Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger React Live to the AFC Championship Game

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio living the dream once
again on well, let's face it, the NFL Sunday. This
is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio, Hartman and arm Burger
with you can see ready for to to pfference championship
games the Chiefs and the Bengals, the Rams and the

(00:24):
forty Niners, brought to you by one of our favorite cities,
Las Vegas, the greatest arena on Earth. Planning your trip
today at visit Las Vegas dot com or rich We
finally got here to the conference championship games Sunday by
days and we will know which two teams will be
facing off at so Fi Stadium in Super Bowl fifty six.
So as we sit here right now, are you more

(00:46):
focused on the games today or the unfinished business that
is Tom Brady and his retirement. Where where's your mindset
today as you get ready for these games? Listen? As
much is I respect Tom Brady as a former teammate
and the greatest football player singularly to ever play this game. Uh,

(01:09):
And I mean that that doesn't matter to me at all.
Today we got championship weekend in the NFL. I mean
he'll make that decision this offseason whether or not he
wants to stay or go or retire or play somewhere
else in trade or with the box or who cares.
I mean, as of today, I'm all in on the
Bengals and these Chiefs, and and I can't wait to

(01:32):
see what later on provides with the Niners in the Rams.
But it was interesting. It was interesting that the news
broke and nobody on Tom Brady's side necessarily said, hey, hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa,
that's not true Tom's playing next season. Everyone was just like, well,
that's just speculation at this point. Well, he hasn't made

(01:53):
up his mind yet. It sounds like Tom Brady's retiring.
It's just a matter of when. And these these guys,
these chefs and these Rapp reports and these Darlington's, they
they just got out way in front of it. They
ran with whatever credible sources they felt they could trust.
And Tom clearly isn't ready to make that decision yet.

(02:15):
I feel like, and again, I'm with you, I want
to focus on these games today, but let's just get
this Brady stuff out of the way. So when this
happened right before Jeff Schwartz and I went on, um,
you know, initially, we're we're opening the show with you know,
where Tom Brady fits and everything else, and that's when
the news started trickle out that indeed the Buccaneers had

(02:35):
no clue about this. Nobody had a clue about this.
I I have a theory, and you and I obviously
were talking about Brady during the week on our Heartman
and rich Oh show, and after his initial comments, we
both said, you know, when he talked about family and
he talked about his wife concerned about his health, it
seemed like for the first time that maybe he is

(02:56):
gonna retire, and we would every everyone was sort of
thinking the same thing. And I'm gonna guess that ESPN
was also thinking along those lines that after Monday and
some of his comments the day after the loss of
the Rams, it sounded like a guy that could be retiring,
like could be retiring. And having worked with so many
people over the years that have worked with ESPN, there

(03:18):
is immense pressure on their reporters and the highest paid
one obviously is schefter to break news, give us the news,
and I'm sure you know immediately it's like, is he
gonna retire? Sounds like he's thinking about it. Find out
what's going on. Is he actually gonna retire? Now, my
feeling is nobody in the inner circle of Tom Brady
it's ever gonna spill the beans on Tom Brady. No

(03:40):
one's that dumb, you know, from his inner circle, whether
it's his agent, Ye or Gay or any of the
people closest to him. There's no way they're like, yeah,
he's decided to retire. No one's going to jeopardize their
position in the Brady empire. But you know, there's people
on the periphery, and and when you're under pressure to
trying to get a story, none bigger than Tom Brady retiring.

(04:03):
Secondary third level guys. If you get enough people on
that tier that are starting, yeah, you know, then maybe
or maybe it's the production crew. You know, he's got
like that docuseries going on. Maybe he's planning something related
to that. I think this is what all came down.
And by the way, the fallback here like if if
if Brady were to come back, I don't think he is.

(04:25):
I do think he's gonna retire. He wants to collect
that fifteen million dollars is still dangling out there that's
due him on February four. So you know if he
does ultimately retire, great, Um, the story wasn't exactly right
because I think the biggest problem was with that story
yesterday is that that it seemed like he actually retired,

(04:46):
like like he has retired, when that's not the story.
The story is he's going to retire. Well, a lot
of us had that. I mean, that's not like breaking
news that it looks like he's going to retire, because
essentially that was the story. And by the way, if
he does come back, and if you're a guy like Schefter,
who's one of the best in the business, let's face it,

(05:06):
he has contacts at the Ying Yang. But if Brady
does come back and he is under contract for the
Bucks next year, the only thing Schefter can do at
that point is just say I was wrong. Alright, we're
getting way, way, way way ahead of ourselves. All right,
let's start from the start. Because you just said a lot.

(05:27):
You spoke unbroken for two minutes. Yes, and look, okay, Yes,
Chefter is good at his job. Yes, I agree with
a lot of what you said. What I don't agree
with is, Look, this report isn't wrong. If Brady retires.
If Brady retires this offseason, this report is correct because
look it says at the top line of the ESPN
article that came out about this, he's retiring from football

(05:50):
after twenty two seasons. So yes, if he does play
a twenty third season, then this something's running foul with
the credible sources. Is that these people used to get
these stories on Brady. Now, in terms of the inner
circle or whoever was the source behind this decision, a

(06:12):
locker room or UH, a team, like a club in general,
has a lot of moving parts, and there's a lot
of people who here conversations. UH, there's a lot of
people who are involved in conversations. There's a lot of
people who get second hand information on conversations that occur,

(06:32):
and it's very difficult to keep information in house, it
really is, you know. So it would not shock me
in the least bit if there were several people around
that organization I'm talking about the Buccaneers who knew that
Brady was retiring and it was said in ultimate terms
like this is it, this is this is the end

(06:52):
of the line. And through secondary UH sources, you know,
the Schefters or the Darlington's or the rapp reports are
the whoever else We're able to confirm this story to
be accurate. Now, if he does come back and play,
and he completes a twenty third season in the NFL,
then yeah, I guess we could go back and say, well,
in retrospect that that report was completely absurd, But I

(07:18):
I don't think it will be. I think Tom is
going to pick his moment. Look, he's become much more
social media savvy since he left New England. He's building
a brand. He's building the TB twelve brand wherever that
takes us, right. Uh. He's got multiple sponsorships and endorsements
that I'm sure he wants to loop in on this

(07:38):
and have a huge campaign as he makes his final
rounds in the NFL. So that's the reason why I
think the Brady camp uh said, Look, these reports are
just speculation at this point. He hasn't made up his
mind because he doesn't want this to go down as
the way his retirement unfurled. He wants to do it
on his terms that I agree with. And let me

(08:00):
ask you this, and then we can lay this to
rest here. All right. So let's say he waits until
after the Super Bowl, which would have been a normal time.
We would have been speculating this entire time. We would
have been speculating this week, and what do you think
it retire, not retire? Even in super Bowl week with
all the other things that are going on. You know,
he'd be sort of on the backbed of what do

(08:20):
you think after the super Bowl is he can announce
his retirement. It would have been the normal process. But
let's say he does retire after the super Bowl and
he has some kind of big fan for everything else,
and people will go back and say, well, on the
day that ESPN reported that you were retiring, you called

(08:41):
Jason Light, the general manager of the Bucks, to inform
him that you had not made up your mind. So
what changed from that day to this day in terms
of making up your mind that indeed you wanted to retire.
I mean, that would be all you know, that's how
it went. Well, I know that he called Jason Well
there the Buccaneers said that. Well, the Buccaneers said that

(09:04):
he hasn't made his decision yet. I mean, it does
nowhere that I've read said that he called up the
general manager and explained to him I haven't made up
my mind. They just hadn't been informed that his mind
but there were multiple sources as said that he had
contacted Jason Led to inform him that indeed, he had
not made up his mind yet. Right, do we know
if it was that day? Do we know it was yesterday?

(09:27):
I didn't read anywhere it was. Look, the point is
everybody's speculating right now, and it's based off of reporting,
and and who knows, maybe it'll end up being good reporting.
But I'm not going to fill in any conjecture until
we hear from the source. So maybe there was a
phone call made by his agent, maybe it was made
by Tom Brady himself. Maybe the front office of the

(09:48):
Buccaneers was like, whoa, this is news to us. We
haven't been informed over retirement. Let's reach out. Maybe they
reached out and they said, look, you know from Brady's camp,
no decision has been made yet. No decision has been
made yet. And so I think it's a fair question
was there any further consideration after that point? And the
the correct answer is, and I'm sure it's the correct answer,

(10:09):
of course, because before you make an enormous decision, you know,
before you ask uh, the woman you want to marry
to marry you, you know it could be the hours
leading up to the moment you go, jeez, okay, let
me just one last time do the checklist in my brain?

(10:31):
Am I making the right decision? Maybe it's before you
buy a house. Hey, let's just walk through it one
last time before we sign this deed. Maybe it's before
you buy a car. You know, big decisions that you
know we're gonna affect you for multiple years, if not
the rest of your life. They should be considered and
turned upside down and examined in every which direction. I'm

(10:52):
sure that process is going on currently with Tom Brady
and all of his loved ones. One thing we know
about Tom Brady on his lifestyle in general is that
he's a great master detail. Uh. He likes things in order.
I'm anna in order guy myself. So I understand this
whole dynamic. One of the things I really believe about

(11:12):
why he came back because a lot of people say, well,
if he wanted to go out on top last year
was a perfect chance. But there was still unfinished business
as far as the record books were concerned. He still
hadn't passed Drew Brees in terms of total yards. And
I believe you've played that long. Why would you not
check every box? Well after this season he did. He
holds he has all the records down, all the records

(11:34):
belonged to Tom Brady, and he has all the championships
and everything else. So again, you and I early in
the week, we're already talking like see it sounds like
he's ready for retirement right now. Um, but obviously everything
went crazy yesterday. Sorry, we're gonna lay that to rest,
all right, that's the final thoughts as far as Tom Brady.
If anything breaks on the Brady front, obviously we're gonna

(11:55):
talk about it. But we're gonna get f focused in
on these games. And we got some big news by
the way, in terms of a personnel development in this
a f C Championship game between the Chiefs and the Bengals.
Will share it with you. Coming up next, Steve Harman,
Rich Horeburger, this is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Exciting

(12:18):
day of football. Although Rich, let's face it, trying to
top last week is impossible. I mean, last night was
arguably the greatest playoff weekend in NFL history, with four
games literally been decided on the final play of the game,
and not just that, but exciting games capped off because
each game's got a little bit better, you know, the

(12:40):
you know, the you had the Bengals and the Titans
and we had an upset ruining there, and then you know,
we had the forty niners and the Packers, but you know,
there wasn't a lot of scoring going on. And then
you're watching Tom Brady performing another one of his miracle
comebacks down three to tie it at twenty seven, only

(13:01):
for Stafford to connect with Cooper Cup on that big
forty four yard play for the walk off field goal,
and you're like, wow, Okay, now we expect this to
be the best game of the weekend Bill's cheese, but
can it top these three games? Yeah? I did in circles.
I mean that that was an all time classic playoff matchup.
The focus chiefs and after that, after that game, the

(13:22):
focus I had was that those last few minutes of
regulation into the overtime period, which I mean, I remember
when we spoke about this. We were texting during the game,
you and I. But then our our San Diego show
on Extra thirteen sixty r I Heart Affiliate, when we
started our show, we were like, have we ever seen

(13:44):
a five minutes in terms of the game clock in sports.
That was more entertaining and electric than Bill's Chiefs down
the stretch. And the answer is no, I really don't
think we have because outside of maybe prize fights in boxing,
where you know, the popularity of boxing has diminished greatly.
That was it. There was such a flurry of was

(14:06):
Hearns Haggler man? That was toe to toe, punch for
punch on the edge of your seat. Uh. And by
the way, a quick follow them we get an update
on a big roster move to the big announcement for
the f C Championship game. You know, in the aftermath
of that game, obviously there was all this buzz about
overtime and you know, you can't have a game end

(14:27):
like that. Ironically, of course, that was a repeat of
what happened two years prior or three years prior, when
the Chiefs were playing the Patriots and it went to
overtime and the Patriots called got the ball first and
scored a touchdown game over. Mahomes did not get a
chance to reciprocate um, and so this was an absolute

(14:47):
repeat of that. Um. We had a couple of suggestions
this week, but I think the one and I mentioned
this to Jeff Schwartz yesterday and immediately his response, which
was yes, and that was the idea. We're talking to
our buddy Bill Barnwell over the week about a coin
toss prior to games in terms of possession in overtime,

(15:09):
So in case of an overtime, who gets the ball
first has been already determined in a separate coin toss
before the game. Because if you know, for instance, let's
say you're down seven and you know the other team
is going to get the ball first in overtime, and

(15:29):
you score a touchdown, you might say, you know what,
let's go for two right now. We're not gonna risk
the overtime. We're gonna go for two points. So it
seems like a really sound idea that weren't be that
complicated because a lot of people their biggest complaint about
overtime is whoever wins the coin toss wins. Well, if
that's determined before the game, then I think at least

(15:52):
it could certainly change the dynamic late in the game
leading into a potential overtime. And since these these new
overtime rules have changed, and I realized they change slightly
every so often, so we'll go over the past few
years since the most updated rules have been rolled out.
The majority of the time in the regular season when
games go to overtime, uh, it's balanced out. It's it's

(16:16):
been about fifty fifty now. The team that starts overtime
with the ball typically wins. I think it's like a
two or three percent advantage over the long stretch. But
in the postseason something happens. And I'm not sure if
it's because coaches don't want to give the ball to
their opponent and they really batten down the hatches on
the offensive game plan if they should get the ball first.

(16:36):
Whatever it is, it's been something absurd, like of the
ten overtime postseason games, nine of which have been determined
on the first drive and the obviously that team won.
So it's it's uh, it's it's obviously a problem when
you get to the postseason because it has been so

(16:59):
far out of whack in terms of how not easy
I don't want to use that word, but how lopsided
it has been in terms of the team to get
the ball. So I agree with Bill Barnwell and I
thought it was brilliant and think back to I guess
it was back to back weeks around week eight week
nine in the NFL season when the Baltimore Ravens had

(17:21):
two games that finished in consecutive weeks that were determined
by the last play from scrimmage, and the last play
from scrimmage was the Baltimore Ravens going for two as
opposed to going to overtime and kicking the extra point.
And John Harbaugh was lambasted over this decision. He was
given so much grief. But imagine if he knew prior

(17:42):
to the overtime period, instead of it being a fifty
fifty coin toss as to who gets the ball, imagine
he knew the opponent was getting the rock first. Yeah,
nobody would have a problem with hardball going for it
there exactly. So it makes sense. I mean, there's a
lot of suggestions. Some people say, well, maybe just play
a full overtime period, let it play out the full
ten minutes. But I like that. I like the coin

(18:03):
toss before the game. That to me sounds harmless and
yet very effective in terms of probably, you know, solving
some of the problems in terms of overtime is concerned.
All Right, we got big news today on the Chiefs front.
Tyrone Matthew will be in the Chiefs line up. So
a lot of people thought this was gonna be literally
a game time decision, But the Chiefs have already announced

(18:26):
that Tyra Matthew will be in the Chiefs lineup. So
how important is that? Rich? I mean, you got Matthew
in the lineup obviously going against this high powered Cincinnati
Bengals defense. By the way, Jamaar Chase has a chance
of setting all kinds of postseason records. This rookie is
seemingly unstoppable. And let's not forget against the Chiefs earlier

(18:47):
this year eleven catches, two hundred and sixty six yards
and three touchdowns. He single handedly destroyed the Chiefs. So
how much will Tyra Matthew play an impact and try
to slow down that rookie and that passing attack, that
offense of the Bengals. By the way, real quick before
answer about Matthew, I found the stat I was looking for.

(19:10):
So this is per NFL research. Under the current overtime rules,
there have been a hundred sixty three overtime games. This
includes Bill's Chiefs last week and including playoff games. By
the way, teams that won the ot Coin toss one
with a record of eighties six to sixty seven, and
then ten games ending in a tie. So there's a

(19:30):
winning percentage in terms of who wins the coin toss
at about fifty two point eight. Right, But under the
current OT rules there have only been eleven overtime playoff games.
Those eleven overtime playoff games have gone ten and one. Whoever,
whoever wins the coin toss ten out of eleven times
won those games. So in the playoffs again for whatever reason,

(19:53):
it gets crazy. Now back to Matthew, and I'm glad
you brought this up. I mean, it can't be understated
how much the Chiefs needed him to play today. And
I understand all the way up until today he's been
in the protocol, concussion protocol, and this really is a
player's decision when it comes to his brain and his health,
unless a doctor is getting in, you know, basically the

(20:13):
line of fire and saying, look, coaches, I know you
want him to play. Hey player, I know you want
to play. But I mean I took a hippocratic oath.
I mean, he will be doing for the harm if
he goes out there today. I don't think there's a
doctor out there. Who would do that if a player
wanted to go and a coach want obviously the team
wants him to go. Um, But how about this right

(20:35):
before the playoffs, this came out Um and then just
listed what Tyra Matthew has been in this league up
until that point. Hundred games played, over six hundred tackles,
over forty tackles for loss, twenty five QB hits, ten sacks,
four force fumble, six fumble recoveries, seventies six past defense,

(20:57):
twenty six interceptions, three taken to the house. I mean,
this guy is a monster. This guy is a monster.
If you don't have a game wreckerd like Tyrone Matthew
on your field, you lose the heart and soul of
this Chief's defense. Now. I understand they got some big
boys up front who can cause a lot of grief
for offensive line. Chris Jones anchors that group up front,

(21:20):
but without Matthew in the back end, I mean, he's
the engine that makes that Chief's defense go absolutely and uh,
honey badger, no question he and he had this impact.
Remember they have fabulous sophomore season he had at L
s u is fit on the Heisman Trophy voting as
a defensive back and then he had to sit out
of here because he wanted to smoke pot. No problem

(21:40):
these days, by the way, but yeah, this is a
completely different Chiefs defense when they have Tyrone Matthew in action.
All right, much more on this matchup, but first let's
find out what's trending right now. And look who is here,
Ralph Irvan and Ralphil Youler. By the way, Rich, yesterday
with all this Brady story going up, Ralph was all
over it yesterday. I was listening to the show, Ralpe

(22:03):
you good job, thank you. And also, by the way,
with that stat that you gave on overtime, seven of
those eleven were on the first possession touchdown touchdowns. Think
about that first possession touchdowns. I mean, I wonder on
the regular season you mentioned a hundred plus games over time,
how many of ended on touchdown I shouldn't say touched

(22:24):
that they were on the first possession, well, first possession
which which which was a touchdown in the recent years
that field, Yeah, yeah, I mean that's a big Tanon
Tannon one, Yeah, yeah, that that's that's a one sided thing,
no question. So as you mentioned Tyron Matthew as clear
the concussion protocol, he'll be able to play today Cincinnati

(22:44):
in Kansas City for the a f C Championship for
a trip to go to Super Bowl fifty six. Here's
Chief's head coach Andy Reid. We look forward to this
challenge of plans Cincinnati. There. We know they're a heck
of a football team. I may have told you that
the last few days here, but um, my feelings have
to change there. They're tremendous, uh, really well coached and

(23:07):
and they've got good players. Um, and they play hard
and aggressive football. And there we go. Uh kickoff coming
at three o'clock noon Pacific, about ninety minutes from now.
The NFC title game will follow in Los Angeles as
the Rams host of forts. Meanwhile, news coming out of
Las Vegas multiple people reporting that the Raiders are about

(23:29):
to name Dave Ziegler as their new GM. The Raiders
have been interviewing GM coach combos throughout this entire process,
So if they were talking to Jim Harbaugh, he had
his guy, etcetera. That means they're likely to be bringing
in Josh McDaniels as their new head coach, and that

(23:49):
could come as early as today. So Raiders are again
about to be hiring Dave Ziegler as their new GM.
Likely means that Josh McDaniels will be coming. He's Josh
daniels first choice to be a personal guy. He comes
in from the Patriots where he was there to facto
GM beyond Bill Belichick obviously. Yeah, so very interesting developments there.

(24:11):
We also have, yeah, college basketball on the floor right now,
number six per new leading number sixteen Ohio State fifty three,
ten minutes to play in the second half of that contest.
And in Atlanta, the Lakers lead over the Hawks to
twenty to play in the first quarter that contest. The
Clippers lead Charlotte to play in the first quarter. There,

(24:36):
Lakers and Clippers getting out of the rams way this afternoon,
I guess. So that's what's going on. As we sent
it back. It is Steve Hartman, rich orin Berger here
on a Fox Football Sunday. Hi, Ralph Berry. Good, we'll
talk to you a little bit later on. All right,
let's stay with that story for a moment here. We'll
get back to these games. So Dave Ziegler, of course
been with the Patriots organization for nearly a decade. Uh

(24:58):
in the scouting apartment, right player personnel. Uh, he's he's
you know, obviously risen in the ranks and the Patriots
organization we know about Josh McDaniels having already talked to
the Raiders. Um, I want to get your thoughts. You
know Josh McDaniels. Well, I mean Josh McDaniels of course
left New England to become the head coach of the

(25:20):
Actually you might have missed him, so we overlapped first
season for one season, so he left after the O
eight season oh nine, he became the coach of the Broncos.
Remember what happened there? He won his first six games,
including a big win against his mentor, and then he
lost seventeen of his next twenty two games and didn't
even finish his second season when he got canned, spent

(25:41):
a year with the Rams, and then came back to
the Patriots organization. So, um, the idea, it's been so long.
He was only thirty three years old when he was
hired the first time, and he was also responsible for
the drafting of Tim Tebow by the Broncos. By the way,
but do you feel like he's a right fit for
the Raiders, Because I obviously what Dave Ziggler getting this

(26:02):
job would appear. Indeed, Josh McDaniels will be in then
edge head coach. And by the way, it's a splashy
higher right right down the alley for Mark Davis. Obviously
the big name Josh McDaniels being the next head coach
of the Raiders, But is he the right fit for
a team that has a veteran quarterback in Derek Carr?
How do you see this plane out? I think it's
the perfect fit. I'm a big Josh McDaniels fan based

(26:25):
on what he's been able to do, uh with you know,
multiple quarterbacks in New England. Now that Tom Brady has
moved on, I mean, first and foremost, let's be honest.
Tom Brady is a great but he's also been surrounded
by great minds, offensive minds. We could go back and
talk about Charlie Weiss and whatever you think about Charlie

(26:45):
Weis is a head coach. He was a great offensive
mind and we can go back and and that's really
like the platform that all these other offenses were built
off of was that Weiss offense. And then you talked
about Billy O'Brien, who was a very young offensive coordinator,
but a fiery guy really seemed to reach Brady on
the level and they they collaborated and turned that that

(27:07):
New England offense into this wide open playbook where they
could take it any direction they wanted to go. And
I know McDaniels was there before O'Brien, and then O'Brien
took over, and then McDaniels came back when O'Brien left
to be the head coach at Penn State and move
on to the Texans. But McDaniels back in the fold.
He was able to take an aging Tom Brady and
offense that really had a bare bones collection of talent

(27:30):
at times and find a way to win Super Bowls.
I mean, his impressive feat And I think they ran
out of steam together because obviously Brady wanted to change,
he wanted to break away from the Patriot way. And
in the interim they got about as much as you
possibly could get out of an injured and and uh

(27:50):
and and sick offense a year ago led by Cam Newton,
and then they broke in this rookie quarterback uh Mac
Jones and a success. So look, I mean, in my opinion,
it's there's enough there now, that's all the positive. The negative. Stephen,
you know this as well as I do, is when

(28:12):
he was a head coach for the first run in Denver,
started out pretty good and it went in the tank quick,
real quick. So there's some hesitance here. Well, and that's
the thing about Josh mcdowne's I guess that's what I'm asking.
Does he have the right temperament to be a head coach?
He's proven himself he's one of the most accomplished offensive
coordinators in the history of the NFL. But does he

(28:34):
have the right temperament to be a successful head coach?
When when you are a first at anything, I think
a lot of times and I mean this whatever I mean,
think back to your first girlfriend, you know, think back
to your first job, the first time you even if
you have a career, you know, the first year working

(28:56):
that career. Don't you do things differently now than you did?
And yeah, the answers. Yeah, the reason why we give
rookies excuses as players is because we know they're going
to screw things up. I think we are less um
what's the world, or should say, we're more harsh on

(29:17):
head coaches because I think the expectations are higher in
terms of being organized, being ready for things, especially when
you have job experience in the league for a while,
like a guy like McDaniels did the first time around.
After you know, when he was hired by the Denver Broncos,
he had been in the league for a while. So
we're like, oh, he's got the lay of the land.
He understands how this thing goes. Well. The truth is

(29:39):
it's completely different job being a head coach versus an
offensive coordinator. And so I I think he he failed,
and I think if he's smart, he's gonna look at
those failures and I do believe that he'll do a
better job this time around, including things with how he
works with the players and how he responds to the
players and interacts with the players. I think that's a

(30:01):
big part of the learning process. Now we'll see it
could be a crash and burn. We've seen two time
head coaches fail in multiple places. It just depends on
how much he's learned from his first outing as a
head coach. Yeah, well, he's taken over a team that
made the playoffs. Let's remind you this is not some
five and twelve Raiders. Team he's taken over. He's taken

(30:22):
over a team that won four straight games down the
stretch to get into the playoffs. So I've nearly advanced
and nearly and so the expectations for the Raiders is
we want to go next level. It's not getting back
to even ground, it's next level. Can Josh McDaniels, as
we expect being hired as their next head coach? Can

(30:43):
he do that with that team? All right? I want
to get back to the game, the matchup between the
Chiefs and the Bengals here. Uh, and let's go back
to exactly a month ago today when the Chiefs went
into Cincinnati. The Chiefs were rolling, they had won seven
or eight games in a row, and they were blowing
them out. It was twenty eight to fourteen Chiefs with

(31:06):
two minutes ago in the first half. Nothing appeared to
tell you that we were gonna see anything other not
just a Chief's win, but a big Chief's win. And
the Bengals came back and one on the last second
field goal by Evan McPherson thirty one. How much, if any,
of what happened that day in Cincinnati twenty eight days

(31:30):
ago effect today's matchup in Kansas City. Oh, it has
a huge effect. It has a huge effect when first
and foremost, from just a mental standpoint, the psychology of
losing a game like the Chiefs lost. I mean, the
Chiefs are are used to sometimes getting embarrassed, you know
what I mean, Like nothing's really working for them, and

(31:52):
it doesn't happen a lot. It's been happening lately more
often where they're just not clicking offensively, defensively, there are
six of and so it just all goes wrong. And
I think those are easier losses for them to handle.
And then there are certain games where it's a low
scoring matchup and it's a game you think they could lose.

(32:12):
But when you have a game like we saw in
Cincinnati where it is an absolute shootout, how many of
those games have gone to the opponent, and how many
have gone to the Chiefs. The Lions share have gone
to the Chiefs. They win those shootouts, and so I
think on the chief side there has to be a
little bit of nervousness entering this game, thinking, gosh, you know,

(32:35):
if this turns into one of those bombs away, we'll see,
you know, good on good, who's gonna who's gonna finish
with the scoring drive. I'd be nervous about Joey Shicicy,
Joey b You know that this guy Burrow, he's he's
got something that we saw in Mahomes in his second
year that is undeniable and it's just superstar talent. When Mahomes,

(33:00):
you know, finished up his rookie season and we saw
the throwaway game at Denver when the Chiefs are resting
a lot of their starters, he looked pretty good. We're like, whoa,
you know, you know, it seems like the future is
pretty bright. And Denver, we had no idea how good
it was gonna look in year two, and obviously they
took it all the way. Uh. When when you look
at Joe Burrow, he's got that exact same makeup year one.

(33:22):
We're like, whoa, it looks like the future is gonna
be bright. In Cincinnati, we had no idea. And by
the way, he's playing with a worse offensive line than
Mahomes is, And to me, that's going to be the
evening factor. If they can't protect Burrow, I think they
run out of luck. But if they do a better
job up front, look out. I mean this this this
Chief's team. If they get on the ropes, a little

(33:44):
bit of history repeating itself could be what we see today.
All right. On the other side, I'm gonna give you
three stats associated with Joe Burrow that will be key
numbers in today's a SC championship game and probably will
affect the outcome of this matchup coming up next. He's
Mike Carmen, I'm Dan Buyer. Do we have a brand

(34:05):
new fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. Twice
a week every Tuesday and Friday, we come up with
new episodes to not only look back at what happened,
what you need to do at that minute, and also
look ahead of what's coming up in the fantasy football world.
That's right, Dan. Every week we're gonna scour the waiver
wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup,

(34:28):
sits starts, fantasy football players rankings to get you ready
to dominate the competition. Listen to I Want Your Flex
with Mike Carmen and met Dan Buyer on the I
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast and wherever you get your podcasts.
Steve Harman, Rich Armburger, Fox Sports, Red Zone Radio A
little more than an hour away kicking off the a

(34:49):
f C Championship Game. By the way, the Chief's hosting
the a f C Championship Game for the fourth consecutive
year and trying to become just the fourth team ever
to get to three consecutive Super Bowls. The only time
that has happened is the seventy one to seventy three Dolphins,

(35:09):
the ninth and nine to ninety three Bills, and most
recently the Patriots in seventeen and eighteen. So trying to
become just a fourth team ever to get to three
straight Super Bowls. To do so, though, they're gonna have
to get by Joe Burrow Now, Joe Burrow Rich led
the league in three categories three the entire league. He
led the league in three key categories. Number one was

(35:33):
completion percentage. He led the league with a seventy point
four completion percentage. He also led the league in a
very important category, that's yards per attempt eight point nine.
That is a big number there. And then he also
led the league in sacks. He was sacked a whopping

(35:54):
fifty one times, and that doesn't include the nine sacks
he suffered last week against the Items. All Right, we'll
get to that last, but let's get back to his
accuracy and the fact that they extend the field with
their passing game more than any other team. Jamar Chase
obviously a huge part of that. How does that factor
in against this Kansas City team? Who by the way,

(36:16):
when you look at Burrow earlier against Kansas City, the
numbers were these thirty thirty nine four forty six yards,
four touchdowns, no picks. I mean, listen, if if we're
going to try to call this game based off of
quarterback play, it's going to be really difficult. Because while

(36:39):
Joe Burrow has had a sensational season this season, um,
you look at Patrick Mahomes and you know, if you
look at the advanced metrics on what makes him special,
especially in a season like this season where there were
some you know issues, a little bit of a failure
to start this season with Mahomes in that offense, they
were kind of spot ring and then they put it

(37:00):
all together late in the season. One of the things
that stands out, it really jumps off the charts when
you're talking about Joe Burrow in Mahomes is the fact
that they're such accurate deep ball passers. Like both of
them are top five in that category. When you look
at you know, ten yards plus twenty yards plus, thirty
yards plus forty yards plus fifty yards plus. I mean

(37:25):
these guys, for example, Joe Burrow completed twelve passes this
season beyond fifty yards of the line of scrimmage. Twelve.
I mean, think about that. What what that does to
your season? That means you know, again, some of those
occurred in multiple games. If you look at Jamar Chase
this season and some of those in game uh yard
agi totals. You know which games I'm talking about. Well,

(37:46):
two of those came in that game because Jamar Chase
had touchdown receptions of seventy two yards and sixty nine
yards in that game. Yeah, I mean it just against
Kansas City, the team they're playing today. So they've proven
we can make those plays happen against this defense, and
so can That's right, and so can Mahomes obviously, because

(38:06):
they scored a boatload of points in that game against
since two. So again, getting back to the original point
I was making is if you're going to try to
figure out who's gonna win this game based off of
just that, just the quarterback playing their effectiveness good luck,
you know, because they're so even well they are, and
and we expect him and I think did we both
play the over in this game? We did? We did?

(38:28):
I think we both played the over. Uh. The fifty
one sacks for three hundred and seventy yards in losses,
I mean, do the math on that. That is a
whopping seven plus yards per sack. And then you have
this game against the Titans where he sacked ninety nine
times for sixty eight yards really on average over seven

(38:49):
yards per sack. So I mean there's twofold here. One
is that he's getting sacked a lot, and that means
he's getting hit. And there weren't any soft sacks against
the Titans. Man, they were teen off on him. But
it's also a lot of negative yards. I mean, he's
he's getting sacked for you know, seven eight nine yards

(39:10):
and losses each time. So let's let's look twofold here.
Is there something that he can correct in that? Is
he just being victimized by a subpar Bengals offensive line,
because that's one number that could very well hurt them
and be fatal in today's game. Well, I'll tell you

(39:30):
right now, if you're Steve Spagnola. You're looking at what
happened during that Titans game and you're saying, boys, we
gotta eat right, we gotta find a way. Now. The
problem is they get their yards. Even when Joe Burrows
under pressure, he'll find the one on one matchups and
he'll make you pay. So you gotta find a way
to get that same amount of pressure. But confuse him

(39:51):
in terms of what coverage you're seeing, because he's he's
great at diagnosing things. And think how good Rabel is like.
He understands all that. He was coached by Bill Bellott.
Check he's been in this league, successful on the defensive
side of the ball for years, and he couldn't confuse
Joe Burrow enough. So you gotta study that film, find
out what the front seven did well with the Titans.

(40:11):
But you gotta short things up on the back end.
That's the only chance you have, all right. Much more
on the Cheese and Bengals. Also an early look at
the NFC matchup between the Rams of forty Niners. This
is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Fox Sports Radio Dot com and

(40:31):
within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
to listen live. And we are about an hour away
of kickoff of the first game of the day on
this Conference Championships Sunday, Chiefs taken on the Bengals, followed
by the Rams and the forty Niners. This, indeed is
Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Were brought to one of
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(40:53):
Every game, match, racing, competition, it is always on wherever
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sure to play in your trip today at visit Las
Vegas dot com. There's so many stories around the NFL
right now. Obviously the Brady story that blew up yesterday.
We're still unresolved with that right now. Coaching hires all

(41:14):
over the place, the latest with Dave Ziggler being hired
by the Raiders as their GM. They expect Josh McDaniels
will follow us the new head coach. There. I wanted though,
jump ahead to the second game today, the Rams and
the forty Niners. UM A good friend of ours, Mark Willard,
joined us on the show yesterday. The game, and I

(41:36):
asked him if he had any clue about forty attendants
at Sofi Stadium after what we saw in that last
regular season game where a C A Red took over
and played a big impact in the forty nine is
coming back to win that game, uh, forcing the Rams
to go to an unexpected silent count on their home field.
And what he told me, Rich was, if you thought

(41:59):
that was bad, you have no idea what you're gonna
about to see on Sunday. There are estimates it could
be two thirds forty Niners fans at Sofi Stadium today,
completely taking things over. And now we have the report
that the Rams to try to avoid that situation, we're
only gonna sell tickets to the l A and Orange

(42:19):
County fan base. Apparently that backfired, UM, but expect a lot,
maybe as many as sixty percent plus forty Niner fans
at Sofi Stadium. So let me ask you this from
a player's standpoint, Rich, and you you've been I witnessed
to this as a player. As a broadcaster, we've covered

(42:42):
the Chargers for years, have had this dilemma of where
seemingly every game they had was a road game because
the fan base of the opposing team badly outnumbered the
home team. But if if that is going to be
the case today, if forty Niner fans, you know, really
outnumber Rams fans at SOFI Stadium for the NFC Championship game,

(43:06):
could that have any effect at all adverse effect on
the Rams? Could it be a big plus for the
forty Niners. How much do the fans actually affect the
players on the field? Oh a lot, you know. Now,
I I can't speak to it, uh, you know, professionally
or even from a collegiate standpoint in terms of what

(43:27):
it feels like when you're on the defensive side of
the ball, how much of a boost it gives you.
But I could speak from the offensive side. When you're
on the road and you're playing against a team with
an avid fan base who shows up in droves, who
maybe gets a little sauced up in the parking lot,
you know, ties one on before they get into the stadium,
and then they let it flow. Man, when you're you know,

(43:51):
in the red zone facing a crucial third down situation,
or it's late in the game and you're going forward
on a fourth then you trail by three and you
can feel literally the ground shaking underneath your feet as
a result of the reverberation of the the fans collective

(44:12):
voice all pinpointed on your offense. There were games that
I played where as loud as I could, I'd be
shouting to the adjacent offensive lineman playing next to me,
and I couldn't even hear my own voice, like, let
alone hearing what the quarterback cadence is, let alone trying

(44:32):
to figure out if we're checking things. That's when communication
I'm talking about, nonverbal communication needs to be at its height,
you know, whatever it is. You know, quarterbacks commuting out
to communicating out to the sideline, to receivers on different
route concepts, using hand signals, you know, having hand signals
that you could pass along the offensive line, uh to

(44:55):
to communicate if there's gonna be a change in the cadence,
you know, carefully watching your center's head. You know, if
you watch the line of scrimmage play during these games,
especially in loud environments, you'll see the silent count, which
means literally, you know, you'll have a left guard tap
the center's hip and then it goes off of the
center's head movement, whether it's on one or on two

(45:15):
head bobs or whatever it is, and then the ball snapped.
Everybody needs to be on same page. So there's so
much communication that goes into this game, normally just verbally
during a home game when you're in a raucous road environment, Buddy,
I mean, that's the reason why you see offside or
or false starts penalties, and why you see illegal shifts

(45:36):
on the road, especially down near the end zone. You
know all those things. It's because when the crowd gets loud,
if you don't have your communication locked in, it could
have an awful effect on how productive your offense is.
I know there's a lot of people around the country
that live in NFL cities that are saying, how's that possible.

(45:58):
I mean, you're hosting a conference championship game, how is
it possible the fans of the other team without number
the home fans. Let me, let me try to explain
its best I can. The whole dynamic in l A.
It's a process. And by the way, let's give credit
where credits to the RAMS organization deserves credit. They have
been very aggressive to build a winner in l A

(46:21):
because you know, if you win, they will come. Eventually,
they will come This was the sixth year of the
Rams since they returned to Los Angeles, so you know,
it's not a couple of years in. They've already been
to a Super Bowl as the Los Angeles Rams. So
why is it taking it so long. It's not that
there aren't NFL fans in l A. There've always been

(46:42):
NFL fans in l A. If you look at the
TV numbers in the twenty years where there was no
team in l A, the NFL numbers as far as
viewership did not diminish. Rich there's many eyeballs on NFL
games that there had been prior to win the Rams
and the Raiders are in town, so that number has
not changed. But in order for a fan base to

(47:04):
fully embrace the Rams, one of the drawbacks that the
Rams are having right now is that beautiful new stadium
they have. It used to be old school Ram fans
where they go way back to the Colosseum days, or
more recently in the Orange County days, it was affordable. Um,

(47:26):
they're they're they're actually dictating themselves to a different clientele now,
and you're gonna have to do that with a six
billion dollar stadium. And by the way, it's every bit
is as spectacular as azuraties. It is that impressive Sofi Stadium.
You'll see it for the Super Bowl. But I I
it's it's gonna be an interesting marketing of this RAMS

(47:47):
organization moving forward because what they're finding out and I
experienced this back in my radar days where I try
to explain to Mr Davis that winning is not enough
in Los Angeles. There's a reason why the Dodgers and
Lakers have been able to survive down seasons. There has
to be a sense of belonging that the Dodgers have

(48:10):
done brilliantly over the years, and the Lakers figured it
out as well. The RAMS are not there yet. They
are thinking is hey, if we win, they'll show up.
You've got to do more than that, and there's got
to be a connection down the road that is still
not there between the city of Los Angeles and this
Los Angeles Rams organization. I don't know if they'll ever

(48:33):
get to the level they hope. It's a process. Winning
certainly helps, but they're not there yet. Winning alone is
not enough. I will say this about the Rams. If
they can find a way after having the success that
they've had to make it to the Super Bowl and

(48:54):
win in their home city. I think next season could
look vastly different, be because if you remember back in
the early two thousands when the Baltimore Ravens um became
a franchise after the Cleveland Browns left their city, and
you know, and and and all of the fallout that
occurred in Cleveland which got them their franchise back and

(49:16):
an expansion. You know, it is a process now. I mean,
don't get me wrong, I think Baltimore is a very
different market than especially for the NFL, than l a
is UM. But they had early success. They won that
Super Bowl and it really vaulted them two heights that
nobody really perceived, especially considering where they came from, you know,

(49:40):
the lowly Cleveland Browns. But there was a lot of excitement,
there was star power, and that's what the Rams have created.
They got to finish the job, though, and there's a
lot of pressure on this RAMS team, especially the way
it's been built by less Need and Sean McVeigh. I mean,
just think about the the amount of changes that they
made to to find their path back to the NFC

(50:02):
Championship game. Firing of Wade Phillips, trading a ton of
draft capital to bring in Jalen Ramsey. They already had
Aaron Donald Trading for Odell Beckham Jr. Trading for Von Miller,
trading a first first rounder just and Jared Goff, just
offload Jared Goff to go to the Detroit Lions and

(50:24):
bringing Matthew Stafford. I mean, they've spent a lot of
draft capital to win right now, and they got to
make good on that otherwise, I agree with you, Steve.
I think they have a long, hard slog even with
their success, and they're almost to develop a native fan
base because like you you like you said, like you
know that l a market's fickle, and it's filled with

(50:46):
Dallas Cowboys fans, and it's filled with San Francisco forty
Niners fans and Raiders fans and Patriots fans because they've
enjoyed two decades of success, and so there's just a
lot of people who were born during that dynasty years
that no matter where you grew up in the country,
very similar to the Packers during the five years where
it's titled town in in Foxboro. So you just a

(51:09):
fan base will develop anywhere, especially in a transient market
like l a. So there's a lot to combat against.
And it's not just gonna take success. It's gonna take
sustained success over years and years and years for them
to truly develop the same type of fan base that
some of these other organizations really get to earn a
lot quicker. Yeah, and and just getting back to the Raiders,

(51:31):
So I joined him right after they won that Super
Bowl Super Bowl eighteen and that year after they won
the Super Bowl at the Coliseum four their aid home
games eighty thousand plus. They had ninety two thousand fans
when the forty nine is came into town. A couple
of years later, when the team started leveling off, almost overnight,

(51:51):
fans per game disappeared. And that was because they didn't
do the proper marketing job. Again, the idea is, well,
if we win, they'll show up, okay, But what happens
when you don't win. The RAM, the Lakers and the
Dodgers survive because they have been fully entrenched in the
culture of the city of Los Angeles. The Rams are

(52:13):
not there yet. They're hoping to get there, but they're
not there yet. All right, let's talk about Matthew Stafford
on the other side. The Rams quarterback who was brought
in to get them to the next level. He's played
so far, so good. In the playoffs, Canny was stand
the tremendous defensive front of the Forts. What should we

(52:34):
expect from Matthew Stafford. We're gonna tell you. Coming up
next Steve Harban and a Rich Arnburger. This is Fox
Sports Red Zone Radio. We are forty minutes away from
kickoff at the a f C Championship game between the
Chiefs and Bengals. Where d you buy One of our
favorite cities, Las Vegas, the greatest arena on Earth. Every game, match, racing, competition,

(52:55):
it is always on. No one does sports like Vegas,
and the excitement is and so make sure to plane
your trip today at visit Las Vegas dot com. So
I'm watching some of the pregame coverage here for the
n s C Championship, and of course all eyes are
on the quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. All eyes
will be on the quarterbacks, well, they are in every

(53:16):
game in the NFL. And for the Rams, they have
Matthew Stafford. I'm gonna eave a couple of stats here,
uh and see what you make of them in these
two playoff wins over Arizona and Tampa Bay combined, in
those two games, Matthew Stafford has been sacked just three

(53:36):
times and has thrown zero interceptions. In his two games
against San Francisco this year combined, he was sacked seven
times and through four interceptions. So my takeaway from this
is is that if you create a clean pocket for him,

(53:57):
if you give him time, he's gonna to do damage.
If you put a lot of pressure on him, he's
gonna do damage for your team. So when you look
at this forty team that sacked him five times in
the most recent victory over the Rams, is there any

(54:17):
way to counter that if you're the Rams, Because you
know the forty Niners are gonna bring pressure, and we
have seen it, not just against the forty niner, has
been a few games this year where if you put
pressure on Stafford, a guy that can throw the ball
as well as any guy in this league, by the way,
suddenly has these meltdown moments and on a day like

(54:39):
today in an NFCY Championship game, that could spell big
trouble for the Rams. Well. Matthew Stafford. Over the regular season,
he was pressured um a hundred thirty eight times, right,
And look, the reality is for Matthew Stafford is like

(55:00):
many pocket passers. You can strategize to defend him two
different ways because he has a huge arm and he
has a ton of air yards. He's second in the
league in air yards, meaning how far the ball travels
in the air before the receiver collects it himself. The
those stats, they don't lie to you. He likes to

(55:20):
push the ball down the field. He's capable of pushing
the ball down the field. And Sean McVeigh has developed
an offense that helps the Rams do this effectively. Now.
In terms of pressuring uh, Matthew Stafford. In the regular season,
at times it seemed like it was a successful idea
blitzing him, you know, trying to send five or six

(55:40):
man pressures at him, depending on what offensive formation you're
looking at, maybe leaving single hives safety, maybe blitz zero
and um and seeing if he can win against one
on one coverage and in certain games, certain matchups, that
was a successful strategy. What's happened in the playoffs though,
And we saw this against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last

(56:02):
weekend and they they that was exactly what they wanted
to do. They wanted to get after Matthew Stafford with pressure.
I mean, I can't I can't tell you how many
times I counted five or six rushers coming down the
barrel at Stafford and he found a way to get
it to the outlet and he didn't make the mistake.
That's what they were they were basing their defensive game

(56:24):
plan around, was will he make the mistake? Now in
the second half, he started unfold a little bit. The
Bucks made that great comeback, and you saw the potential
the way the Rams could potentially blow this game and
Brady could continue their season with the Bucks at advancing,
but they shored it up. They found a way. So

(56:45):
I don't know what we're gonna see necessarily from the
forty Niners, because I think they have the best defensive front.
The Rams will see this postseason um and I mean that,
like you know, it doesn't matter if they advance against
the Bengals are the Chiefs on the other side of this.
This is this is going to be the ultimate test.
So if the forty Niners want to, they could play

(57:05):
coverage behind that defensive front and try to get there
with four and if they can effectively do this, the
Rams are really going to struggle. All right, Well, I
need to explain the Cooper Cup situation. So here we
had last week, the Buccaneers engineer a comeback for the
Ages down seven at three, they tied at seven. We

(57:27):
expect this game to go into overtime and Tom Brady
working his magic. Never happened because of two passes to
Cooper Cup, including a forty four yard pass that's set
up the game winning field goal. The forty Niners defense
has been no less unsuccessful in stopping Cooper Cup this year.
In the first game, a blowout forty victory, he had

(57:49):
eleven catches for a hundred twenty two yards, and the
most recent game against the forty Niners, he had seven
catches for a hundred eighteen yards. I don't understand this,
and we and I have talked about this. You got
a guy that obviously is the number one target for
the other team, and somehow he's free, somehow he's open,

(58:10):
and not just open on every poy. I'm talking about
critical plays where you know he's a guy they are
targeting to find and he's still open. Now, we gotta
give Cooper Cup a lot of credit. His ability to
separate from defenders is second and none in this league.
But you gotta figure out a way, right, Okay, if
that's not working, we gotta figure out another way to

(58:34):
stop Cooper Cup if we can. Are the Rams, that
kind of team where if you shut him down, You've
got Odell Beckham Jr. You got Higbee, you got Jefferson,
you got Acres, I mean, you got Michelle. They got
a lot of offensive weapons. Do you go the extra
mile to not let Cooper Cup beat you in this game? Yeah?

(58:55):
You do. And I'm actually shocked, frankly, how often the
Buckaneer is gamble keeping Cooper Cup single covered. I mean
even even on certain place where he's not the primary
receiver and everybody in the building knows it. You don't
think Matthew Stafford's gonna find him, you know, you know,
it's just bizarre. I mean, you can read the press
on these two. These guys can read each other's minds.

(59:18):
Matthew Stafford isn't some rookie. I realized. He spent the
majority of his playing career in purgatory in Detroit, but
he has seen a lot of NFL defenses. He knows
how to diagnose these things. So if even if the
third look on a passing progression is Cooper Cup, you

(59:39):
don't think he's gonna leapfrog straight to Cooper Cup if
that's the best matchup. If he happens to see a
safety who is a poor coverage player covering Cooper Cup
like he like he was covered by on that that
that dagger of a play up the middle to get
the Rams back in field goal range. I mean, it's look,

(01:00:00):
this is the way I if I were a defensive coordinator,
I would play if I were in this game. And
I'm talking about every game, not just the NFC Championship
game Niners verse Rams, but every game. What does this
team do well? Who are the problems? Okay, let's start there.
They're not gonna beat us. So in the case of

(01:00:22):
the Rams, we're not gonna get beat by Cooper Cup. Okay,
what's next. We gotta get some pressure on on on
Matthew Stafford. Okay, without sacrificing Cooper Cup having single coverage
against you know, our our weaker secondary members, like you know,
maybe you want to leave Ramsey on an island against
Cup occasionally, fine, go ahead, I mean I'll take that

(01:00:45):
match up most days, but outside of that, let's double them. Right.
How do we avail ourselves an opportunity to get pressure
on Matthew Stafford while taking away Cooper Cup because essentially
you're making an offense play left handed. And if you
lose because Sony Michelle or Cam Akers has a crazy day,
well guess what. I could sleep pretty good that night

(01:01:06):
because I think I did the right thing. But allowing
Cooper Cup in a postseason game, after arguably being the
offensive player of the year to have over a hundred
fifty yards receiving, to be the top player on the
offense leaving that game in Tampa Bay is inexcusable. Yeah,
we'll see how this plays out today. But as I mentioned,

(01:01:27):
even when the forty Niners blew out the Rams earlier
this year, Cooper Cup was a major factor. So they're
like every other defense. How do we slow down this
guy who, by the way, including postseason, has put up
numbers that we've never seen in the history of the NFL.
And oh, by the way, one or the quick note
about his game against Tampa last week, he averaged more

(01:01:47):
than twenty yards per catch for the game for the
first time this season. So he's not only not slowing down,
he's literally getting better, if that's possible. All right, on
the other side, will continue to count down for this
a f C championship game between the Chiefs and Bengals.
But first let's find out what's trending right now. And
here he is front center ral Urban. Yeah, I got

(01:02:10):
a lot of fans out there. The deal's done in
the Las Vegas gentlemen. Yes, I see that the Raiders
have a new GM and Dave Ziegler, and they have
a new head coach in Josh McDaniels. That coming down
on this championship Sunday. You know, the NFL loves that. Yeah,
the NFL loves this breaking news before their championship. I

(01:02:31):
think Mark Davis, I think Mark Davis is this a
little bit of a thumbing his nose at the NFL
because we know that regardless of how you feel about
the content of those emails, we know how Mark feels
about the fact that the Grooten emails were released in
two years away from the closure of the Washington Football

(01:02:53):
team investigation, and he's been public about his discontent, and
so I think this is a little bit of Okay,
you want to screw me, we'll screw you well. That
he did, at least in the priests pres preceding hours
leading up to this. But we hear thirty minutes away
from kickoff in Kansas City, the Chiefs hosting the Bengals,
Tyron Matthew has been cleared from concussion protocol, so he'll

(01:03:16):
be in the Chiefs defensive backfield. Of course, the winner
goes to Super Bowl fifty six, the NFC title game,
Rams hosting the forty Niners coming up later this afternoon.
We've got to two games right now in the NBA
seven to play in the third quarter. The Lakers lead
as they play at the Atlanta Hawks. Lebron James not
in this contest. He's in l A getting his knee examined.

(01:03:40):
We certainly wouldn't see him on the sidelines at the
Rams game later, No, no, no, uh. Meanwhile, the Clippers,
he'll be he'll be on the field, you know that. Yeah,
Clippers nursing that knee injury exactly. The Clippers with a
lead over the Charlotte Hornets that also win the third quarter,

(01:04:00):
seven to play in that game. Final in number six
per two, Number sixteen, Ohio skate seconds left to play
number seventeen, Providence holding on to a sixty four number
twenty two market as we sent it back to a
Fox Sports Radio, It's an NFL Sunday, guys, It's a
championship Sunday. Yes, and we're here with us Steve Hartman

(01:04:23):
and Rich Hornburger. Yes, it doesn't get any better. Although
I get this sinking feeling about the games today. I mean,
you're coming off last week's all time classic weekend that
every game just got better, and it started good, got better, better,
better better. Why is it that I'm sitting here right now,

(01:04:43):
half an hour away from the kickoff in these first
two games that by days m we're gonna say, Wow,
that was a letdown. I I just my gut feeling
right now on both of these games. Well, let's just
start with the Chiefs and the Bengals, right. We've talked
plenty about Joe Burrow in the Cincinnati team and their
unexpected run to get to this a f C Championship game.

(01:05:05):
We've also brought up the fact that it was just
a month ago today that the Bengals engineered are remarkable
comeback as Joe Burrow carved up the Chiefs thirty and
thirty night four and forty six yards, four touchdowns, no
picks as they came back to win that game. But
let's be honest right now, as hot as Burrow is,

(01:05:26):
Mahomes is even hotter. He has suddenly re emerged as
the Mahomes that we have been used to seeing. He
was disappe He had disappeared early in the year, called
the Super Bowl loss, hangover, whatever it was. He was
out of sorts. We were sitting here week after week
after week, Rich sort of looking up like something doesn't
look right with Mahomes, like he's not making the throws

(01:05:48):
that we normally see him make. Well, guess what, He's back.
And this is the fourth straight year they're hosting the
a f C Championship game. They've been there, they've done that.
This is a Bengals team that had hasn't been there
and done that. Arrowheads gonna be rocking today. The weather
is gonna be a zero factors, so both quarterbacks are
gonna have pretty ideal conditions to make all the throws.

(01:06:11):
I just at days and when I look at this matchup,
I just see a lot of points from the Chiefs
like a lot. They've scored forty two points and each
of their playoff games so far. And I think that
this Bengals defense isn't as good as those other teams
fifty even possibly. I just I just envision an absolute

(01:06:34):
monster day for the Chief's offense today. I think so too,
and and I really am predicting the same for the
Bengals offense as well. I put out a tweet about
ten minutes ago, and I'm just gonna read some of
these stats that I was digging up on Burrow and
Patrick Mahomes. So this is regular season obviously, not including
the postseason so far, but both of these two are

(01:06:57):
in the top six in total air yards. Again, that's
amount of yardage the ball travels in air before the
receiver catches it. Uh. Joe Burrow is number two in
air yards per attempt, which is ridiculous. He's right behind
Matthew Stafford. U Mahomes has thirties six attempts thirty yards
or greater. Joe Burrow has fifty four attempts thirty yards

(01:07:22):
are greater. Mahomes is number four in red zone past attempts.
So the Chiefs love to throw it inside the twenty
to their receivers. This is going to be a shootout.
I mean, have no false pretenses about this. I understand
Joe Mixon is a really talented running back. I know
that Andy Reid sometimes will change his game plan and

(01:07:43):
include more of the scripted runs. I don't see that
being the way this goes. I think both of these coaches,
Zach Taylor, Andy Reid, offensive minded guys, are going to
look at this game and say to each say to themselves,
into their their quarterbacks, into their offensive groups. We cannot
score enough points fast enough today because on the other

(01:08:04):
sideline waits a talented downfield threat at quarterback. And if
we try to just control the clock, we are going
to get romped today. So I think this is gonna
be a shootout. Now. Are we gonna see a game
as exciting as Bill's Chiefs last weekend? I don't think
that's possible. Are we going to see a weekend meaning

(01:08:26):
both these games somehow match the dramatics we saw in
the three games decided by last second field goals and
the shootout during Bill's Chiefs. I don't think it's possible.
You know that Bill's Chiefs game ends in overtime. It's
unbelievable watch. I mean, hundred fifty one million people tuned
in last weekend. I don't. I don't. I mean, if

(01:08:48):
if there's any season where we could potentially see the
championship round matching pace with a divisional round that was
arguably the best we've ever seen, it's this season. Because,
for whatever reason, primetime NFL events have been better watches
this season than any season in my adult memory. I can't.
I mean, can you remember a better season in primetime football? No? Uh?

(01:09:12):
And that's why I say, we're just expecting more of
the same. Um and it may not happen to I hope.
Look look at I don't have a horse in the
race here. So all I'm looking for is give me
the best possible games during the course of this Sunday.
Getting back to mahomes in two playoff games so far
against Pittsburgh and Buffalo, both of which have significantly better

(01:09:33):
defenses than Cincinnati sixty three eighty three. That's better than
excuse me, seven two yards eight touchdowns in one pick,
think what he did last week games of Buffalo. Buffalo
is the number one defense in the NFL this year,
Number one. He had thirteen seconds to get approximately forty

(01:09:59):
five yards. Yes, he had three timeouts, but he knew
he knew he had to get He had two plays
to essentially get forty five yards. He threw one pass
at Tyree Kill another to Travis Kelsey. Done deal, got
the yards, got the field goal, went over time, and
won the game thirty three or forty four three or
seventy eight yards three touchdowns. Note pics against the number

(01:10:20):
one defense in the league. How does that translate against
Cincinnati's defense? Not good? I mean so, I I just
I feel like, you know, again, there were there were
I mean we even you and I were sort of
looking at the Mahomes situation, like have we seen the
best of Mahomes? Like is this is this gonna be

(01:10:40):
let's say, a damn Marino situation? Or Marino had this
spectacular second season where he broke all the NFL records
and then sort of settled into that elite quarterback but
not good enough, you know, to win a championship in Miami.
Could that championship two years ago for the Chiefs to
be the one and only championship from Mahomes? Early on

(01:11:02):
the season looked like maybe maybe he's not all that.
We're not saying that anymore because what he is showing,
and this is what always separates the great players from
the elite. Elite quarterbacks. What do you do in the
big games? And this guy's postseason record is off the
charts and he's shown it again this year. Yeah. Look,

(01:11:24):
I I I from playing in New England for three
years and sort of indoctrinated into the Patriot way. One
of the things that Belichick harped on, and I'm sure
Andy Reid does the same, is who are you gonna
be in the big moments? Is going to define you?
Nobody cares how good your block was on you know,

(01:11:44):
first and ten early in the second quarter. You know,
when you have a lead by three, they're gonna care
if you make the block down in the red zone,
down near the goal line when the game's on the line.
Are you gonna be able to stay on side in
a hospital environment? You know, when you're at the two
yard line going in and you need to score to win.

(01:12:05):
You know. Uh, for a receiver, are you are you
gonna catch the ball or not? You know what I mean?
When they're coming to you when your number gets called.
Travis Kelsey when number eighties seven needs to make the catch,
a contested catch in the low red zone in order
to ice the game. Can you make the catch, Jamaar Chase.
I mean if if if they dial up pressure and

(01:12:25):
it's a fourth down in three for the win, can
you make the catch? Those are the moments that to
find you and so you have to make those plays.
And and there's look, I mean, you could say a
lot about the Chiefs this season. It feels like there
were three different seasons. You know, it was the Chiefs
to start the season, it was the Chiefs you know

(01:12:46):
at the halfway point, and then it was the Chiefs
you know, within two games of the end of the
regular season into the postseason. So far, it's it's it's
been bizarre. It's been an odd ride. But they're here
and to your point, they make the place when they
need to. And we saw that at the end of
that Bill's game. We saw that in overtime. Patrick Mahomes

(01:13:09):
he's he's got he's the magic man. He can make
things happen this offense. Trust him explicitly. And it looks
like the Bengals are turning into a team like that too.
They got a lot of work to do obviously on
the offensive line this offseason. They got a lot of
work to do defensively, although I think it's a better
defense than people are gonna give it credit. But if

(01:13:29):
they can shore things up around Joe Burrow, he's going
to have that same magical effect on this franchise moving forward,
and it's gonna be a bright future. Yeah, if you're
if you're thinking that, I like the Bengals today. I
think they're going to get it done. Understand this about
Patrick Mahomes regular season and which is record, by the way,

(01:13:49):
is fifty and thirteen. He has a career passing rating
of one oh five point eight. That's number one in
the history of the NFL. His postseason one oh five
point eight. Regular season postseason is one oh seven point two,
and his postseason record is eight and two. So I

(01:14:10):
will say this, if you're betting against Patrick Mahomes, do
it at your own risk. He's not one of those
guys in a postseason game where I'm like, yeah, you know,
I'm not feeling it for Mahomes, I would caution you
big time. All right. On the other side, much more
we are now less than twenty minutes away of kicking

(01:14:31):
off this a f C Championship game. What about the
coaches in this game? One that's been there a long
time and another guy who, frankly we thought a year
ago might get fired. We'll break it down coaches for
this NFC Championship game matchup coming up next. Yes, let's
get this game going here. Fox Sports Red Zone Radio,

(01:14:54):
Harbin and arm Burger with you. Interesting matchup of coaches
in this a f Championship game. Look, Andy Reid's got
a spot in Canton, Ohio waiting for him someday. But
Zach Taylor looked like he was on his way to
the unemployment line after his first two seasons he combined six,
five and one For a guy that was brought in

(01:15:17):
as a guy that knew how to handle quarterbacks. He
was part of the Jared Goff transformation with the Rams
as their quarterbacks coach and helping the Rams get to
their Super Bowl three years ago. They were hoping that
he had this kind of magic with the Bengals last year.
The jury was still out. No one is questioned in
it now. So when we look at Zach Taylor in

(01:15:40):
a season in which the Bengals won their first playoff
game in thirty one years, followed by their first ever
road playoff win in franchise history. What is it that's
working right now in Zach Taylor's approach with Joe Burrow
and these Bengals. Look, I mean this is with all

(01:16:01):
due respect to Zach Taylor. Okay, if you don't have
a great quarterback and you're a great head coach, um,
nobody's gonna know about it in this league anymore. It's
just plain and simple. I mean, think about over the
past twenty years, all of the head coaches we laud

(01:16:22):
Pete Carroll at different times, Andy Reid, Bill Belichick, Sean Payton,
Zach Taylor, now Sean McVeigh. I mean, Sean McVeigh is
probably the best example of a coach making the best
he can out of the ingredients he has. You know,
because Jared Goff wasn't a Hall of Famer, he wasn't

(01:16:42):
a great quarterback, so he really did a number out
there offensively. But even he, I mean, he knew that
he was limited with Jarkov, So they went out and
got Matthew Stafford, who was inarguably one of the better
quarterbacks in this league. The similarity is all of these
head coaches have great quarterbacks, and not just great in

(01:17:02):
some cases like Sean Paynon, Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll Hall
of Fame quarterbacks. I mean, that's what it takes to
be great in this league. If you want to be
regarded as one of the best head coaches, you need
to have a great talent at quarterback. And so yeah,
I'll give credit to Zach Taylor, well done, you did it.
You know you're you're changing this franchise. But in a

(01:17:25):
private moment, if he was being perfectly honest with you,
and even maybe in a public moment, I don't know
Zach Taylor that well. I haven't listened to all his
press this season. I've been paying closer attention as the
Bengals have made this run into the postseason and now
on to the NFC Championship game. He'll tell you it's
because of Joe Burrow and that is the truth. Well,
let me ask you this though, This comes down to

(01:17:46):
the question of who makes who. Did Bill Walsh make
Joe Montana the quarterback he became? Did Bill Belichick make
Tom Brady the quarterback he became? And no, which when
you talk about great talent at quarterback. Is that just
a product of their just greatness that if they had

(01:18:06):
joined any team they'd be as great or is it
recognizing what a quarterback does best putting him in a
system to succeed that. That's always been the question. Who
makes who? You mentioned the quarterbacks made good coaches. Well, yeah,
if you have a great quarterback, you're gonna win more
games than you lose. But how much is that of

(01:18:27):
making them a great quarterback? Well, I think there are
certain cases where you can see more of the development
at the NFL level, Like like Tom Brady is a
good example. I think they hid a lot of his
liabilities and his limitations at first and as he developed,
and they were an integral parton that. You know, the
Patriots and the coaching staff they surrounded him with were

(01:18:49):
an integrable part of his development as he developed into
a Hall of Fame quarterback. You know, But there are
other quarterbacks who come out of college football and you're like, well,
they were electric and colle edge football. The assumption is
if their coach gets out of the way and just
lets the unlock some of the goods we saw in college,
they'll be electrifying at the pro level, we saw that

(01:19:10):
with Lamar Jackson taking thirty second by the Baltimore Ravens.
They allowed him to be Lamar Jackson. At the NFL level,
we're seeing it with Jalen Hurts and the Eagles. Now,
he may have a lower ceiling than a Lamar Jackson,
but you get my point. You know, Joe Burrow has
a really high ceiling and we saw that at l
s U. So it's no surprise that he's doing it

(01:19:32):
at this level. To the how early he's doing it
and with as much success. Yeah, I'm gonna give some
credit to Zach Taylor, I'm not gonna take that away,
but Joe Burrow was as close to a finished product,
maybe arguably one of the best prospects we ever seen
leaving college football in my lifetime. He certainly is performing

(01:19:53):
that level, all right, So we're getting ever so close. Now, Oh,
I don't know about two man, I'm ready to give
me some football. Mean. I mean not that I don't
like to hear myself talk or rich talk, but you know,
we would much rather describe the action for you. As
we get ready for the a f C Championship Game,
the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Cincinnati Bengals. We will

(01:20:15):
bring you update, dow down everything right here on Fox
Sports Red Zone Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the
I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Are you ready for some football? We certainly are on

(01:20:36):
this fabulous Saturday. This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio
brought to buy our one of our favorite cities, Las Vegas,
the greatest arena on Earth. Planning your trip today at
visit Las Vegas dot com. All right, we're ready for
the kickoff of this a f C Championship game between
the Chiefs and the Bengals. The betting line riches held
steady all week long. The Chiefs are still a seven

(01:21:00):
point favorite in this game. The over under on the
high side, of course, at fifty four and a half.
As we get ready to kick off this game again,
I go back to the bengals big come from behind
victory in Cincinnati exactly one month ago. Today, when you
watch that game thirty one Bengals, Are you seeing a

(01:21:24):
similar type of game today? Yeah? Yeah, I really am.
I think it's uh, it's irrefutable to look at these
offenses and think that, um, the defenses are and I'm
talking about the Chiefs and the Bengals respectively, are going
to find a way to really slow it down to
the point where we see what like a run game

(01:21:47):
performance really a slow trotting ball control, possession style game.
I just don't see it. I I mean, first and foremost,
there are so many week points defensively for the Chiefs
and the Bengals both to exploit in the passing game
that if if those limitations are available to take advantage of,

(01:22:08):
why wouldn't you try to take advantage of them? And
then conversely, you look at their offenses and again, Joe Burrow,
Patrick Mahomes, We've been talking about these two at nauseum
for the past two hours. When you have quarterback play
at that caliber, you gotta let the dog off the
chain and just let them meet, you know. So, I
think we're gonna see a just shootout of epic proportions

(01:22:34):
unless that doesn't work, and one of these teams has
to change the game plan because why if it isn't broken,
why fix it? All Right, so early on the game,
the Bengals will get the ball first kick off out
of the end zones of the Cincinnati Bengals started their
own twenty five yard line. You mentioned a shoot at adercent. Agree,
I'm going over in this game, a lot of pressure

(01:22:56):
on both these quarterbacks to score, I mean, score touchdowns.
You don't want to see a lot of your kickers
in these games. You don't want to see your punter
in this game a lot. You don't want to see
your field goal kicker. The only thing you want that
kicker to do is to kick extra points. Um, you
need to score touchdowns. Now, we we talked so much
about the passing game, but one of the problems for

(01:23:18):
Cincinnati has been their offensive line and all these sacks
on their quarterback. Well, one way to sort of keep
the defense honest is to get that running game going.
And Joe Mixon sort of underplayed, is one of the
elite running backs in this league. We've seen it at times.
He can catch the ball in the backfield, he can
get yards from scrimmage. But early on this game that's

(01:23:38):
gonna be the question is can the Bengals protect Joe Burrow?
I mean, because you know the Chiefs are gonna figure
out a way and by the way on this opening drive,
the Bengals are and I think smartly coming out running
against the Chiefs. I agree, Yeah, so far Burrows throwing
a pass and Joe Mixon has have one to carry,
And that's what I think Zach Taylor is gonna out

(01:24:00):
to get to. Look, when the Bengals are at their best,
it is when mixing is involved in the offense. I'm
I say shootout, and it's very easy to get confused, like, oh,
that means Burrow is gonna throw a fifty times today. No, no, no, no,
it means that they're gonna take advantage down field and
we're gonna see big plays out of these offenses, explosive
plays that put the Bengals in the Chiefs on the

(01:24:21):
board early and off and throughout the matchup. Alright, so
right now it's a first third down situation for the
Bengals to start the game. The pass is incomplete, so
right out of the box, not what the Bengals wanted
on their opening drive. A three and out excellent Chiefs
defense to open up this game. So this is a

(01:24:43):
game again where a lot of people are saying, you
know what I can see it, you know, being tight
for a while and then maybe the Chiefs just wear
them out and sort of pull away in the end.
But that's about the Bengals coming out. And you know,
you look at Arrowheads Stadium. You know all these beautiful
new stadiums around the NFL, and here's Arrowhead which is
seventy years fifty years old and it still holds up.

(01:25:06):
And if there are Bengal fans at this game, I'd
like to find out where they are. I mean, you
talk about a stadium blanketed by Chiefe fans. That is
what we're looking at at Arrowhead. And what's amazing about
that stadium having been there several times, and you know
this as well, the acoustics Arrowhead are second and none.

(01:25:29):
The intensity of the crowd noise in that stadium. We
talked about Seattle. There's other stadiums where they really hold
that sound none better than Arrowhead. It really is intense
when that crowd gets going. Yeah, I'll say this about
these games. I think the game play is going to
look vastly different, um, but I think the stands are

(01:25:49):
gonna look similar red. Yeah, I think the Chiefs obviously
are going to fill their home stadium with their own
native fans and I think so far is gonna be
taken over by forty Niners fans. And now so look
after the point, we see the Chiefs take over here
and have a first intent opportunity, and um look three
and out. Obviously not the way the Bengals want to

(01:26:11):
get their day started. But I will say this, I
I do think that whatever team establishes the ground game
first and can sort of draw the defense close to
the line of scrimmage is going to have more success downfield.
If that makes success or if that makes sense, I

(01:26:32):
think I think that's the key to success is you know,
the the Chief's offense and the Bengals offense relying on
the run game to get the defense to honor the
run game, and then we're gonna start seeing the passes
go over the heads of defenders down field. You already
on this first pass by Patrick Mahomes, see the maturity
in this insanely gifted quarterback. He's checking down right, He's

(01:26:54):
he's checking out target one. Maybe he's looking for Tirade Hill.
Where's Travis Kelsey Obviously his main targets. If they're not open,
no problem. I got a little swing pass for a
first down. So This is this is why it's so difficult,
because when you look at supreme talents like a Tyreek
Hill or Travis Kelsey, and we were talking earlier about
the opponents of the Rams figuring out a way to

(01:27:15):
shut down Cooper Cup, what do you do with the Chiefs?
I mean, Kelsey is gonna be a Hall of Fame
tight end by the way, I believe he's gonna be
joining Jerry Rice and Julian Edelman. Is the only guy
with like, I don't know, like a hunt of receptions
in the postseason, some crazy number. And then of course
Tyreek Hill is as dangerous as any wide receiver in
this league because just of the speed. So if you've

(01:27:36):
got two guys that you got almost like double up
on to shut down, this is why the Chiefs are
so tough. And then you got a quarterback. They can
see everybody deliver passlers from different angles, incredibly accurate, seventy
percent passing so far into playoff games. It just seems
like a daunting task for any defense, especially a Bengals defense,

(01:27:58):
and they just don't have the talent yet that some
of these other defenses have. Well, and I'm glad he
brought up Gronkin Edelman because this is a very similar
situation early success. Super Bowl visits a f C championship
game after a a f C champion chague hosted in
Kansas City. This is the fourth straight by the Kansas

(01:28:19):
City Chiefs. Like the the reason why Julian Edelman went
nowhere else in his career, the reason why Gronkowski only
played for Tom Brady, whether it was in New England
or with Brady and Tampa Bay is because receivers want
to stay where they know their toast is gonna be buttered.
And Patrick Mahomes is one of the greatest in the game.

(01:28:41):
He has a bright future ahead of him and so
there's no doubting the reason why he's having success with
these receivers. But also into the future, I think we're
gonna see very similar to the effect that by that
Brady had on New England. These these players are going
to accept potentially pay cuts and take salary haircuts. And
the way Mahomes structured his deal lends to some space

(01:29:04):
in the cap for these other players. Even though he
has a half a billion dollar contract. It leaves money
on the table for Kelsey to eat, for Hill to eat,
and as they developed new stars for them to stay
in house longer, because players want to play with the
best quarterbacks, especially at those skill positions. All right, I
thought the Chief's got a bad mark on a third

(01:29:25):
down play that they're calling short of a first down.
They've showed the replay several times. It appeared that the
receiver got the ball to the first down marker, but
when they placed the ball down it was like a
half yard beyond that. And now Casey is challenging the
mark on this opening play. So this is a key

(01:29:46):
early on in this game, as the Chiefs are on
their opening drive. But I I know you're watching this.
When they marked the ball, I'm like, where are you standing?
That's a half a yard behind where the ball actually
got u And uh so they're gonna review that play
early on this game. And and by the way, the
fact that the our reviewing this play shows the healthy

(01:30:08):
respect they have for Cincinnati. Kansas City knows. Yeah, the
pressures on them to score. We need to score. We
can't have wasted drives. We need to get points. All right,
We're just getting started here. The a f C Championship
game is underway. By the way, later on Troy Aqumin
is gonna be joining us. He's gonna preview the NFC
Championship matchup between the Rams and the forty Niners. Just

(01:30:31):
keep it right here. This is Fox Sports Red Zone Radio.
Are you ready for some football? Ma Homes fakes your
hand off looking left, Stanley looks right in trouble. You'll
fire it late for the Tyrek Hill at the back
front pylon and incroudible promin ma Homes throwing a dart
and even better catch by Tyrek Hill. Touchdown, Chance City,

(01:30:54):
but a ten yards strike. Yeah, that's one of six
point five the Wolf and the East Radio Network. So
since we left you that play, they reviewed, they reversed,
it gave the Chiefs the first town and the next thing,
you know, Mahomes that Tyree killed touchdown. So on that
opening drive for the Chiefs, Mahomes is five for five,
forty eight yards and the touchdown. He also had a

(01:31:18):
scramble for eleven yards on that drive. Eighty four yard drive,
eleven plays, and just like that, the Chiefs are up
seven and nothing. And I'm not saying that it's game over,
but the urgency for the Bengals to counter what just
happened to the Chiefs. I'd say it's pretty important right now.
Rich Oh yeah, you're so funny, You're so predictable. We've

(01:31:42):
worked together for so many years that I knew as
soon as we came back, you're gonna say, the Bengals
need the answer otherwise this game's over. And I realized
you you you dampened it slightly. But I think there's
a lot of people who feel similarly. Let's slow down, everybody,
catch our breath. We saw in the Packers Niners game,

(01:32:03):
the Green Bay Packers go like hot knife through that
forty Niners defense in the first quarter and we're like, whoa,
whoa Aaron Rodgers one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
Same thing you could say about Patrick Mahomes. This Green
Bay offense, which destroyed certain defenses throughout the course of
the season. Uh, just just absolutely blew the doors off

(01:32:24):
of this Niners defense early on. Just pump the brakes.
Look they are in this championship game, and I'm talking
about the Bengals for a reason. It's a very talented squad.
They have a great offense. I think we're going to
see this this offense settled down some Remember Patrick Mahomes
and the Chiefs. They've been here four times on this
field in this game. So I think we're going to

(01:32:46):
see some of the nerves settled down on the offensive
side of the ball, especially for the Bengals, and we're
gonna see them start to operate the note the way
that we know and they know that they're able to
and capable of all right, as far as the Chiefs
against or no Darryl Williams today, by the way, Jared
McKinnon is in at running back and look really good
on that opening drive. Four carries for twenty four yards

(01:33:08):
and cut that little swing pass we talked about earlier
for fourteen yards. So McKinnon and for Williams at running back,
Chiefs could not have looked any better on that opening drive.
So the Bengals take over right now in their own
twenty five yard line, and you know smartly they're coming
out with a run. I mean, look, you're not gonna
change your game plan halfway through the first quarter. There

(01:33:28):
is a method to how they score points, and Joe
Mixon we mentioned earlier, is a big part of this offense.
They can have a very effective running game, which will
only set up a more prolific passing attack for this Bengals,
but just just getting back for the Chiefs again and
watching Patrick Mahomes that touchdown catch. So you hear the

(01:33:49):
call right, but if you didn't see the play, it's
an insane pass. It's an insane catch by Tyree hill
I mean unbelievable. I mean we're talking about I mean
that bigger rifle sidearm bullet. That's somehow he snagged, you know,

(01:34:10):
perfect past perfect timing. You know when you see I
get goose bumps when you see plays like that and
that level of talent. When you have a Patrick Mahomes,
so did Tyree hill Man. That's special, special and when
when you see uh something like that, you you will
automatically remember like, oh got it. That's the reason why

(01:34:31):
Patrick Mahomes could have been a major league baseball player,
because what it looked like is a shortstop ranging toward
third base and firing to first to be to beat
a runner. And then you got the first basemen making
the big stretch right right. That's exactly what it reminded
me of. You know, it was just this off his

(01:34:51):
his right foot, his both his feet were in air,
and because he has this unbelievable talent. He's able to
fire a frozen rope to Tyree Hill, one of the
few receivers talented enough to make that grab for the
opening score of this game. And that's what's gonna take. Look,
we're watching this already. Joe Burrow isn't going to die easy.

(01:35:13):
This is going to be one of those battles. He
just was pressured in the pocket and you forget because
he's such a talented thrower, how capable he is when
he's running the football. Because he had a lane, he
stepped up to his left, he saw green grass in
front of him because there was some single coverage out there,
and he gobbled up what yards he could for the
first down. So this is gonna be two elite level

(01:35:34):
quarterbacks fighting their way through this first quarter. We're already
seeing some electric offensive plays. It's interesting watching Burrow scramble.
Much like Mahomes. The running styles are very different, very similar.
I was gonna say, the way the way they run
you right, there's there is conviction and trying to get
as much yards, but a little understanding like I need

(01:35:56):
to go down. But they are both very effective runners
and something you have to keep an eye on. So
the Bengals right now are on the move after the
scramble by Joe Burrow to give him a first down. Uh,
so far Jamar Chase has just one catch for two yards. Now,
remember last time these two teams face each other, eleven catches,
two hundred sixty six yards and three touchdowns. By the way,

(01:36:17):
the two hundred sixty six yards receiving by Jamaar Chase
in that first game was an all time NFL rookie
record for a single game. So you know that Kansas
City is gonna try to make some adjustments. But in
order for the Bengals to keep up with the Chiefs today,
Jamar Chase has got to be a big part of
this game. Yeah. And and it looks like the Chiefs,

(01:36:39):
you know, especially on early downs, they're trying to play coverage.
They're trying to stop the big play down field by
getting you know, double teams on Chase, you know, with
safety help over the top of his side and rush
four and you know, so look, they're gonna give up
underneath passes like we just saw to Joe Mixon to
set up a third and very manageable situation for them

(01:37:02):
here on the third and too play. It's I think
that's probably intelligent by the Chiefs. You want to take
the top off the defense if you're the Bengals, but
if they're gonna play coverage, well you're just gonna exploit
the underneath until they force you to throw the ball
into single coverage down the field. And it looks like
Uzoma just got them the first down. Here was that boy,

(01:37:24):
That was Tyler Boyd. And you know what I really
like about that play at a third and two, right
get the first down? Yep, you get your guy at
the first down. Market was a three yard pass first down.
So right now we're nearing midfield with the Bengals. I
like what I see in this drive Right now, now Burrow,
you know he wants to get the ball down the field.
The ball is tipped, almost intercepted by Kansas City. Always

(01:37:48):
dangerous to have a tip ball in the middle of
the field. But it found empty ground. So the uh
Bengal surviving a zuma right now is hopping off the field.
So he got hit right as he caught the ball
and it actually went off his fingertips and they they
landed on his leg. They showed the replay. Yeah, he

(01:38:09):
got all bent up, and that's gonna be tough for
these guys because look just like eighty seven on the
chief sideline right now with that offense waiting to get
back out on the field is an integral part of
what makes the Chiefs offense go the eight seven with
these Bengals. I mean, Uzoma has been has had a

(01:38:30):
huge season for Cincinnati. He got all tangled up. Man,
you don't want to see that. Yeah, it went it
went down. He had to hop off the field, all right.
So a second and ten right now. But again, the
story so far is that they've been able to keep
Jamar Chase under wraps, a guy that absolutely de stroyed
the Chief's defense a few weeks ago. So far, just

(01:38:50):
one catch for two yards, another short pass, and Tyler
Boyd setting up yet another third and five. I think
they've had a third and five on every single uh
for session. Seems to be their magic number. Last time
they got the first down on a Joe Burrow scramble.
So again, Chiefs are already have seven at the end
of this game or inside three minutes in the first quarter,

(01:39:12):
and the Bengals gotta get points. You almost feel like
again you're only gonna get so many opportunities offensively, and
they can't come up empty three and out on their
first drive. They're moving the ball here and there is
another pass for at first down. Tyler Boyd has suddenly
become the guy uh in this offense. So sometimes you know,

(01:39:35):
you can use Jamar Chase if indeed, I don't know
exactly the defense the Chiefs are using on Chase, but
if they're doubling up on Chase right now, somebody has
to step up. And early in this game, Tyler Boyd
three targets, three catches. Yeah, that third and five reception.
We saw the third and two reception to convert the
first down earlier in this drive. And so they're pumping

(01:39:57):
it to number eighty three, especially out towards the online
to Joe Burrows right that's the second time he ran
uh an outbreaking route. And you know one of the
things that we got a big run right now by
Joe Mixon deep into Kansas City territory right now, broke
that one open. And that's that is a weapon for

(01:40:18):
this Cincinnati offense is Joe Mixon. He is big time.
I sometimes we just overlooked because of the star power
Joe Burrow and Jamaar Chase. But when Joe Mixon gets rolling,
this is how Cincinnati's offense really gets rolling. That was
a twenty three yard run by Joe Mixon. So right

(01:40:38):
now they are down to the fourteen yard line of
the Chiefs. Rich Well, yeah, I'll finish up what I
was saying about Boyd. He he presents a great target
for Joe Burrow because he works his way back to
the line of scrimmage. So, especially on those third downs,
what a lot of receivers do is they give themselves
no room to work back to the line of scrimmage
because they get to the third down or the first

(01:40:59):
down marker and then they run flat parallel. No, no, no,
you gotta take it a yard or two further. This
way can work back toward the line of scrimmage and
present a target for your quarterback. And yeah, to your
point about mixing, he is so underrated in this league.
He's one of the better backs doing it. And it's
because of his lower body power. And you saw him
shed that tackle towards the sideline that got him ten

(01:41:20):
extra yards. All right, let's find out what's trending right now.
We turn it back over to lf Herv. Then we're
off and running. Here, Ralphie, we are off and running.
Forty eight seconds left to play in the first quarter,
and you guys mentioned it's the Chiefs so far. Homes
fakes your hand off looking left, Stanley looks right. In trouble,
you'll fireing late for the tyrak Hill at the back

(01:41:42):
front Pilon and incredible prominal Homes throwing at Dart and
even better catch by tyreck Hill one oh six five
the Wolf and the Chiefs radio network with the call.
Cincinnati almost made it even, but Tee Higgins not able
to bring in the catch with one hand in the
end zone, so it remains a seven nothing Chiefs lead

(01:42:04):
over the Bengals in this contest. Packed Mahomes in that
opening drive five or five yards passing and of course
the score, but the Bengals have the ball forty four
seconds left to play on a third and ten. Meanwhile,
the Raiders, bringing in Josh McDaniels is their new head coach.
He brings with him New England Director of Player Personnel
Dave Ziggler as the Raiders new general manager. Finals in

(01:42:28):
from the NBA, Atlanta gets their seventh straight win beating
the Lakers one Tree Young thirty six points and twelve assists.
The Clippers won fifteen ninety over Charlotte Reggie Jackson brand
in Boston, each with nineteen points. And well, I'm also
following World Cup qualifying with the US at Canada, who
counter It's Kyle Narin with space and fluence, and Canada

(01:42:50):
have the opener, a lightning quick counter attack. Half the
US goal kick has efficients as can be, and of
the US trails one nil, and the twenty three minute
as we sent it back, it's seven to three Kansas
City over Cincinnati, thirty six seconds left to play. Here
with Steve Hartman and Hi Ralph So a couple of

(01:43:11):
past attempts. He Higgins tried to one hand and I
wasn't sure what was going on there. The passing looked
like his inside arm was being held down by Fenton.
But these officials, they're letting a lot of contact go
on the outside with these receivers from the defensive backs.
And then obviously old reliable Burrow to Jamaar Chase, same

(01:43:32):
kind of route up the sideline was a defensive play.
That ball was clearly tipped away, all right, And and
this was complaining, but no, that was a good defensive
play there to prevent Edward. He really got worked in
that first matchup. I don't know if you remember, Steve,
but a couple of times Jamaar Chase was marked by
Ward on the outside and he made some brilliant receptions

(01:43:55):
in single coverage. So this time Ward wins the battle.
We'll see if he wins the war, because there's a
lot of history there from just three weeks ago. Well
I mentioned a stat earlier in the show about Joe
Burrow led the NFL with eight point nine yards per attempt.
So far in this game, he's averaging less than three

(01:44:15):
yards per attempt. They haven't had a pass beyond nine
yards so so far the Chiefs they got lit up
for four hundred forty six yards passing some huge plays.
They've been able to stay away from the big pass plays.
They're giving some of the plays underneath. But so far,
so good as far as that Chief secondary is concerned.

(01:44:36):
So seven three Chiefs. Uh mc fierson gets the field
goal thirty six seconds to go in the first quarter,
and just look at it. This Chief's defense here. Um,
you can see early on that they obviously did a
lot of homework from a month ago. What do you
think they'll be able to do right now, at least
so far to eliminate the big plays in this Bengals offense. Well,

(01:44:59):
they're not pressuring a ton, but they're showing a lot
of pressure. Looks, what they're doing is they'll start rushing
five and then all of a sudden, one of the
rushers backs off and plays a shallow zone. So it's
confusing Joe Burrow a little bit. Now, is he Is
he throwing the football to the correct places? Yeah, he's
finding the single coverage or the best place to go,

(01:45:19):
whether it be underneath or over the top. But he's
not connecting yet because I don't think he's as confident
as he was the last time. A lot of pressure
the Chiefs through his way in that regular season matchup,
and he handled it well and he made the Chiefs
pay for it. This time, you're seeing Spags, the defensive
coordinator for the Chiefs, taken approach where he's showing pressure,

(01:45:42):
but then he's dropping uh players into coverage off of
the line of scrimmage and it's and so it's showing
man and it's really a zone coverage look on the
back end, all right, getting carted off the field right now?
Is that when I'm looking at, Zuma is being herded
off the field. So he had some kind of lower

(01:46:03):
leg injury. Guy that has been a key receiver for
the Bengals so far this season. So Zuma looks like
he's gonna be out at least right now as their
cardium off the field. All right, So this is gonna
be the second drive of the game for the Chiefs.
They could not have looked any better in that opening drive.
Levin plays eighty four yards capped off by just an

(01:46:24):
insane pass catch from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill. They're even
showing that replay again. It's just unbelievable, unbelievable throw, unbelievable
catch by these two guys. All right, So what did
the Bengals not doing that opening drive that they're gonna
have to do? Do you need to bring more pressure
on Mahomes? Do you dropped got more guys in coverage?

(01:46:45):
We got a deep pass attempt right out and it's
caught boom. Big play by the Chiefs. You gotta slow
down this offense by by stopping the run game first, informants,
and I realized they were able to connect on this
deep pass to open this drive. But why were they
able to do that? Well, that's because Jerick McKinnon got

(01:47:05):
you six yards per carry on that opening drive. So
what happens as a result of that, you go play
action throw it over the top to McCole Hardman to
open this drive. That's exactly what I would have done
to start this drive is go play action pass because
Jack McKinnon, who's aligned in the backfield to Mahomes left.
It's a lazy fake, but it was enough to keep

(01:47:27):
the defense looking into the backfield. The safety never got
over to help towards the sideline, and Hardman did an
excellent job on this well thrown ball to reel it in. Well,
when we say well thrown ball, it was literally handed
to him for yards. I mean that one was dropped
in so beautifully. By the way, so far, Mahomes is
six verse six ninety yards, attachdown and no picks. That's

(01:47:50):
a passer rating of one fifty eight point three. That'll do.
That's a perfect passer rating. That's the highest rating you
can have is one fifty eight point three. And right
now he has a perfect passer rating. You know when
I watched what we're seeing right now from Mahomes, not
just in this game, but so far in this postseason,
and now all of a sudden, you know, we've had

(01:48:11):
very distinct teams dominate each decade in the NFL, going
all the way back to the forties. It was the
Bears in the forties, the Browns in the fifties, the
Packers in the sixties, the Steelers in the seventies, the
forty Niners in the eighties, the Cowboys in the nineties,
and then the last two decades was the same team,
the New England Patriots in the two thousands and the

(01:48:33):
twenty tents. You look at this Kansas City team right
now and you're saying, well, who's gonna be that team
of the twenties. What is the team that's gonna win
multiple Super Bowls in this decade? With this quarterback? They're
gonna be tough. I mean they are going to be tough. Well,
and you were there for it all, you know, Yes,

(01:48:55):
I'm day when Pabla Beart had that Bears team when
they look back at Bulldog Turner. Oh, you should have
seen Bulldog Turner back, because it's a side to all
you talk about a fierce defender. He was unstoppable. Your
eyewitness uh transcriptions of those events are what I what

(01:49:15):
I really, I mean, that's what gets the juices. I
will say this though, Um, you're absolutely right. Look, this
is like that n b A, you know, like the
Major League Baseball like this, this is a game of dynasties.
Every decade, every decade, every decade had a TAMAS when
at least three championships. Yep. And and I think I

(01:49:36):
think most sports league leagues have those dynasties, whether they
last for two decades like the Patriots, I mean that's absurd,
or just a five year or six years span. Um,
you know they're they're going to emerge. And it's because, again,
what happens is players aren't stupid, right, You have a
lot of supporting cast around special players, you know. So

(01:49:58):
in the case of the Patriot, it to was Tom
Brady obviously, and and then you had many stars rise
and come during that time period. But Tom Brady was
the common denominator and he he played for two decades
and that's the reason why they could stay at top
for two decades in New England. Alright, So in the
case of the Chief but in the case of the Chiefs,
I mean it looks like we could see a similar trajectory,

(01:50:20):
especially if Patrick Mahomes stays healthy. Yeah, if he does
stay healthy. So they have the ball deep into Cincinnati territory,
trying to add to their seven or three lead. The
second quarter is under way. Um again, so far, surprise
for the Chiefs has been Jerick McKinnon, uh and for
the injured Darryl Williams. He is running a ball extremely well.

(01:50:42):
Five carries or thirty one yards. He had a swing
pass earlier for fourteen yards, so certainly no drop off
in the Chief's running game. And you just imagine the
defensive coaches for the Bengals right now just scrambling to
try to figure out something, something to get Mahomes at
a rhythm. He finally to an inc plea pass to
Tyreek Hill, but that's all you wanna do. And we

(01:51:04):
when we have seen Mahomes struggle this year, he was
at times not comfortable in the pocket, right, He just
seem a little fidgety, like he wasn't really getting set.
And you know he can get away with that because
of his arm strength and everything else. But oftentimes we
saw during the course of the season where he was

(01:51:24):
just a little bit jittery and then suddenly a little
inaccurate throwing the ball. That's what the Bengals have got
to figure out is how you get him into that mindset. Yeah, look,
I mean stopping the run, he's going to help this
Bengals defense a ton. But aside from that, once you
essentially slow down what McKinnon's being able to do, you
have to bottle up Mahomes inside the pocket. You cannot

(01:51:46):
let this guy get on the edges and create. So
how do you do that? You bracket him in the pocket.
You force him to operate from the pocket. There are
times where he can deal from the pocket and he
looks fine, and he looks great, but we oh Mahomes
and he's doing it right now. You know on a
third and three where he connects with McKinnon, how does
he do that? He gets outside the pocket to the right,

(01:52:08):
easy pitching catch to his receiver and and off to
the races they go. You have to bracket him in
the pocket and get pressure up the middle, and then
you're gonna see fifteen start to make some of those
struggle plays he was making earlier in the season if
he can start to feel confined in the pocket. All Right,
fifty six total yards for McKinnon so far in this game.

(01:52:28):
A little pass to Tyreek Hill, and just like that,
the Chiefs are inside the ten yard line of the Bengals,
trying to add to their seven to three lead. All Right,
we got this a f C matchup going on right now.
Ransom forty Niners. They're waiting for the post of this
game coming up in the next hour, We're gonna be
checking in with Troy Aikman will give us a full
preview of the NFC Championship game. In other words, for

(01:52:50):
everything you need to know on this Conference Championships Sunday,
keep it right here on Fox Sports Red Zone Radio.
This is Fox Red Zone Radio, and we've got the
place that you may have missed. Snapped. Mahomes rolls the

(01:53:11):
shoulder now in trouble while he gives him a block
to try to keep him alive. Now he fires late
for the end dog right side Kelsey on the touchdown
chancea city. Patrick Mahomes is incredible today. Now back live
to the studios of Fox Sports Radio. This is Fox

(01:53:31):
Red Zone Radio. That was one of six five the
Wolf and the Chief's radio network to say that Patrick
Mahomes has brought his a game today is the understatement
of the century. On that touchdown, Uh scramble working his
way out of the pocket, getting a little extra time

(01:53:54):
finding Kelsey in the end zone. Two drives, Mahomes is
nine ten fifteen yards too, touchdown ounds, no picks, and
the Chiefs have touchdowns on both of those drives, fourteen
to three. Chiefs are leading the Bengals right now. The
only thing is sort of saving the Bengals right now
is Joe Mixon. Yeah, he's had a couple of big
runs so far. Joe burrows six of twelve for twenty

(01:54:17):
eight yards. They only have twenty eight yards passing in
this game with eleven and a half minutes ago on
the first half, but a couple of nice runs by
Joe Mixon is keeping them breathing right now. They're facing
a second and seven from their own forty. But getting
back to Mahomes, and we've been talking about him since
the opening gun I mean, wow, okay, uh, you want

(01:54:37):
wow moments for a quarterback. We're seeing the full arsenal
today from Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, both of the touchdowns scored
in the right part of the end zone. The first
was scramble out to Mahomes is right, and just an
absolute shotgun blast to Tyreek Hill that he manages to
keep in his hands. That thing was fired, and then

(01:54:59):
you just described I did. I mean, it's it's pretty
hard to describe how elusive he was in that pocket
prior to connecting with Kelsey on the second score, that
one in the front of the right part of the
end zone. It just I mean, look, we've never seen
anything quite like it. I I don't know if you

(01:55:19):
can really bottle this and and sell me that that
somebody else can do this quite the same way. He's
reinventing the quarterback position and he's been doing it his
four years as the starting quarterback with the Kansas City Chiefs. Now,
the good news for Joe Burrows. He hasn't been sacked yet,
but he's been under pressure and he just got pressured

(01:55:41):
into an incomplete pass on third down. So Burrow struggling.
He's just six of third team passing only twenty eight yards,
and for the second time, the Bengals are forced to punt.
Already down fourteen to three against his Chiefs team, and
you know when when when we talk about quarterbacks and
that they seem to be the only ones under consideration

(01:56:05):
for Most Valuable Player. There's a reason for that, folks,
because when your quarterback is playing well, it not only
ignites your offense, obviously, it just races the entire team. Conversely,
if you're if your quarterback is struggling, it can have
an adverse effect on an entire team. But when you're

(01:56:26):
the Chiefs right now and you got that guy at
quarterback playing like that, Matt, come on, you're unstoppable, right Yeah, Look,
I mean this league is is um is about quarterback
play now. And I mean I'm not saying anything that's
special or unique or hasn't been said a lot. And

(01:56:47):
and the reason is because this is who you're competing
against now, you know, I mean, what what do you
do if you're in the same uh conference frankly as
the Patrick Mahomes. You have to find a special quarterback.
The Buffalo Bills have done that, you know. They found
Josh Allen, they developed him into this excellent quarterback. Uh.

(01:57:08):
The Patriots of hoping Mac Jones turns into something of that.
The Cincinnati Bengals with Burrow, the Chargers with Herbert, you
have to find a special quarterback in order to compete.
Otherwise you can't. Because as long as the Chiefs are
gonna be able to do this on an annual basis
with Patrick Mahomes, keeping him upright, keeping him healthy, keeping

(01:57:30):
him surrounded with viable targets to work with offensively, if
you don't have a next level quarterback, you just don't
have a chance to play in this conference, and frankly,
in this league. Well again, there are next level quarterbacks,
and then that there are next next level quarterbacks, and

(01:57:51):
that's what is he's at at next next level. I
mean not to take anything away from Joe Burrow, because
I'm like you, I'm We're huge Burrow fans, and this
guy can't wait to see how his career is gonna
unfold for the Cincinnati Bengals. But they're up against it
right now. And of course, the problem for Joe Burrow
and that Bengals offense, if you can continue to dig

(01:58:12):
a hole against that Chief's offense, you're gonna have to
throw the ball. And if you just have to throw
the ball on every down, I don't have to tell
you how that's gonna finish. Off that that that could be.
So we'll see if the Bengals can tighten up on
this third series. Just find a way again to get
Mahomes off his mark. Just make him make a bad throw,

(01:58:36):
make a mistake, do something to get him off his mark,
because right now he is in a zone and uh,
Mahomes in his own is not where you want to
be from a defensive standpoint. So we're at the ten
minute mark right now in the first half, and the
Chiefs takeover on their own twenty eight yard line. Look,

(01:58:57):
Cincinnati's offensive line is is potentially gonna lose this football
game for them. They were able to survive what happened
in Tennessee because Joe Burrow played lights out But you
can't just rest everything on Joe Burrow figuring it out
after getting sacked nine times. And now he hasn't been

(01:59:17):
sacked yet in this game, but he's been under a
tremendous amount of pressure and and you you can't do
this to a quarterback. You can't. You can't just expect
the quarterback to billy out constantly. It's a recipe for disaster.
You're gonna get this guy feeling the pressure around him,
not trusting when he actually has time in the pocket
and start rushing his progressions and as a result, start

(01:59:39):
throwing bad passes. It's just it's just a cumulative effect
that all those hits have on quarterbacks, all right, and
offside penalty coming up against the Bengals here are gonna
give the uh Chief's a short yardage situation. Uh, and
they're they're throwing their full arsenal out there. Short passes,
swing passes, running the ball, deep passes. Uh. There just

(02:00:01):
seems to be no stopping this Kansas City Chiefs team.
So were to go in the first half. Chiefs are
leading this game by a score of fourteen at three. Now,
we got an NFC championship game coming up as well
between the Rams and the forty Niners. We're gonna check
in with Troy Aikman. He will be on the call.
He will join us. For all your NFL information, keep

(02:00:21):
it here on Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f
s R to listen live Skinny Ugly unless you're a
Chiefs fan, and then things could not be more beautiful.

(02:00:43):
Once again, here we are. This is Fox Sports Red
Zone Radio, Hartman and Ormburger, and here was the latest
glory from Mahomes and the Chiefs. Take your hand off
to Edward Hillary. They fling up right side. It's mishandled
as Hardman trying to get it catch up or the
gonna say cotty, he gets it back into his body. Touchdown,

(02:01:04):
Kansa City. He juggled the football momentarily. And Hardman, who's
had an incredible postseason. We'll get a three yard touchdown catch.
That's one of those six point five the Wolf and
the Chief's radio network. Actually he didn't. He had an
awkward stretch for the ball, but clearly a touchdown. Some
Mahomes thirteen and four, four yards, three touchdown passes. We

(02:01:26):
got five minutes to go in the half. Rich twenty
one to three, Chiefs. Do you smell comeback in this game? Yeah?
Look I I I don't want to say we saw
it before. I mean, this was that what happened earlier
this year, right, Chiefs or dominating the game and somehow
the Bengals came back. Yeah, I don't want to say
definitively right that the game is going to result in

(02:01:50):
some sort of amazing, heroic comeback, because obviously things are
looking fairly dire right now. But twice this season we
saw really interesting Norman's is from the Bengals. Uh the
Chargers game in Cincinnati. Remember how back and forth that was.
Twice during that game, Cincinnati looked out of it and
they found their way to fight back into it. Um.

(02:02:12):
They ultimately lost that game, but similar to what you
were just saying, and similar to that Chargers game, uh,
the the last outing against the Chiefs, very similar, you know.
So when you have a great quarterback, you gotta give
a team a chance. And so until this gets late
into the third, I'm gonna say, yeah, look, trust the process.

(02:02:34):
Joe Burrow is a talented quarterback, Zach Taylor has proven
to be a talented play caller and head coach. Let's
see what they can do here, because I mean they're
reeling right now. Three straight trips to the red zone,
three touchdown passes from Mahomes in this Chief's offense. Yeah,
one thing I know that is not gonna happen is
a Bengals comeback. If they can't stop the Chiefs, I mean,

(02:02:57):
if the Chiefs do what the Bills did to a
New England where they score in every possession, they have
a good shout of winning this game. Uh. But again
for Joe Burrow, who had four hundred and forty six
yards passing against his Chief's offense. Right now he has
twenty eight yards passing. They have got to get this

(02:03:17):
passing intach going. And they have thrown a quick out
to Jamaar Chase, who's so far as one catch for
two yards. That was just his second reception of the game.
And if you missed it again, Chase had eleven catches,
two hundred sixty six yards and three touchdowns the first
time these two teams met so so far that has
been the one plus. And how about this, the Chiefs

(02:03:38):
have yet to give up a pass play beyond nine yards. Yeah,
everything in front of everything in front of him. That's
their game. Planet's working so far. Yeah. And and when
Jamaar Chase has been in one on one coverage in
man coverage, he hasn't been able to convert. He's had
a couple opportunities, um, and and the rest have been

(02:04:00):
just underneath opportunities. Like we just saw, they're they're trying
to play zone coverage and they're trying to get to
Joe Burrow with their front four and as long as
they continue to have success on these passing plays doing
it that way, and Chris Jones has been a wrecking
ball up the middle of this pass protection against this
Bengals offensive line. Uh, They're going to continue this because

(02:04:20):
why change if it isn't broke, don't fix it. There's
three points on the ball for those orange and black
stripe helmets and you got twenty one. So stick with
this game plan until the Bengals forced you out of it.
Another third down play for the Bengals, and Arrowhead is
just rocking right now with noise. Burrow does complete a
pass over the middle for a first down. Again a

(02:04:42):
short pass, but good enough to move those chains. So
the Bengals, UH desperate to try to get some kind
of score, hopefully a touchdown for them, and you know,
get some momentum going into the second half. Again. This
was a team that was down twenty eight to fourteen
to the Chiefs with two minutes to go in the
first half of their first meeting and came all the

(02:05:03):
way back to win that game. Uh. Tee Higgins in
this game has one catch for eight yards Jamaar Chase.
In this game two catches for eight yards. They have
got to get these wide receivers down the field and
try to strike on some big plays and at least
keep this Chief's defense honest, um and pressure on Burrow

(02:05:25):
right now, he's gonna have to spike the ball. Uh.
You can see a little bit of frustration. Not that
he's gonna give him because Burrow is one of those
ultimate competitors. He's he's one of those mindset quarterbacks that
always believes, hey, we got a chance here, we got
a chance um, and they do. But you can see
a little frustration that he's just not able to ignite
this offense the way he hoped to at the start

(02:05:48):
of this game. Cincinnati's offensive line, individually and together, maybe
the worst group to ever make it this far in
a season. I mean this, this is just laughable what
we're watching. Don't get me wrong, some of this is scheme.
Sometimes the Chiefs are guessing right, you know, formationally, they're
sending the correct pressure package and they're getting to Burrow.

(02:06:09):
But to have offensive lineman in your lap every single
throng attempt to have no timing no rhythm to your
passing offense unless you're throwing it right now. It's going
to be the reason that Cincinnati gets knocked out of
the playoffs. And it's a testament to how talented Joe
Burrow is because he's been dealing with this all season long.
All right. He had a nice little scramble and a

(02:06:31):
big pass play to Tee Higgins. So that's the biggest
passway in eighteen yard completion for a Bengals first down. Say, yeah,
I'm with you on this. It's it's still too early
to call. We're at to two oh nine, heading to
the two minute warning right now, and the Bengals have
a first down at the thirty nine yard line of
the Chiefs, and they're gonna try to get a playoff

(02:06:53):
before the two minute warning. No, alright, so we're at
the two minute warning right now. Bengals have the ball
at the Chief's third nine yard line. Chiefs lead this
game by a score of twenty one to three. So
on the other side of things, now, what I mean
at halftime, assuming let's say the Chiefs do not get
the ball back in this half, three drives three touchdowns.

(02:07:15):
By the way, how about that one run by Edwards Hilaire.
Do you see that one where he carried half the
Bengals defense. It was not even a long run. I
mean it's like a four or five yard run, but
it was all him. I mean he's got four or
five guys draped on him running keeping those legs moving.
So if you're at halftime and you're the Bengals defensive
brain trust, Now what boy, I'll tell you. I don't know.

(02:07:39):
I don't know. Sometimes you know you're you're you're drawing
blanks on the sideline. In terms of what you can
throw at a team to slow them down again, I
I I would go back to fundamentals. I would say
to ourselves, Okay, what are our biggest problems the run game?
You have to find a way to get commit enough

(02:08:02):
bodies to the run to say, Okay, if we're gonna
get beat, it's not gonna be because we give up
over a hundred yards on the ground by the end
of the third quarter. We're just not going to allow
them to do that. Now, what do you sacrifice when
you commit bodies to the run? One on one coverage
on the outside right, Because if you try to add
a body to the box you could get burned. How

(02:08:22):
do you avoid getting burned? If you're going to try
to play close to the line of scrimmage, you have
to bottle up my homes. And so I said this
earlier in the broadcast, Steve, if you're gonna have any
success against Patrick Mahomes, limit his ability to create on
the secondary improv provisations. So you have to bracket him
in the pocket, get him to feel some of the
pressure up the middle of this pocket, and then maybe

(02:08:45):
you have a chance. But if you can't do if
you can't stop the run and you can't bottle up
my homes, you have no chance of winning this football game. Yeah,
and this game so far, I mean, not only has
Mahomes not been sacked, but even when he's been pressured,
he's actually made that work for him, like because he
is so adept at you know, getting out of trouble
and scrambling and buying time. Again, when you have the

(02:09:07):
likes of a Tyree Kill and a Travis Kelsey out
there and a hard man and you get extra time,
those guys are gonna find a way to get open.
So at some point you gotta you gotta put pressure
on him. You gotta force him to throw the ball
away earlier than he wants to maybe force some kind
of air and throw the results in a turnover. But

(02:09:28):
the way he is playing so far in this game,
when he has time, he's not missing even when he's
being pressured. Somehow that becomes a plus for this Kansas
City offense because when he starts scrambling around buying time,
they're almost unstoppable. I mean they're almost unstoppable. Look, we're
at the two minute warning in in the half, right,

(02:09:48):
you know, and so you start thinking in terms of
how the rest of this game is going to play out. Um,
if you don't score here, if you don't get into
the end zone, I'm talking about seven points and you
this uh to to score game here. I mean the
Chiefs get the ball on the other side of the half,
so you could argue, I mean, unless things start really

(02:10:09):
picking up for the Bengals in the second half, this
is one of those drives that will remember on Monday
and we'll look back at if the Bengals failed to
score here. Well, the first play was a run to
mix in in a netted negative two yards, So not
a good start on this drive. Uh, second and twelve.
Right now they are at the forty one yard line

(02:10:31):
of the Chiefs and we can't overstate it. They got
to get in the end zone. Even a field goal
is not gonna do much when the Chiefs do get
the ball to open up the second half. So the
clock is running right now, one fifteen and counting, and
the Bengals looking to get in the end zone and
they have broken up. Big play, a big play all
the way they end zone touchdown Bengals. Wow, Wow, is

(02:10:52):
that p Ryan? That was unbelievable that some g p
Ryan a little swing pass I was unbelievable, goes all
the way to the end zone and just like that
the screen. This is exactly what they try to do
earlier in this half. They try to set up a
screen and Joe Burrow couldn't even get the pressure out
of his face in the screen, which is planned pressure.

(02:11:14):
You're inviting the rush to come up field. But he
had to throw the ball into the dirt. Well this
time with p Rhan just a little right right off
the right tackle. Right he's stuck in there underneath the
right tackle. You have the right guard, center, left guard
out in front of him, and he got great blocking
downfield by Jamaar Chase, and that is just play. Yeah.

(02:11:36):
You talk about wide receivers doing their job, blocking, no holding,
their effectively blocking off the defender, giving p Rhyan just
enough space to get into the end zone. So just
like that, minute to go, minute five to go on
the first half, and the Chiefs lead has been cut
to twenty one and ten. At the very least, he
gives the chiefe something to think about right now. And

(02:11:58):
believe me, no matter how much of a struggled spin
for Joe Burrow to get this offense going, there is
no give up in this Bengals team, all right. Love it,
love it, love it all right. Coming up on the
other side, will continue to update you on this game.
We'll give you some previews of what's happening in the
NFC Championship game coming up between the Rams and the
forty Niners. Keep it right here. This is Fox Sports

(02:12:21):
Red Zone Radio. This is Fox Red Zone Radio, and
we've got the place that you may a miss. Burrow
back to throw, short pass caught by p Rhan p
Rhin down to the thirty side. Fun touchdown, Bengals. Some

(02:12:45):
Maj p Rhin taking a short pass forty one yards
to the house. Now back live to the studios of
Fox Sports Radio. This is Fox Red Radio. That was
Bengals Radio network, and this is the favorite Bengals song

(02:13:13):
in the arsenal of Iowa Sandwich. So going back to
the days of Marvin Lewis, this is this is quite
a song. Uh. And right now the Chiefs have a
first and goal at the one yard line. Uh. This
is the problem when you're playing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

(02:13:36):
You got all excited, right he got on the board,
all right, Uh, we can hold it here. Uh, you know,
maybe we can get right back in this game. Patrick
Mahomes numbers are ridiculous. He's seventeen of nineteen, two twenty yards,
three touchdowns and note picks. Now there's nine seconds ago.

(02:13:56):
The Chiefs have no more time outs and they have
a first and goal at the one yard line. What
do you predict? What do you what do you run
here on first and goal of the one? Because if
you run a play and play, the clock is gonna
run out. It's gonna be either some sort of shovel
concept underneath to like a Kelsey or a Tyreek Hill
or McKinnon or it's going to be some sort of

(02:14:18):
play action pass built off of that concept, or it's
gonna be you know, featuring one of his stud receivers
in one on one coverage because they know formationally they
could get number ten on his own their own. All right, Well,
it was a rollout left, nothing was there, and so
he threw it into the ground. So good coverage by

(02:14:39):
the Bengals. They were ready for that. So now you've
got five seconds left, possibly two more plays here. Possibly
you've got five seconds left, no timeouts. It is second
and ten. So and by the way, if you're the
cheese right now, why why go for a field goal? Right?
You go for the juggular here. You know, if you

(02:15:00):
don't get it here on second down from the one
yard line, you're gonna settle for a field goal. Mahomes
a little swing pass a Tyreek Hill who is short
and he's in bounds and the clock runs out. Wow. Wow,
did the Bengals dodge a bullet? So just what we

(02:15:21):
talked about. They threw a pass to Tyreek Kill. He
could not get out of bounds. He tried to get
in the end zone, he gets stopped and the clock
runs out. What a tackle an individual effort by Eli Apple.
I hope I'm giving credit where credits due, because if
it weren't for that tackle on the sideline, it was

(02:15:43):
fly sweep motion Mahomes fakes to hand off up the middle,
and I believe yeah, it was Eli Apple who came
up and made a hit stick what Tyree killed? What
I mean at the end, they showed Mahomes signaling for
a time out they didn't have any timeouts? Was he
unaware that they had no timeouts because he was signaling

(02:16:05):
for a time out when Hill went down any timeouts?
He was confused Either that or he thought they had one.
Laugh And if that's the case, yeah, I mean, hopefully
that wasn't the situation where Reid told him on the sideline, well, hey, listen,
if if he gets tackled in bounds, make sure you
call the time out, because that would be atrocious usage

(02:16:27):
of the clock, which, let's face it, Andy Reid has
been credited with some bad clock management at times during
the course of his player. One thing, I mean, the
fact of Mahomes was clearly calling for a time out
when they had none. Bottom line is the clock ran out,
so the Chiefs instead of getting seven or even three

(02:16:48):
points gets zero, and now it's an eleven point game,
which I'm telling his manageable if that Bengals defense can
come up with some kind of scheme to slow down
that Chief's offense, which they didn't do at all in
the first half. Obviously got away with one at the
end of that half right there, and obviously the offense
feeling a little pretty at least better about themselves after

(02:17:10):
that forty one year forty one yard a screen pass
the Somagy p Ryan that turned out to be a
touchdown to get the Bengals back in it. So twenty one,
ten and a half Chiefs leading the Bengals, but it
could have been a whole lot worse. In fact, it
looked like it was gonna be a whole lot worse
for the Bengals at the half. So we'll see how
the play uh in the second half is Again. The

(02:17:31):
Chiefs will get the ball to start the second half,
all right, So that gives us some time now to
get back to this NFC Championship game between the forty
Niners and the Rams. One thing we haven't discussed is
Jimmy Garoppolo. Jimmy Garoppolo has an amazing record as an
NFL quarterback regular season postseason, He's winning at about a

(02:17:53):
sev clip And what is that gonna get him bench
time in San Francisco unless they can trade him because
they are fully invested in Trey Lance to be their
quarterback of the future. They gave up two number ones
to move up to get Trey Lance. So we we've
talked plenty about this idea that is there anything Jimmy
Garoppolo can do to change the course of the future

(02:18:18):
of the quarterback position with the forty Niners win today,
win a Super Bowl? Is anything? Is there anything he
can do rich to change the course of the forty
Niners have for the quarterback position you're talking about If
Jimmy Garoppolo wins, it gets the Super Bowl, wins the
Super Bowl, well, that change the dynamical Who will be

(02:18:39):
starting a quarterback for the forty Niners next season? No? No, no,
no no. And And it looks sometimes in life you
gotta you just gotta dance with who you brought to
the prom right. I mean, they traded three first rounders
to go up and get Trey Lance. And I'm talking
about they Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. There jobs depend

(02:19:01):
on getting this right with Trey Lance, because we know
this league there's short memory. Yeah, you may be a
special coach, you may be a special GM, but when
when you gamble with the future of a franchise, you
can't get that wrong. And I'm not saying if if
it doesn't work out for Trey Lance, they should be fired,

(02:19:22):
because I think there are two of the best, or
I should say really as a combination, there there two
of the best general manager head coach combos in this league.
So I hope they get the opportunity to get this right,
but if they get it wrong, it's a huge condemnation
on their decision making. Um. But there is no backing

(02:19:43):
out of this. Yeah, I mean, they're not going to
get anything back in trade that even resembles what they
spent to get tray Lands, especially from what we've seen
on film today from or this season from Lance. And
then in terms of Jimmy Garoppolo, if Jimmy gets them
to a super Bowl, he will make himself a more
attractive trade candidate to one of these teams who needs

(02:20:04):
a quarterback. But you're gonna have to sit on Jimmy
g at least until after the draft and wait to
see what teams do at quarterback in the draft before
you're gonna have a market for Jimmy Garoppolo period. So no,
I don't think anything Jimmy g does changes the fortunes
of the future of the forty Niners at the quarterback position.

(02:20:26):
I think they have to start and play and develop
Trey Lance to the best of their ability because they
leverage the entire future of this franchise to get him. Well,
they're showing that last play of the half. I have
no idea in in Mahome's mind. He had to be
thinking he had a time out left to even throw

(02:20:46):
that ball. Um. I mean, you could have said, all right,
Tyree Hill is gonna, you know, run as fast as
he had to the end zone. But he made no
move to the end zone. There were two defenders right there.
They brought him down. There had to be confusion about
the time out situation. There had to be, because there
was no sense of urgency to stop the clock. And

(02:21:06):
then they flashback to Mahomes, you know, signaling for a
time out when there was no time out. All right,
let's get ready for a preview of this game between
the Rams and the forty Niners. No, it's time for
the NFL Fox Focus and joining us right now is

(02:21:29):
the Hall of Famer once again. He'll be on the
call for this NFC Championship game between the Rams and
forty Niners. Troy Aikman is joining us once again. Troy.
As always, we really appreciate you join us here on
Fox Sports Radio. Um, we've been talking a lot about
this forty Niners six game winning streak against the Rams.
Both couches have downplayed it, saying, hey, you're seeing way

(02:21:52):
too much in us as coaches. But from a players standpoint, Troy,
if one team has had your number, can that change
the psychology of players on both sides when it's been
as dominant as it has been recently between the Niners
and the Rams. Yeah, that's a great question, and I
actually think that both teams. Uh, there's a there's a

(02:22:13):
mental element to this. I think if you're the Rams,
you sit there and you say, wow, we've lost the
last six, can we can can we win? Can we
beat this team? There's guys on this team that haven't
beat him since they've been a Ram. And then if
you're on the forty Niners. You've won six games in
a row, and you wonder can you make it a seven.
It's a hard thing to do against good football teams,

(02:22:35):
and so I think there's a mental part of this
that both teams are having to contend with and work
through as they prepared for this game. Hey, Troy, you know,
I don't know, and we've previewed many forty Niners games.
I don't know if we've ever asked you bluntly what
your thoughts on Jimmy Garoppolo are, because you hear from
analysts everywhere anything ranging from you know, a high level

(02:22:56):
game manager to a Dak Prescott car been copy. Where
do you rank him and rate him as a starting
quarterback in this league? Well, I mean, obviously he's one,
and that's what people point to is what he's been
able to do. He's got good players around him, and
that's that's what most quarterbacks have if they're able to
win football games. But I think Jimmy, as we know,
he can get hot, uh and when he's hot, he's

(02:23:19):
throwing the ball as well as anybody, and then he
has these moments, he has these periods in the ball
game to where he has the mistake. We we've seen it.
We saw it last week in Green Bay, we saw
it the week before in the wild Card round against Dallas.
We've seen it throughout the season and really throughout his career,
and I think that's the big part that has to
be eliminated. It's hard to win football games. He's been

(02:23:40):
able to do it, but it's hard to win football games,
especially in the postseason, when you have some of those
types of mistakes. I I refer to it more as
it seems like at times he has blind spots and
doesn't know exactly who can take away some of the
throws that he tries to make, and that's why we've
seen some of the interceptions that people are left kind
of scrap matching their head a little bit, and they

(02:24:01):
usually happen over the middle of the field where you
lose sight of some of those players. But I'm a
big band of Jimmy's. I like what he's done. I
like how he's handled himself throughout this season, really throughout
his career, but the way he's handled it this year
when they brought in Trey Lance, I think it says
a lot about him and and because of the way
he handled it, and also because of how he's played.

(02:24:21):
Go back to Week eighteen when they had to go
down and score and they were able to do that
to even put the game into overtime and get themselves
into the postseason. He certainly has had great moments. Uh So,
I don't discount I think the critics only point to
the things that happened. Negatively, I think you lose sight
then of the throws that he makes when the game's
on the line, or when you have to fit a

(02:24:42):
ball in on third down to keep a drive alive.
Those tend to get overshadowed, and I don't think that's
fair to him. On the other side, of course, Matthew
Stafford was brought in to win a Super Bowl. I
mean that's it. I mean they had already been to
a Super Bowl under Jared Goff. They want to win
a Super Bowl. So far, so good. In two playoff games,
he's looked very good. But here's some numbers for you, Troy.
And the two playoff games, he's been sacked a total

(02:25:04):
of three times and has yet to throw an interception.
In two games against the forty niners this year, he
was sacked seven times and through four interceptions one he's
under pressure, is he a little bit different? Is he
prone to make mistakes out there? And could that happen
again today against the forty niners. It could happen, And

(02:25:26):
I think that all quarterbacks are prone to making mistakes
when they have pressure in their face. I think that,
you know, as far as handling the blitz, he's as
good as anybody in the foot and football at at
doing that. He certainly made Tampa Bay pay last week.
But I think it all comes down to San Francisco
and what they were able to do with their four
man pass rush and will the Rams be able to
protect him more. But in those two games this year,

(02:25:49):
he's had these desperation interceptions where he's just throwing the
ball up, including the in overtime when they needed a
field goal in order to keep the thing going or
to score touchdown and didn't have to make that throw
at that point in overtime, And I think I think
he's probably learned from that. I think against this defense,
he understands that it's hard, as much as they would

(02:26:10):
like to because they do have an advantage with their
skill players against the forty nine secondary, but you've got
to protect in order to get the ball out. I
think I expect anyway for Stafford to be much more patient.
Maybe we won't see as many shot plays as what
you would typically see. I think he'll just try to
get the ball out, stay ahead of the chains, knowing

(02:26:31):
that if they don't turn the ball over, saying true
for San Francisco, but if if the Rams don't turn
the ball over, they're gonna be a hard team to be. Yeah,
we've mentioned in many times today, Troy, the unique circumstances
of Rams are in potentially being overrun by forty Niners
fans in their home building here in the NFC Championship game.
Steve asked me earlier in the show to describe the

(02:26:52):
challenges as an offensive lineman when you are playing with
crowd noise as a quarterback, what are the specific challenges?
And then also, I mean, are there times where you're
trying to get something communicated and you just give up
because you know you're not gonna be able to effectively
get to what you want to get to because of
the the the ambient sound from the crowd. So what

(02:27:18):
will happen is now teams have gotten a lot better
at handling crowd noise. With the silent count, there's a
lot of code words, there's not as much communication that
has to take place. There's there's a lot more hand
signals that you can get to when you're playing on
the road. And that's why, for the most part, when
we've seen teams play on the road, they they generally
handle crowd noise pretty well. With that said, it does

(02:27:41):
keep you from being able to communicate some things, as
you just said, and so it simplifies things a little bit.
But beyond that, beyond the the effect in the game
of having a you silent count, I just think the
simple fact that you're the home team and you come
out to your stadium and it's predominantly the opponent's fan base.

(02:28:03):
I think it's demoralizing. I I don't know how I've
never had happened. We played in the championship game against
the Packers. The Packers travel well, but it wasn't It
was still far more Cowboys fans. I mean, it's Cowboys
fans instead of typically a dent Cowboys fans. So I've
never quite dealt with that. I can only imagine. We

(02:28:24):
talked about the mental gymnastics that these teams have to
go through getting ready for this game. I think that's
another example of it. Yeah, they're expecting a sea of
red out there. It's so far today with those forty
Niner fans just gobbling up all the tickets for this
NFC Championship game. Troy, thanks so much. I know you
want to get back to watching the second half of
this Chiefs Bengals game. Got a little more interesting there

(02:28:46):
before the half, But it's always Troy. We appreciate your time.
Thanks so much. You bet guys. Thanks. That's Troy Aigman there.
Of course he Joe Buck will be calling that matchup
in the NFC title game between the Rams and the
forty Niners. All right, let's find out what's rending right now.
And it's overdue, but he's always ready to go. Here's
Ralph Irvan. Well, they are wrapping up the half and

(02:29:07):
Kansas City still has that lead over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Look at the status. Patrick Mahomes eighteen and twenty yards
passing three touchdowns on the day. Joe Burrow ten of
eighteen a hundred and one yards, A few drops in there,
but still not what he would want. Uh. The keep
Joe Mixon has run eight times for forty yards. But

(02:29:28):
it has been Kansas City being able to really run
the ball quite well. Between McKinnon and Edwards, a layer
ten carries for sixty yards. So again you can run
like that. Sets of the play action pass very nicely.
On the NBA scoreboard. One game going on right now, actually, yeah,
one game going on right now. Chicago is seventy lead

(02:29:50):
over Portland. That game is at the half already fourteen
points for Nikola Vuseovic, thirteen points each for Tmartin Rosen
and Zach Levine. Earlier, atlant To won their seventh straight
beating the Lakers. The Clippers have won three or four.
They beat Charlotte one fifteen one. Northern NFL noticed the
Raiders have hired Josh McDaniels as their new head coach,

(02:30:12):
also bringing in Patriots director of player Personnel Dave Ziegler
as the new Las Vegas general manager. And in the
seventieth minute, it is Canada leading the US one nil
in World Cup qualifying, So we sent it back. It
is a NFL Championships Sunday Here on Fox Sports Radio,
Steve Hartman and Rich Hornberger. All right, Ralphie, great job

(02:30:35):
is always today By the way, we're brought to you
by one of our favorite cities, Las Vegas, your home
for live sports. That means all sports, every game, match, racing, competition.
It is always on. Now go on and plan your
trip at visit Las Vegas dot com. See the best
and brightest in Vegas, the greatest arena on earth. Always
great to catch up with the Hall of Famer Troy Aikman.
The second half is underway right now. That was a

(02:30:57):
perfect halftime break for us, right, you know, and out
with the Hall of Famer and he ready for the
NFC Championship game. It's funny because Ryan, our producer, was
calling him and he wasn't answering. I'm thinking, well, he's
probably watching the game, right, yeah, you know, I said,
trying to get it halftime and Will Hold It's like, hey,
let's go on. Uh So that could not have worked

(02:31:19):
out anymore beautifully for us. All right, so right out
of the box, obviously we got the Chief's leading this
game by score of twenty one to ten. Bengals. Fortunate
it's not worse, believe me, very very fortunate that it's
not worse, because this has been a very one sided
game so far. In favor of the Chief's gonna be
interesting to see on this opening drive if they come

(02:31:41):
with with a few more answers. Yuh, you know, Ralphie
was mentioning a little bit earlier that McKinnon and Edwards
Hilaire combined or averaging six yards and carry. I mean,
that's a good start for Cincinnati. How about stopping that run.
I mean, that's one thing you can't have on top
of everything else. Is an effective running game for the Chiefs,
well just sets up everything else. I mean, the Chiefs

(02:32:02):
keep going back to the run on first and second
down because it's been so productive for them. And if
you don't slow that part of the game down, it
affects every other part of the game. Because what happens,
they keep gashing you in the run game. They set
up these easy third and threes, And when you don't
know what to expect when the ball is being ran
in terms of big play or stop near the line

(02:32:24):
of scrimmage, your safeties start getting anxious because they realize,
oh boy, you know, every time I see run any
any you know, low pad level with the offensive line,
the running back on a play fake, it just pauses
them for one fraction of a second and it leads
to you know, mess ups and coverage, you know, as
a result. You know, we saw earlier in the game McCole,

(02:32:47):
Hardman and Patrick Mahomes connect on a huge ball down
the left sideline, and it was because the safety was
late on a really lazy play fake to McKinnon out
of the backfield. It affects everything. So soon as the
Cincinnati Bengals find a way to stop the run, they're
gonna have much more success overall with the Chief's offense.
All Right, they have stopped him on third down a

(02:33:09):
bad snap and an errand throw from Mahomes to Kelsey,
and the Bengals have stopped the Chiefs on their opening
drive up the second half. Now the Bengals can get
the ball back and make this a one score game.
All right, We'll continue on our coverage of this a
s C Championship game, Chiefs leading the Bengals one to

(02:33:31):
ten thirteen minutes ago in the third quarter. Keep it
right here on Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. This is
Fox Sports Red Zone Radio. Hertban and Orneberger. All, I
want to thank the guys today for everything they did
on the show today. Boy, this is a fast show
to say the least. Iowa Sam holding things together as
best he could, finding the most godforsaken Bengals songs he

(02:33:55):
could find. Job. He did a great job there. Ralph
Urban has been a busy man all weekend long, great
job as always. And Ryan just would not give up.
He was determined I'm gonna get Aikman on the show.
I just said, just wait till halftime, Wait till halftime,
and we had a good time with Troy getting ready
for the NFC Championship game. Alright, A golden opportunity wasted

(02:34:17):
for the Bengals. So the Bengals got the ball back immediately.
Big pass play to Tee Higgins put him in position,
but a delay of game penalty which is almost inexcusable
but understandable again with the insane amount of crowd noise
that has generated at Arrowheads Stadium, So the Bengals have

(02:34:38):
to punt the ball back to the Chiefs. The Chiefs
have the ball now, still Chiefs over the Bengals inside
eleven minutes to go. Uh in the third quarter. I
want to get your prediction on this NFC Championship game
coming up here. Rich The Rams have been steady as
three and a half point favorites, the overrun around forty six.
How do you see this playing out in this second

(02:35:01):
championship game today? I think that the Niners are gonna
be able to do what few teams have been able
to do um this season in total, but at times
we did see it, especially late in the regular season
against the Rams, which is get to Stafford, get them
to make the mistake that leads to extra offensive opportunities

(02:35:21):
for the Rams opponents, and essentially get the win. I
think there's gonna be a low scoring game. I think
we're gonna see uh, you know, whatever the number is
on the point total. I think the under will hit,
and I think the Niners essentially walk away with what
will go down in the record books as a a
road win, but really it's going to be a home

(02:35:42):
victory because they're gonna be playing in front of what
reports are uh talking about being potentially seventy San Francisco
forty Niners fans at so far tonight. Yeah, it's going
to be a sea of red by and we It
was interesting getting Troy Aigman's perspective on that and just
how embarrassing it is used it as to moral. Imagine

(02:36:07):
a conference championship game and your home crowd is gonna
be out numbered by the opposing team's crowd in a
conference championship game. But the difference maybe this the Rams
will be prepared for it. They were not prepared for
it in that game at the end of the regular season.
In fact, they really had no fore warning in that

(02:36:29):
game because remember they got off to the seventeen nothing lead,
So any forty Niner fan that was at the game,
they were just sitting on their hands because there's nothing
to get excited about. But when the forty Niners started
coming back and that noise level kept rising, the Rams
are looking at each other like, what the hell is
going on here? And you got to go to a
silent Canic Sity hadn prepared for that. So we'll see

(02:36:51):
if that plays a factor today. I look at this matchup.
I expect the Rans to play really well today. I
mean the numbers just a look, Yeah, six in a
row is significant, seven orrow is that much tougher? I
just I just don't see it. I mean, I think
that Jimmy Garoppolo is an ordinary quarterback. The Rams can

(02:37:13):
bring insane pressure on him. They have a very talented defense,
and I think Matthew Stafford they have found a formula
for Stafford. Minimize what he has to do out there
a little less. Stafford goes a long way for this
Rams offense, and they got all kinds of weapons. I
I see the Rams moving on to the Super Bowl.
I I really do today. It's interesting, man. I look,

(02:37:36):
you know, I I like Stafford a lot. I think
he is one of those quarterbacks that man, if he
was given a better opportunity with a better franchise at
the Gates early in his career, I I think that
we would talk about him completely differently than we do today.
And I'll take nothing away from him even if he

(02:37:56):
struggles today, because he really helped elevated the elevate this
Rams team. Well, I guess I shouldn't say I won't
take anything away from him. You gotta play well in
big games. I mean, if you're going to be a
championship quarterback in this league, you gotta play well in
big games. And we've seen him do that throughout the
course of this regular season and now into the postseason.
He just dueled with the goat and he won. For

(02:38:18):
crying out loud, but let's be very honest with each other.
If it weren't for the run game being so dominant,
which the Niners were able to take away from the
Green Bay Packers, to the Rams beat the Bucks, I
don't know, man, So we'll see well, and remember this

(02:38:39):
cam Akers fumbled twice in that game, cup fumble, and
then they had that wild center snap that sailed over
the head. And yet to spite all that, yeah, the
Rams still won that game. But you make multiple mistakes.
And his Troititman said earlier, the thing's so shocking about
Matthew Stafford in those two losses of the forty Niners

(02:38:59):
of regular seat Sason wasn't just the fact that he
threw four interceptions. It was how he threw those interceptions.
I mean like some of those were just what are
you doing when you're a thirteen year veteran? You can't
make those throws? All right? Right now, the Chiefs have
the ball, they get a six and a second and
six inside the ten minute mark. Right now in the

(02:39:19):
third quarter, Chiefs leading this game by a score of
twenty one to ten. Um At least right now, it
just seems that the Chief's offense has been slowed down
a little bit, right, I mean, it is. It seems
like the Bengals are beginning to find ways to force Mahomes.
He's scrambling right now and throws the ball out of

(02:39:43):
you know, they're just they're getting a little pressure. It
seems like the Bengals are tightening up a little bit
defensively here. Yeah, I think that, you know, and this
is actually something I wish I mentioned before halftime. If
I were Zach Taylor and I'm watching how this game
is being officiated, what I would have told the angles,
and it seems like they were to a certain extent.
You guys need to start holding these receivers because they're

(02:40:05):
not calling anything. I mean, they've really swallowed their whistles,
this officiating crew this game. So they're playing a more
physical brand of defense than they had in the first half,
and it's really helping them all right, Dan Buyer, Jeff
Schwartzer on deck, ready to rolls and continue on all
of our NFL coverage, Just keep it right here on
Fox Sports Radio.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Steve Hartman and Rich Ohrnberger React Live to the AFC Championship Game