of him.
And then you got Dalton Schultz solid all the way around.
Tight end John Minchee able to recover from what he
was going through when he first got drafted, and now
he's the do it all player for him too, you
know whether they want a guy to the block or
run vertical routes on field, so they have.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
A lot of talent around him.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
As you see, I know these guys pretty well, so
I'm trying to feed guys information on what's going to
happen next and what we can do the best hold
him down.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
And you know, we're excited for the challenge.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Now, Strout's been under pressure a lot this year. I
think he's the second one sacked quarterback in the league.
Spags obviously loves the blitz and blitz with his dbs.
We have trent this a few weeks ago. But when
spack S dials up the blitz for you or one
of your teammateser's in the secondary, how much fun is that?
Speaker 4 (15:04):
A huge, huge, You know, when you get a time
to let the leash off, you just get to go
rush the passer and you know the ultimate goal is
just to make sure you run your path. But then
once you get there, don't miss the layup man. It's
so fun. So we try and send trend as much
as possible, and sometimes it's not about you getting a blitz,
it's about you setting up the next man.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
To get the sack.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
And that's what's so great is the unselfishness of this
team that you know, sometimes I'm just going in there
as a decoy, trying to track tension. Maybe take somebody
with me so that the next man can come through
clean and get the sack. And we have everyone on
the field that's willing to do that in order to
have the end result be another sack for the defense.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, we've seen Chris do that too up front, which
is awesome. Okay, Stroud last year was not giving it away.
This year he's got thirteen giveaways. So sophomore slump, what
do we have there? And how do you keep the
takeaway machine going?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Well, the longer you're in the league, the more the
people have tape on you, you know what I mean,
And then people are able to gain plan some things
and things go up and throughout the season. We know,
I don't judge a man by what he's done at
its worst. I judge a man by what he's done
at his best. And his best is still there. And
people typically prepare their hardest when they're playing the defending champ.
So we're expecting to get the best version of CJ.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Stroud.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
We're going to continue to keep the pressure on them,
try and make them have some air and throws and
take advantage of those, keep this turnover train going. But
we're not expecting it to be a Kate walk. We're
not expecting it to be the games that we've seen
on tape the last couple of weeks. We're expecting him
at his best and we're going to prepare for it
that way.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Kind of talked about this earlier, But this is a
human game with momentum and emotions. It's not played as
a video game. How big is it late in the
year to have a game like he did defensively last
week with five sacks, six takeaways. Yeah, turnover on downs
to kind of propel you forward here at the end
of the season, and the.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Big momentum builder.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
One of the things about the human aspect that it's
hard to replicate in the game is the benefit of momentum.
Momentum is so big in this game, whether it's even
in the course of a game, first quarter, the second quarter,
after you have a big stop on defense, or after
you score a touchdown on offense. Momentum is literal energy
that courses through the entire team and just fuels everybody
(17:05):
to run a little bit faster. Hit'll be a little
a little bit harder, be a little bit more focused
and locked in. And now that's a big momentum builder,
and it's something that will be a stepping stone for
us to continue to elevate and continue to raise the
standard of what we do.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Final question kicking off? Was there ever a time did
you do it Stanford at all in a game? No?
Speaker 3 (17:23):
I tried to. I tried to convince my coach to
do it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
He didn't. Let wouldn't do it?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, come on, man, he convinced coach Readford.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
The other inventions kicking off in high school? Was ever
a dude that broke through? Because let's be honest, a
lot of kickers look like matter me okay, and they
break through and they're so excited, like, dude, you ain't
it's justin Reid. Did you ever have the looking?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
No guy has ever.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
The one or two times that guys that didn't kick
it in on the guys they come out, they usually
went out of bouncing with the other direction because I
was flying like a bat out of hell trying to
go out there and play, you know, But it's just
so fun and ps finding on huddle. I got a
fifty yard field goal in high school.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
All right, let's do it. Let's get it. We may
have to feature it.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
We've had all these crazy endings to games. I'm counting
on you now to make a fifty year od field
goal for us to win day.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
He's got to be different every time.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Exactly. You've got to be proud of a riseer. He's
trying to do this on punts. He went screaming down
the field to try to Jackson.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
No, we might need to put him in that linebacker.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Torpedo.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Here's the warning for all opponents. If you're going to
try to return a kick and Justin Reid is kicking off,
you might want to go out of bounds. He's our
number twenty. He's not Houston, he's ours. So the former
Houston Texan now Kansas City chief. Can you imagine the
terror of a kick returner? You know, you see him
bust through and you see him like all that's left
(18:49):
is the kicker, and they look like us, and they're like,
can you imagine him busting through? And it's Justin Reid
And you're like, I wasn't counting on.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
This, it'd be terrifying. Yeah, But like you were saying
to him at the end of the interview, matt Riza,
here's that statement and says watch this. Oh, matt Riza
is like like lunging head first.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
It's torpedo. He cannot wait to drill a dude and
force a funnel what he wanted to do. So can
I be gunner and punter all at the same time.
That's matt Riza.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Uh, and Ariza's kind of been like feeling himself after
each of those two, like he'll walk off like Connor McGregor.
You know, it's like, Matt you got to cal him down.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Man. Let somebody if you go watch the video of
him at San Diego State. Uh, he was rocking, dudes. Yeah,
he did on more than one occasion where he go
down like same thing right the returners, Like, hey, he
wasn't even busting through to the third level. It's like
the second level. He goes screaming down there like a
gunner and then just blow some guy up. So anyway,
justin Reid Anne, matt Riza, just be forewarned. If you're
(19:49):
going to return a kicker punt, look out let's jump
into the Houston team. A very intriguing team. Remember the
off season, they signed eighteen free agents. They got fourteen
defensive free agents. Of course, they got Stefan Diggs. He
now is an ACL out for the season. But this
is a very, very talented team. And let's give Dimico
Ryans and CJ. Stroud props here. They are the first
(20:12):
head coach quarterback duo in NFL history to win their
division the first two years that they've been in those roles.
That gives you an idea of the talent and the
ability of this team. Justin kind of put it out there,
this will be a hard game, tough game, and yes,
it feels like a playoff game before a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, this is a Texans team. It's going to be
good for a long time. They're building a foundation and
a culture there, and I think they're almost a little
bit ahead of schedule. I think Stroud was ready to
be the guy sooner than anyone could have guessed. Really
good last year, obviously the rookie of the year. The
numbers are a bit lower this year, and we can
dive into why, but I mean they're still division champs
and having a really nice season in Stroud and Demiko
(20:56):
Ryans are two major reasons why. It kind of reminds
me of the situation we were in back in twenty eighteen,
where you're not paying your quarterback a bunch of money,
so you can invest money elsewhere. You can go out
and get a player like Stefan Diggs, you can invest
money in your defensive line, go get daneil Hunter from
the Vikings, and they're reaping the rewards of that where
you have lots of players making money. Your quarterback's not
(21:17):
making a whole much, but he's a very good player.
So they're in a stage right here where they're trying
to take advantage of that rookie contract with Stroud. And yeah,
the numbers aren't quite as high this season, and again
we'll dive into why, but still a very good team
that will be a difficult test on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Let's dive into why Stroud's numbers are off from a
year ago. He was the youngest player to win a
playoff game in NFL history. He had the twenty three
touchdowns five picks last year. You mentioned he was Rookie
of the Year this year.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Pretty crazy, isn't it, Like really crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Wow, youngest quarterback to win a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I wouldn't have guessed that.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Now you back it up and then you go, what's
happening this year? And just a ton of tie on it.
This league will know when you brush your teeth, when
you get up, when you go to bed, you know
when you mow your lawne whatever. They just know and
this year and we'll jump in as there's other reasons here.
But his QBR is down about ten points now. He
rallied last week against Miami with a QBR of one
(22:13):
TOZH six. But and it's different against Zone and man,
it's pretty much of a divergence there. But he has
a struggle with the giveaways. Thirteen giveaways, which right now
in the league is in the TheInk top eight as
far as giveaways, nine interceptions, four fumbles lost. Didn't do
that last year. Now, again, he's got a talented group
(22:36):
around him. Some of it is he's been sacked and
hurried and harassed, but this is a guy capable of
lighting you up and hitting you for three and a
half or four bills passing because he's got the surrounding cast.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah, it's interesting. It's one of those things where the
numbers and the stats are accurate, but also the eye test.
He still looks really good. So last year he led
the NFL in passing yards per game with two hundred
and seventy four. He's four teenth this season at two
hundred and thirty two. He can still make all the
throws though last week you might have seen this one.
It was third and short and he was fully in
(23:08):
the grasp of the defender and found whoever it was
for a conversion to move the chains very Patrick mahomes like.
It was just really impressive. But protection you kind of
touched on. This has been the issue all year long
for these guys. So only Caleb Williams has been sacked
more times this season than CJ.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Stroud.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
He's already been sacked seven more times this year than
he was all year as a rookie in twenty twenty three.
He's been sacked at least four times and seven of
his fourteen games. It's the most such games of any quarterback.
And in those games, the Texans are two and five.
When he's sacked three or fewer times, they're perfect seven
and l. So that kind of tells the story here.
(23:47):
He's been under a lot of pressure all year long,
and when they're able to protect or he's able to
escape and do things off schedule, they've been winning. But
when he's under a lot of pressure and they're in
second and sixteen doesn't work as well. And they have
faced the most negative plays in the league this year
with one hundred and eleven. They've lost five hundred and
twenty yards on those plays and the sacks are obviously
(24:09):
a big part of it, but they've also recorded fifty
five negative runs, third most in the NFL. So Stroud
is really good. Don't let the numbers fool you, But
there have been a lot of situations where he is
running for his life or is facing third and nineteen
because of how things are going with the negative plays.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Some of this is not having Nico Collins for five games.
He missed five games now since the beginning of twenty
twenty three, Nico Collins of the Houston Texans is second
in receiving yards per game, only to Justin Jefferson. Wow,
that's impressive. Plus this year he has tied for the
most in the league with four games of one hundred
(24:45):
and ten yards receiving or more. Nico Collins is like
the long striding four hundred meters runner. He runs great
routes when he's on the field. This is a very
dangerous team. You could throw in Tankdll. I mean, we
heard Justin talk about it, but I'm going to back
unless you want to jump into Collins a little bit
more to Joe Mixon because that feels like a real
(25:05):
key to this team. Seven one hundred yard rushing games.
Only Saquon Barkley has more the Texans. And you mentioned
that sack total where the demarcation line is there between
them being seven and zero two and five, they're five
and two and Mixon runs for one hundred yards and
he was held down in last week's game against Miami.
(25:26):
But Joe Mixon, we've seen him as a Bengal. Justin
talked about him running screens. But your thoughts on both
Nico Collins and Joe Mixon.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Well, Collins is a beast. You laid out all the numbers.
He's averaging sixteen yards per catch this year. He's only
played in nine games, but has excellent numbers. As it is,
He's been tremendous. He has fifty three catches for eight
hundred and forty nine yards. Six touchdowns. I mean, he's
their go to guy. I think sometimes it takes a
while for a player like that to earn kind of
(25:57):
like household name status. But he's right up theretically over
the last couple of years with the Justin Jeffersons and
Jamar Chases, and we have to treat him as such.
I'm with you, though, on Mixon because I think at
their offensive corps they want to be a power running team,
and I think Demiko Ryans wants them to be a physical,
downhill power running team, and Mixon's good. We know that.
(26:18):
What's kind of interesting, though, is only forty one point
five percent of their rushes this year have gained four
or more yards. That's twenty ninth in the NFL. Now,
Mixon missed some time this season, but I don't think
they necessarily have captured the power running scheme and success
that they want. They could do it at any time.
But fortunately the Chiefs have been very good against the
(26:40):
run this year and against opposing running backs. They continue
to be one of the very best in the NFL
at preventing explosive running plays. Of course, we saw one
last week, but when you are kind of shocked that
the opponent has a big, long run, that means you're
pretty good against the run normally, so that was kind
of an anomaly, the big run by Jerome Ford. Otherwise,
(27:00):
the Chiefs have been very good against the run this year.
Need to be good against the run here once again
against mixing and then kind of forced strad to be
one dimensional. And again, I mean, you need to get
these guys behind the chains because that's why they've struggled.
It's been with negative runs, sacks, stuff like that. And
the Chiefs got five sacks on the Browns last week.
So another performance like that would be great because that's
(27:21):
where the Texans have struggled all year long.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
But whether or not struggling against pressuring the quarterback. In fact,
Daniel Hunter, who they picked up in the offseason, we
talked about having that latitude and the cap room to
go good guys. Fourth highest average sack per game since
twenty sixteen. The three ahead of him are TJ. Watt,
Micah Parsons and Miles Garrett. Tells you the company he's in.
(27:46):
But this year it's not just the sacks, which he's
second in the league. It's the quarterback pressures. Daniel Hunter,
the Houston Texans has twelve more quarterback pressures than Sam
Hendrickson we've extolled his virtues, and eighteen more than Miles Garrett.
And I went back and reviewed the video. Oh my gosh,
Miles Garrett. Joe Toney held his own against him, but
(28:07):
he can do everything. Miles Garrett is a beast, but
so is Danil Hunter, and he has help. In fact,
you can argue that this is the best team at
pressuring the quarterback in the entire National Football League.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Will Anderson Junior on the other side is pretty good
as well. He has ten and a half sacks this year.
This defensive line can get after the passer. That's our
bread and butter. They've forced the second most negative plays
in the NFL this year, with ninety nine. Kind of
ironic talking about all the negative plays the offense for
the Texans has faced. Well, their defense forces a lot
of negative plays as well, second most in the league
(28:40):
behind only Cleveland, who, of course, we just saw last week.
Opponents have lost four hundred and fifty three yards on
those negative plays. I believe that's most in the NFL,
and takeaways as well. It's sacks and takeaways and negative
plays because they've forced twenty eight takeaways as a team
this year, the second most in the league to only Pittsburgh,
and they have ninety three takeaway points scored off those turnovers.
(29:04):
That's twenty eight point four of their total points this year.
That's the highest rate in the league. If you take
away the takeaway points for Houston this season, they're only
scoring sixteen point seven points per game. Now, I know,
you know got's convoluted, but still at point remains if
you just play a clean game against these guys where
you don't turn the ball over, their offense has not
(29:24):
put up a lot of points. So that's paramount for
the Chiefs here in this one. You can't get behind
the chains against these guys, as you laid out with
their pressure rate and all the sacks that they have,
and you cannot turn the ball over. And that's been
really one of the bright spots over the last several
weeks because we were tenth in the NFL and giveaways
through the first ten weeks of the year with fourteen.
(29:45):
It was just an issue kind of every game we
were turning it over at least once. We're one of
only two teams though to not turn it over at
all over the last four weeks, and the other being Buffalo.
They've only played three games, so the Chiefs have been
really good about protecting the football lately. When you're facing
a team like Houston that thrives off the takeaways and
they convert those takeaways into points and then you're playing
(30:07):
from behind and their pass rush pens their ears back.
That's their formula for the Chiefs in this game. Got
to get back to kind of condensing the game in
terms of possessions, and that's where it got away from
us a little bit last week. We had fourteen offensive
possessions last week and Cleveland had the ball a whole
bunch of times in the third quarter and it's back
and forth. Clock was stopping. You got to condense the game,
(30:29):
have like eight or nine possessions against these guys. Finish
in the red zone where they've actually struggled this year.
It's the number twenty eight red zone defense in the NFL.
Don't let these pass rushers wreck the game, then get
out of there with a win.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Darryl Stingley Junior has got five picks. He is the
only player in the league that's had five plus interceptions
in each of the last two seasons, and he is.
These guys are ballhawks. They'll also take some chances. But
one of the weird stats this is like Cleveland, they
have lost. They have three losses with two plus takeaways.
(31:03):
They're nine to five. You laid it out, they're nine wins.
This has happened. They're five losses. This has happened. But
the chance for the Chiefs to get takeaways has been
the bugaboo for Houston this year because you've got a
defense that has takeaways and still they won't win the game.
Cleveland has four. They lead the league. But here's Houston
(31:23):
tied for second three such plays. We'll wrap it up
this way. You're all asking, hey, is Patrick going to play?
That's the persistent question, got it? We understand it. We
don't know, but we'll tell you this. And Matt, I
think you if he can go, he'll go. There won't
be the oh, well, let's wait and see if we
can't win the last two games. Noop, if he can go,
(31:46):
he'll go. If he does it, the Chiefs have And
let's go back to OTA's as we close, you and
I said, is this the best backup quarterback the Chiefs
have ever had in a one to one pick. When
he came out of North Dakota State, he was steam
rolling towards the MVP in twenty seventeen and then he
tore his ACL. He's got one hundred and fifty three
touchdown passes. We're speaking of Carson Wentz, Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
This is a player who has been around the block,
had a lot of success in the NFL. And I
said this way back in Ota is that if there
is a game where Carson Wentz has to play, it's
a little bit different than maybe in the past where
you ask your backup just just a hold steady, make
sure things don't fall apart with wins. I actually think
he could make plays to win you a game, and
he's shown that over the course of his career. This
(32:30):
is also if he starts this week, or maybe if
we wrap things up and he starts in week eighteen,
this is a chance for him to show that he
could be a starter in the NFL. So it's a
great opportunity for him if he plays at some point.
We obviously hope it's Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes is one
of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and like you said,
if he can play, he will play. It's just a
matter of canny and we'll find that out later this week.
(32:53):
By the time you're listening to this, you might already know.
But regardless of if it's Mahomes or if it's Wins,
let's go take care of business against the tech and
moved to one win. Shy of locking up this first round.
By how's that sound?
Speaker 1 (33:04):
I doubt if they'll know before we post this.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
You might not know until Saturday morning.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
For I think it's going to be Saturday morning.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Pass on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
There you go. We might even know by then. But
that's here. We are the playoffs. Before the playoffs, it's Houston,
take care of the business and push on to try
to get that one seed in the bye
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