Nick Wright reacts to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears' stunning loss to J.J. McCarthy and the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football to end Week 1 of the NFL season. Nick reacts to Ben Johnson's rough coaching debut and shares why he is officially concerned with Caleb for the first time in his NFL career. Later, Nick reacts to Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens' 4th-quarter collapse vs. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills during Week 1 of the NFL season. How concerned should Baltimore fans be with their late-game struggles? Next, Nick shares his thoughts on Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs rematching Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and the Philadelphia Eagles following Kansas City's Super Bowl loss. Will the Chiefs get revenge? #Volume
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
week on the show. Enjoy all right, Monday Night football
de Monsday, and we might have a problem.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Uh yeah, So the Bears came. It came out looking
pretty good. Caleb had that nice drive in the beginning
of the game. Seemed like they were controlling it. Even
JJ McCarthy threw a pick six, but they still turned
it around and won. So obviously Caleb Williams lost last night.
What was your biggest takeaway from this game?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
All right, I'm officially a little concerned about Caleb. I
was not at any point last year, but the sequence
of the last ninety six hours where I listen, I'm
a subscriber. I was already a subscriber to Tyler Dunn substack.
(00:52):
It's like fifty bucks for the whole year support real journalism.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
He is the guy.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
If people are like, oh, let me it's go long TD.
Let me see if you go to golongtd dot com
if that takes you there, I actually don't know the
answer that no, so hold on, let me see what
the actual was. So oh no, it does Oh maybe, yeah,
golongtd dot com, but it's on substack. He is the
guy who broke the story a year ago, demons that
(01:23):
Sean McDermott tried to rally the troops by being like
the nine to eleven hijackers thing. He has real sources,
he is a real journalist. He's totally independent, so I
was already a subscriber of his. He has released a
three part book on Caleb's first year with the Bears.
(01:47):
It Ain't Great and it is to me highly concerning.
It also discusses it's a The person who comes out
looking the worst is Ryan the GM. Caleb doesn't look
great though in it either, and it talks about a
shaky work ethic, not necessarily galvanizing leadership, and then a
(02:16):
shocking statement from some of his sources that there is
a belief within the front office that was kept from
the coaching staff that Caleb might have the learning disability dyslexia,
which there is obviously no shame in that at all. However,
(02:40):
one of the ways dyslexia can manifest itself, obviously is
you transpose words or letters, and that one of the
reasons they postulate he might have trouble translating the play
call from his headset to his wristband, getting it in,
getting plays in on time is a confusion.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
About what he's reading.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And that is not something that is you know, you
can't overcome, but it is something that has to be
accounted for. And the reporting is that the front office
kept it from.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
His coaches last year.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Now, obviously, Ben Johnson, one would think has all this information.
And if you watched last night, you saw most notably
that play on the sideline when Caleb spun out of trouble,
went to the sideline and then ripped an absolute laser
(03:44):
to I don't know if it was DJ Moore or Rome.
I'm not sure why the talent demands is undeniable and hypnotizing.
It just is like and you saw that obviously throughout
his remarkable collegiate career.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But his.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right now deficit on the pre snap parts of being
an NFL quarterback to me, are going to slow his development.
And you saw that left and right last night that
(04:29):
getting plays in was still a problem. Motioning guys when
there's a few seconds on the shot on the shot clock,
on the game clock or play clock was still a problem.
Like some things that he really needs to be at
this point, in my opinion, better at those things have
(04:52):
become one game in have not improved, And.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You don't think his decision making it all improved a
little bit from last year.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So I do think his decision making improved. I'm talking
about the pre snap operation. I'm talking about getting the
team out of the huddle, conveying the play call in time,
doing the things necessary to prevent these five yard pre
snap penalties.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
That was brutal.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
The whole night just was. And while his decision making
I thought was better and he was quicker getting the
ball out, his accuracy was shaky.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, he's putting a lot he missed, putting a lot
on them.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Putting a lot on the lot on the ball, and
also just missing. There were a couple spots he missed.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Guys wide open. And so.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
If I am being.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Fair, which I have to be.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I I still believe in Caleb Williams. I am less
certain that super stardom is in his future. And I
think that is for me, as a guy who said
(06:21):
he would come into the league as a top ten quarterback,
tough pill to swallow, trust me.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But you don't think it might be a little a
little early with it being game one, Like if they
were to go and put it on the Lions, what
would that change stuff?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Immediately?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Maybe I'm going to look back on this and say
I was, you know, ten hours after the game in
his reactionary. But I am like I am. I understand
most of the audience has not read the Tyler Dunn story,
and again his substacks go long TV dot com. I
highly encourage people. It's worth the six bucks a month.
(07:06):
It's less than that four bucks a month. It's worth
it just to read this story. To be totally honest
with you, that story shook my faith in a real way.
And then this game. You of course, listen, he started
(07:31):
ten of ten. It started great, it ended so poorly.
And listen, he's not the only culprit in this, which
brings us to Ben Johnson, where there were I didn't
(07:52):
like Ben Johnson's decision early to not kick the field goal.
I just think you don't have the Lions team from
last year. You're also playing a team that is going
to be hard to accumulate points on as evidence by
the fact your offense, you know, struggled to score points
(08:13):
throughout the night. I know they finished with twenty four.
One touchdown came with two minutes left, and another one was.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
A pick six.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
But JJ at that, you know what I mean? There
was reason to believe JJ would struggle early, and he did.
But the bigger problem is and evidently Peyton Manning peeped
this on the Manning cast, because of course he did.
I was surprised Joe and Troy didn't. But this is
going to This is a coaching note that is simply
(08:45):
it listen, nobody's in the Brian Callahan category. More on
him later, But this was a mistake by Ben.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So here's situation.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
He understood, we've got a score before the two minute one.
Caleb almost ran it in before the two minute warning
at two oh four, two oh five. They end up
ruling him, you know, out of bounds at the six
inch line. They then do a quick pass score. They
score it two oh two. They have one timeout. With
(09:18):
the two minute warning and one timeout. If you force
a three and out, you're gonna get the ball back
without a minute left, down three points and be alive.
Without the two minute warning and one timeout, you're gonna
get the ball back with about twenty seconds left and
be dead it's that simple. The two minute warning must
(09:38):
be retained in part because I think Ben challenged a
play because he didn't understand the rule. Now that's a
tricky rule because so let me back up to it.
The rule is if someone is knee is on the
ground and you touch them, they're down immediately. What Ben
(10:04):
saw or his guy in the booth saw, is, oh,
we didn't touch the player with who was down. We
punched the ball, and we punched the ball so cleanly.
It did not We never touched the player until the
ball was loose. So is that a fumble? And so
(10:27):
he challenged it and the answer is no, it's not
even just touching the ball. When a player is down
on the ground, he's down. So that's like a nuance
of the rule. Head coach needs to know that. So
like that was so that's why they only had one
time out instead of two. But now we get to
(10:50):
two h two left and Cairo Santos, who missed the
field goal earlier and is not known for the strongest
of legs, Demonse Ben Johnson tells him kick it out
of the back of the end zone to retain the
two minute warning. Kevin O'Connell tells his guy, if you
(11:14):
can return it, return it, don't worry about the yardage,
just return it to burn these two seconds sidebar. No
one's ever done this, but I would encourage it. The
actual sharpest play there for that returner, if he only
has to burn two seconds, is to catch it and
(11:35):
run sideways, staying in the end zone to burn as
much time as possible, and then just step out the
back of the end zone for a touchback or kneel
it for a touchback. Then you still get the thirty
five yard line. You don't risk a fumble, you burn
more time because the guys have to get to you.
(11:56):
But again, that is PhD level coaching, of which you
know not everyone is here yet. That's fine, Kevin O'Connell
did a great job with it. But here is the
nuanced part that matters, in particular with the new touchback
rules Demonse. The new touchback rule is if you kneel
(12:20):
it in the end zone. If you kick it into
the end zone and they kneel it, they get it
on the thirty five. They did not change the fact
that if you kick it out of bounds, you get
it at the forty. So the oh if the single
most important thing to your team is that they not
(12:43):
be able to return this kick. And you don't have
a cannon legged kicker who can kick it out in
the back of the end zone on command, Then you
don't ask him to kick it out the back of
the end zone, which he might not be able to do.
You ask him fire that thing forty five degree angle
(13:04):
right out of bounce, which everyone can do. You give
up five yards who cares you guarantee? So instead of
the thirty five, it's the forty that doesn't matter. What
matters is now that next play happens at two two,
there's nothing they can do about it. That was a
mistake by Ben Johnson. I saw it in real time.
(13:27):
Peyton Manning on the Manning cast evidently saw it in
real time and I and I thought that that was
a mistake. So listen, I thought, I don't think that
was like an awful first game by Ben Johnson. But
the bad challenge and the trusting that Cairo Santos can
(13:53):
just boom it out in the back of the end zone,
we're very costly mistakes.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
So why are you giving him as in his first game.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Blew a big lead offense, didn't really get going after
the opening script those mistakes C plus C plus C plus,
giving him a C plus. All right, let's spend a
second on JJ.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, I was about to say so after seeing that
performance by JJ, what do you expect from him moving forward?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Well, listen, I think that the comeback and his role
in it and the confidence he's going to get from it.
You know, if they if they didn't get that comeback
at the end and was just he threw a pick
six and they lose, I think the next few weeks
could be real rough. Instead, a guy whose rep coming
(14:46):
in was just a winner, makes big plays, galvanizing force
just adds to it in his first ever NFL game.
Pretty good Like that, Art is really good. So I
didn't think he was that impressive. I didn't think he
(15:06):
was that good, but he had the moments which I think,
are you know, super relevant and super you know, useful,
and so I want to give.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Him credit for that.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Am I am? I sold entirely that, like you know,
he's going to be a franchise quarterback. No, of course,
not yet after one game, but for what his rep
was demans, that was an awesome start.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
That was yes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, you're giving let's go ahead. Will Caleb be getting
similar treatment to the Prince? You know how Trevor had
bad coaching and then he had his coach and that
was officially his first year.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Well let's listen.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I mean, if Trevor does what the Prince did, which
is have an awesome second year, make the playoffs, win
a playoff game, then yeah, we can just say if
Caleb does, sorry, if Caleb does what Trevor did, we
can just say, yeah, it was it was all on Eberflus.
And I think a lot of it was on bears
ysfunction in Eberflus. Again, I'm not saying like I'm out
(16:19):
on Caleb. I am saying that the stuff, some of
the stuff that I wanted him to be just a
little tighter on, I didn't see.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
And that's just that, just is what it is.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia Bill's Ravens.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, so the game didn't disappoint. Obviously, Buffalo came back
against my Ravens. That fifteen point lead erased, harball has
now blown seventeen double digit second half leads. The bigger
story here is that the Bills win, or is it
the Ravens loss?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
What do you think the bigger story is?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
The bigger story here is, Oh my gosh, the Ravens
gotta stop shooting themselves in the foot. The penalties and
just the fun. The penalties are just so frustrating. The
penalties and just how we move when we need something.
The Bills have the momentum, they're coming back, and we're
running indo rounds.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
With Zay Flowers just rather get a first down.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, I'm glad you did you bring up that end
around with Jay Flowers the because I from what I
said on the show yesterday, or did that bother you
organic much?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
That that play demonse is like lost in the conversation
surrounding the game that was insane, like you need one
first down to win the game. Derrick Henry is killing me.
I understand, Henry got stuffed on first down. You cannot
use one of your downs on save Flowers.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
He just can't.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
It's got to be lamar ball in his hands, you know,
if see someone open throws it or run or Derrick Henry.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
So that I agree with entirely, and I also.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Agree with you.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
The biggest stories the Ravens loss because the Bills listen.
Josh Allen is an unbelievable player, and since he stopped
turning the ball over, he stopped being roller coaster and
I stopped calling him one. Like I've been fair about Josh.
Josh always had this amazing talent. He was a little
too high variants of a player early. He removes some
(20:11):
of that variants and now.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
He's just a killer.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So the Bill's coming back is not that shocking. The
Bill's defense looking as bad as it did for the
vast majority of that game is actually a little concerning.
Like weirdly, if I were a Bills fan, Demons, I
would be over the moon thrilled about the win. And
you have the tiebreaker and you have the easier schedule.
You've never had the one seed since you've been since
(20:37):
you've had Josh Allen, you now have a real shot
at it this year. Like all of that is super positive,
but deep down I'd be like, yikes, that defense, Like
that's that's a bit of a concern. But the story
is Baltimore once again inventing a way to lose because
they this is what they do. And I know Harbaugh
(20:59):
Harball tried to make the point essentially that Harbaugh tried
to make the point that yeah, we've blown a lot
of big leads, but we have a lot of big leads,
Like how fair, you know what I mean, Like we
(21:19):
were in this position more than most. Mike Sando has
this these figures. I think it's good. Since the start
of the twenty twenty two season, there are seven teams
demons who have had multiple score fourth quarter leads at
(21:43):
least twenty times. Okay, so seven teams have had multiple
score fourth quarter leads at least twenty times, and Harbaugh
is right that the Ravens have the most most of them.
The Bengals and the Bills have twenty one, the Lions
have twenty two, the Chiefs have twenty four, the Niners
have twenty five, the Eagles have twenty eight, and the
(22:05):
Ravens have thirty one, So that is a lot. Here's
the problem, though, record in those games from best to worst,
the Chiefs are twenty four and oh, and honestly, I
just did a home mahmes thing. I don't need to
(22:26):
do it again. That's the least surprising stat in the
world because while it's been a while since the Chiefs
have been able to generate some big lead, the idea,
I can't even conceptualize what it would look like for
the Chiefs to blow a big lead. No, for you
know what I mean, for the Chiefs to be up
thirteen in the fourth and lose like with Patrick. It
(22:49):
just doesn't happen. Like they're not gonna make those mistakes.
And Andy obviously deserves credit for that too. But the
Chiefs are twenty four and oh. The next best is
the Eagles and one, then the Lions twenty one and one,
the Bengals twenty and one, the Niners twenty three and two,
(23:13):
and the second worst is the Bills at nineteen and two,
and then the Ravens at twenty five and six. So yes,
the Ravens have had more slightly more opportunities, but the
Chiefs have never lost in the last three years in
(23:34):
that spot. The Eagles, Lions, and Bengals have lost once,
the Niners and Bills have lost twice, and the Ravens
have lost six times. That's not nothing. It's just not nothing.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
And I don't.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I don't know that the Hardball Lamar combo is gonna
get over for the hump Man.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I just don't.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
And it's Lamar's obviously, you know, just getting better as
a player, getting better in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Like I also.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Thought demands, how did you feel when you saw Hardball
was punting on fourth and two and a half.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I mean, it's easy to say, looking back at the game, like,
definitely got to go for that, but also we weren't
stopping them, so it probably does make more sense to
go for it in that situation because the Bills have
just been They've been doing everything they wanted, so it's
it's not fourth and five.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, and here's the other piece.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
And I got Lamar and Derrick Henry, and I.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Know Lamar said he was cramping. But what you can
do there is because the Bills used a timeout, they
use the timeout. You get two minutes there to kind
of recover. You then trot your offense out, try to
draw him off sides forty seconds to recover. If you
don't call time out, another two minutes to recover, and
then you got to go for.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It because if you.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
If you don't get it, you might get the ball back,
you know what I mean. If you don't get it
and they score, you get the ball back. And if
you do get it, the game's over. And here's my
only criticism of Lamar from that game, My only criticism.
When he threw the pass on third and nine where
he did three yards short of this I assumed, I
(25:36):
think it was actually the Hopkins I.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Think and talked to Yeah it was.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I assumed he threw it there because he like obviously correct,
but he was comfortable throwing it short of the sticks
because it's four down territory, you know what I mean, Like,
that's what I assumed was the case. If you're not
if you don't know you're going for it, you can't
(26:04):
and you can't throw short of the sticks there, like
you've got to try to go get the first down.
I also have a question for you to want and
if the answer is had nothing to do with the game,
that's fine. You sent out a tweet an hour into
the game that said that that had a superhero, a
(26:28):
bowl of ramen maybe, and then a trophy. Before you
tell me what that is, I have a question. Is
that a bowl of ramen in the in the picture.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
That's it's a ball?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
It's like, was it specifically? Are you? Are you going
to tell us what that was?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
I was about to eat.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I knew it. I was gonna guess.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Then we come out and be b fair. Yes, yeah,
everything to do with the game.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I was tweeting super Bowl Champs. I thought the Bravens
is gonna win the game. That's why I left it cryptic.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
But super Bowl Champs it I had it totally wrong.
I thought I had it totally wrong, and I thought
our producers were gonna laugh. What people don't know about
you is, while you're not what I would call a chef,
(27:32):
you do consider yourself a bit of like an elite. Yes,
I had eggs and different rams, and I honestly thought
you were watching the game and made yourself like a
great Ramen meal watching it and were like calling yourself
like the King of making Ramen noodles. I swear to
(27:54):
God that's what I thought I did. Now now, super
Bowl champ. That's pretty good. All right, that's pretty good. Um, okay,
all right, do you have a you have a Derrick
Henry tweet for me or to not tweet a question?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Oh yeah, um yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So aside from the fumble, Henry looked good as ever.
Obviously he had one hundred and sixty nine yards and
two touchdowns. Do you think that it's safe to say
that the cliff isn't coming this year because you said
he was getting a.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Sure sure doesn't seem like the cliffs coming. Holy moly,
that guy is unbelievable futures, unbelievable player.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, alright, the.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And I have no problem with Lamar shoving the fan
me neither fan shoved him first.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
I have no prom not.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Also, they didn't talk about on the broadcast, Bill's fans
stop throwing ship on the field. They were the They
were the originators of throwing sex toys on sporting event
fields before it caught off fire in the WNBA and
when Lamar when Derek Henry was running for his touchdown,
(29:06):
they threw a water bottle on the field. They they
famously threw snowballs at the Chiefs, like icy snow. Like
the stop throwing stuff on the field, Like I have
to listen every year to how Buffalo's got the greatest
fans in the world because it's cold there and they
shovel the stadium for him. Like, stop throwing stuff on
(29:26):
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Speaker 2 (30:12):
So we remember how the Super Bowl went so We've
got that rematch coming up this weekend, and they are
both coming off of underwhelming divisional performances. The Eagles obviously won,
but they probably did win in the fashion they would
have liked, and the Chiefs lost.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
How close to the super Bowl? How close to the
super Bowl game do you think this will be?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Oh, I don't listen.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
I do not think Kansas City is going to get
blown out. I will if Kansas City gets blown out,
I will be concerned.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I also spoiler alert, don't think Kansas City is going
to lose. And I think that the Chiefs being home
dogs with Patrick being healthy is a slap in the face,
especially because I do think it's fair to say Philly
(31:08):
did not look overwhelming in Week one, you know what
I mean? Philly looked fine, but they looked kind of lucky,
not lucky, but fortunate to get out of that game
with a win against a Dallas team that there were
no expectations for.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
So I I also think that those of us that
have been hoping for or planning on, you know, the
Mahomes light show as Brew calls it, to come back,
going to have to wait some more time. Because obviously
They knew they weren't gonna have Hershie Rice in this game,
(31:48):
but now they also won't have Xavier Worthy in this game.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
And so I think it's going to be a lot.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Of ball control, a lot of short intermediate stuff, and
a lot of you know, Mahomes makes some magic, but
I think you have a pissed off urgent Patrick Mahomes,
and I think he will deliver. I'm going to add
to it that where my where my concern comes in
(32:16):
this game is is Jalen Hurts going to have four
seconds to throw and that chief secondary not be able
to hang in there?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Now?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I know Jalen threw nothing but short except for the
one bomb and had nothing but time against Dallas, But
I also know that Justin Herbert had nothing but time
and carved up the chief secondary. The part of the
Week one game that was most dispiriting and most concerning
(32:49):
to me Demanse was how the overall pass defense for
Kansas City looks Now? Will Philadelphia take advantage of it? Okay, like,
will Philadelphia to lean into that part of their offense?
Speaker 3 (33:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I mean, aj Brown went fifty eight minutes in Week
one without a target, and they they still moved the ball,
and Jalen was brilliant scrambling. But that's another piece of
this game that does concern me. Designed pass plays jail
and drops back, They wait, they wait, no one the
(33:27):
times the coverage holds up, no one's open. Jalen's able
to run. So I think Philly will be able to
move the ball if they lean into the passing game.
I think the Chiefs run defense has been one of
their underrated factors the last couple of years, and even
in that Super Bowl when the Chiefs got annihilated, the
(33:51):
run defense was obviously really impactful. I did a good job.
I shouldn't impact those the wrong word, did a good job, Saquon.
The story of the Super Bowl was the disastrous offensive
line play from Kansas City, And now I'm excited to
(34:12):
see it because the Chiefs upgraded at left tackle obviously,
and the Eagles don't have the edges they had last year.
Now they still do have Jalen Carter in this game.
As we talked about, he is suspended for this game,
but he's playing in this game, and how will those
(34:33):
matchups look. If Patrick has even a modicum of time,
I believe he will be able to make Hay against
this Eagle secondary that I believe is going to be
a work in progress throughout the year. Obviously, Degene is
very good and Quinyan Mitchell is excellent, and maybe I
(34:55):
should call Degene excellent and Quenya Mitchell very good. But
they're both at the very least very good. Play. But
there isn't a single other person in that secondary that
you trust I as far as demands, you know, will
you panic? Should I panic if the Chiefs are zero
(35:16):
to two? I The answer to that is unequivocally known.
And here is the thing that it is frustrating is
the wrong word, but annoying that folks don't see folks
speak with authority and don't have the memories I guess
(35:39):
that I do on what the Chiefs have actually been in,
you know, the Mahomes era. In twenty twenty one, the
Chiefs started three and four, three and four, coming off
getting blown out in the Super Bowl by Tampa. They
(35:59):
started the next year three and four and then found themselves,
as they always do, at the absolute worst in overtime
of the AFC Championship Game in twenty twenty three. The
Chiefs in November to December lost. They had a stretch
(36:20):
where they lost one, two, yeah, five out of eight,
including within that stretch where they lost four out of
six and in that where they lost three out of
four and the only win came against the woeful Patriots,
where they didn't even look that good, and they responded
(36:40):
to that by winning the Super Bowl, the idea that
they've never had that had just been see and even
last year, even though they never lost games, people hated
how they looked at various points in the regular season,
and they found themselves in the super Bowl again. So
(37:03):
it is just flatly inaccurate to say they haven't faced
any regular season adversity or downswings during this time. It's
just that the baseline is so high that they have
been able to obviously more than overcome it. But I
so I wouldn't panic. I will come on here, you know, Tuesday,
(37:29):
if not before. If they get manhandled by an Eagles
team that I don't think as good as last year's
Eagles team, it is time for real concern, not panic,
but concern. If it's a really good game and they
end up coming up on the short end of it,
I won't panic at all. But I think Kansas City
is better than Philadelphia. And I also think this, and this.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Is the like without the.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Without without Rice and Worthy. Well, so here's the thing
on that. I think that when Rice and Worthy are back,
Philadelphia will be better than they are right now, because
I think Philadelphia's defense has so many new pieces it's
(38:21):
going to be, you know, a work in progress, so
to speak. I also like here is And again, people
can disagree with me. People can say that I'm you know, uh,
waving pom poms, as Bruce says sometimes, and the you
know with the pomp poms when I wave them, all
I see is you've.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Been right every year.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
But I firmly believe that given how Philadelphia played in
Week one, that had they been playing the Chargers, they
lose similar fashion the Chiefs do. And given how the
Chiefs played Week one, had they been playing the Cowboys
(39:03):
and that defense, there's no concerns about the Chiefs offense
right now. Like I don't think Philly or Kansas City
should be happy at all about how Week one went. Now,
I know Philadelphia is one to zero and Kansas City's
zero and one, but it feels to me like both
of those teams had to be pretty uneasy about their performances.
(39:25):
The only thing Philadelphia I thought did really well in
week one was Jailen. I thought jaialen scrambles were just elite,
you know what I mean. Jalen's ability to make something
out of nothing was phenomenal. And the only thing the
Chiefs did really well in week one was the Mahomes
kind of magic, broken play craziness. Like, nobody on the
(39:49):
Chiefs or the Eagles outside of their quarterback should feel
great about Week one, and so we'll see how they
both respond. But to your point, demon's about without Rice
and Worthy for Kansas City. If if Kansas City wins
the game without Rice and Worthy, that is a shot
(40:12):
in the arm for Eagles. Well, I listen, I think
Philadelphia's got the infrastructure and the too much talent. I
don't think like there's not a lot of panic that
should happen in week you know, in week two if like.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
If your top competition and they don't have like two
of their best offensive guys.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
So here's the thing, though, I don't this is for
Philadelphia or Kansas City. I simply don't believe in cross
conference rivalries in the NFL, and I don't believe in
your top competition ever being someone in the other conference,
(40:55):
like because it has to be such a perfect storm
for you guys to play in a game that matters.
Like let's just say for the record, or for example,
I should say that Philly does blow out Kansas City,
just annihilates them. It looks just like the Super Bowl.
(41:15):
While that would reasonably shake anyone's faith that the Chiefs
can beat the Eagles, it to me should barely shake
your faith that can the Chiefs win the Super Bowl
because like the Eagles would have to get there, as
the Chiefs would have to get there obviously, but the
Eagles w have to get there, you know. So the
(41:37):
in a weird way like that Charger game and how
the Chargers exploited what were Chiefs weaknesses was a bigger
concern than anything that could happen Sunday, because the Chargers
are direct competition. You play them again, You could play
them in you know, in the first round of the playoffs,
like Philadelphia maybe you know has Kansas City's number, but
(42:02):
the Packers clip. I mean, it doesn't even matter. And
so that the it is very rare that a cross
conference rivalry be the rivalry it has to be almost
NBA Lebron Cavs STEPH Warriors style, where it's like these
two teams are just dominating. It's inevitable right that where
(42:27):
we're going to end up. And that's just not to
me realistic here. I know you wanted to ask me
about how I'm watching the game.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Yeah, what is what's going to be your plan for
the game? The setup? Are we kicking people out of there?
Speaker 3 (42:41):
I think I'm going to be back home.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
I might stay in Kansas City for the game, but
I think I'm going to be back home there. There
is a chance I stick around and watch the game
in person, but I don't think that's what I'm going
to do. So I don't have I guess a good answer.
Speaker 4 (43:02):
There, go ahead, it'd be high stressed for you.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Well, it'd be a home game, Like I certainly would
never watch this a game like this on the road. Right,
and again, if people don't know the reason we're recording
this Wednesday, the reason all being Kansas City is we
are doing the show live, the TV show live from
Power and Light two o'clock Central time on Friday, and
(43:28):
I would love any and everyone in Kansas City to
stop by and again, anyone that shows up with a
first thing's first related sign all buy you a beer.
And so the logistics or legality of that, I don't
really know. But I'm just going to come there with
a pocket full of twenties and hand them out to
(43:49):
people who have first Things first signs.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
So that's the plan. It'll be great.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
There is a level, it would seem like, of trepidation
from some other folks of how big the crowd's going
to be. I think the crowd is going to be
pretty big.
Welcome to the Best of the Week for What's Right
with Nick Right the best takes and moments from this
week on the show. Enjoy all right, Monday Night football
de Monsday, and we might have a problem.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Uh yeah, So the Bears came. It came out looking
pretty good. Caleb had that nice drive in the beginning
of the game. Seemed like they were controlling it. Even
JJ McCarthy threw a pick six, but they still turned
it around and won. So obviously Caleb Williams lost last night.
What was your biggest takeaway from this game?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
All right, I'm officially a little concerned about Caleb. I
was not at any point last year, but the sequence
of the last ninety six hours where I listen, I'm
a subscriber. I was already a subscriber to Tyler Dunn substack.
(00:52):
It's like fifty bucks for the whole year support real journalism.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
He is the guy.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
If people are like, oh, let me it's go long TD.
Let me see if you go to golongtd dot com
if that takes you there, I actually don't know the
answer that no, so hold on, let me see what
the actual was. So oh no, it does Oh maybe, yeah,
golongtd dot com, but it's on substack. He is the
guy who broke the story a year ago, demons that
(01:23):
Sean McDermott tried to rally the troops by being like
the nine to eleven hijackers thing. He has real sources,
he is a real journalist. He's totally independent, so I
was already a subscriber of his. He has released a
three part book on Caleb's first year with the Bears.
(01:47):
It Ain't Great and it is to me highly concerning.
It also discusses it's a The person who comes out
looking the worst is Ryan the GM. Caleb doesn't look
great though in it either, and it talks about a
shaky work ethic, not necessarily galvanizing leadership, and then a
(02:16):
shocking statement from some of his sources that there is
a belief within the front office that was kept from
the coaching staff that Caleb might have the learning disability dyslexia,
which there is obviously no shame in that at all. However,
(02:40):
one of the ways dyslexia can manifest itself, obviously is
you transpose words or letters, and that one of the
reasons they postulate he might have trouble translating the play
call from his headset to his wristband, getting it in,
getting plays in on time is a confusion.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
About what he's reading.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And that is not something that is you know, you
can't overcome, but it is something that has to be
accounted for. And the reporting is that the front office
kept it from.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
His coaches last year.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Now, obviously, Ben Johnson, one would think has all this information.
And if you watched last night, you saw most notably
that play on the sideline when Caleb spun out of trouble,
went to the sideline and then ripped an absolute laser
(03:44):
to I don't know if it was DJ Moore or Rome.
I'm not sure why the talent demands is undeniable and hypnotizing.
It just is like and you saw that obviously throughout
his remarkable collegiate career.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
But his.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right now deficit on the pre snap parts of being
an NFL quarterback to me, are going to slow his development.
And you saw that left and right last night that
(04:29):
getting plays in was still a problem. Motioning guys when
there's a few seconds on the shot on the shot clock,
on the game clock or play clock was still a problem.
Like some things that he really needs to be at
this point, in my opinion, better at those things have
(04:52):
become one game in have not improved, And.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
You don't think his decision making it all improved a
little bit from last year.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
So I do think his decision making improved. I'm talking
about the pre snap operation. I'm talking about getting the
team out of the huddle, conveying the play call in time,
doing the things necessary to prevent these five yard pre
snap penalties.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
That was brutal.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
The whole night just was. And while his decision making
I thought was better and he was quicker getting the
ball out, his accuracy was shaky.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, he's putting a lot he missed, putting a lot
on them.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Putting a lot on the lot on the ball, and
also just missing. There were a couple spots he missed.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Guys wide open. And so.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
If I am being.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Fair, which I have to be.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I I still believe in Caleb Williams. I am less
certain that super stardom is in his future. And I
think that is for me, as a guy who said
(06:21):
he would come into the league as a top ten quarterback,
tough pill to swallow, trust me.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But you don't think it might be a little a
little early with it being game one, Like if they
were to go and put it on the Lions, what
would that change stuff?
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Immediately?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Maybe I'm going to look back on this and say
I was, you know, ten hours after the game in
his reactionary. But I am like I am. I understand
most of the audience has not read the Tyler Dunn story,
and again his substacks go long TV dot com. I
highly encourage people. It's worth the six bucks a month.
(07:06):
It's less than that four bucks a month. It's worth
it just to read this story. To be totally honest
with you, that story shook my faith in a real way.
And then this game. You of course, listen, he started
(07:31):
ten of ten. It started great, it ended so poorly.
And listen, he's not the only culprit in this, which
brings us to Ben Johnson, where there were I didn't
(07:52):
like Ben Johnson's decision early to not kick the field goal.
I just think you don't have the Lions team from
last year. You're also playing a team that is going
to be hard to accumulate points on as evidence by
the fact your offense, you know, struggled to score points
(08:13):
throughout the night. I know they finished with twenty four.
One touchdown came with two minutes left, and another one was.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
A pick six.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
But JJ at that, you know what I mean? There
was reason to believe JJ would struggle early, and he did.
But the bigger problem is and evidently Peyton Manning peeped
this on the Manning cast, because of course he did.
I was surprised Joe and Troy didn't. But this is
going to This is a coaching note that is simply
(08:45):
it listen, nobody's in the Brian Callahan category. More on
him later, But this was a mistake by Ben.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So here's situation.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
He understood, we've got a score before the two minute one.
Caleb almost ran it in before the two minute warning
at two oh four, two oh five. They end up
ruling him, you know, out of bounds at the six
inch line. They then do a quick pass score. They
score it two oh two. They have one timeout. With
(09:18):
the two minute warning and one timeout. If you force
a three and out, you're gonna get the ball back
without a minute left, down three points and be alive.
Without the two minute warning and one timeout, you're gonna
get the ball back with about twenty seconds left and
be dead it's that simple. The two minute warning must
(09:38):
be retained in part because I think Ben challenged a
play because he didn't understand the rule. Now that's a
tricky rule because so let me back up to it.
The rule is if someone is knee is on the
ground and you touch them, they're down immediately. What Ben
(10:04):
saw or his guy in the booth saw, is, oh,
we didn't touch the player with who was down. We
punched the ball, and we punched the ball so cleanly.
It did not We never touched the player until the
ball was loose. So is that a fumble? And so
(10:27):
he challenged it and the answer is no, it's not
even just touching the ball. When a player is down
on the ground, he's down. So that's like a nuance
of the rule. Head coach needs to know that. So
like that was so that's why they only had one
time out instead of two. But now we get to
(10:50):
two h two left and Cairo Santos, who missed the
field goal earlier and is not known for the strongest
of legs, Demonse Ben Johnson tells him kick it out
of the back of the end zone to retain the
two minute warning. Kevin O'Connell tells his guy, if you
(11:14):
can return it, return it, don't worry about the yardage,
just return it to burn these two seconds sidebar. No
one's ever done this, but I would encourage it. The
actual sharpest play there for that returner, if he only
has to burn two seconds, is to catch it and
(11:35):
run sideways, staying in the end zone to burn as
much time as possible, and then just step out the
back of the end zone for a touchback or kneel
it for a touchback. Then you still get the thirty
five yard line. You don't risk a fumble, you burn
more time because the guys have to get to you.
(11:56):
But again, that is PhD level coaching, of which you
know not everyone is here yet. That's fine, Kevin O'Connell
did a great job with it. But here is the
nuanced part that matters, in particular with the new touchback
rules Demonse. The new touchback rule is if you kneel
(12:20):
it in the end zone. If you kick it into
the end zone and they kneel it, they get it
on the thirty five. They did not change the fact
that if you kick it out of bounds, you get
it at the forty. So the oh if the single
most important thing to your team is that they not
(12:43):
be able to return this kick. And you don't have
a cannon legged kicker who can kick it out in
the back of the end zone on command, Then you
don't ask him to kick it out the back of
the end zone, which he might not be able to do.
You ask him fire that thing forty five degree angle
(13:04):
right out of bounce, which everyone can do. You give
up five yards who cares you guarantee? So instead of
the thirty five, it's the forty that doesn't matter. What
matters is now that next play happens at two two,
there's nothing they can do about it. That was a
mistake by Ben Johnson. I saw it in real time.
(13:27):
Peyton Manning on the Manning cast evidently saw it in
real time and I and I thought that that was
a mistake. So listen, I thought, I don't think that
was like an awful first game by Ben Johnson. But
the bad challenge and the trusting that Cairo Santos can
(13:53):
just boom it out in the back of the end zone,
we're very costly mistakes.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
So why are you giving him as in his first game.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Blew a big lead offense, didn't really get going after
the opening script those mistakes C plus C plus C plus,
giving him a C plus. All right, let's spend a
second on JJ.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, I was about to say so after seeing that
performance by JJ, what do you expect from him moving forward?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Well, listen, I think that the comeback and his role
in it and the confidence he's going to get from it.
You know, if they if they didn't get that comeback
at the end and was just he threw a pick
six and they lose, I think the next few weeks
could be real rough. Instead, a guy whose rep coming
(14:46):
in was just a winner, makes big plays, galvanizing force
just adds to it in his first ever NFL game.
Pretty good Like that, Art is really good. So I
didn't think he was that impressive. I didn't think he
(15:06):
was that good, but he had the moments which I think,
are you know, super relevant and super you know, useful,
and so I want to give.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Him credit for that.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Am I am? I sold entirely that, like you know,
he's going to be a franchise quarterback. No, of course,
not yet after one game, but for what his rep
was demans, that was an awesome start.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
That was yes, for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, you're giving let's go ahead. Will Caleb be getting
similar treatment to the Prince? You know how Trevor had
bad coaching and then he had his coach and that
was officially his first year.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Well let's listen.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I mean, if Trevor does what the Prince did, which
is have an awesome second year, make the playoffs, win
a playoff game, then yeah, we can just say if
Caleb does, sorry, if Caleb does what Trevor did, we
can just say, yeah, it was it was all on Eberflus.
And I think a lot of it was on bears
ysfunction in Eberflus. Again, I'm not saying like I'm out
(16:19):
on Caleb. I am saying that the stuff, some of
the stuff that I wanted him to be just a
little tighter on, I didn't see.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
And that's just that, just is what it is.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia Bill's Ravens.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, so the game didn't disappoint. Obviously, Buffalo came back
against my Ravens. That fifteen point lead erased, harball has
now blown seventeen double digit second half leads. The bigger
story here is that the Bills win, or is it
the Ravens loss?
Speaker 3 (18:34):
What do you think the bigger story is?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
The bigger story here is, Oh my gosh, the Ravens
gotta stop shooting themselves in the foot. The penalties and
just the fun. The penalties are just so frustrating. The
penalties and just how we move when we need something.
The Bills have the momentum, they're coming back, and we're
running indo rounds.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
With Zay Flowers just rather get a first down.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, I'm glad you did you bring up that end
around with Jay Flowers the because I from what I
said on the show yesterday, or did that bother you
organic much?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
That that play demonse is like lost in the conversation
surrounding the game that was insane, like you need one
first down to win the game. Derrick Henry is killing me.
I understand, Henry got stuffed on first down. You cannot
use one of your downs on save Flowers.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
He just can't.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
It's got to be lamar ball in his hands, you know,
if see someone open throws it or run or Derrick Henry.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
So that I agree with entirely, and I also.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Agree with you.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
The biggest stories the Ravens loss because the Bills listen.
Josh Allen is an unbelievable player, and since he stopped
turning the ball over, he stopped being roller coaster and
I stopped calling him one. Like I've been fair about Josh.
Josh always had this amazing talent. He was a little
too high variants of a player early. He removes some
(20:11):
of that variants and now.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
He's just a killer.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
So the Bill's coming back is not that shocking. The
Bill's defense looking as bad as it did for the
vast majority of that game is actually a little concerning.
Like weirdly, if I were a Bills fan, Demons, I
would be over the moon thrilled about the win. And
you have the tiebreaker and you have the easier schedule.
You've never had the one seed since you've been since
(20:37):
you've had Josh Allen, you now have a real shot
at it this year. Like all of that is super positive,
but deep down I'd be like, yikes, that defense, Like
that's that's a bit of a concern. But the story
is Baltimore once again inventing a way to lose because
they this is what they do. And I know Harbaugh
(20:59):
Harball tried to make the point essentially that Harbaugh tried
to make the point that yeah, we've blown a lot
of big leads, but we have a lot of big leads,
Like how fair, you know what I mean, Like we
(21:19):
were in this position more than most. Mike Sando has
this these figures. I think it's good. Since the start
of the twenty twenty two season, there are seven teams
demons who have had multiple score fourth quarter leads at
(21:43):
least twenty times. Okay, so seven teams have had multiple
score fourth quarter leads at least twenty times, and Harbaugh
is right that the Ravens have the most most of them.
The Bengals and the Bills have twenty one, the Lions
have twenty two, the Chiefs have twenty four, the Niners
have twenty five, the Eagles have twenty eight, and the
(22:05):
Ravens have thirty one, So that is a lot. Here's
the problem, though, record in those games from best to worst,
the Chiefs are twenty four and oh, and honestly, I
just did a home mahmes thing. I don't need to
(22:26):
do it again. That's the least surprising stat in the
world because while it's been a while since the Chiefs
have been able to generate some big lead, the idea,
I can't even conceptualize what it would look like for
the Chiefs to blow a big lead. No, for you
know what I mean, for the Chiefs to be up
thirteen in the fourth and lose like with Patrick. It
(22:49):
just doesn't happen. Like they're not gonna make those mistakes.
And Andy obviously deserves credit for that too. But the
Chiefs are twenty four and oh. The next best is
the Eagles and one, then the Lions twenty one and one,
the Bengals twenty and one, the Niners twenty three and two,
(23:13):
and the second worst is the Bills at nineteen and two,
and then the Ravens at twenty five and six. So yes,
the Ravens have had more slightly more opportunities, but the
Chiefs have never lost in the last three years in
(23:34):
that spot. The Eagles, Lions, and Bengals have lost once,
the Niners and Bills have lost twice, and the Ravens
have lost six times. That's not nothing. It's just not nothing.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
And I don't.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I don't know that the Hardball Lamar combo is gonna
get over for the hump Man.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I just don't.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
And it's Lamar's obviously, you know, just getting better as
a player, getting better in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Like I also.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Thought demands, how did you feel when you saw Hardball
was punting on fourth and two and a half.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I mean, it's easy to say, looking back at the game, like,
definitely got to go for that, but also we weren't
stopping them, so it probably does make more sense to
go for it in that situation because the Bills have
just been They've been doing everything they wanted, so it's
it's not fourth and five.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Well, and here's the other piece.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
And I got Lamar and Derrick Henry, and I.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Know Lamar said he was cramping. But what you can
do there is because the Bills used a timeout, they
use the timeout. You get two minutes there to kind
of recover. You then trot your offense out, try to
draw him off sides forty seconds to recover. If you
don't call time out, another two minutes to recover, and
then you got to go for.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It because if you.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
If you don't get it, you might get the ball back,
you know what I mean. If you don't get it
and they score, you get the ball back. And if
you do get it, the game's over. And here's my
only criticism of Lamar from that game, My only criticism.
When he threw the pass on third and nine where
he did three yards short of this I assumed, I
(25:36):
think it was actually the Hopkins I.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Think and talked to Yeah it was.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I assumed he threw it there because he like obviously correct,
but he was comfortable throwing it short of the sticks
because it's four down territory, you know what I mean, Like,
that's what I assumed was the case. If you're not
if you don't know you're going for it, you can't
(26:04):
and you can't throw short of the sticks there, like
you've got to try to go get the first down.
I also have a question for you to want and
if the answer is had nothing to do with the game,
that's fine. You sent out a tweet an hour into
the game that said that that had a superhero, a
(26:28):
bowl of ramen maybe, and then a trophy. Before you
tell me what that is, I have a question. Is
that a bowl of ramen in the in the picture.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
That's it's a ball?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
It's like, was it specifically? Are you? Are you going
to tell us what that was?
Speaker 4 (26:54):
I was about to eat.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I knew it. I was gonna guess.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Then we come out and be b fair. Yes, yeah,
everything to do with the game.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
I was tweeting super Bowl Champs. I thought the Bravens
is gonna win the game. That's why I left it cryptic.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
But super Bowl Champs it I had it totally wrong.
I thought I had it totally wrong, and I thought
our producers were gonna laugh. What people don't know about
you is, while you're not what I would call a chef,
(27:32):
you do consider yourself a bit of like an elite. Yes,
I had eggs and different rams, and I honestly thought
you were watching the game and made yourself like a
great Ramen meal watching it and were like calling yourself
like the King of making Ramen noodles. I swear to
(27:54):
God that's what I thought I did. Now now, super
Bowl champ. That's pretty good. All right, that's pretty good. Um, okay,
all right, do you have a you have a Derrick
Henry tweet for me or to not tweet a question?
Speaker 4 (28:10):
Oh yeah, um yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So aside from the fumble, Henry looked good as ever.
Obviously he had one hundred and sixty nine yards and
two touchdowns. Do you think that it's safe to say
that the cliff isn't coming this year because you said
he was getting a.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Sure sure doesn't seem like the cliffs coming. Holy moly,
that guy is unbelievable futures, unbelievable player.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, alright, the.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And I have no problem with Lamar shoving the fan
me neither fan shoved him first.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
I have no prom not.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Also, they didn't talk about on the broadcast, Bill's fans
stop throwing ship on the field. They were the They
were the originators of throwing sex toys on sporting event
fields before it caught off fire in the WNBA and
when Lamar when Derek Henry was running for his touchdown,
(29:06):
they threw a water bottle on the field. They they
famously threw snowballs at the Chiefs, like icy snow. Like
the stop throwing stuff on the field, Like I have
to listen every year to how Buffalo's got the greatest
fans in the world because it's cold there and they
shovel the stadium for him. Like, stop throwing stuff on
(29:26):
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Speaker 2 (30:12):
So we remember how the Super Bowl went so We've
got that rematch coming up this weekend, and they are
both coming off of underwhelming divisional performances. The Eagles obviously won,
but they probably did win in the fashion they would
have liked, and the Chiefs lost.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
How close to the super Bowl? How close to the
super Bowl game do you think this will be?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Oh, I don't listen.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
I do not think Kansas City is going to get
blown out. I will if Kansas City gets blown out,
I will be concerned.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I also spoiler alert, don't think Kansas City is going
to lose. And I think that the Chiefs being home
dogs with Patrick being healthy is a slap in the face,
especially because I do think it's fair to say Philly
(31:08):
did not look overwhelming in Week one, you know what
I mean? Philly looked fine, but they looked kind of lucky,
not lucky, but fortunate to get out of that game
with a win against a Dallas team that there were
no expectations for.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
So I I also think that those of us that
have been hoping for or planning on, you know, the
Mahomes light show as Brew calls it, to come back,
going to have to wait some more time. Because obviously
They knew they weren't gonna have Hershie Rice in this game,
(31:48):
but now they also won't have Xavier Worthy in this game.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
And so I think it's going to be a lot.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Of ball control, a lot of short intermediate stuff, and
a lot of you know, Mahomes makes some magic, but
I think you have a pissed off urgent Patrick Mahomes,
and I think he will deliver. I'm going to add
to it that where my where my concern comes in
(32:16):
this game is is Jalen Hurts going to have four
seconds to throw and that chief secondary not be able
to hang in there?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Now?
Speaker 1 (32:27):
I know Jalen threw nothing but short except for the
one bomb and had nothing but time against Dallas, But
I also know that Justin Herbert had nothing but time
and carved up the chief secondary. The part of the
Week one game that was most dispiriting and most concerning
(32:49):
to me Demanse was how the overall pass defense for
Kansas City looks Now? Will Philadelphia take advantage of it? Okay, like,
will Philadelphia to lean into that part of their offense?
Speaker 3 (33:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I mean, aj Brown went fifty eight minutes in Week
one without a target, and they they still moved the ball,
and Jalen was brilliant scrambling. But that's another piece of
this game that does concern me. Designed pass plays jail
and drops back, They wait, they wait, no one the
(33:27):
times the coverage holds up, no one's open. Jalen's able
to run. So I think Philly will be able to
move the ball if they lean into the passing game.
I think the Chiefs run defense has been one of
their underrated factors the last couple of years, and even
in that Super Bowl when the Chiefs got annihilated, the
(33:51):
run defense was obviously really impactful. I did a good job.
I shouldn't impact those the wrong word, did a good job, Saquon.
The story of the Super Bowl was the disastrous offensive
line play from Kansas City, And now I'm excited to
(34:12):
see it because the Chiefs upgraded at left tackle obviously,
and the Eagles don't have the edges they had last year.
Now they still do have Jalen Carter in this game.
As we talked about, he is suspended for this game,
but he's playing in this game, and how will those
(34:33):
matchups look. If Patrick has even a modicum of time,
I believe he will be able to make Hay against
this Eagle secondary that I believe is going to be
a work in progress throughout the year. Obviously, Degene is
very good and Quinyan Mitchell is excellent, and maybe I
(34:55):
should call Degene excellent and Quenya Mitchell very good. But
they're both at the very least very good. Play. But
there isn't a single other person in that secondary that
you trust I as far as demands, you know, will
you panic? Should I panic if the Chiefs are zero
(35:16):
to two? I The answer to that is unequivocally known.
And here is the thing that it is frustrating is
the wrong word, but annoying that folks don't see folks
speak with authority and don't have the memories I guess
(35:39):
that I do on what the Chiefs have actually been in,
you know, the Mahomes era. In twenty twenty one, the
Chiefs started three and four, three and four, coming off
getting blown out in the Super Bowl by Tampa. They
(35:59):
started the next year three and four and then found themselves,
as they always do, at the absolute worst in overtime
of the AFC Championship Game in twenty twenty three. The
Chiefs in November to December lost. They had a stretch
(36:20):
where they lost one, two, yeah, five out of eight,
including within that stretch where they lost four out of
six and in that where they lost three out of
four and the only win came against the woeful Patriots,
where they didn't even look that good, and they responded
(36:40):
to that by winning the Super Bowl, the idea that
they've never had that had just been see and even
last year, even though they never lost games, people hated
how they looked at various points in the regular season,
and they found themselves in the super Bowl again. So
(37:03):
it is just flatly inaccurate to say they haven't faced
any regular season adversity or downswings during this time. It's
just that the baseline is so high that they have
been able to obviously more than overcome it. But I
so I wouldn't panic. I will come on here, you know, Tuesday,
(37:29):
if not before. If they get manhandled by an Eagles
team that I don't think as good as last year's
Eagles team, it is time for real concern, not panic,
but concern. If it's a really good game and they
end up coming up on the short end of it,
I won't panic at all. But I think Kansas City
is better than Philadelphia. And I also think this, and this.
Speaker 4 (37:55):
Is the like without the.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Without without Rice and Worthy. Well, so here's the thing
on that. I think that when Rice and Worthy are back,
Philadelphia will be better than they are right now, because
I think Philadelphia's defense has so many new pieces it's
(38:21):
going to be, you know, a work in progress, so
to speak. I also like here is And again, people
can disagree with me. People can say that I'm you know, uh,
waving pom poms, as Bruce says sometimes, and the you
know with the pomp poms when I wave them, all
I see is you've.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
Been right every year.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
But I firmly believe that given how Philadelphia played in
Week one, that had they been playing the Chargers, they
lose similar fashion the Chiefs do. And given how the
Chiefs played Week one, had they been playing the Cowboys
(39:03):
and that defense, there's no concerns about the Chiefs offense
right now. Like I don't think Philly or Kansas City
should be happy at all about how Week one went. Now,
I know Philadelphia is one to zero and Kansas City's
zero and one, but it feels to me like both
of those teams had to be pretty uneasy about their performances.
(39:25):
The only thing Philadelphia I thought did really well in
week one was Jailen. I thought jaialen scrambles were just elite,
you know what I mean. Jalen's ability to make something
out of nothing was phenomenal. And the only thing the
Chiefs did really well in week one was the Mahomes
kind of magic, broken play craziness. Like, nobody on the
(39:49):
Chiefs or the Eagles outside of their quarterback should feel
great about Week one, and so we'll see how they
both respond. But to your point, demon's about without Rice
and Worthy for Kansas City. If if Kansas City wins
the game without Rice and Worthy, that is a shot
(40:12):
in the arm for Eagles. Well, I listen, I think
Philadelphia's got the infrastructure and the too much talent. I
don't think like there's not a lot of panic that
should happen in week you know, in week two if like.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
If your top competition and they don't have like two
of their best offensive guys.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
So here's the thing, though, I don't this is for
Philadelphia or Kansas City. I simply don't believe in cross
conference rivalries in the NFL, and I don't believe in
your top competition ever being someone in the other conference,
(40:55):
like because it has to be such a perfect storm
for you guys to play in a game that matters.
Like let's just say for the record, or for example,
I should say that Philly does blow out Kansas City,
just annihilates them. It looks just like the Super Bowl.
(41:15):
While that would reasonably shake anyone's faith that the Chiefs
can beat the Eagles, it to me should barely shake
your faith that can the Chiefs win the Super Bowl
because like the Eagles would have to get there, as
the Chiefs would have to get there obviously, but the
Eagles w have to get there, you know. So the
(41:37):
in a weird way like that Charger game and how
the Chargers exploited what were Chiefs weaknesses was a bigger
concern than anything that could happen Sunday, because the Chargers
are direct competition. You play them again, You could play
them in you know, in the first round of the playoffs,
like Philadelphia maybe you know has Kansas City's number, but
(42:02):
the Packers clip. I mean, it doesn't even matter. And
so that the it is very rare that a cross
conference rivalry be the rivalry it has to be almost
NBA Lebron Cavs STEPH Warriors style, where it's like these
two teams are just dominating. It's inevitable right that where
(42:27):
we're going to end up. And that's just not to
me realistic here. I know you wanted to ask me
about how I'm watching the game.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Yeah, what is what's going to be your plan for
the game? The setup? Are we kicking people out of there?
Speaker 3 (42:41):
I think I'm going to be back home.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
I might stay in Kansas City for the game, but
I think I'm going to be back home there. There
is a chance I stick around and watch the game
in person, but I don't think that's what I'm going
to do. So I don't have I guess a good answer.
Speaker 4 (43:02):
There, go ahead, it'd be high stressed for you.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Well, it'd be a home game, Like I certainly would
never watch this a game like this on the road. Right,
and again, if people don't know the reason we're recording
this Wednesday, the reason all being Kansas City is we
are doing the show live, the TV show live from
Power and Light two o'clock Central time on Friday, and
(43:28):
I would love any and everyone in Kansas City to
stop by and again, anyone that shows up with a
first thing's first related sign all buy you a beer.
And so the logistics or legality of that, I don't
really know. But I'm just going to come there with
a pocket full of twenties and hand them out to
(43:49):
people who have first Things first signs.
Speaker 3 (43:52):
So that's the plan. It'll be great.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
There is a level, it would seem like, of trepidation
from some other folks of how big the crowd's going
to be. I think the crowd is going to be
pretty big.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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