Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I'll be cleaning up the
Speaker 1: bottles with you on New Uesday. Addition, as the Bengals
Speaker 1: head to Kansas City for a New Year's Eve rematch
Speaker 1: of the last two AFC Championship games as they face
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs. Coming up, I'll talk to Orlando
Speaker 1: Brown Junior about facing his former team. We'll hear from
Speaker 1: the NFL Networks Andrew Siciliano about the bengals final two
Speaker 1: regular season games, and in this week's No The Foux Conversation,
Speaker 1: we'll look at the Chiefs with their radio analyst Danan Hughes.
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Speaker 1: the best care for the best fan. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
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Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing since Swedish pancakes. My ancestors are mostly Swedish, and
Speaker 1: as a kid, my great grandmother frequently made us Swedish pancakes.
Speaker 1: If you've never had them, they're souper thin, more like
Speaker 1: a crep than an American style pancake, and in Sweden
Speaker 1: they're typically served with lingolnberry jam. I'm more of a
Speaker 1: butter and maple syrup guy in any case. Now I
Speaker 1: make them once a year on Christmas morning, and in
Speaker 1: the interest of full disclosure, it couldn't be easier. You
Speaker 1: can buy Swedish pancake mix in a box, add water
Speaker 1: and an egg, and presto. They're just like great Grandma
Speaker 1: used to make. So give it a try. You'll say
Speaker 1: tuck that Swedish for thank you. Now let's get to football.
Speaker 1: Last Saturday's game in Pittsburgh was rough, but it was
Speaker 1: still a special day for Orlando Brown Junior. In the
Speaker 1: locker room after the game, he watched the birth of
Speaker 1: his second son, a boy named Sonny, on FaceTime. This week,
Speaker 1: he goes back to Kansas City, where he earned a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl ring last year. I caught up with Orlando
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. First congratulations are in order. Orlando Brown Junior
Speaker 1: is a two time dad as of Saturday.
Speaker 2: Yes, I am, Yes, I am. Man.
Speaker 3: I'm super super blessed to be able to obviously be
Speaker 3: here for my kids.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: You know, losing my dad at fifteen was hard for me.
Speaker 3: But man, to be able to bring these lives in
Speaker 3: the world and beat her for him menace everything to me.
Speaker 1: And both Christmas babies one born just before the they're
Speaker 1: just after.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, man, the twenty third and twenty eighth.
Speaker 1: So all right, let's talk about Sunday's game. It's one
Speaker 1: of the great rivalries in the NFL, the Bengals against
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. You were on the other side of the
Speaker 1: rivalry for the last couple of years. What did you
Speaker 1: think of the Bengals from the opposite sideline.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean one of the reasons I signed here.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: You can always tell how tough and physical, how hard
Speaker 3: this group plays, how determined they were. You know, I
Speaker 3: think being on the other side of things, man, having
Speaker 3: only one of the one of the battles, that was
Speaker 3: what stuck out to me the most.
Speaker 1: Was there anybody on the Bengals roster where you were like, man,
Speaker 1: I don't like that guy, and now that your teammates
Speaker 1: you're like, hey, this is a cool dude.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Honestly, probably all of them, Probably all of them,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: I it's funny to say that, you know, we were
Speaker 3: just recently talking about that, just because the rivalry is
Speaker 3: so competitive, and you know, you you don't really know
Speaker 3: the guys in the other locker room, and you know,
Speaker 3: I was just staying on all of them, honestly.
Speaker 1: So going back to the AFC Championship game last year,
Speaker 1: did the Bengals calling Arrowhead Burrowhead or the Mayor's ill
Speaker 1: advised video trolling Patrick Mahomes kick you off at the time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean personally, man, you know, I get it.
Speaker 3: You know, the trash talk and stuff. I can't really
Speaker 3: say it bothered me. Maybe it's some of the others
Speaker 3: as much, but you know, it's kind of a part
Speaker 3: of it, man, And I think that's what made the
Speaker 3: robbery so entertaining. It's so great, is those little things
Speaker 3: that kind of going on the outside that you know,
Speaker 3: obviously going to the game and up until that point,
Speaker 3: I mean, what they had won three straight against US,
Speaker 3: so you know they had our number.
Speaker 1: Or visiting with the Orlando Brown junior. In other sports,
Speaker 1: when you face a former team, it's not necessarily physical.
Speaker 1: On Sunday you'll be looking to pummel guys that were
Speaker 1: close friends ten months ago. Was that strange the first
Speaker 1: time you did it? And is it still strange now?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: Man, I mean, you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: it's my job. Man, I don't care if my mother
Speaker 3: had a home on the other side of the ball.
Speaker 3: That's just the kind of way I think about it.
Speaker 3: You know, this guy's trying to feed his family like
Speaker 3: I'm trying to do trying to feed mine, and so
Speaker 3: you know, when it comes to the mentality, man, I mean,
Speaker 3: there is no backing down, there is no laying off.
Speaker 3: It's full go, you know, once we're out there on
Speaker 3: and light on.
Speaker 1: So you're going into Arrowhead, which holds the record for
Speaker 1: loudest stadium for a sporting event. It was one hundred
Speaker 1: and forty two decibels several years ago. Is it the
Speaker 1: loudest that you've ever played in?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Man, definitely.
Speaker 3: You know, I think Arrowhead is extremely loud from all
Speaker 3: the times that I've been there, even as an opposing
Speaker 3: player Seattle too, you know that that environment. And here
Speaker 3: in Cincinnati another another stadium that's crazy, M and T Bank,
Speaker 3: Baltimore and San Francisco. Man, those stadiums, those fans get rowdy.
Speaker 1: Now, So as an o lineman at some point is
Speaker 1: loud just loud or the ones that you just mentioned,
Speaker 1: is at a different level in trying to communicate.
Speaker 3: It's a different level when trying to communicate because honestly,
Speaker 3: it's hard to hear the man next to you, and
Speaker 3: so uh sometimes even with the quarterback checking and play
Speaker 3: or if you are on cadence in a certain situation
Speaker 3: under center. I mean, it's hard. It's hard. But you know,
Speaker 3: those are things you got to overcome on the road.
Speaker 3: And that's why I'm super excited for the opportunity to
Speaker 3: get out here to Kansas City with this team. Is
Speaker 3: you know, because there is gonna be adversity in this game,
Speaker 3: and uh, that's that's part of the sport, that's part
Speaker 3: of you know, these Bengals Chiefs games, and uh, you know,
Speaker 3: I think the crowd noise is going to kind of
Speaker 3: add to that. And so that's what makes it special, man,
Speaker 3: is you know, we get the opportunity to go out
Speaker 3: here against a really good football team, obviously a team
Speaker 3: that you know, took this team out of the Super
Speaker 3: Bowl last year, and and uh, you know all those
Speaker 3: things that go into it.
Speaker 2: Man, it's super exciting.
Speaker 1: So after the loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday, most of
Speaker 1: the other results were favorable to the Bengals except for
Speaker 1: Buffalo winning, but the other games kind of fell in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's favor. Were you even really paying attention to any
Speaker 1: of that? And now that you know it has it
Speaker 1: energized the team at all, knowing, hey, we're still very
Speaker 1: much in this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, you know, no matter what with the season, man,
Speaker 3: I try to take it one week at a time.
Speaker 3: And I know that's kind of cliche and a little
Speaker 3: bit of corny, but you know, so many things can
Speaker 3: happen week to week, and trying to keep up with
Speaker 3: playoff contention, and you know, the week fourteen or it's hard,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? And so I keep it
Speaker 3: week the week, man, And first and foremost, we got
Speaker 3: to beat this football team in Kansas City, and I
Speaker 3: think from there everything else will take care of yourself.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs record is one game better than the Bengals record,
Speaker 1: and they've had a healthy Patrick Mahomes all year. Obviously
Speaker 1: you have not had a healthy Joe Burrow all year.
Speaker 1: What do you think's up in Kansas City?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, I think overall, just in the NFL,
Speaker 3: you look around how competitive the league is, and how
Speaker 3: much more competitive it is. You know, the NFL is
Speaker 3: designed to somewhat haven't even playing field, in the way
Speaker 3: that free agency works, in the way that the waiver
Speaker 3: wire works with the worst team getting the best option
Speaker 3: rec for the draft, all those different things. And uh,
Speaker 3: I think you look around the league, man, even within
Speaker 3: their division. For Kansas City, Denver is a better football
Speaker 3: team than they've ever been. Uh, the Raiders are a
Speaker 3: really good football team, playing really hard. And you know
Speaker 3: the Chargers are are you know, playing hard as well,
Speaker 3: even though they're down with Justin Herbert. So when you
Speaker 3: have a little small things like that going on around
Speaker 3: the sport, man, you've got teams like Buffalo that are
Speaker 3: that are really good, have really good rosters. You know,
Speaker 3: I think all those things kind of go hand to hand.
Speaker 3: And so man, that's that's what that's what this league
Speaker 3: is about. It's it's literally a game of inches and so, uh,
Speaker 3: Kansas City has come up short a few times due
Speaker 3: to that reason. Man, whether it be a turnover here there,
Speaker 3: you know, you take one of those turnovers out the game.
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean it's it's a pretty competitive game
Speaker 3: last week for them. So, uh, that's just kind of
Speaker 3: way the cookie crumbles.
Speaker 2: You could say.
Speaker 1: One thing that hasn't dropped off in Kansas City is
Speaker 1: the d.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Number two in scoring defense, number two in yards allowed.
Speaker 1: Is this as well as they've ever played on defense
Speaker 1: since you've been a member of the NFL?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, Man, I think this def this is really special.
Speaker 3: And they have you know, they have been They've always
Speaker 3: had pretty much the same faces and names.
Speaker 2: A few new.
Speaker 3: People here and there, but you know, Spags is a
Speaker 3: great defensive coordinator, man, and he gets this guy's going.
Speaker 3: He's got greatest sinstant coaches. Obviously, Chris Jones is the
Speaker 3: first battle of Hall of Famer, you know. So it's
Speaker 3: a lot of things going going their way in terms
Speaker 3: of that man, and they play really hard as well.
Speaker 1: Fifth time around between these two rivals, it's all four
Speaker 1: previous games have been decided by three points.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's That's what this is about.
Speaker 3: Man is winning it turnover battle, you know, being the
Speaker 3: most disciplined team and winning a lot of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: Congrats on Young Sunny, best of luck on Sunday, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: thank you. The Bengals are currently a seven point underdog
Speaker 1: at Kansas City. The last time they lost to Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: they were a ten point underdog the following week and
Speaker 1: beat Jacksonville in overtime on Monday Night Football thirty four
Speaker 1: thirty one. Here's Zach Taylor.
Speaker 5: You can look back to how this room was, how
Speaker 5: locker room after the day after we lost Pittsburgh the
Speaker 5: first time, you know, and there could have easily been
Speaker 5: a narrative that this team's going to hang it up,
Speaker 5: and that's not what happened. Instead, three games in a
Speaker 5: row where we played really inspired football and found three
Speaker 5: wins and you got ourselves back in the hunt. So
Speaker 5: we're no different in the situation right now where we
Speaker 5: need to be at our best this week against Kansas City.
Speaker 5: And I'm excited to see if these guys respond. And
Speaker 5: I know what they are, I know how they're going
Speaker 5: to respond, and I'm excited to see it this week.
Speaker 1: If the Bengals can win their final two games, they
Speaker 1: have a ninety four percent chance of making the playoffs.
Speaker 1: If they go one and one, it's a twenty one
Speaker 1: percent chance. So a win in Kansas City this week
Speaker 1: would be ginormous. For more in the likelihood of pulling
Speaker 1: it off. I caught up with a familiar face from
Speaker 1: the NFL Network. He is a host on the NFL
Speaker 1: Network and he's called some games on the radio for
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns this year. It is great to welcome
Speaker 1: in my friend Andrew Ciciliano. Andrew, if the Bengals can
Speaker 1: win their last two games, they can still make it
Speaker 1: to the playoffs, and that road to the playoffs again's
Speaker 1: at Kansas City this week. What do you make of
Speaker 1: the Chiefs who are nine and six and just four
Speaker 1: and four at home?
Speaker 6: Oh boy, Dan, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,
Speaker 6: all that fun stuff to you and yours. It was
Speaker 6: not a merry Christmas, I know for the Chiefs. I
Speaker 6: think I was like everyone else. You know, by the
Speaker 6: time you get with the family and by the time, yeah,
Speaker 6: you figure out you know, when is dinner going to
Speaker 6: be served? Should I have another appetizer? Should I pour
Speaker 6: another drink. You looked up and all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: the Chiefs were losing in the fourth quarter, and everybody
Speaker 6: wanted to blame Taylor Swift. I think they have some
Speaker 6: legitimate issues, and I don't know that I've ever seen
Speaker 6: I think this really tells the story. I don't know
Speaker 6: that I've ever seen Patrick Mahomes that visibly frustrated on
Speaker 6: the field, and it's been building. Obviously, there have been
Speaker 6: moments and postgame with Josh Allen a couple of weeks
Speaker 6: ago with the Gadarius tonyoff size that obviously was his
Speaker 6: volcanic moment on the field, but just the first stration
Speaker 6: down in, down, out, the body language with Kelsey throwing
Speaker 6: the helmet and everything as well. I think that offense
Speaker 6: is broken. They have nobody who can get open. Mahomes
Speaker 6: truly does have to do everything by himself. With the
Speaker 6: checko down concussion protocol, I think that adds an extra
Speaker 6: layer of difficulty for the Chiefs. I think this team
Speaker 6: is eminently beatable, even if the game is in Kansas
Speaker 6: City and we keep waiting for it to click. Oh,
Speaker 6: don't worry, Mahomes and Andy Reid are going to figure
Speaker 6: it out well. They have it yet, which leads me
Speaker 6: to believe if they aren't going to.
Speaker 1: After Kansas City, it's a home game against the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: You called the Browns game last week on the radio.
Speaker 1: At this point, the way Joe Flacco is playing, are
Speaker 1: the Browns a legit contender?
Speaker 4: I think they are.
Speaker 6: Dan and the Browns fan in me, and for those
Speaker 6: who don't know, I was born and raised day Browns fan,
Speaker 6: I will be there for Thursday night football in the
Speaker 6: stands as a fan dressed formally. Of course, the Browns
Speaker 6: fan in me doesn't want to say it because you
Speaker 6: tell yourself you can't have good things and don't dream
Speaker 6: of playoff victories yet, just take it day by day,
Speaker 6: week by week, as Stefanski says, go one to oh
Speaker 6: every week. But Flacco has brought a new level of confidence,
Speaker 6: and I think in this holiday season, I don't want
Speaker 6: to get too deep here, but I think the issue
Speaker 6: of gratitude is relevant here if you go back and
Speaker 6: you look after the Jaguars victory, when Stefanski gave flackaway
Speaker 6: game ball postgame speech in the locker room, Flacco said
Speaker 6: to the team, thank you for having me, like thank
Speaker 6: you for letting me in here. He is that grateful
Speaker 6: to have another shot at it, and with this team
Speaker 6: it's working, and they are that grateful in return to
Speaker 6: have him, and it is a sight to behold and
Speaker 6: the level of confidence and joy with which they were
Speaker 6: playing because he is there is something Andrew.
Speaker 1: Let's turn to Jake Brown and he's made five starts
Speaker 1: since Joe Burrow went down. His passer rating is ninety
Speaker 1: nine point four. He's averaging more than three hundred passing
Speaker 1: yards per game in this year of backup quarterbacks. What
Speaker 1: do you think of Jake Browning in the job he's
Speaker 1: done in Cincinnati.
Speaker 6: I think it's phenomenal. Part of me was yelling at
Speaker 6: my TV in the first quarter, Daan, I'm sure you
Speaker 6: were yelling at the radio as well when he I think,
Speaker 6: tried to throw the ball away in the back right
Speaker 6: corner of the end zone. But also when you have
Speaker 6: t Higgins make the play the week before, you have
Speaker 6: that confidence, and Jake is certainly not one lacking confidence
Speaker 6: that you can make that play. I love the guy,
Speaker 6: I think, Dan, you and I talked on serious x
Speaker 6: MNFL radio the day after the Joe Burrow injury. I
Speaker 6: had you on as a guest, and I said, I
Speaker 6: think the season's over, not out of spite, I just
Speaker 6: didn't see this coming. It is a great holiday gift
Speaker 6: and the Bengals still have a shot, which this time
Speaker 6: of the year is all you can ask for. And
Speaker 6: here's here's why Bengals fans should be rooting for the
Speaker 6: Browns on Thursday. Because if the Browns win, and the
Speaker 6: Browns are in and the Ravens win and the Ravens
Speaker 6: lock up number one, Brown's got nothing to play for
Speaker 6: a week eighteen and they are decimated by injuries, and
Speaker 6: you could see PJ. Walker week eighteen. So Bengals fans
Speaker 6: root for the Browns.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about a Bengals defensive player. When people around
Speaker 1: the NFL talk about the great edge rushers in the league,
Speaker 1: they're going to mention TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett, and obviously
Speaker 1: Micah Parsons and some others. You don't hear Trey Hendrickson
Speaker 1: come up all that often.
Speaker 4: TJ.
Speaker 1: Watt's the only player in the NFL right now with
Speaker 1: more sacks than Trey who has sixteen. Does he belong
Speaker 1: in that conversation? And do you have a theory for
Speaker 1: why he doesn't get that kind of publicity.
Speaker 6: That's a great question. Why does he not? That I
Speaker 6: can't answer, But I think a sack and six straight
Speaker 6: games of those overall numbers certainly deserve more attention. I
Speaker 6: think the people to know football know the kind of
Speaker 6: job Trey Henderson does against the run as well. I'll
Speaker 6: go back to Stefanski. He went off in his soapbox
Speaker 6: last week about stats being the only numbers kind of
Speaker 6: like home runs in baseball, that anyone pays attention to,
Speaker 6: but it truly doesn't tell the entire story, whether it's
Speaker 6: pressures or TFLs or plays in the backfield in general,
Speaker 6: Trey Hendrickson has all of those things if you take
Speaker 6: a deeper dive, and that's not analytics, that's just a
Speaker 6: better way of analyzing the way somebody is playing. Trey Henderson.
Speaker 6: Hendrickson does deserve more attention. But the squeaky wheel, like
Speaker 6: Michah Parsons and Jerry Jones complaining about not getting holding calls,
Speaker 6: generally speaking, is what's going to be heard on the
Speaker 6: screaming head shows every morning when you turn your radio on.
Speaker 1: All right, let's look ahead to next year. The Bengals
Speaker 1: will have a healthy Joe Burrow back, and they're going
Speaker 1: to have them as their quarterback at least through twenty
Speaker 1: twenty nine. After the contract extension that he signed prior
Speaker 1: to this season. There are going to be some salary
Speaker 1: cap implications to come. But give us your long term
Speaker 1: prognosis for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 6: What did Joe say? The window is as long as
Speaker 6: I'm here right the window is my career. I think
Speaker 6: I'm going to go. I'll have what he's having. I
Speaker 6: fully believe that. But I also know Dan, as you
Speaker 6: guys will know there and is always the topic of conversation,
Speaker 6: especially this year, that there are other contracts to worry about,
Speaker 6: another mouths to feed, specifically in the wide receiver room.
Speaker 2: So it's going to be a balancing act.
Speaker 6: And what you hope doesn't happen is honestly what's going
Speaker 6: on right now in Kansas City, because we all agree
Speaker 6: that if they had simply paid a little bit more
Speaker 6: to Tyreek Hill, then maybe people aren't blaming Taylor Swift
Speaker 6: and the Chiefs offense is still clicking, and it would
Speaker 6: be great if you could keep that wide receiver room intact.
Speaker 6: I don't know that you can but as long as
Speaker 6: Joe is there, I firmly believe that they will be fine,
Speaker 6: because I also believe in Duke Tobin's ability to continue
Speaker 6: to restock this roster.
Speaker 1: You are spending time with your family for the holidays.
Speaker 1: We interrupted a shopping spree.
Speaker 6: That's what's in the back couring rain here in northern Virginia.
Speaker 6: I actually came inside here to the car to get dry.
Speaker 1: All right, Well in happy shopping once you get out
Speaker 1: of the car, once it stops raining. We appreciate your time,
Speaker 1: enjoy that Browns game, and look forward to catching up
Speaker 1: again sometime soon. Thanks Andrew.
Speaker 6: Like I said, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New
Speaker 6: Year to every Bengals fan had obviously Danty you and
Speaker 6: yours as well.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. In order
Speaker 1: for the Bengals to beat the Chiefs on Sunday. Jake
Speaker 1: Browning is going to have to rebound from the first
Speaker 1: bad start of his NFL career, as he threw three
Speaker 1: interceptions in Saturday's loss at Pittsburgh.
Speaker 7: I'm not the first quarterback to that have a tough game,
Speaker 7: and there's been a lot of great quarterbacks that I
Speaker 7: had some really really bad games, and so I'm not.
Speaker 2: Discouraged by that.
Speaker 7: I think you watch it with I watched my losses
Speaker 7: the same way I watch my wins, and there's always
Speaker 7: going to be something you need to do better taking
Speaker 7: that into account. But then also, like for me, it's
Speaker 7: you know, okay, it's very easy to say, okay, don't
Speaker 7: turn the ball over. Okay, Well, you know, how do
Speaker 7: you do that while it's sustaining aggressive in the scheme,
Speaker 7: because I do need to play well and play like
Speaker 7: that in order to win games. There's no quarterbacks in
Speaker 7: the NFL that are just showing up on game day
Speaker 7: and you know, just playing not to mess up and
Speaker 7: then winning a bunch of games games. So it's not
Speaker 7: as easy as just saying that, And so you got
Speaker 7: to find that balance and you know, hopefully be able
Speaker 7: to do that throughout this week of practice and play well.
Speaker 2: It's the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: If Browning had enough attempts to qualify, his passer rating
Speaker 1: of ninety eight point five would rank sixth best in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Patrick Mahomes is currently fifteenth in that stat
Speaker 1: mostly due to his fourteen interceptions, the highest total of
Speaker 1: his NFL career. For more on Kansas City and the
Speaker 1: Bengals Chiefs rivalry, radio analyst Danan Hughes joined Dave laphaman me,
Speaker 1: I'm the Bengals game plan and show.
Speaker 4: It's definitely different circumstances now, but still a lot on
Speaker 4: the line for us and you guys, and we have
Speaker 4: to make the best of it. So it's still going
Speaker 4: to be an epic clash. Definitely. You guys are one
Speaker 4: of the teams, one of the two probably three teams
Speaker 4: that I say in the NFL that are very comfortable
Speaker 4: coming in to Geha Field at Arrowhead Stadium, and we
Speaker 4: have to be ready for it. We haven't played our
Speaker 4: best football at home. Of our six losses, four of
Speaker 4: them have been at home, so we got to change
Speaker 4: that around and for the first time, if we can
Speaker 4: get this win or at least one of the next
Speaker 4: two wins, we'll be in the playoffs and we'll have
Speaker 4: an uphill battle with Patrick Malmes having to go on
Speaker 4: the road at some point. So definitely a lot on
Speaker 4: the line, a lot to be digesting right now, but
Speaker 4: it's the matter at hand that we have to try
Speaker 4: to take advantage of.
Speaker 8: Are you surprised that the Kansas City Chiefs have not
Speaker 8: found their rhythm offensively yet? You know, it's been up
Speaker 8: and down. I guess, to say the least. What's your
Speaker 8: thought there? Why do you think they're struggling so badly
Speaker 8: to find their rhythm?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I am definitely surprised. I think many people around
Speaker 4: the Chiefs Kingdom are surprised that we are not necessarily
Speaker 4: as consistent as you would like. I think earlier this
Speaker 4: season you kind of always chalk it up as Okay,
Speaker 4: you don't need to be your best in September, and
Speaker 4: then October came along and you had a few wins,
Speaker 4: and you kind of felt like, all right, we're just
Speaker 4: kind of hitting out groove. It's taking a little bit
Speaker 4: longer than normal. Then November comes in December and we
Speaker 4: can see these these losses that are starting to place
Speaker 4: themselves in our situation, and we're like, Okay, now there's
Speaker 4: some concern, and I don't think it's anything like fear.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's anything like there's any disappointment or
Speaker 4: panic feeling of the season is down down the drain,
Speaker 4: or any panic. It's more just about concern because if
Speaker 4: you look at the games that we've lost, we've lost
Speaker 4: six games, you can make an argument that five of
Speaker 4: them came down to five plays. All five of those
Speaker 4: plays were wide receivers that dropped the ball or didn't
Speaker 4: make a play on the ball, or just didn't make
Speaker 4: a play. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't other
Speaker 4: factors well, whether it's the offensive lineman or other guys
Speaker 4: not running right route, or Patrick maybe getting too much
Speaker 4: pressure to safe. But it came down to five places.
Speaker 4: And as a former wide receiver, I don't have a
Speaker 4: problem saying that because I know what goes on in
Speaker 4: that meeting room. I know what the mice that is
Speaker 4: of wide receivers at this level, and sometimes you just
Speaker 4: gotta wail it. Like I played with Joe Montana for
Speaker 4: two years and guess what, anytime we didn't do anything
Speaker 4: on offense, it was our fault. It wasn't going to
Speaker 4: be his like, we know we know that going in.
Speaker 4: You know that when you play with a great quarterback,
Speaker 4: usually it's going to be your fault if things don't
Speaker 4: go well. And the wide receivers just haven't really stepped
Speaker 4: up to what I think they should be and taking
Speaker 4: some of this stuff personally, you would think that they
Speaker 4: would amp up their play and it just hasn't been
Speaker 4: able to transpire that way.
Speaker 1: Cheets radio broadcaster Danan Hughes as our guest. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about the O line because for the season,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are among the NFL leaders in fewer sacks allowed,
Speaker 1: but it was a problem last week against the Raiders
Speaker 1: four sacks, giving up ten quarterback hits. I know the
Speaker 1: left tackles missed a few games with an injury. Was
Speaker 1: that just an outlier game or has the offensive line
Speaker 1: had some chinks in the armor in recent weeks.
Speaker 4: I'd say a mixture. I mean, I think when you
Speaker 4: become a team that is so heavy pass happy, that
Speaker 4: teams can roll the dice on the run game. And
Speaker 4: I understand and you guys probably are the same way
Speaker 4: because when you have the best player on the field,
Speaker 4: whether it's Joe Burrow when he was healthy or obviously
Speaker 4: Patrick Mahomes. Chances are the ball is going to be
Speaker 4: in that person's hands more times than not. So what
Speaker 4: we saw from the Raiders with MaTx Crossey on the
Speaker 4: outside is they just lined up and why techniques and
Speaker 4: basically said, we're going to try to run really fast
Speaker 4: around your tackles and if we don't get home, we're
Speaker 4: going to force Patrick Mahomes to step up into the
Speaker 4: pocket and that's where our big two guys are going
Speaker 4: to be in its safe. They only glitch one time
Speaker 4: in that game, and to me, that's a concern because
Speaker 4: if you're getting you've been around this game a long time.
Speaker 4: If you're getting pressure with four, that makes it truly
Speaker 4: an uphill battle for your offense to have any efficiency,
Speaker 4: and most times, really good defenses. If you look at
Speaker 4: the defenses in the past, whether it's the Ravens, the
Speaker 4: Buccaneers and years in the past, etc. It's usually because
Speaker 4: their front four are doing work so the other seven
Speaker 4: guys can take away all the passing lanes and confuse
Speaker 4: the quarterback. It's not because it's a blitz happy defense.
Speaker 4: So the fact that they were able to get pressure
Speaker 4: and it started immediately I mean we went three and out,
Speaker 4: three and out. He got sacked twice in the first
Speaker 4: two drives and it was just like an onslaught that
Speaker 4: I don't think we were prepared for. And I feel
Speaker 4: like that's kind of a recipe for some headache against
Speaker 4: us coming up. And when you guys, you look at
Speaker 4: your guys on the outside who's done a great job
Speaker 4: Heston and Hubbard in the past, Like I don't see
Speaker 4: why they wouldn't be watching that film last week and saying, hey,
Speaker 4: we can do what MaTx Crosby and those guys did.
Speaker 4: Move around and get up, feel fast, and play with
Speaker 4: that energizer Bunny tied up kind of mentality, and we
Speaker 4: got to be able to fix it. We got to
Speaker 4: be able to fix it immediately because we don't want
Speaker 4: to be in a situation where we have to go
Speaker 4: out to La to beat the Chargers to win the
Speaker 4: AFC West to get to the playoffs, Like it should
Speaker 4: not have to come down to that, and we're hoping
Speaker 4: we can write things this week.
Speaker 8: Defensively, I mean, this unit is playing extremely high level
Speaker 8: number two in points allowed, and that's that's where the
Speaker 8: rubber meets the road right there. But Russo, number two
Speaker 8: in yards allowed, number two in first downs allowed. It
Speaker 8: it's just it's crazy. It's solid across the board. I mean,
Speaker 8: how good is this defensive football team?
Speaker 4: This defense, as far as I'm concerned, going back through history,
Speaker 4: I've been here since nineteen ninety three, I played with
Speaker 4: Derek Thomas, Neil Smith, you know, great defenders, great defensive
Speaker 4: teams back in the nineties, and then the tide turned.
Speaker 4: And then when even when Andy came and Alex Smith
Speaker 4: was our quarterback and then into Patrick Mahomes, it was
Speaker 4: always about the offense this year, Like, this defense is
Speaker 4: for real. And if our offense would have played up
Speaker 4: to anyway near the potential that they really have, or
Speaker 4: up the last year's production, like we'd be sitting here
Speaker 4: at you know, possibly with one loss on the season.
Speaker 4: So this defense is for real. The fact that they
Speaker 4: didn't allow a completed pass after the first quarter against
Speaker 4: the Raiders, like we only gave up eight points defensively
Speaker 4: in that game, that tells you something about this team.
Speaker 4: So yeah, this defense is doing everything they could possibly
Speaker 4: do to help this team win games. And quite honestly,
Speaker 4: I would have never thought if you'd have called me
Speaker 4: back in September and said, Dan, you know what, you
Speaker 4: guys are going to have nine wins, and you can
Speaker 4: argue that the defense is truly responsible for about six
Speaker 4: of them. I would have said, you're crazy. I would
Speaker 4: have actually drug tested. I said, no way, Patrick Mahomes and
Speaker 4: Travis Kelsey would allow that to happen. And lo and
Speaker 4: behold as we go into Week sixteen, that's literally what's happened.
Speaker 4: The best quarterback in the league, the best tight end
Speaker 4: of the league, playing back seat to this defense because
Speaker 4: we're playing what I would think. The Ravens may argue it,
Speaker 4: and they have a justified argument, but I say, as
Speaker 4: far as team consistent defense, we're playing as good as
Speaker 4: anybody or better than anybody in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Danny. My final question has to do with a
Speaker 1: member of that defense, Lagerius Sneid. Our offensive coordinator Brian
Speaker 1: Callahan was raving about him earlier today. I know he
Speaker 1: didn't practice due to injury. How good has Sneid been
Speaker 1: and is there a chance he will not be able
Speaker 1: to answer the bell on Sunday.
Speaker 4: I think it's going to be extremely, extremely tough to
Speaker 4: believe that he would not show up and be ready
Speaker 4: to play on Sunday against the Bengals, especially with everything
Speaker 4: that is on the line, and it kind of brings
Speaker 4: you to that the disappointment factor of when you have
Speaker 4: these guys like Isaiah Pacheco on offense, the Lagarius Snead
Speaker 4: on defense that have been nicked up. Nick Bolton is
Speaker 4: well still battling back from that risk injury. Had you
Speaker 4: won some of those games earlier this season that you
Speaker 4: should have one score game, got the ball late with
Speaker 4: an opportunity to win, whether it was the Detroit Lions
Speaker 4: up front, or even going back to that Eagles game
Speaker 4: and the Buffalo Bills game, you might have an opportunity
Speaker 4: to be able to bench these guys and say rest
Speaker 4: up for the playoffs. Well, you don't have that luxury anymore.
Speaker 4: We're not necessarily fighting for a number one seed. We're
Speaker 4: fighting for playoff positioning and playoff existence. So I feel
Speaker 4: like Lajarius Neeed definitely will be out on the field now.
Speaker 4: As far as his play, I got played with Dale
Speaker 4: Carter and James Hasty, Albert Lewis, I mean, like some
Speaker 4: great Chiefs corners that were locked down corners on one
Speaker 4: side of the field, and Lagarious Steed. The fact that
Speaker 4: he's able to do what he does against every number
Speaker 4: one receiver AJ Brown, Davonte Adams play. I mean, you
Speaker 4: go throughout the list of the receivers that he's played
Speaker 4: this season and shut them down on either side of
Speaker 4: the field. He's traveling with guys old school shows you
Speaker 4: how impressive he's been as a defensive back, and then
Speaker 4: his presence in the backfield on blitzes as well as
Speaker 4: like a nickel corner, like he's doing everything for this
Speaker 4: defense between he and Trent McDuffie has been extremely impressive.
Speaker 4: I'm looking forward to the matchup. You guys will probably
Speaker 4: have the top tandem receivers that will face this year
Speaker 4: and their hands will be full. But if it's any
Speaker 4: indication of what we've seen from him this season, he's
Speaker 4: gonna be ready for the challenge.
Speaker 8: Final question, Thanks for taking all the time you've taken
Speaker 8: with us. You've been unbelievable. And my question is, well,
Speaker 8: do you think there's any chance that we'll see Taylor
Speaker 8: Swift in the press box elevator?
Speaker 4: There as the possibility she was at the last home
Speaker 4: game she's been out to I say several of the
Speaker 4: games back then when we went up to New York
Speaker 4: in October Chicago when we played at home, so she's
Speaker 4: she's made our presence here from several games and with
Speaker 4: the holidays here, I can't imagine why she wouldn't be there.
Speaker 4: So we'll see that. You know, there's been in the
Speaker 4: earlier in the season. If you remember when she was
Speaker 4: around travit had great games, we were winning football games.
Speaker 4: Then the tide has turned a little bit where it
Speaker 4: hasn't been the same. So I don't know if they're
Speaker 4: superstitious or not, but I'm not superstitious at all. So
Speaker 4: I'll welcome her in the stadium. It gives us an
Speaker 4: extra boost with the fan base and it's got to
Speaker 4: all be about to win first though, thanks to.
Speaker 1: David Hughes, and that's going to do it for this
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