🎙️ ‘Every Move Matters’ – Chiefs vs. Seahawks Preview w/ Jalen Royals | Defending The Kingdom

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Matt, were you a chess player? Are you a chess player?

00:00:03
Speaker 2: No, I’m not. I’m not smart enough for that.

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Did you ever try it?

00:00:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tried it and failed.

00:00:08
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:00:09
Speaker 1: I was like 0 and 39 in it. So, checkers?

00:00:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I’ll play some checkers.

00:00:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay. With your grandpa? Oh, yeah. Okay. Sure. Well, whether it’s chess or checkers or football strategy, you kind of get that feel this week where every little single move matters. And the Chiefs this week pick on the Seahawks. The Seahawks two teams that have accounted for three of the last four Super Bowl championships will meet on Sunday night football. And so what’s kind of fun here is the fact that you and I, when we look at this game, I just see every minute detail will count. And so you look at this thing first on who can handle the details.

00:00:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. And we’ll get more into it later. But the Seahawks squad is interesting. You look at their record. They’re 3-3. They’re way better than that. They had the slimmest margin of defeat of any team in the NFL. Their three losses this year are by a combined eight points. And we’re going to their house on Sunday night football. So it won’t be easy, but the Chiefs are feeling pretty good right now at 5-0 and should be a pretty awesome matchup.

00:01:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, we’ll get into divergence later in this episode too, but the Seahawks are so divergent. But I’ve tried hard not to email. I love John Schneider, their GM. He’s awesome. I love him. He was here and fought for St. Thomas, I think, as a player. Grew up in De Pere, Wisconsin. But how much do you want to just email him and go, John, thank you for K-9? I mean, thank you for Ken Walker III and what he’s meant to our team. But I also feel like are there times they’re going, man, I wish we had K-9 back.

00:01:53
Speaker 2: So can I hit you with some canine stats and records and numbers? This is just crazy stuff. I think we all anticipated him making a significant impact. And we talked about it all offseason that he is going to have ripple effects throughout the entire offense. This is beyond what anyone could have reasonably expected because he’s just been amazing. So through week six, and this includes the fact that we had a bye week. So these numbers where he’s accumulating stats, he has one less game than most everyone else. So he leads the NFL in rushing yards, rushing average, rushing yards per game, rushing plays of 20 or more yards, which he has seven of, by the way. We had three as a team all of last year. He has seven by himself through week six and only playing five games. He also leads the NFL in broken tackles right now, despite only playing five games. He already has more rushing yards than any player on the Chiefs did all of last season or in October. He’s one of four players in NFL history. to rush for at least 660 yards and six touchdowns through his team’s first five games. Listen to the other guys on this list. Terrell Davis in 1998. That Broncos team was pretty good. Jim Brown in 1958 and 1963. And then OJ Simpson in 1973 and 1975. That is the company that he is part of now. He’s also one of just two players since the AFL-NFL merger to score multiple touchdowns in four of his team’s first five games, joining Calvin Johnson in 2011. And here’s what stands out to me. So at this point, people know that we’re going to run the ball with Ken. And it’s opened things up in the play action passing game. We all know that. But even when people know that we’re about to run it and we still run it, he finds success. So last week against the Chargers, he rushed for 53 yards and two touchdowns. against stacked boxes. So boxes with eight or more defenders. He leads the NFL right now with 183 rushing yards and six touchdowns against stacked boxes. So even when you put all these guys in the box and we’re like, yeah, we’re still going to run it and he’s going to find success.

00:03:51
Speaker 1: It’s just amazing. It’s like he has those camera glasses on too with like a GoPro in both earlobes and one in the back of his head that’s feeding him. Because the play last week against the Chargers, they defended perfectly. They have the A, B, and C gap, play side defended. And then somehow he sees, oh, like 700 degrees to the left, I’m going to get a touchdown. His vision and balance is crazy. But the fact that he’s here and affected the team in so many ways, whether he touches the ball or not, as you’ve alluded to, brings up a key point in this game. You’ve got Sunday night football. You’ve got the defending Super Bowl champions with the Super Bowl MVP on the other team. coming in to play against the Seattle Seahawks. So it’s going to be, I mean, it’s amazing. NFL must see. But the fact that the Seahawks still have the same defense, there’s going to be times K-9 is going to feel like he’s in a camp against his defense, which right now you can argue is the best team in the league defensively, and they were a year ago. Oh, yeah.

00:04:56
Speaker 2: I mean, their defense is no joke. This is where stats can lie a little bit. It’s the number seven scoring defense in the NFL. They’re way better than that. They’re not the number seven defense in the league. I have it up here. They’re the number one total defense in the NFL right now in terms of yards allowed and sets up a great matchup against K-9. To me, this isn’t so much about, hey, Ken’s going back to Seattle. The storyline here is we have the best running back in the league and they might have the best run defense in the league. It’s a best on best and who is going to win in that instance. They’ve allowed opponents to rush for four or more yards on just 36% of rushing attempts this year. That’s the best rate in the NFL. They forced the most negative rushing plays in the NFL this year. That sets up everything else. They’re really good against the pass, number one pass defense in the league, number one yak defense in the league. But it all starts with their ability to shut down the running game. And for us this year, our entire offense is all about running the football and establishing the run that opens up everything else in our passing game. So for the Chiefs in this game, It’s no secret. It’s what we’ve been doing all season long. We have to establish the running game here, establish the explosive running game, and everything will build off of that. Well, Seattle is the best in the league at shutting those things down. Who’s going to win? That will determine who wins this game.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And there’s some other things, too, we’ll get to. Again, that’s down to the minute details. But let’s look back a bit at the Charger win, 22-6, to get the Chargers at 0-6 and have the Chiefs go to 5-0 with three division victories. And this game, it just felt like the Chiefs were really close to getting 40 points in the game. You get a fourth down stop at the one, honk. You get a first and goal at the four, the pick. Looked like a safety to me. All right, if we’re adding points up here, that’s 16. And then you miss a 52-yard field goal. 11 possessions. Nine of those were in the plus part of the territory. But the cool thing about this game to me was the fact that we were asking questions of like, hey, the wide receiver room. You got double digit plays at a Jalen Royals, who, by the way, we’re going to hear from here later on defending the kingdom. You got a double digit play at a Cyrus Allen, which a heck of a catch. Andrew Armstrong on the slant play. And then Xavier Worthy really set the tone for the entire game. So that room elevated itself perfectly. And all those guys got double digit pass plays.

00:07:16
Speaker 2: There was danger going into that game. And we talked about it a little bit, but the Chargers were 0-5. We were 4-0. Everyone’s kind of saying the Chargers are dead, right? And they expect us to go in there and just roll over them. Well, the Charger defense was not the reason they were 0-5 going into that game. We talked about it a lot. Their pass rush in particular is really good, even with all the injuries that they’ve had. And we were down Taequann Thornton and Rashi Rice. And you’re going into it with a lot of young receivers kind of hoping, hey, can these guys help us get over the hump and win this game? Because K-9 can’t do it all by himself because the Chargers are going to key in on our running game. And for our young receivers to go out there and make some plays and to help this team win was really encouraging. It was great to see Worthy have the game that he did. He has seven catches for over 70 yards, made some big plays in that game. I think four catches for double-digit yardage would have had an even bigger play on the first play of the game if it wasn’t for the penalty. So Xavier, I think, built some confidence in that game. And for Cyrus Allen to make that catch over the middle on first and 20, great catch. Andrew Armstrong had a nice play. Jalen Royals, who you mentioned we’ll hear from in a little bit, made some nice plays. It was just good to see those guys get involved, and it wasn’t a situation where we were up by a bunch of points and it was garbage time. They had to make plays to help us win the game. We were counting on them and relying on them, and they made those plays. So I’m with you. That’s how a young team grows, and we saw it in that game against the Chargers.

00:08:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, we even had Noah Gray karate kick a guy. It was great. He was going to hurdle him, but it didn’t work out so good, but it turned out to be a karate kick. So that was good. Matt, what excites you about the Chiefs defense this year?

00:08:50
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.

00:08:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of a new school, old school approach. 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 us carry this through that. Anyway, 10x. ai is the AI security operations provider protecting organizations from cybersecurity attacks 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.

00:09:33
Speaker 2: I love that idea. Let’s roll.

00:09:34
Speaker 1: Defensively, something happened in the Charger game that, to me, will be paramount for the Seahawks game because, again, it’s going to come down to the slightest of details when you look up in the matchup and do the computer graph overlay of the Chiefs against the Seahawks. And that is the strategic plays defensively. There were four three on outs by the Chiefs defense in that game. Now think of these. One was to start the game. They set the tone. That was one. Two, the Chiefs actually stole a possession at the end of the first half because the Chargers could have had back-to-back possessions. They deferred and usually when that happens, you’ll get the last possession of the second quarter, start of the third. A three and out. The Chiefs steal three points there, getting the field goal at the end of the half. Another was after the sudden change. Looked like a safety. Guess not. Boom, they punted out. You’re going to get the ball at the 40-yard line. Nico Remigio fumbles the punt. What happens? Three and out. Because if they get another long play like they had before, then they could be back in the game. And then later in the game, another situation where the Chiefs defense gets a three and out in a critical situation. That will be the focus in the Seahawks game. Who makes the defensive plays at the critical moments of in game time situation. But I was so encouraged by the defense doing that. You see the pressures and the sacks. I love the situational defense when it’s the hardest because it’s hardest after sudden change or it’s hardest too in trying to set the tone at the beginning of the game and also at an end of a half.

00:11:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a really encouraging performance. It’s the number two scoring defense in the NFL right now after holding the Chargers out of the end zone throughout that game. I’m with you. It really felt like whenever the Chargers started to build some momentum, we then shut it down. And the defense deserves a lot of credit for that. I wrote some of these down. You talked about them just now as well. But the Chargers’ second drive, they convert a third down in the red zone. Herbert scrambles up the middle. And then Snead gets the personal foul. And it kind of feels like, all right, you know, momentum is building here for the Chargers. They’re probably going to score. We’ll have to go answer it ourselves. Well, I think it said a lot that even when the Chargers got to the 11-yard line, From then on out, they got, I think, like four or five more yards, had to settle for a field goal. That’s deflating for the Chargers. They’re on the road. They get a penalty. They convert a third down and have to settle for a field goal in the red zone. It’s the opposite of building momentum. Even though you got points, you feel bad about it. So that was big for the defense. How about after the interception was overturned? So there was the roughing the passer call. I don’t know, but you know what? They called it, roughing the passer. And interception gets overturned. The Chargers now have momentum, right? They kind of stole a possession of their own with that one. Well, Jack Cochran picks off Herbert a little bit later on that drive. Well, in that same sequence, Mahomes gets picked in the end zone. Okay, the Chargers have momentum again. They’ve now stolen the possession back. Well, we force a quick punt. They get nothing out of that. How about when Herbert found Quentin Johnston for that 57-yarder on third down? Down to the one-yard line.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: One-yard line.

00:12:33
Speaker 2: The one-yard line, they settle for a field goal. That is so deflating. And then you alluded to this one. We go for it on fourth and goal at the one-yard line. We don’t get it. Well, the defense comes out there, almost gets a safety, forces a three and out. We have all the momentum in the world. They punt, we fumble. Okay, well, now it’s like they’ve gotten a 50-yard play. Doesn’t matter. Defense says, we got you. Another three and out. The defense, over and over again, just made play after play. Whenever the Chargers started bubbling up some momentum, they said, now we got this. And the offense, there’s a lot to learn from. There were some good things. There were some things that weren’t so good that we have to clean up. But the defense picked up the offense time and time again. It was a beautiful thing.

00:13:16
Speaker 1: And the passes deflected. We talk about it all the time. Nobody talks about it as fans.

00:13:21
Speaker 2: George, hands up.

00:13:22
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. And to see it happen with, there were seven in the game. And four happened from the front seven on defense. It’s just a devastating play for an opposing offense when that happens.

00:13:34
Speaker 2: And the sacks finally came. We were talking about this. We knew the pressure rate was good, but we didn’t have a sack in three weeks. We had to get the quarterback on the ground. Got four of them in this game. And I have a fun note on George. So he’s only played two games the last three weeks. Obviously, we had the bye week. But even with that bye week, since week four, he leads the NFL in pressures with 19. George is having a good season. Between the pressures, he got that sack on Sunday against Herbert, and also getting his hands up, just really helping this team in a bunch of different ways. And our Mason Thomas doesn’t have the sacks to show for it, but he’s impacting the game every time he’s out there.

00:14:11
Speaker 1: And Ashton Gelati’s healthy. Yeah. You can see it. And Felix is playing the best ball of his career.

00:14:17
Speaker 3: All right.

00:14:17
Speaker 2: Almost out of safety.

00:14:19
Speaker 1: So close. It looks like it. Anyway, what are you still thinking about the Charger game? We’re going to move on. We already have a bit, but there’s some things that just stay in there that you still think about. Okay.

00:14:31
Speaker 2: So I’m a nerd. I’m a nerd for NFL history. This feels made up and it’s real. So this is a two-parter.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Bear with me.

00:14:39
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people know about the first part of this. So Patrick won his 100th regular season game as a starting quarterback on Sunday. He did that in just 131 starts. So think about that. His regular season record is 131, which is just bonkers to think about. He tied Tom Brady by getting to 100 wins in the fewest regular season starts. Only 131 regular season starts to get to 100 wins. So both Brady and Mahomes have a career record in the regular season through 131 career starts of 131. Okay, let’s include the playoffs now. So Patrick, through 152 career starts, including the playoffs, is 117 and 35. You know what Tom Brady’s record was through 152 career starts, including the playoffs?

00:15:28
Speaker 1: The same.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: It’s 117 and 35. You can’t make this up. That is absolutely crazy. And it hammers home the point that you think about the incredible nature of Brady’s career, the wins, the championships, the moments, all that stuff. We are living it exactly right now with Patrick Mahomes. And what a blessing to be in Chiefs Kingdom and to have that career reincarnated in our quarterback. It’s just phenomenal. So Pat has a long way to go to match all of that, but just amazing. We’re never going to see something like this again, a quarterback having this kind of success. And for it to be so parallel with Brady is just nuts. So I’m still thinking about that.

00:16:07
Speaker 1: Here’s what I’m still thinking about. is I wonder if Nick Bolton, when he’s done playing, will work for an auto company. Okay. Because what I’m still thinking about is Justin Herbert looking like a crash test dummy. Because we know he had scrambled already, and hey, oh, and I’m calling the play, right? And Herbert is up from the pocket, he’s going, and, and, boom, crash test dummy. He hits the wall, and the wall is Nick Bolton. And Herbert’s a big guy. Yeah, he is. But he wasn’t on that play, and so, hey, If you can make a quarterback a crash test dummy, that’s a good thing. And congrats to Nick as Bolt gets his 26th game with 10-plus tackles in a game. All-time Kansas City Chiefs record. Done it in a fairly short amount of time when you look at it, but Derrick Johnson had that record. So DJ knew it was going down when he was here going into the Ring of Honor. But so cool because Nick Bolton’s playing some football. In fact, I can make the argument he’s playing the best football of his career.

00:17:06
Speaker 2: I have a feeling that Justin Herbert isn’t a big fan of Nick Bolton.

00:17:09
Speaker 1: Well, would you put that– you know the sign you put on the crash test dummy? Yes. It’s like that kind of black and yellow thing. So I wonder if they just slapped that on his helmet right before that play.

00:17:19
Speaker 2: Well, there’s that play. And then back in 21, when we were on the road and Herbert had a chance to lead a game-winning drive after we had taken the lead, Was it Bolt that slapped the ball in the air and Deion Bush picked it off?

00:17:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:17:32
Speaker 2: I just imagine he goes to sleep at night and sees Nick Bolton like, ah, in his dreams.

00:17:37
Speaker 1: I love it. I still think about Justin Herbert being a crash test dummy at the hands of Nick Bolton. But exciting. We talked about the wide receivers and stepping up in that game. And it’s so cool because on this edition of Defending the Kingdom, we’re going to go to– A guy that I’m excited about. We were excited about him last year. Yeah. We’d watched him in OTAs, rookie mini camp, training camp, and then it just never got the traction. The 30-yard kickoff return against the Ravens, I’m going, oh, yeah. But now we’re starting to see Jalen Royals become a part of this.

00:18:15
Speaker 2: Well, he had the injury in training camp last year, and you’re right. We saw a lot of good things in OTAs. just didn’t quite translate because when you get hurt in training camp, it just puts you behind the eight ball and other players are able to get those reps and earn those opportunities. Jalen Royals has all the talent in the world, wasn’t able to fully seize it during last season just because he was behind. But we’ve seen it time and time again that when players are here for a year and they can get comfortable with the coaching staff and with this building and with the scheme, they can let their talent just go out there and show, and they can go out there and play fast. And we’re seeing that right now with Jalen Royals.

00:18:53
Speaker 1: So how do you find an NFL wide receiver? You look for AAU basketball guy that goes to Georgia Military Junior College and then ends up in Northern Utah to play college football. Sure, it works every time. Kingdom Defenders, you and I and Matt have waited two years for this. Jalen Royals, number 11, is with us. So cool. It’s been awesome. to see the targets come and the catches come. What about that and getting in the flow?

00:19:21
Speaker 4: It feels great to just go out there, you know, compete with the guys. It feels great.

00:19:26
Speaker 2: How much more comfortable do you feel this year compared to last year when you’re a rookie just trying to figure out, you know, where things are and what your role is here?

00:19:33
Speaker 4: I feel great out there. Just trying to help the team and, you know, being comfortable out there means, you know, that, you know, all the guys have trust in me. So just going out there and just having fun really.

00:19:43
Speaker 1: Yeah when did you notice that happening we realize it because there’s always like can i do this can i not no i can do this when did that happen.

00:19:51
Speaker 4: Uh probably at the end of last year i mean you know after your rookie year all the nerves out so you know probably that.

00:19:57
Speaker 2: I think coach o’Shea and coach reed have both said it was the moment you cut your hair what went into the decision to cut your hair and have you noticed a difference.

00:20:05
Speaker 4: Yeah i mean obviously you know i just wanted them uh It’s just, you know, I guess a redefining, you know, moment for me. Cutting my hair was, it meant a lot because I grew it out for so long. And just a new look and, you know, just a new, you know, persona about myself.

00:20:22
Speaker 1: What’s cool, I saw during the bye week, a good friend of mine is now the head basketball coach at Utah State. That means his staff are friends. Then I get sent these pictures back from you being at USU. What about the bye week and your treatment you got from the Aggie Nation?

00:20:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was amazing being back in Aggie Nation, back in Logan, Utah. Logan is a special place in my heart. They put me in and I just wanted to go back and show some love.

00:20:49
Speaker 1: Did you run the flag out?

00:20:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did run the flag out for the team. I spoke to the team actually before the game and it was a pretty cool experience.

00:20:56
Speaker 1: It was great.

00:20:57
Speaker 2: That’s awesome. I think a lot of Chiefs fans know about your Utah State accolades because your highlights were incredible. I mean, you had an incredible time there. I think a lot of people don’t know about your time at Georgia Military College, though, and your journey to get to Utah State. Tell us about being a zero-star recruit at a high school, going to Georgia Military College, and eventually ending up at Utah State.

00:21:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a crazy experience. A zero-star at a high school. I actually didn’t even play Truly, I really didn’t even play too much at Georgia Military. I was really an all-special teams guy. All my film was out of practice that I sent to Utah State. And it was just, I would say it was a learning experience, you know, just sitting there and, you know, taking it all in and just seeing how everything works. So, it was… It was definitely an experience.

00:21:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, the reason he’s a zero-star recruit is everybody thought he was going to play basketball. You’re an AAU phenom. Yeah. What about the whole AAU experience and basketball experience? They go, nah, I guess I’ll try football.

00:21:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, basketball, it was great. You know, I feel like I’m, you know, a pretty good basketball player myself. I realized I wasn’t getting any taller. So, you know, I transitioned to basketball, I mean football. But yeah, it was, you know, basketball definitely, you know, helps you, you know, with a lot of stuff that, you know, football, you know, does, so.

00:22:16
Speaker 2: Well, your first career touchdown against the Colts was kind of like going up for a rebound.

00:22:19
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:22:19
Speaker 2: Walk us through that play, because that was crazy.

00:22:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:22
Speaker 4: So I was, you know, just had an over route and the last read, you know, in practice, you can never really get in the ball, you know, it’s always to the first read. And in the game, it’s always somehow the last read always gets it in. I got it. Noah was right there and we both almost went up for a ball and, you know, I snagged out there and, uh, scored.

00:22:44
Speaker 2: So, I mean, how cool is that? You’re, you’re holding the football. You’re like, I just scored in the national football league and all the work you put in. What’d that mean to you?

00:22:50
Speaker 1: I meant a lot.

00:22:51
Speaker 4: Um, just my first one, you know, come, you know, after my rookie year too, which is, you know, kind of crazy. So, uh, it meant, it meant the world and my family was right there.

00:23:00
Speaker 1: So it was great. That made sure you got the football, didn’t it?

00:23:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, I got it.

00:23:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got it. It’s his job. It’s to make sure everybody’s first touchdown football that got it. But, uh, And I want to ask you about your basketball and how it actually translates to football. Yeah. And I see you a lot and we use you a lot. You’ll be an inline blocker or you’re in a tight wing. We move you around. What about your basketball experience or being physical as a wide receiver and doing a lot of things when you don’t touch the ball?

00:23:30
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:23:30
Speaker 4: It’s like, um, like kind of boxing out, you know what I mean? In the sense of, you know, finding a man, putting a body on him, score a stance, stuff like that. So, That’s also common in defense-wise, you know, in basketball, you got to stay square and just shuffle your feet. So it’s kind of similarities in shuffling when you’re blocking somebody, so.

00:23:50
Speaker 2: And when you do have the ball, coming out of college, you were described as kind of like a running back after the catch.

00:23:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:23:54
Speaker 2: And your yards after catch numbers were crazy. You would break tackles like crazy. We’re seeing that a little bit now here in the pros. Where does that mentality come from, breaking those tackles and being like a running back after the catch?

00:24:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, I actually played running back. That was my first position, actually, yeah.

00:24:07
Speaker 1: There we go.

00:24:08
Speaker 4: I played it all throughout middle school, little league, and I stopped playing in high school. And then, so that probably just that, just translating, you know, to my receiver skills, so.

00:24:20
Speaker 1: And special teams. Oh, there’s Jalen on special teams. Yeah. Core guy. What about playing special teams and doing it at a high level?

00:24:30
Speaker 4: It means a lot. I mean, you know, not a lot of guys get to go on special teams. So, you know, it’s an honor to, you know, to even be on it and just give all effort. You know, being out there on kickoff is exciting and running down with the guys, making tackles. So it’s fun. It’s real fun.

00:24:43
Speaker 2: You can return kicks too.

00:24:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:45
Speaker 4: I had a couple last year. I had one actually versus Seattle when we were playing a, about to play in the preseason. But yeah, it was fun being back there too.

00:24:53
Speaker 1: That Ravens 30-yarder, I think. Yeah. Final question, and this has to deal a little bit different, but we play Seattle this week and they have Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. Yeah. Do you watch his game? Yeah. Because right now he’s the best receiver in the league, let’s just be honest. Yeah. Do you watch his game? What do you like about it? What would you like to emulate about it?

00:25:12
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I watch everybody on it, trying to get bits and pieces from everybody. But yeah, he’s great at turning after the catch and catching the ball is crazy. His yak is insane. And just, you know, watching him and how he does it and how he, you know, does his routes, you know, he’s real good at, you know, looking people off and, you know, finishing his routes. So it’s great to watch and learn.

00:25:36
Speaker 1: Sid, you’re a gamer. You don’t cheat on Madden and make you a 99 and like four.

00:25:40
Speaker 4: No, no, no, no.

00:25:41
Speaker 1: That’s good. Playing an honest. Hey, he plays an honest for us every week. It’s exciting to see you grow. We’re just getting started with Jalen Royals. I wanted to ask Jalen specifically about Jackson Smith and Jigba because I’ve got incredible respect for him. But let’s take this further when you look at the Seahawks. They’re not 3-3 because of their defense. I think we’ve already established that. We’ll talk about it more. And they’re not 3-3 because of Jackson Smith and Jigba. In fact, here’s a note for you. You like notes and historic notes.

00:26:13
Speaker 3: I do.

00:26:14
Speaker 1: He is accounting for 49% of their receiving yards right now. That is the best in five decades in the National Football League of one dude and how much he accounts for the percentage of their output. When you look at their big plays, and he has got over 50% of the 18-plus passes, JSN has 10 of them, 10 of the 18. That’s everybody else on the team, and then there’s JSN, who’s like four notches higher. I’m enamored with him. That’s why I asked Jalen about him. I’m kind of mesmerized with them. It’s like the whole Austin Powers scene where you’re not supposed to say to the guy in the face, like, moley, moley, moley. But I just watch JSN with amazement. He faces man. He faces zone. He beats everything. He catches the ball. He catches every catch. But he’s a phenomenal wide receiver. And the Chiefs have got a lot on their table to try to slow the cat down.

00:27:13
Speaker 2: Very much a great example of the new age of receivers that we’ve seen in the NFL where he doesn’t have the fastest 40 time. I don’t have it in front of me, but it’s not blazing fast. Not a very big guy, but what does he do? He runs great routes.

00:27:26
Speaker 1: He’s 4’5, by the way. We talked about him. He’s like a 4’5, 1 guy.

00:27:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it doesn’t matter because he runs great routes. He’s really good in space. After the catch, he’s tremendous. He’s so good about when he catches the football. How can I make the defender miss? How can I on my path, find a way to create 10 more yards after this play. He’s the best in the league at that. Puka Nakua is the other example of a player that is this new age receiver.

00:27:52
Speaker 1: Also 4’5.

00:27:53
Speaker 2: Exactly, but it’s just incredible. So you talked about it.

00:27:57
Speaker 1: Oh, no.

00:27:58
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. This is unexpected.

00:28:04
Speaker 1: It’s Batman.

00:28:05
Speaker 2: Oh, Batman.

00:28:06
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you.

00:28:08
Speaker 2: Well, hold on. I can get you something.

00:28:09
Speaker 4: One sec.

00:28:12
Speaker 1: That’s so cool. Uh, I’d give you a pancake.

00:28:22
Speaker 3: Sorry about Rachel.

00:28:23
Speaker 2: Well, how about that? That man.

00:28:30
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like, like Trey Smith. I thought he was going to drive me into the ground. Like he does. Uh, other guys. I saw a block. Did you see his block last week? Uh, It was on the touchdown.

00:28:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.

00:28:42
Speaker 1: It’s a 33-yard run. And he just takes the guy and whips him into the ground. And it was a legal block, but it was not enough just to get in his way. It was like, I think I’ll drive the guy into the molten lava of the earth. I just went back and watched it like five times. And now he’s Batman for trick-or-treat. Yeah.

00:29:00
Speaker 2: If you’re just listening to this, this probably makes no sense. Trey Smith just came in here dressed as Batman trick-or-treating. So there you go. You know, we have fun here at Arrowhead. It’s not just all serious football stuff. When you’re 5-0, you can do this kind of thing. I’m not sure that would have flown with Coach Reed if we were 2-3. But we’re 5-0. It’s all good.

00:29:18
Speaker 1: Well, and he’s such an awesome dude. I’ve said it before. My granddaughter Cora’s favorite player. I mean, she loves Mahomes and Kelsey, but she wears Trey’s jersey to school.

00:29:30
Speaker 2: Does it make you so proud that your granddaughter wears an offensive guard?

00:29:34
Speaker 1: Let’s go. But go watch his block. The spring canine on the 33-yard run, and you’ll just laugh like I do. It became a chuckle. But we talked about Jackson Smith and Jig, but yeah, he is the new age wide receiver, but so precise in his routes. You know what else he has? I’m thinking what sets him apart so differently. And right now he’s on the pace. I mentioned he’s got almost 50% of the receiving yards that the Seahawks have as a team, but he’s on a pace. There’s never been a 2,000-yard receiver. Calvin Johnson, who gets his second mention in this edition of Defending the Kingdom, has the record, just shy of 2,000. But right now, if JSN stays on this pace, he’ll have 2,100 yards receiving, and I could see him doing it. Oh, yeah. But his hands are so strong. You can be in perfect position– to defend the play, much like teams are when they’ve got canines stopped. But his hands are so strong. A route runner, toughness, but he’ll get the ball. He will get the ball from anybody in this league. I don’t care if you’re Sertan or anybody else.

00:30:38
Speaker 2: So there was that play against the Broncos last week where it was desperation time for the Seahawks. And Darnold threw a deep pass over the middle. It was triple coverage. And somehow JSN came down with it. He’s incredible. You’ve mentioned the percentages. I have the numbers here because the numbers are just nuts. He has 717 receiving yards this season, leads the NFL. The rest of our team has 752.

00:30:59
Speaker 1: Think about that. Everybody else. What? It’s all the tight ends, all the running backs, all the receivers. Everybody. Big man touchdown guy.

00:31:06
Speaker 2: It’s just incredible. The thing is, you look at their team last year. It makes sense why they were such a buzzsaw because they had this incredible running game with Ken Walker, with Charbonnet, and their play-action passing game off of that was almost indefensible. And you have JSN out there catching these play-action passes. So say what you want to about pro football focus and their grades. I don’t think it’s an end-all be-all, but it can point you in the right direction sometimes at least. Well, if you look at Darnold last year on play-action, Pro Football Focus gave him the second best grade in the NFL behind only Matthew Stafford. Also makes some sense with Puka Nakua and their running game and Sean McVay. This year, that play-action passing grade for Darnold is 30 points lower, bottom third of the league. When you don’t have the dominant running game, it doesn’t open up that play-action passing game like it did last year. It’s a lot harder now for their passing game. The thing is, JSN is such a good player that he’ll go up and get the football and he’s going to get his yards no matter what. But it’s not quite as smooth, I think, as it was last year because that running game has just not been the same. Not having Walker anymore. Charbonnet has been hurt. And Jadarian Price, who’s a pretty good player out of Notre Dame, got hurt in like week two or three. So the running game is not what it was last year. That’s the difference in their offense.

00:32:23
Speaker 1: In preseason football, think about we played these guys in the preseason and the Rams. It’s a bit of an anomaly that you’re playing teams in the preseason, you’re going to play in the regular season, and particularly this quickly. But the fact is they didn’t play Drew Locke in the game. Of course, they didn’t play Sam Darnold. So we all, Jalen Mill rolled the whole game. But you know what we did see? The running backs we will see in this game. And that’s what’s weird about it. Because you mentioned with Price being down and then Charbonnet not being back from the ACL injury, You’re going to get the same guys you got in the preseason game. Now, I’m not throwing rocks at those guys, but I will throw a rock at them on this. They have lost more fumbles collectively in the running back room for the Seattle Seahawks than any other team in the National Football League. So they’re not only getting the production they did have with K-9 and Charbonnet tag teaming last year, they’re not turning the ball over. And so those guys are getting more time than they thought they were going to have And it’s actually been a net loss for them in the fact that they’re losing the ball. That’s four lost fumbles from running backs in the first six games of the year.

00:33:32
Speaker 2: And overall, this is one of the craziest stats, I think, of the week, is that the Seahawks defensively lead the NFL in takeaways, yet Seattle as a team has a negative turnover margin. That’s bonkers.

00:33:45
Speaker 1: What does it sound like? It’s the Chargers.

00:33:47
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:33:48
Speaker 1: We’re copying and pasting the Chargers here in that regard. Yeah. And a little bit what we’ll have next week with the Broncos, but it really does copy and paste, is the fact that you’ve got the Chargers top five in the league in takeaways, but the offense is just hemorrhaging the ball. And Darnold with seven picks, but they’ve lost these fumbles as well. They’ve lost five fumbles. Rasheed Shaheed’s lost a fumble. So that’s 12 giveaways and 11 takeaways.

00:34:13
Speaker 2: And Darnold has multiple picks now in three of his last four games. No coincidence. They’ve lost those three games. So for us in this game, let’s take the football away. You’ve talked about the importance of field position in this game because their defense is so good. Taking the football away, particularly on our half of the field to get have a short field to score a touchdown, only having to go 20, 30 yards is critical in this game, because if you look at the Seahawks defense. They’re like top in the league in just about every single category. The only weakness I can really find in their defense is red zone. It’s crazy. So they’ve only allowed 14 red zone drives. It’s not a lot, but 11 of those have ended in touchdowns. So if we can get some easy trips to the red zone here in this game by taking the football away, whether it be a forced fumble or an interception, be a big benefit for our offense to hopefully cash in on that red zone defense.

00:35:03
Speaker 1: A big word is divergence for me. I think what I’m going to do, I’ll probably get in trouble at the NFL. And we know the Seattle crowd’s awesome.

00:35:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, it’s great.

00:35:11
Speaker 1: It’s been us and them and battling for, you know, the Harry Potter guy shows up with the sound-o-meter thing and like, ooh, hey, the Chiefs have won it now. Seattle, you want it back? I’ll come up for 25 grand. Exactly. Steak dinner. But it’s a great venue, great fans, the 12. We know all about it. But I think I’m going to put up like a virtual scene in front of the fans. Fans can still see the field, but I’ll try to come up with this in the next couple days, where the Seahawks will see a virtual road game. Any of the other 31 teams. It doesn’t have to be, you just pick one. Like the Arizona Cardinals. I’ll just put that. Here’s why. In starting field position, I’ve never seen this, I don’t think, this wide a divergence. Every starting field position for the Seahawks at home is number two in the league. On the road, 26th in the league. Wow. There is this wide gap for them in the way they play at home right now and the way they’re playing on the road. We can see that because of all the emotion there. But field position, every minute detail of this game is going to matter, especially turnovers and field position. It’s always the case. And running the ball. You’re thinking, well, that’s not brain surgery, brain science, or nuclear physics. But in some games, it’s 2.0, 3.0, 4.0. And that’s this game. If the Chiefs can just neutralize the field position game, win the turnover battle or be at zero, I think the Chiefs win this game.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: You don’t want to play from behind in Seattle.

00:36:47
Speaker 1: You’ve done that.

00:36:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have.

00:36:50
Speaker 1: The 2018 game, that was an epic game. It was.

00:36:55
Speaker 2: And think about how good offensively the 2018 team was.

00:36:57
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:37:00
Speaker 2: Only lost three games in the year, one of them in Seattle, despite that offense. So you don’t want to play from behind against these guys and this defense on the road on Sunday night football. I think for us in this game, and we’ll talk about it with Ari, is a matter of establishing what we do, which we run the football better than anyone else in the NFL right now. Even though their defense is great, we can’t worry about that. We have to worry about ourselves and what we do well, which is we run the football better than anyone. We throw play action better than anyone right now. If we go out there and do that, we establish our brand of football. We take the ball away a couple times, which they’ve been giving the football away this year. It’s just the reality. And we finish in the red zone, we’re going to be okay. But it’s not going to be easy. This might be our toughest test of the year so far, at least in terms of a road game. And we can’t play offensively like we did last week in Seattle. We have to make sure we are cashing in on opportunities, which we were fortunate to win last week because our defense played so well.

00:37:56
Speaker 4: But.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: You can’t go on the red zone and come away with no points multiple times against a team like the Seahawks.

00:38:02
Speaker 1: We’re going to get to Ari here in a minute, but I’m going to bring up this. I brought up with Jaden Hicks last night on our Chiefs Kingdom show on the Chiefs Radio Network. It’s kind of fun for him. He played at Wazoo. He goes, I don’t like going to Seattle. I just like beating those guys. When he was at Wazoo, they played the Apple Cup against UW. But I remember this. In 2013, it was Coach Reed’s first year, the 9-0 start. We cross-pollinated that year against the NFC East. We were going to Philadelphia. Coach had been there for 14 years. And now we’re going back to play the Eagles in Philadelphia. I remember the sense all week long in the building. And when we got on the plane to go to Philadelphia, we were not going to lose the game. Not for Coach. We were too happy that he was here and what he had already brought us. Like, Coach, we got you. It happened again. Because the next time we went to Philadelphia, if Coach Reed won that game, he would be the only coach in NFL history to win 100 games with two different franchises. He was at 99 here. He wins that game against the Eagles. We were not going to lose that game. I know the Seahawks hair will be on fire because here comes K-9. But the vibe I get is we’re going back. K-9, you have been so good for us. You’ve changed our team. We are now the only undefeated team in the ASC, and we’re going back to the place where you won Super Bowl MVP. We got your back. I get that sense in this week’s game.

00:39:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do too. And I’ll give you an example that I just thought of that isn’t so fun for the Chiefs, but is a reality, is Tony Gonzalez, his first game with the Falcons back at Arrowhead. There was no way the Falcons were losing that game, if you look back at it. that 2012 chiefs team wasn’t very good, but that first half, it was neck and neck and Gonzalez wasn’t going to lose that game. Just a matter of, you know, you have a lot of great memories in a place when you go back there, it’s going to be a little bit different forever. Uh, you know, I was a junior in college for that 2013, uh, chiefs and Eagles game. And I remember at Mizzou, there aren’t a lot of chiefs fans. It’s a lot of, uh, back then it was Rams fans, but also bears fans and Cowboys fans. So I was kind of unique wearing my chief stuff around town. And, uh, I got a lot of flack in 2012 and 2011 wearing my Chiefs stuff. 2013 was a fun year to be a Chiefs fan at Mizzou. And that Eagles game, I won’t forget that because the next morning, Chiefs jersey, proud around campus. Did it for nine straight weeks. It was great.

00:40:34
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you’re a humble guy, but you didn’t take your three Super Bowl rings back to see those guys, did you?

00:40:39
Speaker 2: I haven’t, but they’re aware.

00:40:40
Speaker 1: They know. We’ll just let that one go. Yeah. Anyway, the point is here in the NFL, extra motivation always helps when the guys get on the plane. It’s the same vibe, man. We did it for Coach. We’ll do it for K-9. Well, let’s do it now for Ari as our wolf out west. Let’s chime in with him.

00:41:02
Speaker 3: Gentlemen, I loved week six. You want to know why? I like to stack wins. Just keep stacking them. I don’t care about how pretty it is. I don’t care what the stats look like. I love wins and I love wins and 5-0 to start the season is a beautiful thing. All right, let’s talk about what happened in the AFC West last week. A big time game. You had the Bills visiting the Raiders. High entertainment value in this game. There were a lot of points. There were a lot of big plays. In the end, the Bills survived and come away with a three-point win. Cousins played pretty well. The Raiders’ defense doesn’t force a turnover. They’ve been kind of living off turnovers during that three-game win streak to start the season. The Bills, in the end, were just too good. But the Raiders fought hard. Here’s my question to you, Mitch. Are we closer to seeing Fernando Mendoza, or are the Raiders going to stick with Kirk Cousins moving forward?

00:41:56
Speaker 1: I think that we look at a Thanksgiving decision there. Because of the AFC and the way it’s shaken out, the Raiders are still swinging away. That was such a big game for them if they could have pulled that off. And it just shows you their propensity to put 30 points on the board. I know the Bills defense isn’t just locking everybody down right now, but still, they’re in that game because they stood toe-to-toe offensively with the Bills. But I think your answer is still a wait and see. I thought maybe Halloween, now it’ll be past that because the Raiders will still have a shot. But I think by the time we play the Bills on Thanksgiving, the Raiders will have that decision made one way or the other.

00:42:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ari, I’ll raise you this. Does Fernando Mendoza play defense? Because, I mean, Cousins has been playing good ball. The Raiders have scored at least 26 points in five of their six games. They’re not three and three because of Cousins. I think they have those three wins because of Cousins. So if I’m the Raiders, you sign Cousins because you want Mendoza to sit and learn from him. And honestly, what a great opportunity for Mendoza to see how Cousins handles this. So I don’t think Fernando should start right now. we’ll see what they end up deciding to do. But personally, I think unless Fernando has learned how to play defense, you roll with Cousins for now.

00:43:17
Speaker 3: All right, I’m chiming in here. In a perfect situation, the Raiders know they’re not winning a Super Bowl this year. If they can just keep Mendoza on the sideline, literally to maybe week 17 or 18, Cousins.

00:43:31
Speaker 3: Is not only solid at quarterback, it’s the way he carries himself. Remember when he was on quarterback a couple years ago on Netflix? I went from being like, I don’t know how I feel about Kirk Cousins to, I love Kirk Cousins. So to have Kirk Cousins there, I think is great for Mendoza. If I were the Raiders, I’d say, let’s pump the brakes. Cousins is doing just fine. Let’s keep Mendoza where he is. Let him learn. I think it speaks volumes. You look at what Green Bay’s done over the years. Their rookie quarterbacks that they bring in, they never play for a couple of years. So I’m in alignment here. I think Mendoza should sit for as long as possible.

00:44:04
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, the direct comp is our 2017 year, though. And it was week 17 at the time, still in their 16 games, when we played Pat and let him rip. So maybe the same. I just think that If the Raiders are out of it and they just go completely off the cliff here, that they may make that move sooner than that. But they still have a lot of life left in this season.

00:44:28
Speaker 2: That 2017 game with Mahomes, I love that because you just felt all the Broncos fans after that game. They’re just like, oh, crap.

00:44:36
Speaker 1: I love it.

00:44:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, this kid can play. And that’s certainly proven to be the case. So I’m going to enjoy bashing the 4-2 Broncos right now only because watching them play on Thursday night against the Seahawks, I feel like there’s a high school JV team down the street in Manhattan Beach that’s offense looks better than the Broncos. 107 yards for Knicks through the air, a total of 168 yards. Yes, the Seahawks defense is pretty good. Yes, The Broncos won a lot of ugly games last year, but I’m no longer believing this is an ascending team. I think that the Broncos have big issues to figure out. There seems to be a disconnect on who’s ever calling the plays. and getting this team to create explosive plays. So yes, they beat the Seahawks, and we’ll talk a lot about the Seahawks.

00:45:25
Speaker 1: In a minute.

00:45:27
Speaker 3: But do you guys believe the Broncos can keep winning with an offense playing this poorly? Let’s start with you, Matt.

00:45:33
Speaker 2: Well, they won that game against the Seahawks, averaging 2.9 yards per play and going 3 of 14 on third down. I did some quick research on that. They are just the second team in the last 10 years to average less than 3 yards per play, go three or 14 or worse on third down and win? So the answer to your question is no. The other part of this question is, can the Broncos improve offensively? And I mean, the answer is probably yes, but they have to show it. They’ve won these games and to their credit against some good teams already this year, despite not playing well offensively. They can’t keep winning this way, but will their offense improve? I think the jury is still out on that.

00:46:15
Speaker 1: Here are the three worst teams on third down offense in the NFL. Cleveland, Washington, and Denver. And yet Denver’s 4-2. It’s a little bit of a minor miracle that they’re there. And you know this, Ari, that Bo Nix in that game against the Seahawks in throws of 10 yards or more completed zero passes. No passes completed at 10-plus yards. Amazing that they were able to grind that thing out. To me, it was more about Seattle’s approach offensively in that game than it was about some, oh, Bo Nix led this great fourth quarter rally. Now the schedule turns in Denver’s favor. We discussed that last week. Because everybody in this division’s years, like when do you play the NFC West? When do you play them? Where do you play them? We’re starting that mode now against Seattle this week. But Denver’s also, when you play that close to the vest, you’re also susceptible to the ambush. And we’ve lived that life too. But this league, we’re seeing ambushes every week. And if you’re not completing many passes over 10 yards and you’re playing 14, 13 games all the time, you’ll get some weird play that’ll lead to an ambush in a game you should have won and lost. Wow.

00:47:35
Speaker 3: That’s a little marking because I’m getting to that in a little bit when we get to their game this coming up week. All right, now to our game for this past week. Chiefs win 22-6. They stay undefeated. The Chargers remain winless. K-9 was brilliant again. I mean, that play near the goal line where it looked like there was nothing there and he just bounces it to the outside like it’s no big deal. I mean, he is better than advertised, but I have to make a confession. I don’t like to make confessions in front of everyone, but I’m going to do it today. Guys, when we were at training camp, I felt like the answer to everything I asked was, K-9 will fix it. With K-9, everything will be fine.

00:48:16
Speaker 2: That was me telling you that.

00:48:17
Speaker 3: Okay, well, let’s see the rosiest thing in my mind I can picture this guy doing. Maybe in the first five weeks, he’ll run for 400 yards. Maybe he’ll catch the balls out of the backfield. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that he would be a catalyst to turning this into one of the most well-balanced offenses in the NFL. I’m just confessing. You guys kept telling me, K-9, he answers everything. I thought, I love these guys. I know they’re really smart, but this is hard for me to go all in. I’m acknowledging I was wrong. K-9 can fix everything. This offense is fun to watch. I don’t care if they score 22 points or they score 35 points. This team has balance. It can help in time of possession. It keeps your defense fresh. So while some fans may be like, well, why don’t we win bigger? I love 22-6. The outcome was really never in doubt. The team played great. But Mitch, I start with you. K-9 has over delivered and I’ve admitted this guy does seem to be the solution to make this offense a well oiled.

00:49:21
Speaker 1: Machine well there’s obvious and not so obvious ways where we call it the K-9 ripple effect and honestly there’s all these molecules that are just flying around and K-9’s in the center of it it’s even helped the defense in many ways yeah and so uh The fact that you can get explosive plays out of plays that aren’t designed to be explosive or are really well defended and they still end up being explosive. It’s a little bit of the comparison to what Patrick was in 18, 19, 20, 21. When I would watch video and I’d see the defensive coordinators on the sideline or the defensive coaches just go, what are we supposed to do? We had it all covered perfectly. It’s the same way with canines. that’s the direct, but he’s affecting the game so much when he does not touch the ball. And again, it’s helped the defensive players, but they’re getting explosive plays, and not just from K-9, but from others. And the other encouraging sign about this game was, and this is part of the K-9 ripple effect, is, hey, what’s going to happen to the wide receiver room? No rice, and Tyquan Thornton’s out. You got four double-digit plays from Andrew Armstrong, Cyrus Allen, Jalen Royals, who we just had on during this segment of DTK, and Xavier Worthy had seven catches for nearly 80 yards. You’re getting all four of those guys were able to get something because there’s still two eyes looking at K-9 every time he breaks the huddle.

00:50:51
Speaker 2: Two words, Ari. Explosive runs. That 33-yard touchdown run. Last year, that would have been the highlight for the running back room all year long. For K-9, it’s just another day at the office. He has seven runs of 20 or more yards this year. We had three last year as a team. I told you in training camp, this guy changes everything, and so far we’re seeing it.

00:51:09
Speaker 1: Just go back and watch the 33-yard run, though. If you want to laugh, watch what Trey Smith does to his guy. Watch what Trey Smith does to his guy. We just had Trey Smith as Batman coming in here and crashed our party. But watch Trey Smith on that play and what he does to that charger, dude. It’s hilarious.

00:51:29
Speaker 3: All right. Let’s now focus on the chargers. They’ve got a buy coming up and they can sure use one. So they’re 0-6. You know, if you watch the broadcast, I feel like they were given a little bit of cover to McDaniel. He was saying he knew it would take a long time. He’s changing so many things for Justin Herbert. How much longer can this go on without somebody being reassigned in terms of either play calling? Or worst case, I never want anybody fired, but it seems like somebody has to be held accountable. 0-6 in the National Football League with a team that was hyped to be a playoff team and maybe a Super Bowl contender. How soon do you think we’ll see any real changes in L.A.

00:52:12
Speaker 2: Well, looking at their schedule, Ari, they get the bye, and then they’re at the Rams the week after that, which I think is funny. You know, it’s their stadium. SoFi, they’re at the Rams. It’s got to be a weird feeling playing in their stadium, but it’s all like opposing signage.

00:52:27
Speaker 1: It’s always somebody else’s stadium.

00:52:28
Speaker 2: I knew he was going to say that.

00:52:30
Speaker 1: I was going to say that. Radio Rick is going to fake the noise. It’s never Chargers fans.

00:52:36
Speaker 2: I wasn’t going to say it. I knew he was going to say it.

00:52:38
Speaker 3: Chargers don’t play home games. They just play in somebody else’s stadium.

00:52:41
Speaker 1: Their home game was Brazil last year because Brazilian fans were like, I guess, who’s the light blue team? I like them. That’s the most home fans I’ve ever had.

00:52:50
Speaker 2: Well, they’re playing at the Rams, and they’re hosting the Texans. I guess it’s going to be a road game. They’re hosting the Texans.

00:52:56
Speaker 1: Texans are hot. Look out for that team.

00:52:58
Speaker 2: And then at Ravens.

00:52:59
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:53:00
Speaker 2: To me, if we’re just being honest, I think their next shot at winning a game is against the Jets, and that’s in five weeks. So, they’re going to have to have some long, hard conversations, I think, Ari, because they’re looking down the barrel of a 0-9 start at this point.

00:53:15
Speaker 1: Ari, you can sit here and rationalize this all you want. Oh, hey, it’s going to take some time for Mike’s offense to like, come on. They’re only the fifth team in NFL history to start this poorly after an 11 win plus season. That’s five teams. You’re at historic badness. We’re making up words now for this. So at some point there has to be something done. But the excuses have been made for these guys now for years. And Right now, they’re not a very good team at all. I kind of feel sorry for the defense. Guys like Tui Tui Pelotu is playing really at a high level. Akeem Mesidor. Khalil Mack has never won a playoff game. I look for a trade there. I look for almost like a Carlos Dunlap deal that we had back in 2022. Carlos had never won a playoff game. Never. He played double digits in the league. He came to us and won a Super Bowl. Somebody’s going to take Khalil Mack because he’s still playing at a high level and the Chargers may trade him.

00:54:11
Speaker 2: Get those guys to the NFC. That sounds good. Trade Tooley. Trade Mack. Trade all those guys. Derwin, get them out.

00:54:18
Speaker 1: Day on handling. Get them out.

00:54:20
Speaker 3: All the NFC.

00:54:21
Speaker 1: Yes. All right.

00:54:22
Speaker 3: I love it. Now, we talked about how the Chargers are off this week. So now let’s go to the Broncos at the Cardinals. Now, here’s a stat that makes so little sense, but I have to share it. The Arizona Cardinals have won more games at SoFi this year. than the Chargers and the Rams have won at home combined. What is going on in the world of football? The Cardinals only should play at SoFi. They’re 2-0 there. All right, in all seriousness, I think this game’s going to be closer than people expect. I actually think LeFleur has made Arizona a functioning team offensively. I mean, Jacoby Brissett is not going to the Pro Bowl. He’s not even all that good. But this is a team that’s shown an ability to manage a game. to play a close game. Denver, as we just talked about, not playing at a really high level offensively. They’ve been just kind of hanging on. So I think for a casual fan, you look at this, you’re like, oh, the Broncos go to Arizona. No big deal. I think this is a nip and tuck game that comes down to the end, obviously rooting for the Cardinals. Mitch, let’s start with you. This is no layup for the Broncos, right? This should be a pretty tough game in Arizona.

00:55:33
Speaker 1: I’m hoping the Cardinals are playing some defense here. Look what they did against the Rams. But you can just clip the comment I just gave about the ambush because I almost mentioned this Cardinals game, but this is a perfect example of where you get ambushed if your margin stays that slight.

00:55:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Ari, looking at this game, I don’t really know what to expect with the Cardinals. From week to week, you might get a team that can compete with the Rams, or you might get a team that gets rolled by the Lions. But what we do know is what we can expect from the Broncos, which is their defense is probably going to be really good, and their offense is going to likely struggle unless they find something here in the next several days. So if it’s 20-17 in the fourth quarter, the Cardinals have a chance. And the Broncos have let a lot of teams hang around this year, and even though the Cardinals don’t have a great record They just showed last week that if you let them hang around, they might make a play or two to win the game. So go Cardinals. We’ll see if they can pull it off.

00:56:32
Speaker 1: Do not give short fields to the Bronco offense. They are right now living off short fields or getting the ball away. They did against the Seahawks. They did against the Rams. And they did against the Chargers. They’re living off short fields.

00:56:45
Speaker 3: All right, well, that’s my upset of the week. I’m taking the Cardinals over the Broncos.

00:56:49
Speaker 1: I like it.

00:56:49
Speaker 3: Now it brings us to the Rams at the Raiders. And, you know, often, guys, we’ve both been talking, all of us have been talking about football for our whole adult lives. You look at a game and you first think, okay, this is what I think. I looked at this game and thought, I don’t know what I think. Because the Rams keep fooling me every week. I mean, they’re two and four. Granted, they’ve had injuries. Now Devontae Adams, out six to ten weeks. It has gone as poorly as possible. The Raiders have lost three straight. Somebody tell me who wins this game and why.

00:57:25
Speaker 2: Well, it’s not just Devontae Adams. They don’t have Kobe Turner or Puna Ford or Miles Garrett on defense. The Raiders are going to score some points in this game. The Raiders have shown us one thing this year is that they can score points. And with all the injuries on the Rams, I think the Raiders might be able to get to 26, 27, maybe 30 points, which begs the question, Can the Rams figure it out and move the football? I don’t think the Raiders’ defense is all that good, so the Rams should have opportunities to do so. But it seems like the Rams are continually shooting themselves in the foot. And it might be trendy to pick the Raiders in this game just because the Rams are going the wrong direction right now. But I think this will be like a dogfight. I don’t think this will be easy for the Rams by any means. And the Raiders might be able to pull it off if their defense can make some plays.

00:58:11
Speaker 1: And the Rams… Special teams are so abhorrent right now. They’ll make three rash mistakes and then they lose the game. And they cut the thicker kicker only to get a guy that, what, hurts his ACL. What are they doing? And they’re just, if the Chargers are the biggest disappointment in the NFL, for sure in the AFC, where are the Rams in the NFC discussion? Because honestly, it was going to be Rams, Chargers, and Super Bowl 61. Oh, it’s SoFi Stadium. But there’s a chance. We know one’s not going to make the playoffs. If the Rams lose this game, they’re in real trouble because San Francisco is showing no signs that they’re going to let up anytime soon. And so the Raiders are good enough. I’m with Matt. The Raiders are good enough to win this game straight up, even if the Rams don’t do something stupid on special teams, just because I don’t know how much juice the Rams have right now. And I know we’re going to get in the Seahawks here a little bit. One of the things we brought up earlier, on the podcast, the Seahawks right now are so reliant on Jackson Smith and Jigba. 50% of their receiving yards. It’s not happened in this league in 51 years with one guy accounting for that much of the receiving yards. Didn’t you feel that way about the Rams with Puka Nakua? Like if it wasn’t happening at Puka Nakua, where’s it going to go? And so there’s just, when you’re this late in the season, you’ve got more question marks than answers, and you’re a team like the Rams that was supposed to be in the Super Bowl or could be, then it’s just still an issue with them. It is not far-fetched for the Raiders to win this game.

00:59:49
Speaker 3: I agree with you. Could you imagine the Rams and the Chargers? I mean, they are a combined 2-10 right now, that is. Well, fortunately, the one thing is L.A. NFL fans are pretty lame in the first place. They don’t really care that much. It’s more important that the teams that really have fans that love them, that they win.

01:00:05
Speaker 2: All right.

01:00:06
Speaker 1: Clippers season tickets on sale now.

01:00:10
Speaker 3: My AFC West game of the week is the Chiefs at the Seahawks. It’s Sunday night. It’s the defending Super Bowl champs with the reigning Super Bowl MVP coming in wearing the opponent’s uniform. It’s a sexy one, guys. On paper, it’s going to be a ton of fun. The Walker angle, I think, is particularly unique given what’s happened to Seattle’s offense. They have no running game, right? I mean, granted, the guys, they’ve had injuries there. But without a good running game, Sam Darnold has been exposed. I mean, he looks like the Sam Darnold who bounced from team to team to team. Seven interceptions. And if you guys watched The film afterwards, I know you guys were busy. Did you see Sam Darnold’s feet in the pocket? I mean, he looked like a nervous wreck. As soon as his first read wasn’t there, his feet are going like this. He looked out of sync. I think we’re getting Sam Darnold at the right time. This offense looks like it’s only JSN. So is Sam Darnold the Sam Darnold of last year? Or is Sam Darnold now returning to the guy who is a journeyman quarterback? Mitch, I start with you.

01:01:24
Speaker 1: Well, if we go back to don’t get the Broncos short fields, you can’t get the Seahawks short fields. And the thing, I’m going to go in a different direction here because in looking at the Seahawks, what they do defensively matches up perfectly with what the Chiefs do offensively. You go right down the line. The Chiefs are the best in the league right now when you have offensive yards per play. The Seahawks are the best defense in defensive yards per play allowed. We go right down the line. Even the takeaways. The Chiefs have only given the ball away four times. It’s awesome. No loss fumbles. Way awesome. And while the Seahawks, they’ve got 11 takeaways. I mean, Emanuari is just a stud. He’s turned into maybe the best DB right now in the league or one of the best in yak yards. The Chiefs live off yak, right? It’s been great. Well, the best team at disallowing yak are the Seahawks. Here’s my point, and we started out the podcast this way. We always know, you say, hey, turnovers are the difference, field position’s the difference, but there are some games when it’s amplified at five times the normal factor, and that’s this game. If the Chiefs take care of the ball, shift the field position throughout the game, you force Seattle into turnovers, which they’ve had. You mentioned Darnold’s seven interceptions, but they’ve also lost five fumbles, Ari, and their running backs have lost four. That’s the most in the NFL. And that’s three different guys. Shahid’s also lost a fumble. But you have to work that. And it’s harder to do at home. They’re just much better at home, the Seahawks. But make the grid move in your favor and stay away from the nasty turnover and giving the Seahawks short fields.

01:03:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ari, I’d add, you know, it’s pretty remarkable. Their defense is so good and has forced so many turnovers. They lead the NFL in takeaways. Well, they’re still in the negatives. and turnover differential.

01:03:19
Speaker 1: It’s nuts.

01:03:20
Speaker 2: They have 12 giveaways this year and 47 points off of giveaways. That’s the second most in the NFL. Shows how good their defense is, that they’ve given up 47 points off giveaways and they’re still as good as they are defensively. We have to take the ball away in this game. We have to get some short fields. We can’t allow them to build a lead and then we’re trailing the entire game. You don’t want Darnold to get comfortable and for this run game to get working. the encouraging part is that they have struggled to run the football. And if you can do a decent job against JSN, which is a big if, I mean, even last week against the Broncos, he had like 10 yards in the first half, 130 yards in the second half. But if you find a way to contain him and contain their running game and forced Arnold to go drop back and pass and find other guys in their passing game, they have struggled to do that. And they’ve given up 16 sacks this year, the seventh most in the NFL. We saw the Chiefs get off the schneid in the sack category last week at four sacks.

01:04:16
Speaker 3: Big time.

01:04:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I’d love to see this pass rush good after Darnold and make life miserable for him here on Sunday.

01:04:21
Speaker 1: And let me give you another one here, Matt, jumping in here, Ari. The fact that the Seahawks have forced the most three and outs.

01:04:29
Speaker 4: Yeah.

01:04:29
Speaker 1: The Chiefs have the sixth fewest. Three and outs in this game, this is the kind of game where three and outs are deadly. First downs almost feel like mini touchdowns in this game. That’s what I’m saying. Move the field. If there are no turnovers, at least shift the field. No three and outs. Force the Seahawks into three and outs. And if there are turnovers, you get them, don’t give them.

01:04:50
Speaker 3: Well, that plays into the three things I highlighted on our rundown. Protecting Mahomes, which obviously is important every week, but they’ve got a strong pass rush. Stay ahead of the chains, which helps protect Mahomes, right? Because you don’t want to be in third and long. And then on both sides of the ball, winning third down, right? Our defense has to get off the field. Our offense needs to stay on the field. I think when we look back at this game when it’s over, I actually think time of possession will be key. I think if the Chiefs can have balance, obviously you want chunk plays, but if they can have balance and keep the football and wear out that Seattle defense, that to me spells Chiefs victory. What are your guys’ final thoughts on the Chiefs and the Seahawks?

01:05:33
Speaker 2: Well, one thing I looked up, The Seahawks defense, and Mitch and I talked about it a bit earlier before you jumped on, Ari, their run defense is excellent. It’s one of the best run defenses in football. They have not allowed a running back to go for 100 yards against them since October of 2024. It’s been a while. No better time than for K-9 to come to town and to go for over 100 yards on these guys, but that’s been the formula for us all year long. K-9’s gone for over 100 yards in all but one of our games this year, and the game that he didn’t was against Miami. He still had over 70 rushing yards. If K-9 can go into Seattle and have a 100-yard performance, if I don’t look at anything else, I’m going to say the Chiefs found a way to win that football game.

01:06:14
Speaker 1: I would say this.

01:06:15
Speaker 3: I like it.

01:06:15
Speaker 1: You talk about chunk plays. Seattle has allowed the fewest chunk plays. You don’t get big plays on these guys. Your point is well taken that you’ve got to pick away at them. That’s what I’m saying. First downs are big in this game. They’re near the bottom of the league. I mentioned all those teams that are bad on third downs. So is Seattle. They’re right down there with Washington and Denver and Cleveland. So that’s what I’m saying. Three and outs are gigantic here, but you’re not going to get chunk plays. You have to stay patient because this is a defense scheme and personnel that’s still the nastiest in the league. That’s how they won the Super Bowl last year, that and K-9 in the Super Bowl. But that’s carried over to this year, but not their offense.

01:06:59
Speaker 3: Well, I know you guys don’t need to do it, but my prediction is Chiefs 24, Seahawks 16. It’s going to be a nice win, a win, the whole country watching Sunday Night Football. All right, time for parting thoughts. And just to mix it up, we’ll go Matt, then Mitch, and I’ll close it out.

01:07:15
Speaker 2: Well, Ari, for those that have been listening all year, you know that my dad just retired and my parents are going on the road a lot this season. They went to Buffalo last year, which was fun, but they went to Vegas already this year. So I’ll win there. They’re going to be in Seattle. They actually leave, I think, tomorrow for Seattle. And then I’ll spend the weekend with them in addition to being there for the game. So we’re going to go to a Seattle Kraken game on Saturday night. That’ll be fun. I’ll get some breakfast with my parents on Sunday morning. Then they’re going to be out there at the game on Sunday. Hopefully they’re there for another Chiefs win. But fun spending time with my parents on the road. Looking forward to it.

01:07:50
Speaker 1: If you have a professional sports team in the United States and Bonnie McMullen has not visited your venue… then you need to feel lost.

01:07:58
Speaker 2: Let me tell you this, Ari. In Vegas, so they got there early. They went to the WNBA game, the Fever and Aces game on Thursday, I think it was. They went to the Golden Knights game the next day. Then I got in town. And then the Chiefs game the next day. My mom loves sports, if you’re wondering how I ended up the way that I am.

01:08:15
Speaker 1: Here we go. And the Vancouver River Bandits have a curling team. They’ve got a game. Actually, Simon Fraser University’s got a game. And so Bonnie McMullen will make that. It’s curling. On Thursday night. It starts at 6 Central time. So it’s a weird start time. My parting thought is this. We were doing, it was the Colts game. And Matt and I were doing our wrap-up show, our rewind show. And Mike Tirico walked up to me as we were in between segments. And he goes, Mitch, how you doing? Blah, blah. He’s a great dude. But he goes, I can’t wait for that Seattle game. Because that was his next game with us. And he goes, if K-9 continues playing like this, oh my gosh, it’ll be colossal. Guess what? Mike? K-9’s doing even more than all of us thought he was going to do. It’s going to be colossal.

01:09:08
Speaker 3: Love it. All right, my parting thought, and you guys had your games, you might not know this, but during the Buffalo at- Raiders game, they went to the booth and J.J. Watt was holding a football like his tighties.

01:09:20
Speaker 2: I heard about this.

01:09:22
Speaker 3: And he said to Jim Nance, punch the football. And Jim’s like, you want me to like really punch it? And JJ said, yes. He punches as hard as he can. Well, it really hurt Nance. He had like an ice pack. And why I bring this up is the punching out of the football in the NFL now has become so good. We’re seeing it week after week. But here’s what I want to tell people. Think about all the punches that miss. Because in boxing, they wear huge padded gloves, right? In football, they don’t. Every one of those times where they miss the ball, someone’s getting punched in the wrist, on the top of the hand, on the arm. There’s just another reason the gymnasts learn the hard way. Let the football players play the football, and the announcers will stick to the announcing. That is my part.

01:10:08
Speaker 1: Of the thought. He’s a golfer at the University. You don’t ask a golfer to punch the football out. That’s on J.J. Warren, dude.

01:10:17
Speaker 3: It was made for pretty good, fun TV, and hopefully Jim’s wrist is okay. But, hey, guys, always a blast to go out west with you guys, and that’ll do it for this week.

01:10:26
Speaker 1: Well, always good to hear from R.A.M. It’s the AFC West here. It’s going to be interesting, and the Broncos keep figuring out a way to win. Let’s give them some credit here being 4-2, but, man, their defense is carrying them right now.

01:10:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, they’re finding a way. Like we talked about with Ari, I don’t know how much longer they can live like this. I guess they’ve been doing it for over a year now. But they’ve been trailing in the fourth quarter in three of their wins this year. We’ll see. My hope is that some of these games that they’re now expected to win and supposed to win, this formula gets in the way of that and they lose. But we’ll see. They’ve got to lose some games. We’ve got to keep winning.

01:11:05
Speaker 1: We do, and it’s going to be maybe the most challenging stretch of any team the NFL will face this year because there are six road games in the next eight weeks. And three of those six will be prime time road games. But what road games mean is Matt watching movies. So the fact that we- What a transition. Had a home game, there’ll be no movie review this week. Did you binge on anything at home? No, I didn’t.

01:11:31
Speaker 2: This is kind of nerdy.

01:11:31
Speaker 1: I’ll tell you what you did do though.

01:11:32
Speaker 2: Let’s get- I got to give you the nerdiest thing I think I’ve ever done though.

01:11:37
Speaker 1: Okay. Ever?

01:11:37
Speaker 2: Ever.

01:11:38
Speaker 1: Saying a lot for me. This is something. I’m- I’m waiting.

01:11:41
Speaker 2: Okay, so people that know me well know that I love The Lord of the Rings. I love it. I’ve watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy a thousand times. Ellie and I went to the Tolkien Society of Kansas City Lord of the Rings trivia at the World War I Museum last Friday with my co-worker Luke Hammontree. Shout out to Luke. So we watched the Tolkien movie. You heard about that with Nicholas Hurt? Came out a handful of years ago. Actually pretty good. I think you’d like it. A lot of World War I stuff in there. We got third place at the Tolkien Society.

01:12:16
Speaker 1: You got third place?

01:12:18
Speaker 2: Third place. Against all those other nerds? People dressed up. We just showed up third place. So anyway.

01:12:24
Speaker 1: The other thing you did, and I’m just going to throw this out there, but you had Korean barbecue. And if you’re going to have a Korean barbecue, have it with your wife who’s of Korean descent. So that’s a Well done. Well played.

01:12:34
Speaker 2: We’re generally not in the business of giving free advertising. I will do it though for Chosun 2. Chosun 2 off of Johnson Drive is the best Korean barbecue in Kansas City.

01:12:42
Speaker 1: Check it out. You could work in radio. That happens all the time in radio. I don’t want to say it, but here it is. Here it is.

01:12:50
Speaker 2: Chosun 2.

01:12:50
Speaker 1: I’m going to take my Korean wife in for Korean barbecue.

01:12:52
Speaker 2: Actually, Shawnee Mission Parkway. Shawnee Mission Parkway. Chosun 2.

01:12:56
Speaker 1: Take it on. A few free meals coming from the Matt Meister.

01:13:00
Speaker 2: No movies though. I will hopefully watch a movie on the way to Seattle. You know, we get back at like four in the morning on Monday morning and Ellie was telling me you have to sleep on the flight back. I’m like, okay.

01:13:11
Speaker 1: But there’s a whole segment now that’s based on this.

01:13:13
Speaker 2: I’m not going to sleep. I’m going to watch a movie. Come on.

01:13:15
Speaker 1: Okay. Just put Landman back on there, please. I was saving it for these trips.

01:13:20
Speaker 3: I know.

01:13:21
Speaker 1: And it’s off.

01:13:22
Speaker 2: Come on.

01:13:23
Speaker 1: Okay. You’re going to get a chance to weigh in. And I got people that, okay, you know Derek Nelson, right? He does stats for us on the road. He goes, I’ll get you a prime. No, I’ve got it. I’ve got it. I just don’t have time to watch it at home. I’m not going to binge on Landman at home. It’s to be done on the plane. That’s what I’m going to do it. So, I’ve got time on the plane and they take it off. So, it’s not- What are we doing? Come on.

01:13:49
Speaker 3: I’ve got prime. All right.

01:13:50
Speaker 1: Anyway, you get a chance to chime in with us. Yeah, chime in. You get a chance to, we want to hear your questions, right? Yeah. So let’s go.

01:13:58
Speaker 2: So we’re going to do a mailbag. We teased this a while ago. Our digital people have been on this. Here’s how you can write in for our mailbag. So there’s going to be a pinned comment on the YouTube page. Just reply to the pinned comment with, your question you want us to answer. Now, let’s keep it PG, everybody. I know what you’re thinking, okay? We’re not going to answer the questions if they’re inappropriate or if, you know, it’s stuff that we can’t talk about, but we’ll do our best here to answer your questions. So reply to the pinned comment, and hopefully we’ll get to your questions next week.

01:14:29
Speaker 1: Okay, around the world, what do you have? I got one. It’s interesting. It happened last night again at the Chiefs Kingdom Show.

01:14:34
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I got one for you as well for Xavier Worthy, who had a solid game last week. Let’s keep that going, X. Shout out to Paul in Basar, Kansas.

01:14:43
Speaker 1: Basar, Kansas?

01:14:44
Speaker 2: That’s what I got, Basar, Kansas.

01:14:45
Speaker 1: I’m with the Basar Linwood Bobcats.

01:14:47
Speaker 2: Basar is near Bonner Springs, right?

01:14:50
Speaker 3: Yeah.

01:14:51
Speaker 1: Okay. Arch Rivals, actually.

01:14:52
Speaker 2: Speaking of nerdy activities.

01:14:53
Speaker 1: We’re not in the same league anymore. It’s kind of weird.

01:14:55
Speaker 2: I had a really nerdy weekend now that I think about it. We went to the Renaissance Fair on a- In where?

01:15:01
Speaker 1: Bonner Springs? On Saturday. Yeah.

01:15:02
Speaker 2: You ever been out there?

01:15:03
Speaker 1: Out by- To the dentist office at Bonner Springs?

01:15:06
Speaker 2: The Renaissance Fair.

01:15:07
Speaker 1: Oh, I’ve been to the Renaissance Fair. I thought you said dentist office. Sorry, I can’t hear you. I have been by.

01:15:11
Speaker 3: Okay.

01:15:12
Speaker 1: So, oh, wait, time out. You went to the thing at the World War I Museum and the Renaissance Festival?

01:15:19
Speaker 2: What a weekend for me.

01:15:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. Did you have a costume for the Renaissance Festival? No, I didn’t. Okay.

01:15:24
Speaker 2: Which, you know, if you go to the Renaissance Fair and you don’t dress up, you end up getting a lot of looks. Like, oh, you’re just dressing like a normal person. So, I did not dress up.

01:15:32
Speaker 1: But we had a good time. You’ve also gone to Planet Comic Con.

01:15:34
Speaker 2: I have.

01:15:35
Speaker 3: Okay.

01:15:36
Speaker 1: You’ve done Planet Comic Con. I’m an eclectic guy. You’ve done the Renaissance Fair and you’ve gone to the nerdy Tolkien thing.

01:15:41
Speaker 4: Okay.

01:15:41
Speaker 3: All right.

01:15:42
Speaker 1: I just want to get all that.

01:15:43
Speaker 2: Listen, I spend like 80% of my life doing football stuff. The other 20%, extremely nerdy activities.

01:15:50
Speaker 4: Yeah.

01:15:50
Speaker 1: Renaissance festivals.

01:15:52
Speaker 2: It’s something else. It’s a slice of life right there. But anyway, shout out to Paul in Bayshore, Kansas.

01:15:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. All right, Paul. I’ve got one. Last night, actually at the Chiefs Kingdom show, And Dane Van Wye was there, the guy that produces this segment.

01:16:04
Speaker 2: Shout out, Dane.

01:16:05
Speaker 1: His beautiful wife, Courtney, and the Z-Man. He’s going to be linebacker someday. But the guy that was helping run the show at Hy-Vee is Boris, and he is from Serbia. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So how many Hy-Vee assistant managers you run into named Boris from Serbia?

01:16:25
Speaker 2: You know what I think of with Boris? You ever see GoldenEye?

01:16:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. Great.

01:16:31
Speaker 2: James Bond movie and Boris is one of the bad guys. He’s like, I’m invincible. That’s how I feel about Ken Walker.

01:16:36
Speaker 1: He is invincible. Oh, God. You didn’t see anybody dressed up like Boris at the Renaissance Festival, did you? No.

01:16:41
Speaker 2: Although the Renaissance Fair is like a catch-all for all kinds of stuff. Like people wear like Star Wars stuff and I’m like, that doesn’t make any sense. You can’t just wear anything here.

01:16:49
Speaker 1: Let’s go to Planet Comic Con.

01:16:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, come on.

01:16:52
Speaker 1: You can go to Planet Comic Con. Can’t do it. All right. Yeah, we’re headed to Seattle. It’s Sunday night football. And again, it’s going to boil down to the minute details who wins this game.