🎙️ ‘Memories and Mindset’ – Chiefs vs. Dolphins Preview w/Nohl Williams | Defending The Kingdom

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Matt, have you ever driven by a place or revisited a place? You’re like, wow, this is a spot that I will love forever. Like a elementary school or a place of a family picnic or I don’t know, the Sweet Springs convenience store where you’d always stop with your granddad. Oh, yeah.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, honestly, every time that I walk out of Arrowhead after a game and I’m walking back to the facility because I do the walk every time I never take the bus, I always take a moment to look back at look at Arrowhead and think, I love this place. I can’t believe I get to go here every Sunday. So, yeah, I’d say so.

00:00:35
Speaker 1: Love that because that’s the feeling of going back to Hard Rock Stadium to play the Miami Dolphins this week. What that facility, Super Bowl 54, the team went in 2020, but we did not go. It was COVID. We did the game in the studio. Pretty crazy during that whole year. But to walk back into that facility, I’m not exactly sure what I will feel, but I know I’ll be full of emotion.

00:01:03
Speaker 2: I’ve only been there once and it was just for the Super Bowl. So it’ll be kind of strange experiencing it just for like a normal regular season game. But I’m with you to think all the things that have happened since then. We joke around that being in Miami and being at Hard Rock for Super Bowl 54, after it was over, it was like I didn’t really know what to do with myself. Because let’s just be honest, as Chiefs fans, winning the Super Bowl for so long almost felt unattainable. And we did it. And I’m like, all right, now what? And I think we’ve been so fortunate to have so much success in the time since that The other Super Bowls, I’ve just had so much fun and really appreciated it and enjoyed it. But I remember that about Miami. I truly couldn’t believe it. And it’ll be fun being back there and experiencing all those memories again.

00:01:49
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, just maximize everything. We were down there for the week and doing shows and programming. And I remember from where we stayed to go to South Beach, where we were doing a lot of shots, I think I made Ubers revenue projections for the first quarter of that year. You’re a stockholder now. I feel like it. But the point is that so many things happen. You just want to maximize everything. But I remember the post-game party. I didn’t know what that even was.

00:02:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, like what?

00:02:19
Speaker 1: I just wanted to hug everybody. Hey, we just did this. We just did something I never thought would happen. And then Pitbull shows up. I’m like, what, Pitbull? Like, it’s like the scene on Old School where Snoop Dogg shows up, you know, at the Mitchpalooza. And it’s what that was. I was like, what? What’s going on?

00:02:36
Speaker 2: I think Flo Rida was there.

00:02:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, Flo Rida. It’s like just, yeah, what is it? Who’s going to be next? You know, so… But anyway, yeah, it was incredible experience. It’ll be fun to go back. But the Chiefs will be going back at 2-0. And with two home victories, but exhilarating victories, both very different. But to win the game against the Colts in overtime, to me, and I talked with Coach Reed about this, we did the Kingdom Show on Monday night. The first thing that came across to me was poise. Incredible poise. poise in all three phases of the game. This is a young Chiefs team, third youngest in the NFL, but there are enough veterans on this team who’ve been through a lot and a lot of big games where you saw just their covering over the young guys, but to develop the poise, what did you think when you saw a team that was, it was like a tennis match, seven lead changes, three ties. It’s, oh, we’re in, we’re induced. Okay. We’re, uh, now we got add in, add out. My granddaughter plays tennis and So I’m seeing all this, but it felt like back and forth. But for the Chiefs to stay on the even keel was impressive. Yeah, it was.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: We talked about this after the game. I can say this with certainty. I think the Chiefs lose that game last year. The way that last season went, the ball never went our way. And also, things tended to snowball last year. So when one thing didn’t go well, two or three more things wouldn’t go well. Sunday against the Colts was the total opposite. When something went poorly, and there were some downs in that game, something positive would happen soon after. So if the defense was struggling, the offense would pick them up. If the offense was struggling, the defense would pick them up. That was the case throughout the game. And it was so cool to see because it was true complimentary football. Didn’t have that a lot last season. And we talked about it on previous episodes. The whole tagline for this year is mindset because we had to get back into the mindset of complimentary football and picking each other up when things weren’t going well. It’s a long football season and football is hard. Things are going to go poorly at times. How do you respond to it? We had the mindset, I think, in that Colts game throughout the game that whenever something poorly happened, someone else is going to pick that person or that unit up. So you talk about all the lead changes, all the ties. It was awesome. And it was the perfect kind of game for this team, I think, to continue growing because the opening night game was awesome. You love to win by three touchdowns against a division rival, but to be challenged like that by a desperate team and to come out on top is a big deal.

00:05:05
Speaker 1: To accentuate your thought there, I can’t think of two specific examples. Last year, a holding call would just end a drive. Yeah. Well, we end up a holding call in this game and then immediately get 16 yards the next play. And we’ll get to the second and third levels opening up some. But then the 50-yard, is it a catch? Is it not a catch? The whole thing in overtime with Treadwell. And we could sit here and have a whole podcast on that and some theories on that. But the point is, that’s it. They’re going to have first down and goal to go to win. I’m sorry, first down and 10 at the 17 to win the game. A year ago, they’d probably score. And for the Chiefs defense to sit there and get a negative one, negative two on two Jonathan Taylor runs and Tranquil and Nick Bolton are playing their ears off right now. But then to have Jaden Hicks knock Daniel Jones in the next week. But the point is, those are plays… That didn’t necessarily happen last year, especially in the second half of the year.

00:06:09
Speaker 2: The adjustments on that series that you’re talking about were so impressive because Jonathan Taylor and the red zone twice earlier in that game was untouched on those outside runs. And that’s how they wanted to win the game. The Colts talked about it after the fact, like we want to win this thing with JT and to make the adjustments, to make sure that they shut down Taylor on both of those runs and not just prevented them from scoring, but prevented them from getting any positive yardage. So they wouldn’t have a manageable, fourth down discussion a few snaps later a huge deal and also just the the overall mentality of you have that big play you think it goes your way and then it doesn’t last year to your point I think it would have been one of those things where ah man like it’s just not our night and it’s just not our game and it was the total opposite where okay they have the ball let’s shut them down and To win it the way that we did, I’m almost kind of glad, like Patrick said, that we didn’t win it with that fumble. Because to win it the way that we ended up winning it, I think says a lot about our team on both defense and offense.

00:07:09
Speaker 1: Can you imagine all of the national shows?

00:07:11
Speaker 2: No, I can’t.

00:07:12
Speaker 1: If Greg Rolstead walks out and goes, the game’s over. I mean, no. But it didn’t happen that way, and that was fine. Now, let’s talk about Ken Walker III. We want to talk about the second level and third level opening up. But his all-purpose yardage in the first two weeks is, It’s been four decades since that’s happened. We’re going back a while here, 40 years since a guy has opened up all purpose for the first two games. It has been remarkable. And now we saw him, and you and I were prophesying this because we watched him all spring and throughout training camp, his ability in the passing game, not just to get short gains, but to big gains. The fire pass for 22 yards. is a perfect example of that to get the Chiefs in field goal range to win it. But there’s other and it’s just getting started. Yeah. But the fact that this guy is an all purpose machine, tackle breaking machine has changed this team.

00:08:05
Speaker 2: It’s crazy to think about that first game and he sets career highs and scrimmage yards and rushing yards. What can he possibly do to follow that up when the Colts know that he’s going to be the centerpiece of the game plan? All he does is have once again, I think 170 yards from scrimmage. Just amazing. So consistent. Pro Football Focus gave him nine broken tackles in that game. Felt like a lot more. And it opens up everything in this offense. The balance stands out to me. And it’s just incredible where we had 350 passing yards against the Colts over that, actually, and more than 150 rushing yards. The last time we hit those two benchmarks in a single game was a 2018 season. The game against the Bengals in primetime, you know, nine years ago. it’s only happened four times since 2024 for any team. Balance like that in the modern NFL is special. And when you have Ken Walker in the backfield, not only is he going to get his yards in the running game and the passing game, he’s going to open everything up for Patrick Mahomes with his receivers and his tight ends. And we saw that with play action. The play action was just something to marvel at on Sunday because Mahomes was 14 of 17 on play action. Those 14 completions were the most in his career. And it helped the Chiefs just move down the field with ease whenever they needed to. I talked a lot in the offseason about how we were not successful in play action last year. We had the fewest passing yards in play action in the NFL. We had 396 in 17 games, dead last in the NFL. We already have 113 through two games. So some simple math there. That is 30% of last year’s production and 12% of the time. If you’re a defense, you got to pick your poison. Ken Walker or Patrick Mahomes. puts us in a pretty good position.

00:09:48
Speaker 1: Matt, what excites you about the Chiefs defense this year?

00:09:51
Speaker 2: I think it’s the blend of veteran players, like guys like Chris Jones, George Karloftis, with our rookies that we’re really excited about.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of a new school, old school.

00:10:00
Speaker 3: Approach.

00:10:01
Speaker 1: And we need defense. And in the kingdom, we know that championship success starts with defense. Think of 2023, right? Our defense carried us to a Super Bowl title or helped carry us through that. Anyway, 10x. ai is the AI security operations provider protecting organizations from cybersecurity attacks and at machine speed, but with human analysts on the loop 24-7. Experience cybersecurity that’s AI-native and human-led, united against every threat. Visit 10x. ai for details. Sounds to me like what you want from the Chiefs defense.

00:10:34
Speaker 2: I love that idea. Let’s roll.

00:10:36
Speaker 1: A couple plays that are examples of that were the two big plays to Tyquan Thornton. Yeah. When you go back and watch the video of those plays, when Pat has the chance, either a single high safety or man-to-man, And he sees a chance where he’s got Thornton, let’s say middle of the field or even the left hash, and he can throw him open and use the remaining 37 to 40 yards of width of the field. Pat loves that. And then for Tyquan to make those catches. But Matt, I will tell you, I was equally as fired up about the two crossing patterns that Tyquan caught. Yeah. And the fact that, I mean, it’s one time sauce gardeners all over him. And he still made that play. Pat was accurate with the throw. So we can talk about Tyquan being the deep threat. But I talked to Tyquan throughout the offseason saying the next step is going to be the crossing route at 12 to 14 yards for a first down with the guy on you who’s going to hit you in the next week. And you hang on to the ball and you jump up and go first down. That to me, he had four catches in the game, two long ones, two middle ones or shorter ones. I’m as excited about the two shorter ones. Because let’s be honest, the Chiefs are next to last in drops right now after two weeks. Think what would happen yardage-wise if you catch all those plays. And only Danvers had a higher percentage of drops. But Taekwon and those four plays to me were a great example of what the play-action game can do and also opening up level two and level three.

00:12:06
Speaker 2: It’s very clear to me that Patrick trusts Taekwon.

00:12:09
Speaker 1: In big moments.

00:12:10
Speaker 2: And what a cool story he is to be, you know, a high draft pick that ended up getting cut from his original team. And he has to prove it all over again. Ends up on our practice squad a couple of years ago, kind of a breakout year for him last year. We talked about it last year, not a lot of positives in general for the Chiefs, but Taequann Thornton was a major positive from last year, maybe like the number one positive. And whenever we needed a big play last year, Taequann always seemed to make that play. I’m with you on the short passes, but man, those big passes on Sunday, we don’t win the game without both of those. Think about the moments that those took place in. You have a third and 11, you have a third and 12 in overtime, and he makes those plays, tough catches, just really cool. We’ll see this passing game continue to develop, but to have a guy like Taekwon that we can rely on in moments like that, it’s a big deal.

00:12:58
Speaker 1: All right, still thinking about it. There’s things that you just can’t get out of your mind, even though it’s been days since that game. What do you have for still thinking about it?

00:13:06
Speaker 2: Well, how about how the Chiefs are just dictating terms to the opponent? They’re setting the tone to the opponent. Kind of felt like last year we were constantly on our heels. And we’ve talked about this a lot over the years that we get everyone’s best shot. We know that. So one game I always think about is Jacksonville last year. Jacksonville, I mean, we had that game numerous times. And then what the Jags hung around, they made plays to win it in the end. They dictated the terms and set the tone to us as that game went on. The Chiefs are doing that right now in a couple of ways. So one, in terms of taking the football away, we have three takeaways already. We don’t just have takeaways. We have points off takeaways. We have 21 points off takeaways this year. So if you turn the ball over, we’re going to score, make you pay for it. That’s a big deal. That’s dictating terms to the opponent. We’re starting games strong. So we have points on our opening drive. in each of our first two games. That’s a big deal. But maybe even more important, out of halftime, we have a touchdown out of our first drive out of halftime in each of our first two games. That is a really big deal because how often has it happened where we defer the opening kickoff like we always do, the opponent is sticking with us and we’re like, all right, let’s go score out of halftime and put this thing away. We go three and out or we throw a pick or fumble the ball or something. Not the case so far this year. Out of halftime, no matter the circumstances or the situation, we go score. And that dictates terms to the opponent. I’m loving that whole mentality right now. Let’s keep it going.

00:14:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. You’re either reacting or you’re forcing your will on the opponent. And I like your point. And I’m going to my two. Still thinking about it. There’s a little bit of that. Those two interceptions to start the game in two weeks. Only five DB interceptions all last year.

00:14:48
Speaker 2: What a pick by Fulton. Just pure strength.

00:14:50
Speaker 1: And Fulton’s healthy and playing much better. I know the two DPIs are what fans are also still thinking about. But I’m also still thinking about the defense with two amazing stands. Defenses can be really good, but a sudden change, even when Pat threw the interception… Against the Broncos. And the Broncos get first and goal at the five. Yeah. And you hold a team to a field goal there. You change that game. Instead of a 21-14, a state of two-possession game.

00:15:23
Speaker 2: And it’s demoralizing for the opponent.

00:15:25
Speaker 1: It’s a psychological blow to the opponent. This game, after the 50-yard, is it a catch? Is it not a catch? New York looks at it for 30 minutes. You know they’re thinking, we don’t want Greg Rolstead to announce to the world that Chiefs have won the game now. That they’re thinking… let’s play on for the defense to dig their heels in to make a two incredible play, two negative plays on Jonathan Taylor, who’s one of the few guys who barely, negative plays on Jonathan Taylor aren’t there very often. To make that play to basically put the Chiefs in position to win the game in either sudden change or a big play that goes against you, you flip the psychology. And for this defense to have that feeling and young players to also make plays is big. The second one that I can’t stop thinking about is the joy right now with the offensive line. They are joyful. Yeah. We have seen Creed. We’ve seen Trey. We haven’t, we’ve done so far in this podcast, we’re rolling here. What? Several minutes into it. We’ve not mentioned Khalil Benson yet. Yeah. That’s the greatest sign we can tell you about the fact that he’s playing his ears off, but the offensive line has joy. Ken Walker’s ability to, having the second and third level open up, play action passing 14 to 17 is all music to the soul of offensive linemen. And they have not been this joyful since the zero sack Super Bowl game. I mean, they’re just walking around feeling differently right now. And it’s a great sign.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: We talk about dictating terms. Well, when you can run the football effectively, it lets the offensive line dictate terms. If you’re throwing the ball 50 times and you can’t run the ball effectively, it makes life really hard on your offensive line. You’re almost playing on your heels most of the game and you give the opponent the opportunity to dictate terms to you and their ears back, get after the passer. Running the football like we are right now with Ken and also Emmitt Johnson, who every time he’s in there just creates a highlight, I think. He’s so much fun to watch. Let’s see what he can do against Miami. But it just creates such an easier world for our offensive line. They can go out there, dictate terms to the opponent, punch a guy in the mouth, and then let the play action speak for itself.

00:17:37
Speaker 1: Does Kansas City still have rugby teams? How many rugby teams are there in the Chiefs’ kingdom? There’s the Kansas City Blues. Yeah. They’re kind of famous.

00:17:44
Speaker 2: We’re trying to get the World Cup here, right? Yeah, well, let’s do that.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: I think Emmett Johnson ought to be, because the rugby play he had, the scrum where he’s like taking the entire Indianapolis team.

00:17:53
Speaker 2: It was like a two-yard gain that he made an eight-yard gain. I love it.

00:17:57
Speaker 1: I said it on the air. He runs the ball, he plays rugby, he catches the ball. It’s Emmett Johnson. But the point we’re trying to make is we have a defense right now that is dictating terms to the offense. Instead of taking blows, they’re actually being aggressive against the offenses that we’re playing right now. And a key component of that is the emergence of cornerback Noel Williams. Awesome. This week on Defending the Kingdom, to have an emerging cornerback in the NFL, Noel Williams, be with us. Okay, let’s just start. How much did you want Greg Rolstead, the referee, to go, this game’s over because Noel Williams punched the ball out on a dude after a 49-yard gain recovered by the Chiefs? How much did you want that? Because you would have lived in folklore all throughout Chiefs history.

00:18:45
Speaker 4: I never wanted anything so bad in my life. Like I was praying they don’t overturn it, but it didn’t go our way. We still got the W, but in that moment I was praying. I was like, please, please. Like whoever’s looking at it in New York, they say, send over in New York or whatever. I’m like, please don’t rule them down. Don’t rule them down. And it didn’t work our way, but I’m happy we got to stop. I feel like it gave us more juice. you know, stop them in the red zone and yeah, give the offense, get the ball back to the offense. They, you know, Harrison Buckner, you know, do this thing.

00:19:24
Speaker 1: Okay.

00:19:24
Speaker 2: So even though it didn’t count, we’re still going to talk about it forever because that was just awesome. Like the timing of everything. It was an incredible play. But to your point, the ability for you guys to stay together after it didn’t go your way and get that stop.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:19:36
Speaker 2: What were the conversations like and how did you manage to get that stop?

00:19:40
Speaker 4: We knew they were going to run the ball. my coach, he said, watch the pin with pullers, like automatically. And, um, it happened. And, uh, I just had basically just hold my own against, I don’t know what offensive lineman, the overall mentality was just don’t let him score, you know, force, get him, you know, make him kick a field goal. So we got a stop and then they weren’t going to go far on fourth down. The stadium, the stadium was electric. Um, Yeah, it was just a mentality like we didn’t get flustered in that situation. You know, we’ve been in this, you know, type of deal many times, training camp, OTAs. They talk about it every week being in this situation. So, yeah, we just were prepared.

00:20:30
Speaker 1: But, Noel, that mindset we saw in you last year from the first days you were around this facility. Yeah. I mean, you started this whole season with that corner blitz on Bo Nix. That just lit the fuse for everything. And we’ll talk about it for months. But your mentality to be aggressive, not to take blows, but to deliver blows as a defensive player. What about that mentality or mindset and how you train yourself to do that?

00:21:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like in the back end for the defense, it starts with us, you know, setting the tone, you know, having great perimeter play, like you said, delivering a blow, and that just gets everybody going, you know, because not a lot of people see what’s going on inside. The linebackers and the linemen, they’re grinding. They’re delivering blows every play, but I would say it’s more noticeable when it happens on the outside, so I feel like it provides a little more juice. The whole defense is doing it, but it’s more noticeable I would say noticeable when it’s a pass, you know, and then a receiver going down the middle and a safety knocking him back. So I feel like that can get Gale jump-starting the whole game, just the energy, the crowds in it. And now the offense is thinking about it like, oh, like the receiver’s thinking twice before he catches the ball. Like even like he might drop it now. Like I might not be in position, but he’s thinking twice about that first hit. And now it’s just a whole it’s just, you know, it’s like a snowball going down a hill. It’s just continuing. You know, they’re thinking about it now. And that’s what Chiefs, you know, Chiefs DBs are known for doing, you know, just.

00:22:16
Speaker 5: Delivering the blow.

00:22:17
Speaker 1: You know, it goes way, way back.

00:22:20
Speaker 4: So, you know, I just, you know, adopted that mindset from watching film on those guys and the ones that came before me.

00:22:29
Speaker 2: Guys like LJ Sneed, I’m guessing. No, no, LJ Sneed.

00:22:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody.

00:22:33
Speaker 4: I mean, you guys know great DBs. Trent, you know, J-Watt, B-Cook, the Fab Five that was here. In for it, Juan Thornhill, Marcus Peter. Like, all those guys just, they did it before me. So, it can’t stop now. So, you know, Tavares Ward. The list can go on and on. So, I just, you know, I understand that’s what comes with being a Chiefs DB.

00:22:59
Speaker 2: And people might not realize, we learned this today, that you were a Chiefs fan before you ended up on the Chiefs, right? Yeah, I was.

00:23:04
Speaker 1: I was.

00:23:05
Speaker 4: And a lot of people, you know, in high school, like, oh, here’s a bandwagon. Like, I was there before, you know, we really started winning the Super Bowl. Like, we were still good going to the playoffs, but now we’re getting the job done. And, you know, I was like, okay. And then I became a Chief. Now, what can you say? Like, you can’t say I wasn’t a Chiefs fan. So, yeah, I mean, it’s just a blessing to be here for sure.

00:23:26
Speaker 1: It’s impressive, your knowledge of history. Oh, yeah. Of Chiefs corners, like even back to Emmett Thomas, right?

00:23:31
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:23:32
Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Famer. But I don’t know if you’ve like seen the Top Gun movies. I call the corners the fighter pilots of the National Football League.

00:23:41
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:23:41
Speaker 1: Because you all are out there in these dogfights. Yeah. We all can see. What about your training? How much are you learning technique? You play an aggressive style. Yeah. to avoid the DPIs or the holes or the illegal contacts and still be effective and aggressive. Yeah.

00:24:00
Speaker 4: I feel like it goes into your preparation, going into the week, just being on the details, being locked into meetings, practice, and just being deliberate, even if it’s a walkthrough, make sure your eyes are in the right spot and just doing it day in and day out. You know, you got to keep going, keep being consistent because it’s part of the game. Things are going to happen at DB. It’s about having that short term mindset. And can you do it again? You know, it’s a week to week league. You know, a lot of things can change. You know, you can be up this week, up down this week, up this week. It’s a roller coaster. So it’s about just trusting it, trusting the process, I would say, you know, with your preparation and yeah, being, you know, just being on one accord with the rest of the secondary team. And with the safeties and nickels, the whole defense, the whole game plan being locked in into the week. And then once you put the work in and prepare the right way, you can fly around on Sundays.

00:25:00
Speaker 2: So it’s funny you were a fan of the Chiefs before you were a Chief because we were a fan of you before you were here. I remember back in 2024 at like two in the morning, I’m watching this ACC conference game with Cal and Miami. You pick off Cam Ward, bring it all the way back to the house. You’ve been making plays for a long time and now you’re here. Coming into this season was a big opportunity for you with some departures and you’ve just attacked it. And you began way back in OTAs. What’s this whole process been like for you and how satisfying is it to earn that respect from Spags?

00:25:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:25:31
Speaker 5: I mean, I understood it was an opportunity for me and, uh, you know, I gotta go right now. I like, I can’t wait around.

00:25:40
Speaker 4: This is my opportunity right now to prove to, like you said, Spags, the rest of the organization that I’m ready for the moment that I deserve to be one of the starting corners out there. And, um, you know, this might be the only chance I get, you know, cause you know, NFL is, it’s not for long. So I understand that, you know, I got going right now, go in.

00:26:10
Speaker 5: Do what I have to do.

00:26:10
Speaker 4: If it goes my way, I, if it goes my way, yeah, I did, you know, I did everything I could.

00:26:16
Speaker 5: If it doesn’t go my way, I did everything I could.

00:26:18
Speaker 4: So why not just go all out, you know, just might as well, like this is, this is it.

00:26:25
Speaker 5: So it’s like, I’m going to.

00:26:26
Speaker 1: Go hard either way.

00:26:28
Speaker 5: If it wasn’t my outcome, if it isn’t my, like, it just doesn’t matter.

00:26:32
Speaker 1: I got to go.

00:26:34
Speaker 4: They got rid of two great DBs. I got to go take this opportunity and just.

00:26:42
Speaker 1: Keep growing. Yeah.

00:26:43
Speaker 2: It’s going your way so far.

00:26:44
Speaker 1: I knew I liked you. Yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh. That approach and that thought process is rare. Yeah. And special. Yeah. One more question. You ever think about a little kid having you? Like you’ve talked about all these role models. What if a little kid goes, I want to be like Noel Williams?

00:27:04
Speaker 5: I mean, I’ll be like, you can be better. You can be better than me.

00:27:07
Speaker 4: You know, you, you know, just keep listening to your parents, you know, stay down the right path. Honestly, that means a lot to me, you know, just inspiring the youth. Cause I understand, you know, being a pro athlete, you’re in the spotlight, you got a target on your back, you’re on TV. So I understand I got to move the right way. So, You know, kids can be like, I can do that, you know, because I was once in their shoes. So, yeah, it’s an honor. But, you know, they can they can be better than me. So, you know, there’s going in the next 10 years, 20 years, five years is going to be another corner up in the league. So it’s about just, you know, creating that standard here.

00:27:51
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:27:53
Speaker 1: Just keep climbing.

00:27:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, just keep going.

00:27:55
Speaker 1: Keep doing this in that mindset. We’ll have a picture of him up on some wall around here. Exciting to see what number 20 is doing. We saw it last year. We actually saw it starting to happen. And even before he was getting on the field. But if that 50-yard play goes in favor of the Chiefs, there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth among the nation. But in the Chiefs’ kingdom… They would see what Noel Williams brings and the fact that he is a peanut-toman-pitched, punch-it-out player. Noel Williams is going to make a play even after an offensive yardage game.

00:28:34
Speaker 2: I’m not sure if you know this about me, but I’m actually the president of the Noel Williams fan club.

00:28:38
Speaker 1: Really? I didn’t know.

00:28:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, it’s a big deal. You’re welcome to join. You can have a cabinet position if you’d like.

00:28:45
Speaker 1: It’s 20 bucks. Is that what it is?

00:28:47
Speaker 2: And everything. And, uh, he’s awesome.

00:28:49
Speaker 1: Peter Woods. That’s 99 bucks.

00:28:51
Speaker 2: I’ve, uh, I’ve loved watching him play since he got here because the first thing that stood out to me early in his career, because we knew he had all the numbers and stuff from college with the takeaways. But the first thing that stood out to me is he has no fear. So we, because of injuries last year would put him in against guys like, uh, Devante Smith and Nico Collins, uh, these great players for these other teams. And normally a young corner would be a bit overwhelmed in that instance, get burned or let plays kind of snowball for them or stack on their head if they’re negative.

00:29:23
Speaker 1: None of that.

00:29:24
Speaker 2: Like he was just like a bulldog, like went out there, no fear of any of these guys. And to me, that stood out right away. He played a little bit more as the year went on, particularly at the very end of the season, played really well. And really throughout OTAs, every day he made a play, just stood out to me every day. Same thing in training camp. And I’m glad the world is starting to catch on to what kind of player Noel can be. He is sticky in coverage. He’s a great run defender. And if he has a chance to punch that ball out, he’s going to do it. And even though that play didn’t count, we’re going to remember that one because that was awesome.

00:29:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, he plays like a veteran. Yeah. Because the best time to punch the ball out is after a big play by an offensive player. They relax. All right. They’re so excited that they’ve got a big play that they let their guard down, but shouldn’t against Noel Williams. Now, the Dolphins. So Noel hopefully can continue to do that here against the Miami Dolphins, a team that has struggled with an 0-2 start. They’re starting over. We talked about the Colts keeping all their cadre together. They were only one of five teams to keep the head coach, all three coordinators and the starting quarterback, not the Dolphins. New GM, new coach, basically trying to extract from Green Bay. That meant that they were going to say, we’re going to give Malik Willis the quarterback job. But I went back and looked at it. There are three dozen transactions the Dolphins made of guys leaving in free agency or coming in. It’s been a revolving door for them. So it’s An interesting start over for a Miami franchise that’s gone a quarter century without a playoff win. Yeah. That’s a proud franchise, but they’re trying to figure this out and they’re starting over. Yeah.

00:31:03
Speaker 2: You know, you think about just a few years ago, they had this prolific offense and all these household names, but yeah, they’re rebuilding right now.

00:31:09
Speaker 1: Look at the team we played in Germany. Yeah. When we play, it’s Tyreek Hill, it’s Waddle. But then Tua Tungavailoa was given the big contract. And then they had to eat a gargantuan amount of money in dead cap. And that’s just put them behind the eight ball right now. These guys dropped 70 points in the Broncos just a couple years ago. And it looked like they were going to change the game. NFL will happen quickly. Things can change in an instant. And they’re starting over. They’re rebuilding and starting from the studs, right? And still have some good players.

00:31:42
Speaker 2: I think Malik Willis overall, considering the circumstances around him, has actually played okay. and played really well when asked to play in Green Bay. Some primetime games, when Jordan Love got hurt, he went in there and actually played some pretty good football. Malik Willis can hurt you. Devon Achan is still there, electric player. He was part of that 70-point game against the Broncos a couple years ago. Averaged almost six yards per carry last year. The thing is, through the first two weeks, they’re falling behind so quickly. They can’t use Achan in their running game. They’re actually dead last in the NFL in terms of rushing attempts in the second half this year because they’re just trailing by too much and have to throw the football. Their offensive line has struggled. They’ve allowed nine sacks, most in the NFL, and they have zero sacks as a team defensively. So they have some young players. They’re evaluating right now, and those young players can hurt you. I think for the Chiefs in this game, it’s a matter of attacking it with the same intensity we attacked the first two weeks. You can’t let up just because these guys are rowing too.

00:32:39
Speaker 1: I’ll give you the most dangerous stat going into this game for the Chiefs. But first… Let’s check in with the man who’s got his pulse on the entire NFL, especially the AFC, especially the AFC West. He’s got some thoughts on the Dolphins. I wonder if he has any thoughts on the Chargers. 0-2 start. Here is our Wolf of the West, Ari Wolf.

00:33:02
Speaker 3: We’re out West. Week three of the 2026 NFL season. Guys, you look incredible in those new studios. You guys, look, it’s just a sharp look for both of you.

00:33:13
Speaker 1: Kind of just feeling it right now. There are a lot of people that have worked hard, though, Ari, on this set. But I knew we had arrived when at the Kingdom Show Monday night, fans had flown in for the game from Florida and Duluth, Minnesota. They were all hanging together. They watch everything that we do. In fact, they’re probably watching this now and they go, ooh, that set looks cool. And when that happened, I go, we’ve arrived.

00:33:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ari, we’ve come a long way from when you and I first started this segment, just doing it like on our laptops, just in my office. We’ve come a long way.

00:33:43
Speaker 3: It looks really good. All right, let’s get right into the AFC West, boys, and let’s start with the Denver Broncos. Coming off that loss against the Chiefs, they didn’t look very good. You’re coming home to play the Jacksonville Jaguars, who beat you 34-20 in an important late-season game at home. What was going to happen? I thought Denver responded really well. They play a complete football game. It was a pretty convincing win against the Jaguars. It seems like, at least for the moment through Week 2, things have settled down in Denver. Mitch, let’s start with you. What did you think of the Broncos this week?

00:34:14
Speaker 1: They still have an outstanding defense, even though they– We’re kind of embarrassed by the week one loss to the Chiefs. They came roaring back. I thought they saved that game, actually, for the Broncos because offensively, the Broncos, even though they had a big day from Waddle, they were still struggling. Nix threw a red zone interception, and that thing could have gone either way, except the Denver defense said, no, we’ll just take it over and really kept Trevor Lawrence corralled all day.

00:34:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I’d add that Jacksonville had a shot to really put this game away. They could have gone up, what, 17-3 midway through the third quarter. But that great red zone defense of the Broncos, they hold the Jags to a field goal. And, you know, the Broncos went on to do what they did last year, where they dominate in the fourth quarter. And to their credit, I mean, in a lot of ways, you don’t want to fall to 0-2. We all know that. They kind of saved their season by winning that game. I don’t think that’s too much of an exaggeration. And, yeah, they were like the Broncos from last year in the fourth quarter. scoring touchdowns on their third-to-last drive and their second-to-last drive, and then basically playing ball control on their final drive. So a big game for the Broncos, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier.

00:35:22
Speaker 3: No, they have a tough schedule. We’ll get to that game soon. We also had the Raiders and the Chargers. Before the season started, you might have thought this would be a layup for the Chargers. Instead, it’s the Raiders who are 2-0. When I look at the Raiders, they’re overall functioning at a much higher level. They look like an NFL team now. Kirk Cousins seems to have command of the offense. Now, I will put the disclaimer here. Their games have been against the Dolphins and against the Chargers. But I will say the Raiders look like a really improved football team. And at least for early in the season, kind of a nice story going on in Las Vegas. What do you guys think?

00:35:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think Clint Kubiak so far has been pretty impressive with what he’s done with the Raiders offense. If you go back and look at their two games, a lot of motion, a lot of play action, and a lot of scheming up explosive plays deep down the field. I think we’re seeing a lot of the Seattle influence right now on the Raiders. And we’ve known they’ve had good players for a while. I mean, Jenty in the backfield, really exciting young running back. They’re doing all of this without Brock Bowers, which I think is pretty impressive. But I think so far it’s a testament to Clint Kubiak because whenever you have– kind of like a young offensive mind and they become a head coach. There’s always the question of, is that going to translate to their new team? Is the whole being the head coach part of it too overwhelming for him? And so far, I think not at all for Kubiak. He’s been really impressive.

00:36:42
Speaker 1: What I’ve seen, Ari, is the Seahawks influence because defensively, they’re more than just Max Crosby. They’re number one in the league right now in the passer rating against them in their blitz defense. The other thing they’ve done, they’re number one in the league in field position. So what they’ve done in two weeks is played Seahawk football. That is tough on special teams. And the other thing that’s un-Raider-like for them in the first two weeks, they have not had the hidden yardage. They have eight sacks. They’ve only allowed two. Penalty-wise, they’re top 10 least penalized team in the league. And they’d always have that leaky yardage. There’d be all kinds of yards that just kind of putzed away for them that would cost them games. So far in two weeks… The Kubiak influence, I think, goes even beyond the offense.

00:37:29
Speaker 3: I like it.

00:37:29
Speaker 5: All right.

00:37:30
Speaker 3: Now to the Los Angeles Chargers. I think it’s fair to say it hasn’t gone very well so far. They’ve lost both games by the same score, 26-14. Both games were losses at home. Justin Herbert’s got five turnovers already. What’s going on with the Chargers? Expectations were really high for Mike McDaniel being paired with what they consider one of the elite quarterbacks in the National Football League. Mitch, what’s going wrong in L.A.? Is Herbert under.

00:37:54
Speaker 1: 500 as a starter? Pretty close.

00:37:58
Speaker 3: I thought in the regular season his record is over. 500, but he still doesn’t have a playoff win.

00:38:02
Speaker 1: By how many games? We can look that up. Yeah, it’s very close.

00:38:07
Speaker 3: It’s very close to.

00:38:07
Speaker 1: 500. And Pat’s about ready to get his hundredth win in basically nine seasons.

00:38:13
Speaker 3: All right.

00:38:13
Speaker 1: Now, the reason I say that, if I’m Jim Harbaugh, I want everybody to not talk about me in April, May, June, and July and August. Because every year, this is the music man trying to sell us band uniforms in like Mason City, Iowa. And then all of a sudden, boom. For them to have the schedule set up for them to have Cardinals at home, Raiders at home, and to be 0-2, and then looking at the gauntlet, you cannot make a harder schedule for them. If we just sat in our basements tonight and go, let’s make the Chargers the hardest schedule the next six weeks, we couldn’t have thought this one up. So to me, there’s a lot of things wrong with these guys, and there’s no way they should be 0-2 at this point.

00:39:00
Speaker 2: Ari, you’re a Wisconsin guy. Are you familiar with Racine, Wisconsin?

00:39:04
Speaker 3: I am. Right outside of Milwaukee.

00:39:06
Speaker 2: Okay, so I think maybe one of the wildest stats I’ve ever seen in my life is that the Chargers are the first team to lose back-to-back home games by double digits to teams the previous year that had a winning percentage under 200. First team to do that since the Racine Tornadoes in 1926. This does not happen very often. It’s pretty remarkable. And listen, a lot of things have gone wrong for the Chargers. I do think that the NFL is so crazy and you never know what’s going to happen. I wouldn’t even be the least bit surprised if the Chargers, after the start, go and beat Buffalo on the road. That’s what happens in the NFL if you look at just last week. I don’t want that to happen because I want the Chargers to lose as many games as possible.

00:39:49
Speaker 1: Although Buffalo having a loss wouldn’t be all bad.

00:39:52
Speaker 2: I also wouldn’t mind that, I guess. It’s a win-win situation. So I’ll be happy regardless with the outcome of that game. But yeah, the Chargers, I mean, not at all the start they anticipated. You and I talked last week about how the best offenses are designed around their playmakers. And it’s not necessarily, hey, here’s my system. I’m going to plug these players into my system and it’ll work. Again, maybe over the course of the year, this will work. But I think what we’re seeing is I don’t think the Chargers scheme is taking advantage of the players that they have.

00:40:19
Speaker 1: The other thing is the Racine Tornadoes are a one and four. And they made a coaching change in the middle of a five game season, which tells you where they were at. Because they went from Floyd the Barber to Wally Tim in there. Go back and look up the Tornadoes of Racine. Matt and I have done exhaustive research on the Racine Tornadoes. We’re actually looking for some swag from those guys. Get some gear. Yeah. Anyway, we even got their stadium. I think I put it up on social. But anyway, yeah, the Racine Tornadoes. We haven’t heard from them for a long time.

00:40:49
Speaker 3: Hey, look, they were the bigger market team than the Green Bay Packers. I thought we could have been the Packers instead. It could have been all about Racine, but not so much. I do just want to mention the schedule by team through the first half of the season for the Chargers. So as mentioned at the Bills, then at Seattle, Denver at home, at KC, Rams at home, Texans at home, then at Baltimore. I’m not trying to be a doomsday guy, but you can make a pretty compelling case that they don’t win more than two of those games, right? You could be looking at a team that’s two and seven and basically done by the midway point of the season. Am I crazy or is that a real possibility?

00:41:25
Speaker 1: No, it’s true.

00:41:26
Speaker 2: I mean, this is why getting off to a good start is so important. And that’s why from a Chiefs perspective, looking at the schedule when we first got it in May, you look at the back half of our schedule this year. It’s like we have to get off to a good start. And I think we have an opportunity to get off to a good start, but we have to take advantage of it. I’m sure the Chargers were looking at their schedule when they got it in May saying, hey, this is a tough stretch. Beginning in week three, we got to take care of business in weeks one and two. And they didn’t do it. And now you pay the price for it.

00:41:51
Speaker 1: But most pundits had them at 9-0, I think. The June and July discussion. Chargers are 9-0. If they’re not, I don’t know what’s going on. So, yeah, that’s where we’re at, actually. Narratives in this league. Summertime narratives in this league. I think I’ll write a book about it. Summertime NFL narratives. There’s nothing to do but just talk about stuff. And usually the stuff we talk about is erroneous. Yeah.

00:42:14
Speaker 3: Well, to me, the ultimate contrast is Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts. Because in the offseason, it was the Jalen Hurts is just barely even a top 16 quarterback in a 32 team league. And Justin Herbert’s always like a top five quarterback. One guy’s team always wins and the other guy’s doesn’t very often. But the narrative all offseason was that Justin Herbert paired with McDaniel was going to change offense in the National Football League. All right, let’s move on. What’s next for the AFC West? The Sunday night game is a good one. The Broncos host the Rams. Initial thoughts on that one. Let’s start with you, Matt.

00:42:48
Speaker 2: Well, I think the Rams showed us more of what we expected them to be in that Giants game. A little bit unfair because Jackson Dart goes out so early, but I mean, the Rams looked good on both sides of the ball and did it offensively without Puka Nakua. So the Rams are going to be a good team and going to play a good football. They’re not playing all their games in Melbourne, Australia and having to go 15 hours on a flight to go play a football game. So I expect the Rams to be a good team. That’s a tough game for Denver. I’m sure Denver is glad it’s at home, but Certainly would like the Rams to go in there and beat Denver and put Denver at 1-2.

00:43:20
Speaker 1: The Denver defense, I’m going to go back four paragraphs ago, they set the tone for that team. Offensively, it’s a good team. We saw that last year, the Broncos going 14-3. But their defense is exceptional. And if they’re somehow neutralized, we saw that that was a problem for them even a year ago, meaning the Denver defense. So, Can the Rams offense has that potential to neutralize the dominating aspect of the Denver defense? It happened in week one. We saw that with what K-9 was able to do. And when they don’t have the dominant defense, do they have enough to overcome that against a Rams defense? That’s pretty good. But I thought the Rams even were clunky early in that game against the Giants. And when Dart got hurt, they just had no shot. But we’re also seeing here, too, and I did a A minute with Mitch on it this week. We’re seeing teams that are really prepared to start the season. And we’re seeing some teams like, what were you guys doing to get ready for the year? Andy Reid is so good at calculating our offseason, making everything count. And there’s some teams that are playing disc golf in like preseason games. Yeah, we won’t even travel our guys. Why would we do that? And then they’re 0-2. And then they’re scrambling with a 12% chance to make the playoffs. Somewhere, the NFL will learn that every month counts in this league.

00:44:41
Speaker 3: It’s so true. I mean, usually the Chiefs come flying out of the gate in September because their guys are ready to play week one.

00:44:47
Speaker 1: And you’re right.

00:44:47
Speaker 3: I mean, the Rams in week one in Australia look like it was a preseason game. All right, let’s move on. A game that’s probably under the radar for a lot of NFL fans is the Raiders at the Saints. I think the Saints are an ascending team. I really like what Kellen Moore is doing. If you look at the back end of their season last year, they were competitive against very good teams. Look, they almost won at Detroit. They go to overtime. They go for two.

00:45:11
Speaker 1: They don’t win.

00:45:12
Speaker 3: Then they beat Baltimore. So you’ve got a team now in the Saints who I think a lot of people are like, what’s going on here? And we’ve got a Raiders team that’s 2-0. This seems like a much more compelling matchup than we thought when the season started.

00:45:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, look at the Ravens game last week with the Saints. It’s crazy. So, you know, the Ravens are up 17-9 late in the third quarter. And you just figure out to turn that one off. That game’s over. The Ravens aren’t going to blow this one. Well, the Saints defense holds the Ravens to consecutive three and outs and forces two punts. And then the Saints offense, all they do is go on two straight touchdown drives. One of them being a 16 play, 70 yard touchdown drive. I mean, just amazing grit from them. And yeah, I’m with you that Kellen Moore seems to have instilled kind of a mentality there where. People don’t think we’re going to win these games. I don’t care. Let’s go out there and play and see who wins at the end of the day. And gosh, just really impressive to see them go toe to toe with the Ravens. That’s a bad loss for Baltimore. But I think we might look back at the end of the season and say the Saints were better than people expected them to be. And for them to be going up against the Raiders, a similar team that is a little bit better right now than people expect. Looking forward to seeing that chess match with Kellen Moore and Clint Kubiak.

00:46:20
Speaker 1: Let’s go back to narratives in the summertime, because we also had the Rose Bowl parade virtually yesterday. with Drake May as the head of the parade. Did we not? Right. And are we talking about Tyler Schuch right now?

00:46:31
Speaker 2: I love when Mitch gets unhinged like this.

00:46:33
Speaker 1: I’m a little unhinged. Has anybody talked about Tyler Schuch at all?

00:46:38
Speaker 2: No, they should be.

00:46:40
Speaker 1: He’s 69% passing. Look at his touchdown to INT ratio. First of all, he’s not turning it over. There’s enough weapons there. Kellen Moore is very good. at getting an offense going, but you’re right about the mentality, Matt. But here’s a quarterback, a young quarterback that no one talks about who just pulled off arguably the biggest upset so far in the first two weeks of the NFL. He’s a good quarterback when you study him. And so I look for New Orleans to take care of their business here. I like it.

00:47:09
Speaker 3: All right, next up, we have the Chargers making the long, long trip to Buffalo. A Buffalo team that’s 2-0, that does not at least look like a finished product defensively. Josh Allen and the offense have looked really good. It feels like on paper, this is all bills. But like Matt said, if you’ve covered the NFL long enough, this is one of those games where it wouldn’t shock you if the Chargers come and play great football. But I think we’re all in agreement that the Chargers have underachieved so far. Can they go to Buffalo realistically and beat the Bills in their brand new stadium?

00:47:40
Speaker 1: My thesis last week for the Colts game, and Matt knows this, is there’s danger and desperation in this league. When you get desperate teams who are already in the Alamo mode, anything can happen. And here are the Chargers who are in December desperation in the third week of the season. That makes them very dangerous, whether they’re playing on Pluto or in Buffalo. Now, Buffalo, though, looks like with the additions they’ve made, that… This is a team that you’re going to have to roll out there and probably get close to 30 points to beat them because not many people are slowing them down. So the question is, can the Chargers get there without screwing it up or a couple picks or something happening? I still see Buffalo winning this game.

00:48:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel weird and gross trying to play like devil’s advocate for the Chargers. This is very unnatural for me. I guess to my point earlier, yeah, it’s the NFL. You never know what can happen. Mitch said that probably have to get to 30 points to win this game and to compete with Buffalo. They’ve only scored 28 points through two games. The Chargers have the only thing I’d say that’s maybe a little bit different going into this game. That might be a bit of an advantage for the Chargers is that. McDaniel knows the Bills, knows the Bills defense very well, and had some Dolphins teams, oftentimes undermanned, like when Skylar Thompson was out there, quarterback, that gave the Bills some problems. So maybe he has some tricks up his sleeve in terms of knowing this Buffalo defense. But yeah, if we’re being honest and just looking at the matchup, hard to imagine the Chargers winning this game.

00:49:11
Speaker 1: All right. Bruce McDaniel’s agent. Can I get his agent? I love it.

00:49:16
Speaker 3: He is quite a character. He does get you a lot, plenty of media attention. All right, now let’s go to the game we care the most about. Our Kansas City Chiefs make a trip to South Florida to take on the Miami Dolphins. This is a matchup that will be looked at as Chiefs should go down there, take care of business. Let’s first focus the Chiefs offense, which has been incredibly explosive. In fact, I thought the performance against the Colts was as good as I’ve seen the offense play in years. I mean, everything was working right. The run game was there. The deep passing game was there. It looked like a complete offense. And here’s my biggest takeaway. And I really want to hear Mitch’s comment. The offense looks fresh to me. Is that a fair statement? It looks like Well, it’s not all new concepts. The way that they’re running everything and sort of the energy of the team, everything on that offense just feels fresher than it was a year ago. I feel like this offense is go-to-go-to Miami, and really the Dolphins are in a tough spot. They’re giving up over 30 points per game, but would you agree that this offense has a fresher, almost kind of updated look to it than we’ve seen in years past?

00:50:19
Speaker 1: I concur, but I’m going to start in a place where you don’t think I’m going to start. Okay. The offensive linemen for this team right now are having as much fun and as joyful as I have seen them since the Super Bowl 57 victory over the Eagles where they wore the t-shirts zero sacks at the parade. And I walked in the locker room looking for everybody to hug after that game and I saw those guys. They go, Mitch, how many sacks did the Eagles have? They were kind of snarky but having fun and feeling themselves. The energy of this team can come at different places. But right now, Ari, I will tell you the Chiefs offensive line, and we haven’t talked about Khalil Benson, which is a good thing, right? But the fact that this offensive line is so revved up, opens just the gates for everything else. That to me is exciting because it’s a talented group as we know, but when they’re on fire, look out.

00:51:14
Speaker 2: And Ari, this is something that Mitch and I have talked about earlier, even on this pod, where The reason the offensive line is feeling so good is the defense is off balance. And to your point, the way that the offense is constructed right now and the playmakers that we have, the defense doesn’t know what’s coming. The balance is what stood out to me against Indianapolis. So we had over 350 passing yards and over 150 rushing yards in a single game for the first time since 2018. That balance is rare and not just for us, for anybody. It’s only the fourth time since the beginning of the 2024 season a team has done that. So when you have that kind of balance and you can unleash play action the way the Chiefs did against Indianapolis, Mahomes was 14 of 17 for 150 yards and a couple of touchdowns on play action. I mean, it’s just really impressive. Think about week one, though. We talked about this a lot. that the Chiefs put week one on tape where, hey, Denver, if you aren’t going to respect the running game, we are going to keep running it over and over and over again. We’re not going to be balanced for the sake of being balanced. We’re going to run the football down your throat if you don’t respect it. Well, Indianapolis respected it as the game went on. That opened up the play action passing game and those explosive plays we saw to Tyquan Thornton. So this is really exciting right now for the Chiefs. We’ve been talking about this for six months, saying Ken Walker is going to change everything on this offense. It’s fun to finally see it come to fruition.

00:52:32
Speaker 3: That offense looks amazing. And it’s a Dolphins team that has struggled to get pressure on the quarterback. They’ve got zero sacks through two games. Now let’s flip it. The Dolphins offense against the Chiefs defense. The Miami offense, I think it’s fair to say, is struggling. They’re only averaging 13 points per game. It’s an offense that lacks a lot of high-level skill players. They can run the ball okay. When you look at this matchup, Mitch, with the Chiefs defense taking on the Miami offense, Miami offense has been very limited so far. What do you see in that matchup?

00:53:04
Speaker 1: First of all, they’re playing at home. This is their home opener. They had to open at Raiders at 49ers all the way across the country twice. Now they finally get to play at home. If you look at a five-year window for them, they’re 28-14 at Hard Rock Stadium with a plus-12 giveaway-takeaway ratio. Okay, they’re at home. That’s where you start. Two, if Devon Achan runs on the field, you’ve got to deal with him. The guy was number one in the league last year in yards per carry. He’s great as a pass receiver. We’ve seen him before. And held him in check. It was a minus-28 win show game. But Achan’s a problem. And Malik Willis, I’ve got a ton of respect for that guy. And so Miami’s redoing everything. But here’s a lesson for all of us. Got to re-sign everybody. Got to get everybody. They have almost a $ 100 million dead cap hit with Tua Tungabailoa. They had to scuttle the ship. And then they’re just signing guys so they can have 53 guys. And they’ve had 11 draft picks. This is like an expansion team. We’ve had a while since we’ve had the 02 Houston Texans, which was the last expansion team. And I don’t say that to be derogatory. I just say that that’s where there are. The Chiefs have the third youngest team in the NFL. Miami’s by far the youngest. And they’ve had the most quarters played and most minutes played by rookies in the first two weeks. But now the young pups get to play it.

00:54:28
Speaker 4: Home.

00:54:28
Speaker 1: There’s also like 15 Texas Tech guys on this team, which we’re giving Pat a hard time. If he’s helping the NIL there, he’s been paying these guys. Now he’s got to play against them. But there’s some talent on this team, but it starts with H.A.

00:54:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. And this is obvious. The Chiefs have to go out there and play their brand of football like they’ve been playing, the same level of intensity they brought to the first couple of games. Because I think where this game gets scary is if the Chiefs play a sloppy game and allow Miami to hang around, well, then the Dolphins begin to believe. And when you have young players like this that have nothing to lose, that belief is dangerous. And we’ve seen that numerous times over the years. I think about the last time we played against Malik Willis when he was the Titans backup and Ryan Tannehill couldn’t play. So Malik Willis led a Titans team that was going through a tough season, took us to overtime at Arrowhead back in 2022 because we allowed them to hang around. We can’t be turning the football over early in this game. We can’t be settling for field goals over touchdowns. We have to play the same brand of football we’ve played through the first two weeks, which is really dictating the game to the opponent and setting the tone to the opponent and playing with the hunger. And, you know, Mahomes talked about that a little bit earlier today. We’re shooting this on Wednesday, talked about how the team right now in their mind is nowhere near where it needs to be. And that has to be the mentality every single week, because They heard all the noise in the offseason about how they weren’t going to be very good and they’d been passed by by all these other teams and all that. That motivated them through the first couple of games. Well, like we’ve always talked about, the narrative flips or switches so quickly where now everyone’s saying, oh, the Chiefs are incredible. Mahomes is like, we can’t listen to that. We have to have the same mindset that we had all offseason and particularly against a team like Miami that’s clearly rebuilding, have to attack them like this is Monday night football against the Broncos.

00:56:14
Speaker 1: And Matt, we didn’t mention this in our stuff before this week, They’re explosive in the return game. Malik Washington has a 74-yard punt return last year. They have the longest kick return, Ari, in the league so far in two weeks. So that’s another piece of this, Matt, where they can be honoring this game is in their return game. Now, we’ve got Matt Ariza, who’s leading the league in both gross and net punting. And he’s a San Diego State Aztec. A 70-yard punt will help with that. Yeah. Yeah. But the point is, Miami’s got dangerous returners, so Chiefs are going to have to really clean up the special teams.

00:56:49
Speaker 3: And Matt Arise, I just want you to know, was the single greatest overall kicker I ever covered in college football. When he was at San Diego State, I think I had his games every year he was there. Everyone knows him as a punter. He was a very good field goal kicker. Heaven forbid anything happens to Harrison Butker, you’ve got a real good option. That Arise guy, overall kicking the best kicker I ever saw in college football.

00:57:12
Speaker 1: Not even close. Plus, I saw him jack up some dudes on coverage. He wanted to go down and jack dudes up. It’s like Nevada guy. It’s like the kicker lighting me up. It looked like Dick Butkus. Love it. Love it. All right.

00:57:23
Speaker 3: The best game last week. The Tennessee Titans were so bad in week one. I think everybody just wrote them off after losing by two scores at home to the Jets. They played pretty inspired football against the Eagles. Cam Ward, he’s always had the arm strength, but he made some good decisions. They showed some grit. I thought Robert Sala had his defense ready. They held the Eagles in check for most of the game. But in the very end, the Titans end up settling for a field goal. They go up three. Eagles get the ball with 156 and no timeouts. And earlier in the week, Jeffrey Simmons had said they want to make sure that Jalen Hurts is a pocket quarterback. And I think all he was trying to say is he’ll kill you with his legs, like make him beat you from the pocket. Well, that’s exactly what Jalen Hurts did. He marches him down the field. He was razor sharp on it. They win the game with just a few seconds left. It was a very entertaining finish. Jalen Hurts is a guy who I think at least Chiefs Kingdom has a lot of respect for because in both Super Bowls he played so well. But I thought this was a statement game for Jalen Hurts, not so much the Eagles because they didn’t play overall well, but I thought Jalen Hurts reminded everybody he could still play quarterback at a high level.

00:58:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Eagles, you know, have been living in the same world the Chiefs have been in for years now, where this is kind of like a lose-lose game for them.

00:58:36
Speaker 1: Right.

00:58:37
Speaker 2: Where if they win the game, everyone’s like, yeah, that’s what you’re supposed to do. You beat the Titans, and if you lose the game, or if it’s close, it’s like, hey, why were you close to the Titans? So that’s where I don’t know if Hurts will get as much credit for the game-winning drive as he probably deserves, because it was a really nice drive. That whole… 30 minutes there was nuts where it looked like the Titans might beat the Eagles.

00:58:57
Speaker 1: Yep.

00:58:58
Speaker 2: The Browns and bucks were in a weather delay, but it looked like the Browns were going to beat the bucks in Tampa. Uh, just numerous upsets were brewing. The jets almost beat the Packers in New York. Uh, then the whole Vikings-Bears craziness that was going on in the weather. Also in Nashville, speaking about the Titans game, it was like 150 degrees in the field or something crazy.

00:59:19
Speaker 3: 157 or 158. Guys’ cleats were melting.

00:59:24
Speaker 1: No, we’re hosing down guys’ feet. Yeah. That game was played in the old Austin Powers movie. Remember when Dr. Evil like took Mustafa and put it– that’s where that game was played. And it’s like we have fire hoses trying to– with melting shoes.

00:59:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:59:40
Speaker 2: Very badly burned.

00:59:42
Speaker 1: What are we doing? If Will Ferrell– if that movie– if that game was– Will Ferrell would be the star of that movie. For sure.

00:59:50
Speaker 3: All right. I’m going to kind of slide over the best matchup for the week we’ve kind of already talked about. I really think it’s the Broncos hosting the Rams. you know it’s a perfect sunday night game it’ll get lots of attention but we already discussed that one so i want to go to what the craziest thing i saw last week and it’s it’s terrible news is all the quarterback injuries right it looks like caleb williams escaped serious injury uh daniels we don’t know how serious it is but an elbow dislocation could mean he’s gone for a while and then we got the terrible news that jackson dart in all likelihood is gone for the season Look, we know how hard it is to play quarterback in the NFL. It’s hard to find 32 guys to play at a high level. But I hate to see starting quarterbacks go down early in the season because no matter how good your backup is, there’s a reason he’s the backup. So just, it kind of breaks my heart for fan bases. Like, I don’t love the Giants, but nobody wants to see a team lose their starting quarterback in week two. So that was sort of the craziest thing I saw just so early in the year to have that many starting quarterbacks get banged up.

01:00:46
Speaker 1: To me, it’s heartbreaking for Matt Nagy. You spend months getting ready for Jackson Dart, and now what are you going to do? Jameis Winston? And here’s Matt, who I got tremendous respect for. I don’t think the Chiefs kingdom respects Matt enough. Just ask Patrick Mahomes about Matt Nagy. Now he’s looking at a season where they may be running direct snap, wildcat snaps all year long. It’s just a season wrecker for them. And they had such a great start beating the Cowboys. Like, hey, this looks good. But quarterbacks… In this league, man, it’s such a dangerous spot. And every week, we’re going to see more go down. It also shows you the importance of having a decent backup. And the backup has got to be able to win at least one game for you. Remember, we’ve had times where we’ve had to have guys win three games. Back in 2019, people forget. But yeah, that, the quarterbacks going down, and then the massive amount of points scored. In these first couple of weeks, you’re like, whoa, what’s going on here? But it feels like the trend has kind of flipped back to some offenses a bit.

01:01:50
Speaker 2: And one more thing I’d add is just the parody to accentuate what I was talking about a few minutes ago. This is why the NFL is the best, because you truly don’t know what’s ever going to happen. A team could be really great. Another team can be really struggling and they have to go out there and play. It’s not decided by a computer or on a spreadsheet. You have to go out there and play football and see what happens. And that’s why we love this game, because truly anything can happen. But to me, it also should give us perspective on how incredible the Chiefs’ run of sustained success has been over the last decade plus, last year notwithstanding, to constantly be getting everyone’s best shot and to win as many games as the Chiefs have over the last several years. is pretty remarkable. So can’t take it for granted. And so far, so good for the Chiefs this year.

01:02:37
Speaker 1: Can you imagine a Ravens fan going, what? We’re losing at home to New Orleans. Yeah. And should have won this game. And who’s this quarterback? Is that Drew Brees? No, that’s Tyler Slough. How do you know it’s Slack? Does it look like it’s Slough? Slay? Slay Bills? Who is this guy? And he’s beating us. That’s the league. And so if the Chiefs aren’t ready to go to Miami this and handle that game, then this league proves every week that there’s some stunners.

01:03:05
Speaker 2: And Ari, same thing with the Bears, where the Bears score 59 points against the Panthers. And I understand that Caleb Williams got hurt in the game against the Vikings. The game had gone on for a while and they had three points. So the league will humble you really quickly. And I think the Chiefs are actually really great about making sure they stay even keel and don’t get too high or too low. That’s been a Coach Reed thing the entire time I’ve been here. And around the league, I think sometimes people kind of buy into their own hype a little bit. And the Chiefs don’t do that.

01:03:33
Speaker 3: No, it’s a marathon.

01:03:33
Speaker 1: By the way, don’t tell everybody you’re going to sell. Yeah, don’t tell everybody you’re going to sell, like be the all-time NFL scoring team of all time. Might want to save that one. I got a challenge for you, Ari, since you’re the wolf of the West. I want you to come up with the most ridiculous offseason narrative that has been debunked next week in the first three weeks. Okay.

01:03:54
Speaker 3: I mean.

01:03:55
Speaker 1: Just come up with something.

01:03:55
Speaker 3: Our beloved Chiefs would be near the top of that list. They’re right in there.

01:04:00
Speaker 1: That’s right in there.

01:04:00
Speaker 3: They were going to be very good.

01:04:02
Speaker 1: The Chiefs get all the calls.

01:04:03
Speaker 2: They get all the calls.

01:04:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure. All right, let’s go to. If Craig Rolste would have said the game is over.

01:04:11
Speaker 3: Parting thoughts. Would you like that to be your parting thought, Mitch? What would you like to end with today?

01:04:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, just come up with some debunked, ridiculous narratives from the offseason when all we have to do is talk and we come up with dumb things that get to get disproven in the first three weeks of the year.

01:04:26
Speaker 2: You know, I think my parting thought should be rebranded as the Matt perspective hour because it’s all I ever want to talk about with my parting thought. This is also another good thing, though. So after the Colts game, which was like just vintage Chiefs exhilarating, we do all of our stuff postgame. I get home at one thirty in the morning. And Ellie, my wife, says, you want to order a pizza and watch the game again? And I’m like, I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

01:04:53
Speaker 1: This is great.

01:04:55
Speaker 2: Like, I just watched the Chiefs have this awesome electric victory. Get home late. I don’t want to go to sleep. And my wife wants to order a pizza and watch the game again and talk about it. Does it get any better than that? The answer is no. That’s my parting thought. I’m a lucky guy.

01:05:07
Speaker 1: All right.

01:05:08
Speaker 3: My parting thought is this is for I’m giving you the perspective of someone who is not living in Chiefs Kingdom 24 hours a day. So for my money, the American dream, or at least the concept of the American dream is that you’d have some huge great football star, or if we’re going back like a Flash Gordon, right? The star, a Travis Kelsey married to the world’s greatest pop star. And people don’t want to see Taylor Swift after he makes a big play on the game. Here’s what I say is lighten up. It is so exciting when Travis Kelsey makes some play and they flashed her. And this week, When she pointed to the ring and said, that’s my husband, that’s awesome TV. If you can’t warm up to that, then it’s on you. My parting thought is enjoy the fact that Taylor Swift is at the Chiefs games. I don’t care if you’re rooting against the Chiefs. It’s still really cool she’s there. And again, if you’re an American man, it’s the ultimate dream. You’re this football star with multiple rings and now you’re married to the world’s greatest pop star. Of course, they’re going to show her on TV. So that was my boring thought. To everyone who doesn’t love the Chiefs is lighten up and enjoy Taylor Swift being there. Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure. Mitch, so good to see you. Matt, always a pleasure. And that’ll do it for Out West.

01:06:19
Speaker 1: Always love it. Get to chop it up with Ari. And I’ll Love the way he looks at the whole league. But the most dangerous stat of the Miami Dolphins, they’re one of the few teams that have yet to play at home. They had to start on the road at the Raiders and at the 49ers. Clear across the country, first two weeks. Yes, they’re a young team. But in the last five years at Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins are 28 and 14. They are plus 12 in the giveaway-takeaway ratio at home. I know they’re young. I know they’re struggling. I know they’ve given up nine sacks. They have none. But Malik Willis can be a long ball thrower. Miller last week, Ryan Miller, the old Tampa Bay wide receiver who had a touchdown against the Chiefs earlier in his career, had a 77-yard touchdown reception against the 49ers. Malik has done that before. He’s got, I think, five throws of 40 yards or more. So, there is some danger here with the Dolphins, especially they’re going to play with some energy getting to run on their home field finally. Sure.

01:07:23
Speaker 2: And I think one of the reasons they’ve been so successful at home over the years is it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s Miami, right? In September. And a lot of teams aren’t used to that kind of humidity and heat. You know who is used to that is the Kansas City Chiefs spinning training camp in St.

01:07:40
Speaker 1: Joe.

01:07:40
Speaker 2: And I really think that the back-to-back-to-back padded days that we had, the tough training camp Really, I think the toughest camp since Coach Reed has been here is going to help us prepare for that kind of environment where if it’s hot, it’s humid, it’s, you know, a hundred degree heat index or whatever it’s going to be. Our guys won’t be deterred by that because they experienced it just a couple of weeks ago in St.

01:08:02
Speaker 1: Joe.

01:08:02
Speaker 2: So I think this is where our training camp really helps us. Still, though, got to be ready.

01:08:07
Speaker 1: We’ll close out this way. We’ll go around the world. But let me just tell you what’s turned into a phenomenon is the Chiefs Kingdom show after home games in the fact that At the Chiefs Kingdom Show this week, we had Christian Akoye on as a guest. There was a whole table of people from New Jersey that went to the game, the Sunday night game, but stayed over for the Kingdom Show. Another table had three Floridians, two from Orlando, one from Port St. Lucie, and a Duluth, Minnesota gal that joined them. They call them the Chiefs Chicks. Then a couple from Washington, D.C. that was there. Another Floridian that’s up toward Jacksonville or in the north central part of the state And it’s turned into a phenomenon. Go to the game, stay for the Kingdom show. But it’s crazy who shows up. And we’ve had you know, international guests come in as well. So it’s just fun to see the Chiefs kingdom try to experience everything they can. Out of a home game weekend.

01:09:05
Speaker 2: That’s awesome. And I’m sure you’re having more fun doing the Kingdom Show with a 2-0 start compared to last year.

01:09:09
Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s a pretty good… You surmise in a good way, yes. Yeah.

01:09:15
Speaker 2: Coming back from Brazil after a loss and losing to the Eagles and then having to go to the Kingdom Show. It’s going to be okay, everybody.

01:09:22
Speaker 1: It’s tough. Well, that show, when you lose eight straight games, it’s like six, four… Yeah. Yeah. Otherwise, boom, it goes fast.

01:09:31
Speaker 2: More fun this year so far.

01:09:32
Speaker 1: That’s great. Yeah. Let’s keep it going. What do you have around the world?

01:09:35
Speaker 2: Just one for you today. I think you met this person as well. General 51. Shout out to you, General 51. I’m not sure what the reference means, but that’s what he wants to go by. We met him at the stadium after field pass. This is another phenomenon that I appreciate is for those of you that have figured out where we do field pass on game day, people will come down and say hi to us after the show. I appreciate that. So shout out to you, General 51. Glad you were there for another Chiefs win.

01:09:58
Speaker 1: Was it Area 51? Was it? I don’t know. He’s from Philadelphia, he said. So that is no.

01:10:03
Speaker 2: I don’t know, but he’s behind enemy lines. And I think this was his first Chiefs game at Arrowhead. I’m pretty sure that was a pretty good first Chiefs game. So the only continent we have not heard from is Antarctica.

01:10:13
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yeah.

01:10:14
Speaker 2: Which, as we know with DK Metcalf’s comments, it’s possible that there’s a whole civilization there. So those people can write in if they want.

01:10:24
Speaker 1: Thank you, DK Metcalf. Yeah. The great thinker of our time. Yes. So we don’t know where all the Chiefs Kingdom fans are. Maybe, maybe there’s some at Area 51. Maybe.

01:10:35
Speaker 3: Maybe.

01:10:38
Speaker 5: Thank you.