🎙️ ‘The Engine Light’ – Chiefs vs. Broncos Preview w/ Noah Gray | Defending The Kingdom

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Matt, have you ever had the engine light come on in your car?

00:00:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I’m really bad about that. Ellie always tells me I have to like fill up my gas tank when I have like a quarter tank left. But whenever my gas light comes on, I just kind of run it down to the very brink. Engine light, not so much, but my gas light very frequently.

00:00:17
Speaker 1: Do you ever think when the engine light comes on, I just hope it goes off? Like if I’ll drive this around for five more days, I think it’ll just go off.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: Maybe it’s a malfunction. Yeah, it’s just an issue.

00:00:28
Speaker 1: It used to be the old gas cap, you know, you’d have to tighten it. That’d be the least thing that would make the engine light turn on. But usually it’s something more than that.

00:00:36
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:00:36
Speaker 1: And something that needs to be fixed. Well, in this edition of Defending the Kingdom, we’re talking about dealing with the engine light and a huge game that looms up because the question persists here is, can this big a game happen in week eight? And when the schedule came out in the springtime, you always look at it and then, wait a before the calendar turns to November. And so that comes into play. And the fact that, man, there is so much riding on this game, a week eight game that feels like a week 18 showdown.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it’s tough because you don’t want to put too much stock into a week eight game. But as far as they go, this is a big one for the trajectory of the season and trying to win this division again. That’s the goal this year is to win this division again and then get back into the playoffs and see what happens. And again, The week one game against Denver, all offseason, we talked about how that was an opportunity to set the tone. Well, we did that, and we’re 3-0 in the AFC West right now. And to win this game would be such a major benefit if you’re looking at the rest of the year and trying to win this division. Think about the implications of this. We’re 5-1, they’re 5-2. A win means a two-game lead in the loss column, plus the head-to-head tiebreaker, which is so critical. If you’re thinking about getting to the end of the year, we expect Denver to be right there with us. Having that head-to-head tiebreaker, you have another game on them, essentially. If you lose this game, we’re back a half game in the standings now, and it’s really on because you can’t count on the tiebreakers anymore. They get complicated with division record, conference record, and all that. If we have that head-to-head tiebreaker in our back pocket, just a huge deal as we’re trying to win this division. So yeah, don’t want to put too much stock into a week eight game, but as far as they go, this is a big one.

00:02:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, we’ll break down more, but another part of that too is this year, the AFC West is cross pollinating with the NFC West and the Broncos have already played San Francisco and the Rams. And we both played the Seahawks, but we still have the Rams and the 49ers upcoming. So Another reason to win this game, not only get that in effect two game lead, but also build up all the equity you can, just like the 5-0 start did for the Chiefs. But the engine light is on, especially after the Seattle game. Now, Andy Reid is the master fixer. We’ve seen him doing it for 14 years, and he really does his best when he troubleshoots. And you look at the Seattle game and you look at some of the characteristics of it, but the game could have been much different. An illegal shift penalty on the first drive wipes out a 12-yard pickup by a canine in a passing play and then the five-yard penalty. We talk about living in the margins. In a Seattle game, in a Denver game is where you live. But the Chiefs lost the margins in the Seattle game.

00:03:25
Speaker 2: We sure did. We talked about the importance of the margins, trying to win in some of those areas pregame. And we lost in all the margins against Seattle. It was one of those nights where everything that could go wrong did go wrong over and over and things snowballed. I mean, you mentioned the penalties on third down that wiped out first downs. There’s multiple of those. Obviously the two missed field goals were huge. Missed tackles stand out to me. So going into that game, we were the best team in football in terms of not missing tackles. We missed a ton of tackles against Seattle. Four different chiefs had multiple missed tackles. And how many times on the long third downs did Seattle kind of check it down or they were essentially surrendering and we let A guy break two or three tackles, get a first down. I mean, that’s just soul crushing over the course of a game and leads to the biggest one, which is third down. So Seattle went 11 of 16 on third down. We had allowed an opponent to convert more than five third downs in the game just once prior to last week. They had 11 of them. You just can’t let that happen. Five of those third downs in Seattle were third and nine or longer. You have to get off the field on third and nine or longer, and we just didn’t. We had allowed seven conversions of third and nine or longer all season prior to that. We allowed five in Seattle. The Seahawks 68.8% conversion rate on third down. Think about that. Almost 70% was the highest for any team with at least 15 attempts this season. And it’s more than just they scored points in some of those drives. They shrunk the game. They outpossessed us by, I think, more than 10 minutes. We had only eight true possessions in that game. And that includes the two snap possession after the interception. So, They had these long drives where we kept getting them in third and nine, third and seven, and it would convert. They have like a 10-minute drive. Even if they punt or settle for a field goal, or even when they had the interception in the end zone, it just feels like they’ve possessed the ball the whole game. Our opportunities were limited, and they just got us. And there’s a lot to learn from that game.

00:05:23
Speaker 1: Notably.

00:05:24
Speaker 2: You can’t let the opponent stay on the field with a third and nine. Reminded me so much of the Dallas game last year. That was the story of the Dallas game where we made some plays, but we couldn’t get them off the field. That was the primary issue in this game. But to your point, yeah, we just lost in the margins consistently. Got to learn from it and move on as fast as possible.

00:05:41
Speaker 1: And to your point about tackling, three of the long third down conversions, one was or two of them were Sam Darnold scrambles where they lost contain. And then another one is a check down throw. to the running back, where I don’t think Seattle had any idea that they were going to get a first down, and unaccustomed missed tackles. Noah Williams missed a tackle, and Nick Bolton missed a tackle. Well, if I’m going to line up guys to go, I want these two guys at the front of the line to make tackles, it’s those two guys. Now, let me ask you this. Did you ever have a mechanic growing up, or maybe you do now, where you go, engine light comes on, I know where I’m going to go to get it fixed?

00:06:12
Speaker 2: My guy, Dusty. Dusty always takes care of me.

00:06:15
Speaker 1: Dusty. It’s the Kingsberries in Smith Center. They fix everything. They’re the best. They could fix everything. They could fix, I don’t know, a rocket going to the moon. But when the engine light comes on, you go see the Kingsbury’s. They take care of it. Andy Reid is that guy. We’ve seen him fix stuff for 14 years. But know this, you got to fix it. The engine light’s on because you got to fix it this week. And tackling will be a premium in the game against the Denver Broncos who live up for yards after contact.

00:06:45
Speaker 2: So I’m going to give you some sad stats. They’re not meant to pile on. They’re meant to give perspective and accentuate what you’re saying that more often than not, when things like this happen, Coach Reed and Patrick Mahomes always find a way to fix it.

00:06:58
Speaker 1: Will I be really sad after hearing this?

00:07:01
Speaker 2: You might be. They’re pretty sad. But, you know, in the.

00:07:03
Speaker 1: Because I’m in the transition mode of being from sad to getting ready for the podcast.

00:07:06
Speaker 2: We’re in the depressing part of the podcast, but we’re going to transition to happy things later. No, we’ve got to deal with the engine lights on.

00:07:10
Speaker 1: Let’s go. Take it in. I’m not sure how to feel about it. Kingsbury’s are open.

00:07:12
Speaker 2: I’m not sure how to feel about these things because they are sad because this game just happened, but they show that it doesn’t happen very often is the idea. So Patrick Mahomes has played 132 regular season games in his career. Lost just six games by more than eight points in that time. Six games by more than eight points. Can you guess them?

00:07:31
Speaker 1: Well, I know Tennessee was one. And then the game against Denver right before we went to Germany in 2023. It was 27-9, no touchdowns.

00:07:40
Speaker 2: You were sick in that game.

00:07:40
Speaker 1: There’s two. Well, maybe Super Bowl 15-9.

00:07:43
Speaker 2: So just regular season.

00:07:44
Speaker 1: Oh, regular season. That leaves me three more. I don’t know. Refresh my memory because I’m in therapy right now.

00:07:51
Speaker 2: So there was Buffalo in 2021.

00:07:52
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. And we had the Royals in there that night. And there was like a lightning storm. Yeah. There was like an hour and a half delay. Super weird. And I’m sitting there talking to– And Nikki Lopez and, you know, the Royals were in there. So, yeah. Salmi Perez was in it. That’s the only thing that saved the night. I’m like, Buffalo’s just crushing us.

00:08:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:08:10
Speaker 2: Buffalo in 2024. So that was the game where it was fourth and two and Allen rushed for the touchdown.

00:08:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. That was a little, that one’s a little edgy because that was a close game up until that.

00:08:19
Speaker 2: That was just nine points.

00:08:20
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. That felt like a one possession closer game.

00:08:24
Speaker 2: Houston last year, which is in a similar vein. Like that was kind of a one possession game the entire time. They scored a field goal at the end to make it, I think, 10 points. But those were the only five games. That was kind of during the rock slide too.

00:08:34
Speaker 3: It was.

00:08:34
Speaker 1: It was. It was.

00:08:35
Speaker 2: But those were the only five games in Mahomes’ career of 131 games prior to Sunday that he had lost by more than eight points. Now I had Seattle on that. But the point is, he doesn’t lose these games by more than a single score very often. I did some research on this because Mahomes is always compared to Brady. Brady lost 16 games by more than eight points through his first 132 starts. So keep that in mind. Mahomes only six times in his career. Doesn’t happen very often. It was the first time in Mahomes’ career the Chiefs did not run a play in the red zone. And his second game that he finished in which the Chiefs didn’t score a touchdown, which you alluded to it. It was that game in 2023 against the Broncos when later on that season, the Chiefs, you know, won the Super Bowl. So it worked out okay. Five of our eight possessions entered Seahawks territory. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. So my point here is Patrick Mahomes and Coach Reed don’t let games like Sunday happen very often. And when they do happen, they correct it, they fix it, and good things happen soon after. So to your point about fixing the issues… Coach Reed and Patrick Mahomes are the absolute masters of that. And it’s why when games like Sunday happen, we’re like, what? We’re just not used to it. Think of all the games that we’ve been in during Mahomes’ career. 132 starts in the regular season, just six times he’s lost by more than eight points. Even some of those we were in until the end. We’re always in games with Coach Reed and Patrick Mahomes, and I fully expect them to fix this moving forward because history tells us they will.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: Matt, what excites you about the Chiefs defense this year?

00:10:00
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.

00:10:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I kind of think 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?

00:10:15
Speaker 2: Our defense is.

00:10:18
Speaker 1: Carried us to a Super Bowl title or helped us carry this to 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.

00:10:43
Speaker 2: I love that idea.

00:10:44
Speaker 1: Let’s roll. And the shows I’ve been on, people kind of frown or grouse when I’ll say the game could have been drastically different. Football games are like trying to solve a mathematical equation or proving a geometry, a geometric theorem, because you can go back to like 0.2 or 0.3, which leads to the solution, but we forget about them or ignore them. And really the first three possessions of the game where we talked about the play that went to K-9, it’s going to be first and 10 at the 34. of the Seahawks, and yet it comes back. And it’s a 17-yard penalty, taking the Chiefs back into their own territory. The second possession, to your point, back in Seattle territory, third down and four at the plus 42, can’t complete it, decide to punt, kind of in no man’s land at the 42. And then the third one is the interception. And so when I went back and reviewed the video, it was just like reliving the pain of like, well, this could have been really different. even if you score on two of those three drives, you’re going to get to the red zone at some point. And people go, oh, well, that’s just… No, no, you got to look at it as the path that leads to the end. You can go back at the beginning of the game, take league games that are tight, that live on the margins, like the Seattle game and the Denver game coming up. You can go back at critical points in the game, some as soon as the first quarter.

00:12:05
Speaker 2: Football is a game that’s, what, 50 to 70 snaps? But at the end of the day, it comes down to… three or four plays that are either made or not made. And the pass rush is getting a lot of criticism this week. And I understand couldn’t get Darnold to the ground, but you know, he got rid of the football with his third fastest average time to throw of his career in that game at 2.45 seconds on throws under 2.5 seconds. He was 13 of 14 for 149 yards in a touchdown. So yeah, well, the pass rush could have been much better against the Seahawks. The quick coverage had to be better. So on some of those in-breaking routes over the middle with JSN on third and nine or longer, if we are able to knock one of those down, get them off the field as one of those plays, it changes everything because despite everything not going well for the Chiefs on Sunday, truly, if it rains a poor situation, we were still in it and had a chance to make it a one-score game with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. So there’s positives in the fact that we were in that game till the end, despite how poorly we played. But you’ve got to tighten the screws and fix some of these things, whether it be that quick coverage with our secondary, with the pass rush when we had opportunities, and with the offense, we can’t make the mistakes we made against Seattle. Certainly we can’t make them against Denver because as we’ve seen this year, Denver will make us pay just like the Seahawks did.

00:13:24
Speaker 1: No question. It’s just a really, really slight margin when you play these games. And talking about the pressure, one thing that’s kind of overlooked in the Seattle game, and I’m going to give the Seahawks credit. Mike McDonald’s a great coach. That’s a good staff. but the fact that they had basically the mini bye week. They played on the Thursday prior against Denver and had extra days. And here’s why I’m going to say that, not as an excuse, but Seattle, I think, maximized those days. Here’s why. They completely changed the approach of their passing game. Darnold was getting rid of the ball in that two-second range. Against the Broncos, he got pressured 24 times because they just repeatedly went back into five-step drops. They changed it for the Chiefs, almost to 180. defensively, that’s a great defense. That’s the best defense in the league, in my opinion. Agreed. Now, just scheme, but personnel. No weaknesses. Side to side, front to back. But they were the least blitzing team in the NFL. They were the least man-to-man team in the NFL. What did the Seahawks do on the defensive side with their little mini bye week? They put in some really tricky blitzes and man-to-man coverage. Not a lot, but just enough to throw the Chiefs off. And so give the Seahawks credit in their preparation for that game on both sides of the ball. Because they saw stuff they needed to fix, and they fixed it.

00:14:41
Speaker 2: Defensively, they also ran either nickel or dime on all 50 of their defensive snaps.

00:14:45
Speaker 1: That was crazy. All 50. That’s crazy.

00:14:47
Speaker 2: They didn’t run any base, any heavy personnel. It’s just the third time all season a team hasn’t run any base or any heavy all year. It’s unbelievable.

00:14:55
Speaker 1: And they were missing two linebackers. Yeah. And they were missing Drake Thomas. So what was their answer? Nick Imanwari. We’ll make him a linebacker, a corner, and a safety all in the same game. You and I loved him coming out of South Carolina. That dude played all three areas for that team. He was awesome.

00:15:10
Speaker 2: It makes sense why we struggled offensively to move the ball, because if they’re in nickel and dime, it makes you think, OK, let’s give the ball to K-9. He’ll run wild. But if they’re able to shut down the running game with their personnel while they’re in nickel or dime, it makes things very difficult for Patrick Mahomes. So the good news is most teams do not have the personnel to deploy that kind of strategy. But Denver’s probably going to try it. We have to find a way to beat it.

00:15:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there might be the most disciplined defense in the NFL because K-9, so good at the cutbacks that their cutback lanes, they stayed home. And they were really, really ready to go in that regard. Now, anything in this game you’re still thinking about? Steering wheel pounders?

00:15:49
Speaker 2: Plenty of steering wheel pounders from this game.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: A lot of them.

00:15:51
Speaker 2: Our cars both started when we got back to the facility. That was good.

00:15:54
Speaker 1: You know what? I love it the way you find little things that happen.

00:15:58
Speaker 2: I was fully anticipating.

00:15:59
Speaker 1: If you’re going to get four hours of sleep in a night, then You want your car to start when you get back in the parking lot.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: I wish I had a picture of this because Mitch and I are on the bus back to the facility after landing at four in the morning at KCI. And we’re both in like our all red hoodies that we wore on game day, like our white hats. And we’re on the bus, him and I, and the bus is just dead silent. And our chairs were kind of leaned back already for some reason. And both of us just fall asleep immediately. And I woke up at one point when we were passing worlds of fun. And you and I are just like, just laying like this. And I’m like, caption this photo.

00:16:33
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:16:33
Speaker 2: Um, I’ll tell you what I’m still thinking about. Not so much from this past game. I’m trying to forget about the past game. I’ll tell you, I’m thinking about a week 11 of last year. So week 11 of last year, we went to Denver at five and four following a tough loss in Buffalo. And it was a true crossroads sort of moment for us because at that point we thought we had saved the season, started out. Oh, and two, we were two and three at one point. Well, now we’re, we’re five and four feeling pretty good. And with an opportunity to make a run At the division. Well, we won one game the rest of the year after that, but we could have won that game in Denver. I mean, we had the lead with 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. We had the lead and the ball with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. We had the ball in a tie game with three minutes to go, but we end the game with consecutive three and outs. And like I said, we win just one game the rest of the year. We have not won in Denver since 2022. Let’s change that. That’s what I’m still thinking about.

00:17:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like that. I’m still thinking about Noel Williams’ interception. Hmm. And the fact that it could have been such a pivotal play, missed the 58-yard field goal, but that was stealing seven points. It is the only game that we saw Sam Darnold be the bad Sam Darnold of the first six weeks of the season. But Noel almost ran that thing back. That was going to be a 108-yard pick. And I saw the running back, even on the call, listening back to the play-by-play call, I called and said, there’s the running back. There’s the guy, the one guy that can stop him. And he got to him. But that was almost, steering wheel pounder, yes, but almost one of the most spectacular plays in Chiefs defensive history. Because you’re going to get a 108 pick six, it’s going to be a 14-point swing, and that game could have been completely different.

00:18:20
Speaker 2: And it just shows how, again, when it rains, it pours. Because even when we had positive things happen in that game, and it’s a positive to prevent them from scoring, obviously, but you get that run back, you have a chance for a field goal to get points on our end. We missed the field goal, and just the air kind of comes out of the balloon a little bit. Like, ah, it was a great pick, but we had a chance to score, and again, we left points on the board. That was the story of that game. But yeah, Noel was so close. That would have been so awesome. And who knows what happens in the game if he brings that back.

00:18:50
Speaker 1: I don’t know. Yeah, it was in Chiefs Kingdom show last night, we had Mike Maslowski on It was cool. Maz played Division III football, right, at Wisconsin Lacrosse. And now he’s coaching high school football at your alma mater, Blue Valley North.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: Horsepower.

00:19:05
Speaker 1: The Mustangs are in the playoffs going to Topeka Seaman this week. But the linebackers, when you see what Nick Bolton has done and Drew Tranquil’s had a good year too. Drew Tranquil had 12 tackles in that game. And Bolton missed the one on the check down throw. But again, tackling is a premium. has to be a premium this week against the Denver Broncos. But one thing that’s overlooked is the fact that Drew Tranquil and Nick Bolton are flying around and making some plays and they’ll have to do it this week for sure.

00:19:35
Speaker 2: Can I add one to that group too?

00:19:37
Speaker 1: Sure.

00:19:37
Speaker 2: Is Jeff Bossa. So Bossa hasn’t played a whole lot, but he had a couple snaps in Seattle where he was spying Darnold and did a really nice job of it. A really athletic kind of hybrid linebacker that we’ve been talking about for a couple years now. He’s played a little bit more this season, and when he’s played, he’s caught my attention. So playing Knicks this week, I have no idea if Bossa will play or play much at all, but if he does, it could make some sense when you think about Knicks, what he can do with his legs.

00:20:04
Speaker 1: I’m going to tell you where Jeffrey Bossa gets a compliment too, and it’s from the opponent. Hmm. Because in special teams, we talked about the engine light being on too, right? The obvious is Butt trying to get back into the Butt that we know that got us two Super Bowl rings with kicks. And people forget the 2022 field goal against Cincinnati, which might be the toughest field goal. The 57-yarder in the Super Bowl off the NFL shield in Super Bowl 58 might be one. But the fact that Chiefs had a chance to get some momentum there after the field goal, kicked the ball off, and they run the kickoff back out to the 40-yard line. It just took helium out of the sideline. But the Seahawks made a focal point to double-team Jeffrey Bossa. I went back and looked at it. I’m thinking, what went wrong on this play? Guys have to fill in better. Wampa got blocked. Jalen Royals got blocked on the outside. But they went right to Bossa and double-teamed him. So to me, the opponent saw a compliment, gave a compliment to Jeffrey Bossa as possibly being our most impactful special teams guy, because that’s the guy they decided to double on the kick return.

00:21:11
Speaker 2: I just like his athleticism, and we’ll see here moving forward. But, you know, I spot for you in the radio booth, for those that don’t know what that means, I have the whole depth chart in front of me, and when Mitch is calling the game, I’m helping out by pointing at who makes a tackle or who catches the ball. And I just felt myself pointing at Boss’s name more often over the last couple weeks.

00:21:29
Speaker 1: So we’ll see.

00:21:31
Speaker 2: But he’s a young player that we were hoping we’d– see some growth out of this year and in limited opportunities, it seems like he is making some place.

00:21:38
Speaker 1: If you get the pad, look at the pad of your index finger right now, you’ll see 32 imprinted for how many times you pointed to Nick Bolton.

00:21:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:21:45
Speaker 1: It’s like a brand on a cattle. It’s like three twos on your finger. Yeah, a lot of that.

00:21:49
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, a lot of number 11 for JSN last week too. That wasn’t fun.

00:21:54
Speaker 1: That dude though, he’s on another planet. Yeah. On another planet. So we won’t get into Jamar Chase and Cincinnati’s coming up. So hey, but dude, JSN’s on another planet right now. But a guy that is so valuable to us is our guest this week on Defending the Kingdom. And yes, we will talk about him karate kicking the guy in the Charger game. Number 83, Noah Gray. One of the most versatile players on this entire team. One of the keystone players on this entire team. Tight end, H-back, do-it-all guy, Noah Gray. Great to have you with us.

00:22:28
Speaker 4: Rest assured, you’re always going to hype me up way beyond what I deserve, but I appreciate that introduction.

00:22:34
Speaker 1: I’m going to start with the karate kick in the Charger game. I know the guys have been talking to you about it. It was fun calling it because you’re going to hurdle the guy and you’re going, no, I’ll just karate kick him in his clavicle. What about that play and kind of how it went?

00:22:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely can’t hurdle. Uh, I can’t do it in that, that moment for sure. I think I had a lot of momentum and I saw a DV body and for some reason I kind of felt like he like twitched, like he was going.

00:23:01
Speaker 1: To go low.

00:23:02
Speaker 4: He couldn’t have been farther away from going low.

00:23:05
Speaker 2: Exactly.

00:23:06
Speaker 1: He was standing straight up.

00:23:07
Speaker 4: I saw the pictures after him.

00:23:08
Speaker 1: I’m like, what was I doing? Uh, but yeah, I don’t know.

00:23:11
Speaker 4: I was just, I had a lot of energy, you know, and a lot of adrenaline. You catch the ball and you got a lot of open space in front of you. It gets you really excited. Um, So hopefully it didn’t look as egregious as you just explained it. But yeah, ideally I stay on the ground and make a move and stuff like that, but it was a lot of fun, you know, and it gets the stadium rocking and it’s good for the crowd and the momentum. So that was a fun play.

00:23:36
Speaker 2: And that play was part of what’s been a really strong start for the year for you so far. I know you don’t care so much about the stats and numbers. Your role is so much more than what the box score shows, but You have almost as many receiving yards right now as you had all of last year. What’s been working so far for you in the passing game?

00:23:51
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:23:51
Speaker 4: I mean, you alluded to it. I don’t care about stats. But if there was an explanation for all that, it’s my teammates and my coaches. Those guys do a phenomenal job every week of game planning. There’s a lot of attention to detail. I say every week in my head. It’s just like you practice and you get looks that our coaches put together for scout team. And then you get into the game and the similarities that I’m able to see in the game from what we were practicing all week is like incredible. So it’s just a huge shout out to our coaches and their film study and giving us the looks to be successful. That’s just a really credit to those guys. And then my teammates taking what we learn in the meeting room practice, and then pouring that out onto the field and trusting each other. That’s the biggest thing. So it’s a, Really a huge credit to all those guys and accumulation of all those things of guys just working together, trusting each other, and being on the same page. You credit the O-line to the quarterback to the receivers running routes on the outside. Everybody in defense getting you the ball back, special teams. I can individually go and thank everybody for everything. It’s really exciting to see those guys working hard for one another and having fun doing it.

00:25:07
Speaker 1: Noah, you’ve packed a lot in your career, including winning Super Bowls, playing the giant games that includes fixing things. Our theme of this podcast has been fixing stuff, right? And the Seattle game brought up some, the engine light comes on in the car. What would you say would be a priority you personally, because you’re the epitome of confident humility of fixing things personally, but fixing things going into the Denver game, what would you list as a priority?

00:25:38
Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, I mean, I know for me personally, you got to do better blocking, you know, and, um, I think pass blocking, run blocking, um, you know, canine can’t run the ball if we’re not working hard upfront ourselves. So just making an emphasis to keep working on the little fundamentals that make us good at that. Um, you know, film study, understanding, you know, Denver’s technique and what they do and what they do well, they got a great front, um, those edge rushers and coop and, 15. I mean, those guys are top notch in the league. So, you know, run blocking and pass protection, giving Pat time, you know, getting those receivers downfield to make plays, I think is a huge point of emphasis. As in the receiving game for us, you know, like I said, myself included, just getting open for Pat, being on time for Pat. And it’s just really going to come down to just really wanting it. Guys just putting their head down, coming off the first play to the last play with the same determination and grit and mindset for all 60 minutes, four quarters is going to be extremely important. There’s a lot that we can work on and get better at, and it’s something that’s going to be a point of emphasis for me and what I do to be the best teammate that I can possibly be for my teammates moving forward.

00:26:58
Speaker 2: You mentioned K-9. What’s having a guy like that in the backfield? How does that change your life as a tight end?

00:27:05
Speaker 4: I mean, I could completely miss a block and not worry about it because he’s going to make a miss. When I first got to the NFL and I was blocking in the senior bowl, like these halfbacks in the NFL, like all of them, it’s like another level. It’s like high school. It’s like, okay, cool. College, it’s like, wow, these guys are getting really athletic. In the NFL, it’s like, wow, these guys can really move. They read the holes well. They can like there could be a hole just this this tight and they’re going to fit through it. That’s how good these guys are. You know, so getting with a guy like K-9, it’s really like you get on your guy and work as hard as you possibly can for that dude. And he’s a guy that makes you want to block as hard as you possibly can for because, you know, he’s going to make some shake once he gets through that first level and you put him on second level, third level defenders. It’s a lot of fun to watch. Um, but I mean, it’s like, I could completely whiff a block, you know, it’s like, go find someone else. He’ll take care of that guy for you and you go take care of the next guy. And then we’ll just keep this thing moving. Uh, but he’s a great, he’s a great football player, but he’s even better dude. He’s a great guy in the locker room to have. It’s been a lot of fun getting to, to know him. I learned a lot about what he does, but he’s, he’s an even better human being. So, um, he’s just anyone who’s fortunate enough to meet canine. It’s a blessing and he cool dude. And Just looking forward to working alongside him for the rest of the season.

00:28:29
Speaker 1: That’s playing with K-9. How much have you learned of playing with Pat? Because in a split second, you have to go from blocker to receiver or knowing when that has to happen. And you become a master at it. But what about that dynamic?

00:28:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think if you watch Kel’s… and Pat and what they do enough, it kind of helps you a little bit when you’re watching film, you know, sometimes if there’s a scramble drill and plays are breaking down, Kelsey’s like, I gotta go make a play, you know, and that’s kind of, you know, that’s, that’s an interesting part of football, you know, and, um, Playing with Pat, you just got to be ready for everything. If he’s not looking at you, that ball could still be fired out to you. You know, if you feel like you’re covered and he throws it, well, he could throw you to an uncovered position. So it’s kind of one of those fun things about playing with a guy like that, that really keeps you on your toes. And anytime you’re working downfield, you’re never giving up on any route. It doesn’t matter who’s on you. There’s three guys on you, you know, work to get open because you’re Pat can see a lot more stuff that we can as receivers. I’m looking back at Pat trying to find the ball, but he’s seeing the whole defense and he’s scrambling and it feels like he’s trying to set some things up with his scramble to get guys to move a certain way so that you can kind of pop free in the back end. So just always kind of keeping it in your mind to just keep working for a guy like that because, you know, he’s working his absolute tail off to make the play. So, you know, you want to be doing the same.

00:29:55
Speaker 2: Well, same idea, spending all the time with Kelsey that you have, I think it’s six years now that you’ve been in the league and you spent all this time with the greatest tight end of all time. Do you ever think to yourself, like this guy’s here and I’m hanging out with them all week long and he’s going to be in the pro football hall of fame one day is the greatest to ever do it. Or is it normal? Like what’s that experience like?

00:30:12
Speaker 4: He’s such a humble guy, such a great dude that you don’t even, he doesn’t even make, he doesn’t even give a chance to make you think like that.

00:30:19
Speaker 1: Sure.

00:30:19
Speaker 4: Uh, You could be a guy that just showed up in the room midway through the season or a guy that’s known him forever. Everyone feels like they’ve known him forever. That’s just how great of a personality he is, how great of a friend he is, and how great of a teammate he is. So I hope I never take this time that I have playing with him for granted because when I show up on Monday after a game to watch the film and you just see what this guy continues to do and display.

00:30:47
Speaker 4: It’s super valuable information that is going to continue with me throughout the rest of my football career. And every single week that I’m fortunate enough to play, because you do learn something new every week that you never kind.

00:30:59
Speaker 1: Of thought about.

00:31:01
Speaker 4: So he’s just one of those leaders on the team that you wish every football team, high school, college, NFL, like that type of leader you wish you had on, on every team because he’s a, he’s that special to this organization. And, It just helps us out tremendously in so many different ways, whether it’s on the field, in the meeting room, and we can’t be more grateful enough for that.

00:31:23
Speaker 1: We’ll let you go, but one final question. You’re a type 1 diabetic. Some may or may not know that. I’ve seen you help high school athletes, younger athletes. How do you handle it and your role as a player in the NFL to help others?

00:31:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, I lean on Jesus. And I think when I was first diagnosed, I didn’t realize that when I was first diagnosed, there’s a lot of like, why me? Boohoo me. But it made me realize that like Jesus has a plan in my life that’s going to take this farther than what I’m seeing right now. You know, this may be tough right now. I got to count carbs. I got to take insulin. Um, but Jesus wants me to help other people with the same thing, same condition. You know, I’m in a position where I’m playing football and there’s other people that play sports. There’s other people that maybe want to be in music. There’s other people that may, whatever it is, they have goals and they have dreams and aspirations when they get diagnosed with it. It’s a big shock to them. Um, but I just try to encourage people that Jesus’s plan that he has for you is bigger than this like moment right now. and it’s bigger than this diagnosis and what you have to struggle through right now, because you’re gonna be able to help and inspire so many other people. And for those people, it’s like, man, I can see him do that. He’s making this look easy. I can go be that news reporter and I can still do that. I can still go do this. I can still be the best saxophone player in the world. And I know I’m bringing up random examples, but that’s real. There’s people that have goals and aspirations So it’s really just kind of going out there and really just trying to show that to other people. And I think it just shows Jesus’ love. And it’s like, man, bad things can happen to us. But what is Jesus trying to teach me right now? And where is he trying to take me? And I think for me, it’s really trying to show other people that whatever they have, they can do it. And Christ gives you strength to do that.

00:33:19
Speaker 1: Just more reasons that number 83 ought to be one of your favorite players. Noah Gray is, he might be the mechanic that could fix the car because he does everything for this team. You see him as an H-back, in-line tight end. There’s plays there for Noah Gray. We talk about winning in the margins. One or two big catches from Noah Gray can be the margin. But I did, one of my favorite plays of the year is when he tried to hurdle the charger guy, but he karate kicked him. And so that was pretty cool.

00:33:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, Noah’s always been like the lunch pail guy. Doesn’t really care about numbers or stats. He’ll just do whatever it takes to help the team win. Really underappreciated, I think, during his time in Kansas City. And over the years, it just seems like whenever the Chiefs have needed a big play, he’s one of those players that will show up and make that play. One I always think about is against the Titans back in 2022. A weird game that the Titans kind of made it like a rock fight. And we had to really dig deep to win that game. He made a great catch to help us win that game. So Patrick trusts him. And something else about Noah is consistently over the course of his time in Kansas City, he’s always the last one off the field at training camp or at practice. You notice that?

00:34:26
Speaker 1: He’s incredible.

00:34:27
Speaker 2: Always the very last one. So it says a lot about his character.

00:34:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, there’s a lot of depth to this man. And he becomes valuable. We talk about running backs being chip and release guys, especially when you try to max protect. Everybody goes, well, don’t want to take a guy out of routes. I got into that discussion on another show that I was on yesterday. You don’t want to take guys out of routes. Well, no, you better protect against the Broncos. But you can also chip and release. And Noah Gray is a great chip and release type player. Because you can also, running backs will cheat on the chip. Hey, you’re supposed to chip and release. But they’re like, I kind of, well, see me chip? No, you didn’t chip him. You didn’t block him. You didn’t slow him down. Noah Gray will slow you down, still get in the route, and still make a play. He’ll be key against the Denver Broncos. Because let’s jump into the Broncos here just a little bit. Let’s start on the defensive side. Now, they’re okay. Can we talk? Can we talk? In 2024, the Chiefs won 11 games by a margin of eight points or less. At that time, there were like congressional inquiries like Michael Corleone in front of, in the Godfather, in front of the Congress. And like, what? It can’t win that way. And it was like, they’re so lucky they get all the calls. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 2025, the Broncos win, oh, 11 games with a margin of eight points or less. Moreover, six wins of the 11 were three points or less. But Did we have the Corleone congressional hearings? No, it was gritty. Let’s show some guy, you know, rappelling down the Grand Canyon and like, well, that’s what it’s like. This year, it’s the same. This is a team that’s given credit now. They’re sitting here at five and two, but four of their five wins, the margins are less than six points. So is it gritty? Well, then let’s give the 24 chiefs some credit. Or is it lucky and you can’t do that all the time? Well, then let’s stay tuned. On 2026, sorry, it just touched a nerve of like, what are we doing with the narrative?

00:36:23
Speaker 2: Do you think the Broncos or the Chargers get you more fired up?

00:36:26
Speaker 1: It’s tied. Throwing the Raiders, all of them, right? So anyway, I just, this point. I love it. This makes me mad. No, I get it. You’re right. The Chiefs get all the calls. That’s why they’ve won all these close games. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So give the Broncos credit, but give the Chiefs credit in 24 for winning the AFC by winning close games.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: No, I’m totally with you. So we have to make sure that we don’t give the Broncos an opportunity to win a close game here in this one. And a couple of things that I’m watching. First is the turnover margin. So Denver is 5-0 this year when they win the turnover battle. They are 0-2 when they don’t. I love when it’s clear cut like that. We have not lost a turnover battle all season. Let’s not start now. Because when you’re playing a team like Denver that lives in the margins like this, that plays great defense, and makes the plays offensively when they need to, it seems like don’t give them extra possessions. So let’s win the turnover margin here in this one. And let’s get off the field on third down the most obvious stat of the week going into this one. We talked about all the struggles on third down earlier. Uh, Denver is the second worst third down team offensively in the NFL this year. They’re converting at just 31% of the time, just like how Seattle struggled against Denver a couple of weeks ago. And they turned it around and, uh, caught lightning in a bottle against us. Don’t let that happen here in this game where, oh, Bo Nix is throwing the ball downfield now and it’s working. No, we have to shut down this Denver offense consistently, just like we did back in week one when we held them to two of 12 on third down. I think they had four first downs in their final eight possessions in that game against us back in week one. The defense, as good as it’s been this year, and it’s been very good at times, was at its absolute best in week one against this Denver team. Let’s do that again here and not allow them to make some magic happen in the fourth quarter.

00:38:06
Speaker 1: Nick Benito on defense, he’s the king of the quick pressure. Not just pressures. When you look at him, he’s had 20 pressures in the last two games. 20. And against Seattle, against Darnold, remember he wasn’t getting rid of the ball in 1.8 seconds like he did against us. And the quick pressures in that game, when you look at what Nick Benito did, seven quick, seven pressures against Seattle, four were under are considered quick pressures under 2.5 seconds, and his getoff, less than one second at. 68. That’s really the best in the league. So that’s where he’s the best. Now let’s go to the other side. You mentioned this about the Denver offense. It has been 27 seasons in this league where a team has had this few of yards per play that is 5-2. So give them credit. They’re able to pull these games out. Or is it just, hey, man, they’re really close on these margins. They’re last against the Blitz in passer rating. You mentioned the third down issues, but their first down efficiency is when I started to do a deep dive into them. This is the problem for the Broncos. If it is a problem, could be a problem in 2026 versus 25. The Broncos were ninth in the league in first down efficiency last year, meaning they’re getting to second and four. They’re getting to third and two. And then all of a sudden, they can do a whole bunch of their stuff and their bubbles and tunnels They’re not running the ball well on first down. They’re trying to figure that out. So the point is here, keep their woes going on first down, slow down Nick Benito in some way, shape, or form, take care of the turnover battle, which the Chiefs have not lost an offensive fumble yet this year. Knock on wood. Yeah, I know. So one thing that used to give me a pet peeve when I do college basketball across the country, right? I’m doing Liberty against, oh, I don’t know, Appy State. And Gabe Henderson’s on the line. I go, he shoots 90%. And he misses the first one. All of a sudden, Twitter goes crazy like, yeah, he jinxed him. Yeah, yeah, he jinxed him. Right. No, I’m going to tell you the Chiefs have not lost an offensive fumble so far this year. That’s a good thing. I’ll just make it as a Anyway, you got me fired up.

00:40:12
Speaker 2: I know.

00:40:13
Speaker 1: I love it.

00:40:14
Speaker 2: It’s Bronco week.

00:40:14
Speaker 1: Let’s go. It’s Bronco week. It’s Donkey week. But, hey, it’s also a huge game in the AFC West. So why not turn to our guy, our Wolf of the West, in our chat this week with Ari Wolf.

00:40:27
Speaker 3: It was a tough weekend for the AFC West. There was only one winner. That was the Denver Broncos who went to Arizona. They went 30-16. Bo Nix has had a lot of criticism that he hasn’t been using his legs. He had a great 62-yard touchdown run. The defense was good enough, highlighted by three sacks. The Broncos have now won three in a row. While they haven’t necessarily looked as good as they did at their peak last year, they’re putting wins together. So where do we, what do we think about the Denver Broncos right now? I feel like they’re ascending, they’re finding their way. And obviously this weekend is going to be critical for both the Chiefs and the Broncos, but Mitch, let’s start with you. Where are you right now on the Broncos and this offense and are the Broncos for real this year?

00:41:12
Speaker 1: They look the same as last year, just a little bit of a lesser version. They’re not running the ball on first down as well. And you’re not going to be able to rely on Bo Nix running for 62 yards every week. I just, they’re, they’re the same. They won 11 games last year in close margin games, just like the Chiefs did in 24. Chiefs were lucky in 24, the Broncos were gritty. And they’ve got a little bit of a, I mean, I guess they’re gritty this year. Four of their five wins have been less than seven points. So they just are what they are. They play off defensive pressure and takeaways, win the field position games, do enough on offense, and that’s how they’re winning games. And the The Arizona game right now is an outlier until they prove differently. Yeah, Ari, I agree.

00:41:59
Speaker 2: I just think that they’re winning games, you know, and you can’t take that away from them. But the way that they’re doing it, I do question how sustainable it is without throwing the ball downfield at all. 66% of Bo Nix’s passing yards this year have taken place after the catch, second highest rate in the NFL. But hey, they’re winning games. And I’ll give them credit. They do not beat themselves more often than not. They win in the margins, something that Mitch and I have been talking about all week long. Seattle did that. The Broncos do that. We have to make sure in this game coming up, and I know we’ll talk more about it, that we win in the margins because that’s where the Broncos win games. They’re comfortable in these close games and they find a way. It’s working for them so far. Hopefully it doesn’t work on Sunday.

00:42:39
Speaker 3: So we all know the Raiders started 3-0. We had that monster game in Vegas. And I think we all thought, well, this Raiders team is one of the most improved teams in the National Football League. They’ve lost four straight. I still think there are really improved teams. I’m no longer buying in that they are for real in terms of being a playoff contender. Their schedule is absolutely brutal. Let’s start with you, Matt. What was your takeaway from the Rams game at the Raiders?

00:43:04
Speaker 2: This is what I get, Ari, for actually expecting and thinking the Raiders could beat the Rams. Of course, they end up getting blown out. The defense just can’t get a stop. That’s the issue with the Raiders. I think their offense is actually pretty competent, and they have some playmakers. When they’re in close games, they have an opportunity to to make it interesting, but their defense can’t get a stop. I mean, they’ve allowed at least 27 points in five straight games, at least 30 points in four straight games. The Raiders have the Jets next week, but to your point about the schedule, they go 49ers, Seahawks, Broncos, and then Cleveland after that. And I guess Cleveland’s pretty good. So I think it’s still a situation where they shouldn’t go with Mendoza yet. I think it’s good for his development to keep riding it out with Kirk. I think they’ll find a way to win some games moving forward, but I’m not sure if they’re a playoff team. And I think the clock is ticking now on Mendoza where people are going to get pretty antsy about wanting to see him if they don’t find a way to start winning some more games.

00:43:59
Speaker 1: Defensively, there’s just not enough there to slow down a good team. And the Rams, even in this game, kind of were playing with their food a little bit. They get up big, but then they’re still kind of putzing around and didn’t exactly just put him away. The Cousins-Mendoza thing is very interesting. There’ll be pressure. I agree with Matt on playing him, but until they’re eliminated from the playoff scene, which could be soon, or by Thanksgiving, then they maybe could start trying that. But they’ve got to find some other answers other than Brock Bowers. They just don’t have it. Ash and Jenty’s been a bit of a disappointment this year. Their offensive line has struggled. There’s just right now not enough gas or juice for this team to feel like they’re going to beat a good team anytime soon.

00:44:49
Speaker 3: The good news in the division was for the Los Angeles Chargers. They were off in Lowe’s. The Chargers were fine this week. We’ll get to their next game.

00:44:57
Speaker 1: In a moment.

00:44:58
Speaker 3: I know you guys review what happened last week with the Chiefs and the Seahawks, but here’s what I believe. 5-1 is an outstanding record through six games. This was a team that maybe for insiders like yourselves believe that this team was capable of winning the AFC West again, perhaps being a number one seed. To someone who’s slightly outside the kingdom out West, I think my goals for this team was to show great growth from a year ago, to be able to be competitive in close games against good teams. None of that’s changed. And keep in mind, this was a game against an NFC opponent. If you’re going to lose a game, that’s where you want to lose it. On the road, the way they played, I know was frustrating. It was a long night. But here’s the thing. They have great leadership in the building. With Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, I’ll follow those guys anywhere they want to lead the team. So I just feel like, yeah, it didn’t feel good. And it was a long, hard night. But I feel like this is one of those times where you could have a ton of growth. And we’ve got a lot of young players who have to learn to deal with adversity in the National Football League. So my biggest takeaway is that there’s a real opportunity here for this young football team to grow and get better. You guys were with the team. You traveled back with the team. What was your sense after the game about what some takeaways can be moving forward?

00:46:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, Ari, I’ll start. I just think that you’re going to lose at some point. And over the course of a long season, you’re probably going to get punched in the mouth at some point. And how do you respond to it? Mahomes talked about it, that we have a young team and this will be really interesting to see how they handle that kind of adversity. It’s not always going to be, you know, five and oh, everything’s great. Everyone thinks you’re awesome. You’re going to find a lot of situations over the course of a long season where things aren’t going your way. And, uh, you have to find a way to push through it. We’ll learn a lot about our team here moving forward, but like you said, I wouldn’t want anyone else than Coach Reed and Patrick Mahomes being the captains of the ship.

00:46:46
Speaker 1: It’s a critical 96 hours in the Chiefs’ kingdom because of the question you ask, and I’ll agree with Matt, but there’s things to fix. For young players to understand, when you play a high-quality team on the road, which the Chiefs did against Seattle and they will do again against Denver, that every team minute detail matters. A five-yard illegal shift penalty to wipe out a 12-yard pass play that’s going to give you first and 10 at the 34 to start the game is as important as a play late in the game in that regard. And so as close and tight as these games are in the NFL, especially among contenders, then you’ve got to handle your business in every phase of the game, all three phases, all of the time, because one little error can lead to big problems. Yes. All right.

00:47:38
Speaker 3: So that’s a look back at week seven. Now let’s look forward to the AFC West in week eight. Matt, you mentioned it quickly. The Raiders traveled to New York to take on the Jets. The Jets are reeling at the moment. They had a bad loss against the winless Miami team. Aaron Glenn seems like he’s under fire with New York. There’s a lot of unrest there. That franchise is underachieved for so long. But for the Raiders, it’s, Things haven’t gone that well on the defensive side of the ball. This might be a get-right game for them. Traveling to the East Coast for the Raiders has been a mixed bag over the last few years. If you remember the beginning of last year, they had a win against New England. It’s the beginning of the year that if you look back on it, you’re like, how did that happen? So not sure what to expect from Kirk Cousins and the Raiders, but I am with you, Matt. I don’t think Mendoza, I don’t think we’re going to see him and Mitch Minch until Thanksgiving. I think they like the fact that the rookie’s on the bench. So it’s going to be Cousins. It’s going to be the Raiders. Can they find enough solutions, Mitch, to get a road win at New York?

00:48:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, they can, especially against the Jets. I’m more interested in the Jets in this game because it’s our next week’s opponent to look at what strengths do the Jets have. I think Aaron Glenn’s a good coach. They just sometimes can’t get out of their own way. And so they’ve had some decent quarterback play this year. It’s just there’s just not enough at certain times. But yes, the Raiders can win. But what do the Jets have that they’re going to bring in here in two weeks that could be dangerous? All right.

00:49:09
Speaker 2: This makes me think about when I was in high school and college and I couldn’t afford Sunday ticket or any of that. And you were just bound to whatever game was on CBS and on Fox. And you checked 506 Sports. to see what game you were getting and you’d see half the country’s getting Chiefs Broncos and then a little small part of the country you’re in is getting Raiders and Jets. It’s like, this is my game for the week. Yeah, I think the Jets are going to give the Raiders an opportunity to break the 30-point allowed streak. The Jets offense just hasn’t really been doing it this year. I’m with Mitch, though. I’m interested to watch that game just from a standpoint of seeing what the Jets have with their team. I really don’t know what to expect with them, but I do think the Raiders can put up some points in this game.

00:49:51
Speaker 3: All right, let’s move on. The Chargers are back in action. They have a road game at SoFi. I wonder how they do that. Do you think they’re in their normal locker rooms? You don’t have the same home locker rooms. I wonder how that works, whether they both get to be in their home locker rooms. That’s a good question. I’m going to find out that answer at some point this week.

00:50:08
Speaker 1: I don’t know. Go ahead. No, what people don’t realize is the Clippers will play the Lakers on the field before the game, and then they’ll have the They’ll ice it over before the football game and have the Ducks take on the Kings. And then they’ll have an exhibition game between the Dodgers and Angels. Then they’ll put the Chargers out there against the Rams. This was to be the dream matchup of Super Bowl 61. Let’s be honest. With a lot of people in the NFL, this is what they wanted. This is as close as they’re going to get to that. So consider this the SoCal version of Super Bowl 61 right after the Clippers play the Lakers tonight. And the Ducks skated off against the Kings.

00:50:51
Speaker 3: All right, my friends with the Kings will not appreciate that, but I like the whole concept. Yeah, this is a big deal for Los Angeles. But for the Chargers, in all seriousness, they’ve had the bye week now, guys. So if we are going to see some significant growth from them offensively, with Mike McDaniel as the OC, Herbert as his quarterback, you think if we’re going to see some significant improvement, you might see it this week. Matt, what are your expectations from the Chargers this week?

00:51:18
Speaker 2: No, I don’t expect significant improvement this week, but being honest, the Rams have been a flawed team this year. They’ve been a team that’s missing a bunch of guys, haven’t lived up to their potential, but they are just better than the Chargers are. What we’ve seen from the Chargers so far this season does not give me confidence that they can beat the Rams. I don’t have a lot of thoughts on it beyond that I think the Rams are better than the Chargers. Even with the Rams’ current situation where they’re not quite what we expected, I expect them to beat the Chargers.

00:51:48
Speaker 3: All right, guys, out of my AFC West game of the week, the Kansas City Chiefs visit the Denver Broncos for their second meeting this season. They met in week one. It was quite a statement game. The Chiefs played amazing in all three phases. They absolutely dominated the Broncos. The Broncos, I would think, are going to have a relaxed grind, right? They want to show the Chiefs that they’re right there at the top of the division. I expect them to be amped and ready. Let’s lead with K-9. K-9 really was, it felt like the difference in that first game. I mean, what a display he put on. The league was buzzing. K-9 was the answer to everything. Mitch, what kind of response defensively do you expect from the Broncos and how many guys do you expect to pack the box as they try to limit K-9 this week?

00:52:32
Speaker 1: Let’s give Vance Joseph credit. He’s a really good defensive coordinator. And I think very similar to Seattle’s approach defensively, what Mike McDonald has brought to that team. and that is they mix it up. Now, there’s more blitzing done by Vance Joseph. There is more man-to-man by Vance. But they did not play guys in the box necessarily in week one. They almost acted like the Chiefs didn’t pick up Kenneth Walker III. It was like they played the Chiefs like they did the last couple of years. That’ll be different this year. They can put extra guys in the box. They’ll do it in the nickel, and they’ll blitz out of the nickel because McMillan’s a very good nickel blitzer for them. So with the pressure they can bring with their other guys, they’ll put extra guys in the box. Could be a DB, but they’ll play it differently this time.

00:53:20
Speaker 2: Well, I think with the Broncos defense, so it’s the number seven scoring defense in the NFL, number four scoring defense since week two, though. So if you take out the 31 points that they allowed against us, those 31 points were the most they’ve allowed all season. They haven’t allowed more than 30 in any other game this year. So I’m curious to see what kind of defense we get from them in this one. The one thing that has been consistent throughout the year that continued from week one is they have struggled against the run. So they’ve allowed at least 90 rushing yards in every game this season. One of just two teams in the NFL that’s done that in seven games this year, the other being Philadelphia. So I think the opportunities will be there on the run game for the Chiefs. A matter of taking advantage of it. I’m sure K-9 and the offensive line is eager to get out there and have a good game after Seattle did a good job against us in that area. But I think having Rasheed Rice would be a big boost if we can get him back for this game. We’re shooting this on Tuesday. We don’t know if he’ll be back just yet. Hopefully he’s back at practice this week, but I think having Rasheed in the passing game would help quite a bit. That’s my hope going into this one. But just like we talked about going into week one, Ari, got to find a way to make sure Nick Benito doesn’t take over this game. We did a good job of that in week one, but look at what he did last week against the Cardinals. He had 13 pressures in that game. Can’t let that happen on Sunday.

00:54:33
Speaker 1: They’ve given up chunk runs, Ari. Ari, they’ve given up chunk runs. That’s what’s alarming about them. They’ve given up eight 20-plus runs in their first seven games. That’s the most in the league. Now, K-9 had two of those in week one, but that leaves six others. And so if the Chiefs can find a chunk run, either from K-9 or an Emmitt Johnson, then that can be a lot. Again, little things are going to flip this game. It’s the feather falling on the anvil, and it’s going through your house. That’s the kind of game this is, much like the Seattle game was.

00:55:06
Speaker 3: All right, now let’s flip it and let’s focus on the Chiefs defense and their ability to stop Bo Nix and the Broncos offense. The defense completely limited the Broncos offensively in the first meeting. Bo Nix has had a very mixed season so far. I don’t think anybody’s wowed by what he’s doing, but we’ve seen that they just find ways to win games. They just kind of hang around. And then in the fourth quarter, they play their best football. From a Chiefs defensive perspective, they got a lot of pressure in week one. They did so many things good. If you’re Steve Spagnola, what are some of the maybe some of the twists? What are some of the things, Matt, that you’re excited to see the Chiefs do defensively this weekend?

00:55:45
Speaker 2: Tackle, I think, is the most important thing coming into this one. Mitch and I have talked about this a lot, where the Chiefs were among the best, if not the best teams in the league in terms of not missing tackles going into the Seattle game. Well, we missed a ton of tackles in that game. Four different Chiefs had multiple tackles. missed tackles in that one. The third down woes were a major reason we lost that game. Some of it was Sam Darnold just making a great throw on third and nine, but some of it was also missing tackles where Darnold checked it down and we missed a couple tackles. Whoever it was, the running back for Seattle was able to scamper for a first down, kept a drive going. That’s demoralizing. We got to make sure we wrap up in this game. It’s of particular importance against The Broncos, because you think about their entire offensive scheme, everything is going to be in front of the Chiefs for the most part. They don’t throw the ball downfield. 64% of Bo Nix’s passing yards this year have taken place after the catch, second highest rate in the NFL behind only Jalen Daniels on the Buccaneers, an undrafted rookie. So a lot of it’s going to be right in front of the Chiefs. And let’s make sure we tackle, wrap up, and don’t let a three-yard pass turn into a 40-yard gain. Because in the long run, that’s what sunk the Cardinals. That’s why they couldn’t hang around, because players made plays after the catch. Bo Nix is going to check it down a lot in this game. Don’t let his receivers make plays after the catch.

00:57:03
Speaker 1: Tackle.

00:57:03
Speaker 2: That’s my most important note in this one.

00:57:06
Speaker 1: I’m going to back that one up. Denver just lives off tunnel screens, bubble screens. One man check down with a one blocker in front. They try to do some creative things there. The big difference this year in Denver from last year is first down efficiency. They’re next to last in the league. Only Miami is worse on first down efficiency right now than the Denver Broncos. That doesn’t seem possible, but it is. So that leads you then to third down. And for the Chiefs on third down, they held the Broncos to two of 12 in week one in that 31-10 win. And last week, it was a problem. And it was Darnold scrambling twice for third downs. Well, Bo Nix will look for that escape route, too. It’s how the Broncos won last year in Denver. The Chiefs had a chance to win that game. They have a stop. It’s third down and double digits at their own 20-yard line, and Bo Nix scrambles for one, and then he found Cortland Sutton for another one. But it is tackling, but it’s also dominating on first down, keep them in jail there, but then figure out a way to get off the field on third down. But Denver’s offense has not changed. It’s the same as last year. It’s really one of the more compelling stories in the league that no one talks about. Because Bo Nix won a game against Seattle and completed zero completions of 10 or more yards. Zero. And he only had three attempts. It’s all that stuff we talk about, but it makes tackling a premium. All right, guys.

00:58:34
Speaker 3: The X Factor to me is just one of those games where you’ve got two elite coaches. Andy Reid on the Mount Rushmore of coaches, first ballot hall of famer. I don’t think Sean Payton’s on the Mount Rushmore list, but I guess he’ll probably end up in the Hall of Fame if things keep going well for him. Sean Payton, Andy Reid, granted both of them focus on the offensive side of the ball, but I just love it when you have the highest level guys coaching a game that has so much meaning to both franchises. Mitch, let’s start with you. When you sort of think about Andy Reid versus Sean Payton, what are some of the things that come to mind?

00:59:07
Speaker 1: Well, being around Coach Reid for 14 years, it’s not just this week. It’s the way he approaches division games. He puts emphasis on the division, Ari, 365 days a year. We’ve seen it. Matt and I have seen it. We see it in the spring. We see it in the summer. We see it at camp. So, He’s actually been working on the Broncos. That’s why their week one game was so good, I think, and why he’s looking at measures and countermeasures here. Look at what Andy did against the NFC East during his time in Philadelphia. It’s why he makes it priority one. Again, we slated out or put it out there what this game– this is a two-game meaning in one game. This is times two. Because the Chiefs win, they’re in big-time command. They lose, they’re a half game behind. Andy knows it. Sean Payton knows it. But Andy thinks about the division opponents all year long. Never underestimate that.

01:00:00
Speaker 2: And Ari, I’d add, as much as it’s Coach Reed and Sean Payton, it’s also Steve Spagnuolo and Vance Joseph. Vance Joseph, obviously not feeling great about the week one performance of his defense. We’re trying to make sure we replicate that. And for Spags, if I know one thing about Steve Spagnuolo, he is irate about how the defense performed against Seattle. I think he’s going to be eager and chomping at the bit to get out there and compete well against the Broncos. So I do think it’s Reed versus Payton, but it’s also Spags and Vance Joseph.

01:00:28
Speaker 3: It’s a very good point, Matt. All right, let’s get to final thoughts as we head into week eight. And Mitch, let’s start with you.

01:00:36
Speaker 1: Final thoughts is the crazy margins of this game right now and just how close things are. But the other thing is, has the fire sale started to open up? Have the NFL version of garage sales open up down the street? Because the Quentin Nelson trade by the Colts to the Seahawks, to me, is a bell ringer. And somebody just opened their garage and put their stuff out for the garage sale. Who’s going to sell? What will the Colts do? What will the Eagles do? What will the teams do that now their season’s off the rails? Because there could be some very interesting trades. The NFL didn’t used to be like this. It’s like every other sport now. They look to make impact trades. How expensive will those trades be? Who wants to sell and who wants to buy? It’s not the level of MLB, but it’s very, very, very important, I think, over the next two weeks. And the Colts have made the first move. Actually, the Seahawks have made the first move.

01:01:32
Speaker 2: My final thought is every time we go out to Denver, I get to see my in-laws who are, of course, Bronco fans. And for the longest time, it was a great weekend where I’d go out there, see them. Chiefs win, Broncos lose. I go home happy and they’re like, oh, you know, maybe next time. The Chiefs have not beaten the Broncos in Denver since 2022. These trips out to Denver, like they’re trying to console me after the fact. I don’t want their consolation.

01:01:57
Speaker 1: I don’t want that.

01:01:58
Speaker 2: It’s supposed to go the other way around. So I’m hoping, Ari, we can set things right after this one. all the great dinner with them on a Saturday night. But then when I’m leaving, they’re the ones that are upset about it. So I converted Ellie to Chiefs fandom long ago. That one was easy. I’m slowly converting Ellie’s mom, Mary, to Chiefs fandom. She almost wore a Travis Kelsey jersey to the Chiefs Broncos game in week one. I’m working on her. So we’re getting there. But that’s my final thought, Ari.

01:02:21
Speaker 3: I love it. Anything involves family and football is always good. Well, speaking of family and football, while the Chiefs had a tough weekend in Seattle, my kid’s flag football team that I coached in Torrance, California, we had a rough one. So Friday night, all the buildup to the playoffs. It’s the Snoop Dogg League. It’s the official NFL flag football. So this is our fourth season. We go to the playoffs and we got to play two games. We win the first one. We get to play a second game. Well, we actually we won our first playoff game. Everyone was feeling great about it. And then we were playing a team that I thought we could beat in the second game. We ended up losing. We didn’t play particularly well. And I had my daughter, Layla, in tears, disappointed that she wasn’t going to get that plastic new super bowl rating for winning flag football you just know i know the nfl is more important we just know that there was some heartbreak in our house as once again we failed to win the super bowl in flag football that is my final thought keep believing in the chiefs five and one is great six and one will be even better and that’ll do it for out west this week.

01:03:21
Speaker 1: Right ari he’s getting into this afc west thing have you noticed that yeah he loves it he’s all over it uh into the minute detail but fun fun to get the perspective here of the division.

01:03:32
Speaker 2: I think he’s embraced your thoughts on the Chargers and Broncos. He’s embraced that.

01:03:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, just years of dealing with those guys, seemingly that way. So fun to go check in with Ari every week. But we’re going to start something new. We’ve teased this, right? We’ve said it’s coming. Now it’s here. A chance for you as kingdom defenders to check in directly with us.

01:04:01
Speaker 2: We got a mailbag. The mailbag is officially in operation. People send in questions. We got a lot of questions. Can’t get to all of them, but I think we have six or seven here we’re going to run through. So here we go. The first ever mailbag submission, Mr.

01:04:14
Speaker 1: Durden67. Sure.

01:04:16
Speaker 2: He says, Mitch, was there any play-by-play announcer that you took inspiration from to influence your iconic style? You get so excited when you say touchdown Kansas City. So any influences for you?

01:04:26
Speaker 1: There have been several. When you’re a little kid in north central Kansas and you ride your bike to the top of the hill so you can hear different announcers on the radio at the time. Keep in mind, this is before our current methods of being able to pick up broadcast. But actually, Joe Buck’s dad, Jack Buck, was awesome. I listened to him as a little kid do Cardinal games. And there was a guy named Dev Nelson. He grew up in Marquette, Kansas. He was an outstanding broadcaster. He broadcasts K-State games back in the day, along with some other things. But Dev was always a mentor of mine. Actually, one guy I really respect is Brad Sham of the Dallas Cowboys. And I’ve told Brad that, you know, he’s outstanding in that regard. And then Fred White did the Royals for years and was a mentor of mine. We lost him too soon. I had really aggressive cancer that killed him a couple of years ago, but man, those guys, but Fred was great. That’s cool.

01:05:31
Speaker 2: That’s super cool. You ever think that you’re the answer now for all these young broadcasters? They look up to you?

01:05:36
Speaker 1: I don’t think I am, but I’d be stunned if I was.

01:05:39
Speaker 2: No, you definitely are. Let me tell you from experience.

01:05:42
Speaker 1: Okay.

01:05:43
Speaker 2: Here’s a football question. Edward Ramirez, 4240. Wants to know when Omar Norman Lott is coming back. So I did some recon on this. So just over a year removed for Omar from the ACL injury. It was October 19th of last season. He’s still on PUP, has not practiced yet. His practice window has not opened. Now we’re shooting this on Tuesday. Who knows what happens this week. But as of right now, his practice window is not open. So we’re still waiting on that. Coach Reed was asked about him on October 14th, so a few weeks ago. Coach said that he’s getting better and getting closer. So that’s the only update we have as of right now. But hopefully Omar comes back here pretty soon. Anything to add, Omar?

01:06:19
Speaker 1: Let me say that. We have to be patient with that because even when he gets near to being on the active roster, there is a ramp-up period, especially for a defensive lineman and especially for a guy like Omar Norman-Lott. It is not instant oatmeal, run out on the field and make five sacks. So patience here. I know we’ve been patient. It’s been a while, but even more patient required. Yeah, we’ll see if his practice window opens up here pretty soon. Here’s another one from TheRage11. Sent a great note. He’s a day one kingdom defender and an STM, now living in Austin, Texas. Loves football cards and knows how a lot of baseball players collect baseball cards. Wants to know if any of our guys collect football cards.

01:06:59
Speaker 2: Off the top of my head, the one that I thought of as a former player, it’s Andrew Wiley. So Andrew Wiley was and still is very much into collecting all kinds of cards. We did some stuff on that with our production team. He collected like football cards, baseball cards, Pokemon cards as a kid and still does it. His IG page is Wiley’s Card House. And you can see all of the cards he’s collected over time. So I think the best answer to your question is Andrew Wiley. But anybody else come to mind for you?

01:07:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I’m going to tell you one vice president for production and content for the Kansas City Chiefs is Rob Albarino. Oh, my gosh.

01:07:33
Speaker 2: Just the card shows and everything.

01:07:34
Speaker 1: He’s like Wildman. And he’s got this– I want to see his vault. Because he’s got some incredible cards. And he just won like his 70, 79, 80, 82, 83. He’s the John Wooden of Emmys.

01:07:48
Speaker 2: He is.

01:07:50
Speaker 1: But that dude’s got some major cards. And he’s always on the lookout.

01:07:54
Speaker 2: I brought in my old baseball cards when I was a kid and football cards one day to have him look at them and see if any of them were valuable. He looks at all of them and instantly says, no, no, no. This is all junk wax. But he calls it junk wax. I’m like, all right, all right.

01:08:06
Speaker 1: Your mom didn’t get rid of any of your baseball cards or football cards, did she?

01:08:09
Speaker 2: She kept all of them, which apparently they’re all junk.

01:08:11
Speaker 1: My mom was a saint. Absolute saint. But I come home from college. Where’s my… But ball and baseball cards, gone, gone.

01:08:20
Speaker 2: Get a job.

01:08:21
Speaker 1: I know there’s like 50 grand in there, mom. It’s gone.

01:08:26
Speaker 2: Give away your X-Men.

01:08:27
Speaker 1: Love my mom. I had one fault, burn my cards. That’s tough.

01:08:30
Speaker 2: Okay, here’s a Lundy2JZ637.

01:08:33
Speaker 1: Nice.

01:08:35
Speaker 2: Wants to know when Cyrus Allen will be more involved with the offense.

01:08:38
Speaker 1: What do you think? You want to handle that one? Yeah, sure.

01:08:41
Speaker 2: Well, I just think it’s a process for a young player like Cyrus. So I think the important thing for him is he’s making plays when given opportunities. He had that nice catch against Seattle. Just two targets, but made the most of it with a nice catch, double-digit yard catch. So not a lot of chances for him so far. It’s part of the process for a rookie wide receiver in Coach Reed’s system. But I think for him, again, the imperative is that when he gets the ball thrown his way, make a play. And so far this year, more often than not, when he’s had an opportunity, he’s made the most of it. It’s just a matter of continuing to do that and showing the coaches that he belongs out.

01:09:15
Speaker 1: There, I think. Usually, and I’m learning this down through the years, when you get a question like that, it’s like, should I put Cyrus Allen on my fantasy team? Yeah. Let’s just be honest, right? Kingdom defenders, that’s usually the case. And I’m with you, Matt. He’s got to prove to be consistent. And not just in when the ball’s thrown his way, make the catch. I always talk about the tight window, tough catch. It’s what you have to do against Seattle. It’s what you have to do against Denver. You have got a fraction of an inch left. And then also being precise on routes and understanding coverages. Because with Patrick Mahomes, again, it’s just like we covered with Noah Gray earlier in this podcast. In a nanosecond, you have to make adjustments. And that takes time to learn that, especially playing with Pat. So we see good things from Cyrus Allen. It’s just, once again, he’s not going to run out there and be Jackson Smith and Jigba like right away.

01:10:10
Speaker 2: Here’s another one from Chiefs4L. com. I think it’s Chiefs4Life.

01:10:13
Speaker 1: I love that. I like the way they mean something, not just 2593 LBC.

01:10:22
Speaker 2: My username as a kid, I think, was Chiefs882529. Just all the favorite players I had. Okay, Chiefs4L. Who do you think is the most underrated player on the roster? I think I have one if you want me to go first.

01:10:37
Speaker 1: I’ll let you start.

01:10:38
Speaker 2: For me right now, I think it’s Emmett Johnson. I think I’m actually the president of the Emma Johnson fan club, if you want to be the treasurer.

01:10:45
Speaker 1: I’m right in there with you.

01:10:47
Speaker 2: All the little things that he does. So obviously whenever he touches the ball, it seems like he’s made some plays, whether it be as a runner or as a pass catcher. But it’s also the tackles on special teams. He’s chipped in some nice returns as a return man. He can block. So I think about not a lot of positives from the Seattle game, but late when we were driving before the second missed field goal, When we were still in the game, he had a two-play sequence beginning on second and 20 where he caught a quick pass from Mahomes. After he was blocking, he chipped, released, caught a pass from Mahomes, made multiple defenders miss, and made it a manageable third and eight. And then on third and eight, he laid the block that allowed Mahomes to run for the first down. Kept the drive alive. That was all Emmitt Johnson. And then had a 41-yard kick return in that game. had some tackles on special teams. Just feel like he’s a football player. He can contribute in a bunch of different ways and he’s just a rookie. So I think right now my answer is Emmitt Johnson.

01:11:44
Speaker 1: That’s a great one. And I love what he does beyond the obvious. And you pointed him out. He’s going to block a punt this year. Just write it down.

01:11:50
Speaker 3: Yeah.

01:11:51
Speaker 1: I’m calling it right now. I would say right now in the current situation, it would be Matt Ariza. Because when you get a punter who leads the league in both gross and net punting, think of the adjustment Matt has had to make in his career. He was the punt god coming out of San Diego State. He could boom it down the field. But the fact that he now is number one in net in his learning how to be a 12th defender actually was a big piece of the 5-0 start. And we talk about living in the margins, how these games are slight. Matt Ariza could decide Sunday’s game. And it’s one thing that we won’t necessarily think about, but when you go back and reflect upon it, you’re going, oh, Denver had to start this at the 7 or at the 9 or He’s already done that once this year. And so the game against the Raiders where they had five drive starts inside the 15 because Matt Ariza punts. And then he’ll go down and like jack some guy up. He wants to go hit somebody. So yeah, right now I would say Matt Ariza.

01:12:52
Speaker 2: Hopefully we’re not punting a lot in Denver, but when he does a nice like 70 yarder in that mountain there, I’m on board with that.

01:12:58
Speaker 1: And down by Wampa and Emmett Johnson. Yeah, exactly.

01:13:01
Speaker 2: Another reason why Emmett’s been so good.

01:13:03
Speaker 1: Okay.

01:13:04
Speaker 2: This is from Clinton Petrie Media, I think. What’s an underrated trait you’ve noticed that most players possess that most fans would not know or assume?

01:13:14
Speaker 1: We covered it with Noah Gray. The great players in this game, I talk about this publicly when I speak across the country, is confident humility. Pat Mahomes asked me as a rookie, when he was coming into the league, he goes, you’ve been around a while. How have you made it? I thought, well, this is the most smartest question anybody’s asked me in the league. And I said, Pat, of all the great players, whether our players or in the league, understand the NFL can humble you in a second. And it brings up the scripture, God’s opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. But there is this, it seems like a contradiction, but it’s not. It’s a chemical reaction. It’s like hydrogen and oxygen together make water. And Pat’s got it. He’s the epitome of it. Noah Gray’s also. But the fact that you know you’re the best at what you do. And so you have this mixture of confident humility. It’s like another verse I like is God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline, 2 Timothy 1.7. So that connection together, I think is the trait of great NFL players and down through the years.

01:14:22
Speaker 2: I’m totally with you on that. I think I’d add also, compartmentalization. So the league is so week to week. Patrick’s talked about this a lot, where you start 5-0, everyone says you’re the greatest. Then you lose to Seattle, you don’t score a touchdown, everyone says that you’re terrible. How do you handle that? You can’t let things build on themselves. You can’t get too high when the team’s playing well. You can’t get too low when things don’t go well. That’s what the great players and great teams do. Travis Kelsey is a wizard at that. I think over the course of his career, he’s been great at it. Mahomes, obviously, Coach Reed. The great players and coaches do that and they’re able to not get too high, not get too low.

01:15:03
Speaker 1: So I’m with you.

01:15:03
Speaker 2: It’s funny. I think maybe when they asked this question, they meant it from a physical standpoint, but I think both of us would give a mental answer. I’m with you on that.

01:15:10
Speaker 1: So the physical standpoint, I would tell you wingspan. It’s the most underrated trait, I think, in all of sports. You can have a six foot dude that’s got a seven foot wingspan. I know it sounds ridiculous, but you’ve seen it. And so wingspan is such a key thing whether it’s a receiver being able to shield off a DB. Most notably, we talk about passes knocked down by the defensive front. But we sit here and look at, we go to the combine and we look at height and weight and 40 time. But honestly, your height isn’t, you don’t sit there and have headers like in soccer. You play with your hands and your arms. And so wingspan is way underrated. I’m with you.

01:15:51
Speaker 2: Here’s one from Sean Price, 6’3, 4’5. He wants to know where the depth is strongest on our team and where it’s weakest. And with the weakest part of our team, if we can make a move before the deadline, what do you think?

01:16:04
Speaker 1: Man, that’s a loaded question. There’s a lot in there, yep. There’s a lot in there. Depth. Biggest depth at our position.

01:16:12
Speaker 2: I can go first if you want.

01:16:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, you go first. I’m thinking about this one.

01:16:15
Speaker 2: So I still think the strongest part of our team right now, outside of having Patrick Mahomes as our quarterback, would be our running back position.

01:16:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.

01:16:21
Speaker 2: Just because we’ve got Ken Walker and Emmitt Johnson.

01:16:24
Speaker 1: Back there.

01:16:25
Speaker 2: And hopefully when Brashard Smith is back from injury, I think Brashard has some things he can show this year as well. But having K-9 has changed everything with our offense. I know the Seattle game happened. I get it. I’m just throwing that one out for now because he’s been so good this year and our running game has been so effective. And having Emmitt as well as your secondary option is just great. So that’s my answer for the strongest part of our team right now. Weakest, just because of the number of human beings that we have, I think it’s linebacker. Now, fortunately, I think Like we talked about earlier in the pod, I think our linebackers have played pretty well this year. Tranquil is having a really nice season. I’m excited about Bassa. Bolton’s playing well. But we just don’t have a lot of healthy linebackers. We got Cooper McDonald back last week. That’s a big deal. But I think we just have five linebackers on the active roster. So speaking of depth, I think it truly is probably one of our weaker units just because we don’t have a lot of people. We added an interesting player on the practice squad, Aiden Fisher.

01:17:21
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.

01:17:22
Speaker 2: Two-time All-American with Indiana. Seventh-round pick of the Cardinals this year. So we’ll see if he gets elevated at some point this season. But regarding making a move, I think Brett Veach is always going to look at the landscape. And who knows? It’s funny. We’re recording this on Tuesday, like I said. Who knows if we’ll make a move this week? I don’t know. But Brett Veach is always going to look at the landscape and see if it makes sense. But the one thing he will not do that other teams often do is he will not sacrifice the future for right now. You got to find that balance. So we’ll see if something works out. in the next couple of days.

01:17:52
Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s why we’re always in the hunt and you don’t, you know, there’s some feeling of fans who just sell out, go for one year and then, you know, heck with the five years ahead. And that just doesn’t work because in the five years ahead, you’re grousing about the year that you gave up all the picks. I would say, and I agree with you at running back, but a high number of mention would be outside defenders on the front. When you look at, you have our Mason Thomas, you got Carl off this, you can put Chris out there if you want to. We move Phoenix Inu, DK Uzama, inside and outside, Ashton Jaladi. There’s a lot of depth out there. Yeah. And impact depth. And so we can have a rotation. The weakest I would say right now is offensive tackle. Yeah. Because if one of those guys go down, if Jalen Moore does not play, now you’re looking, we’re still putting guys out there that haven’t had a lot of starts. Izudu was only his 11th start. I mean, are you thankful Khalil Benson showed up for the tryout back in May? Yeah. kind of. And then Pounds hasn’t played yet. And so like in this week’s game, if a tackle goes down, it could be a real issue.

01:18:58
Speaker 2: For the longest time during our OTA and rookie minicamp and all that kind of stuff in May, I would try to find examples of guys that made the team from obscurity. Like, hey, Echo Boydo did it, so therefore you should pay attention. Khalil Benson is the valedictorian of this now. It’s like, listen, you should pay attention to rookie minicamp because Khalil Benson is our starting left tackle after making this team as an undrafted rookie.

01:19:20
Speaker 1: And yes, Veach is looking under every rock. Yes. Yes, he is. But just because you don’t make a trade doesn’t mean you were trying to attempt to make a trade. That’s where fans, I think, are like, well, we didn’t even try. No, no. There’s always, it’s out there. So BV’s on the prowl.

01:19:36
Speaker 2: Got to strike that balance. That is it for the mailbag. That was pretty fun.

01:19:39
Speaker 1: Yeah.

01:19:40
Speaker 2: I enjoyed that.

01:19:41
Speaker 1: Real good. So road trip to Seattle, long road trip. Coming home, you want to, and your wife said, hey, can you get some sleep? People, well, you could sleep on the plane, right? Yeah. How many of your bedrooms do you have that are designed as a fuselage of an airplane? And then put a hundred other people in your bedroom while you’re trying to sleep, sleeping not in a prone position, but But an upright position like this, oh, you sleep like a baby on a plane. Come on. Let’s go. You try to just sneak something in there if you can. But don’t ask me, hey, were you able to sleep on the plane? All right? Yeah. So your movies, what’d you see?

01:20:19
Speaker 2: Well, you know, just to that point, also for some reason, boarding the plane at like 1 a.m. Kansas City time, I thought it would be a good idea to house an entire quesadilla. and just sitting there for three hours and trying to sleep. Like, why did I do that?

01:20:33
Speaker 1: How’d that go? How’d that go?

01:20:34
Speaker 3: Poorly.

01:20:35
Speaker 2: It went poorly. It was an exclamation point on an otherwise pretty lousy evening, Mitch.

01:20:40
Speaker 1: I only ask that because from experience.

01:20:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don’t know why I did that.

01:20:43
Speaker 1: It kind of crawls back even on Monday. Because Mondays, you get a couple hours of sleep, and then Monday’s Monday, right? It’s a whole active day. You know, well, let’s just take some time off and get a nap. Nope, that doesn’t work. So anyway, not complaining, just the way it is.

01:20:55
Speaker 2: Just the way it is.

01:20:56
Speaker 1: People ask me all the time. Sunday night football on the road. On the coast, it’s not a good thing.

01:20:59
Speaker 2: Oh, you take the day off on Monday? I have all the same stuff I still have to do. I’ll just be staying later.

01:21:04
Speaker 1: Are you going to the Kingdom show for me? I don’t know how you do that. I don’t know. Not well.

01:21:10
Speaker 2: Okay, movie reviews. I watched two movies on this trip.

01:21:12
Speaker 1: Two movies?

01:21:13
Speaker 2: Both on the way there, actually. It’s a long trip. Didn’t watch any movies on the way back because I was attempting to sleep and digest my quesadilla. The first movie I watched was called Normal. You heard of this?

01:21:23
Speaker 1: No.

01:21:23
Speaker 2: It’s kind of a recent movie. It’s with Bob Odenkirk. Bob Odenkirk has slid into this persona where he plays like an everyman who also like knows Kung Fu. And it was like a secret agent in his past and stuff. The movie was okay. It’s like this small little town in Minnesota that has a lot of money somehow. And Bob Odenkirk is the interim sheriff. And it turns out the entire town is working as a front for the Yakuza. And they have all this money and money gets stolen. And the whole town turns on Bob Odenkirk and he has to fight his way out. It was fine. It passed the time on a flight.

01:21:57
Speaker 1: Sounds realistic.

01:21:58
Speaker 3: Yeah.

01:21:59
Speaker 2: If you don’t like violence, I would not watch it. It was very violent. 2.5 cheeseburgers for me because I like Bob Odenkirk.

01:22:04
Speaker 1: And the car dealer didn’t try to set it up to murder his wife. Oh, that was Fargo.

01:22:07
Speaker 2: That was Fargo.

01:22:08
Speaker 1: It’s already been written.

01:22:09
Speaker 2: Similar vibes to Fargo, but the actual execution of it was much different. It was kind of like, have you heard about- Fargo’s.

01:22:16
Speaker 1: Cringy to me.

01:22:18
Speaker 2: It’s something else.

01:22:18
Speaker 1: Would this movie be cringing to me?

01:22:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, you wouldn’t like it. I don’t think you should watch it. Did you ever see the movie Nobody?

01:22:23
Speaker 1: No. Okay.

01:22:24
Speaker 2: It’s the same idea, basically. It’s Bob Odenkirk knowing Kung Fu.

01:22:27
Speaker 1: Second movie.

01:22:28
Speaker 2: What did you see? 2.5 for that. Second one is the original Blade Runner.

01:22:32
Speaker 1: The original Blade Runner. Yeah.

01:22:33
Speaker 2: You ever see that?

01:22:34
Speaker 1: I have. It was a long time ago. The original Blade Runner.

01:22:36
Speaker 2: Original Blade Runner.

01:22:37
Speaker 1: Harrison Ford maybe.

01:22:38
Speaker 3: Yeah.

01:22:38
Speaker 2: A young Harrison Ford. So I give four cheeseburgers to the original Blade Runner. So there’s aspects of it that could be better. That you look at now, you’re like, I don’t know about that. But I am sure in the late 70s when that came out, people’s heads exploded when they saw that movie.

01:22:55
Speaker 1: Well, anyway. Did you ask me what I watched?

01:22:58
Speaker 2: Not yet, but I was looking over at you and I saw you were locked in on something.

01:23:01
Speaker 1: Yeah. You want to ask me? Yeah.

01:23:02
Speaker 2: What’d you watch?

01:23:03
Speaker 1: Dun Ranch.

01:23:03
Speaker 4: Dun Ranch.

01:23:05
Speaker 2: I wish I got a picture of it because as soon as I get on the plane, because Mitch and I are in the same aisle on the plane and we have one seat in between us where we put all our snacks and stuff. And Mitch has just locked in on something. And I’m like, I know that’s not Landman.

01:23:17
Speaker 1: No, not Landman. Thank you, United, for taking Landman off.

01:23:20
Speaker 2: Way to go, United.

01:23:21
Speaker 1: I know. I’m going to download it and put it on. Let’s take an iPad and watch it.

01:23:25
Speaker 2: We have multiple people in the comments saying like, Mitch, it’s on Paramount Plus.

01:23:28
Speaker 1: I know it’s on Paramount Plus. I’ve got it on Paramount Plus. I just don’t have time to sit down and And just binge on it, right? In the off season, yes. Off season, yes. But I was saving it for the plane rides.

01:23:40
Speaker 2: Come on, United.

01:23:41
Speaker 1: Fans, you got to understand that, you know, the time I can watch it is on the plane.

01:23:46
Speaker 2: How many cheeseburgers would you give the Dutton Ranch episodes that you watched?

01:23:49
Speaker 1: Ooh, really interesting writing in this. Three, nah, 4.162. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, but yeah, it’s, I like, Interesting writing. Yeah. I just don’t see enough of it anymore. And clever comedy, nobody’s writing clever comedy anymore. Please give me a clever comedy and I will watch it over and over again. All right. Close margins, Denver game, giant game coming up.

01:24:18
Speaker 2: And around the world. We still have to do that.

01:24:20
Speaker 1: I’m sorry. We’re supposed to go around the world. How could I leave out around the world?

01:24:24
Speaker 2: We’ve added like 45 minutes to this segment with all our different shenanigans. One around the world for you.

01:24:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.

01:24:31
Speaker 2: Shout out to Jay from Blue Springs. He’s a Blue Springs Wildcat.

01:24:34
Speaker 3: Yep.

01:24:34
Speaker 2: I know you’d love that.

01:24:35
Speaker 1: Not a Blue Springs South Jaguar. Nope.

01:24:37
Speaker 2: He’s a Blue Springs Wildcat. He lives in Portland, Oregon now, but drove up to Seattle for the game on Sunday. But I was at the Kraken game on a Saturday night with my parents and he came over and said hi. And I said hi to my mom also, which was great because it made her day because obviously we talk about my mom and her love for sports and stuff on the pod. He came up and he said hi to me. And then, oh, are you Matt’s mom? I’ve heard all about you. And it made her night. It was great. So anyway, shout out to you, Jay. Thanks for saying hi. Sorry about the game on Sunday, but it was great seeing you at the Kraken game.

01:25:07
Speaker 1: Yeah. And your mom’s trying to see every NHL team? Yes. Like before the end of the year?

01:25:12
Speaker 2: Sure seems like it.

01:25:12
Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s great. Okay. Edmonton Oilers, is she going to catch them at some point?

01:25:16
Speaker 2: I hope so. There’s probably a pickleball match in Saskatchewan. We have to make it to.

01:25:21
Speaker 3: Yeah.

01:25:22
Speaker 2: Every sporting event there is.

01:25:23
Speaker 1: Pickleball against Noah Gray.

01:25:24
Speaker 2: She loved that.

01:25:25
Speaker 1: All right, here we go. Week eight. Yeah, it’s a gigantic, enormous game that feels like a playoff game. But now you’re ready after this edition of Defending the Kingdom.

01:25:35
Speaker 2: Defending the Kingdom