Speaker 1: So young, you were a rookie. Uh, when you guys
Speaker 1: were in the Super Bowl. How how did that experience
Speaker 1: shape what's happened since? And yeah, and especially as a
Speaker 1: leader of what you can pass on to to the
Speaker 1: younger guys.
Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, I mean I I look back at that
Speaker 2: moment and I can truly say that I really was
Speaker 2: in the moment, and I you know, I took it really,
Speaker 2: really seriously, even though I was young. But you know,
Speaker 2: when you're when you're young and naive, you think you're
Speaker 2: like when you go so early in your career, it's like, man,
Speaker 2: this is this is just what it's like. You go
Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl every year you have a chance
Speaker 2: to compete, and uh it's not. That's not what the
Speaker 2: case is, you know. So, uh we we've been so close,
Speaker 2: and now we finally have another opportunity, and you gotta
Speaker 2: make the most of it because you never know if
Speaker 2: you're gonna have another opportunity.
Speaker 3: You know, you got it.
Speaker 2: You really got to sell out for three hours and
Speaker 2: uh give it your best.
Speaker 4: Some standard here it has been so high, and that
Speaker 4: in mind, I was the question, how would you assess.
Speaker 3: Performance in the first two playoffs? Yeah, not good enough
Speaker 3: not good enough at all. And you mentioned it.
Speaker 2: The standard has been what it has been for as
Speaker 2: long as I've been here, you know, and we've we've
Speaker 2: relied heavily on winning games on defense, holding teams to
Speaker 2: minimal points, suffocating teams, make you know, dictating how the
Speaker 2: game's gonna go based off of how we go and
Speaker 2: and that hasn't been the case last two games. And
Speaker 2: then that's for you know, a bunch of different reasons.
Speaker 2: But you know, we have an opportunity to write that.
Speaker 2: You know, they're probably looking at the tape, they're thinking
Speaker 2: they have a great opportunity ahead, and they you know,
Speaker 2: as they should. They should look at that tape and
Speaker 2: they should think and they should think that. But to
Speaker 2: say that we have, you know, a great opportunity to
Speaker 2: correct that, to make sure that we give our best
Speaker 2: performance in the super Bowl.
Speaker 3: I think that's exactly where our mindsets at issue. With
Speaker 3: the run defense in particular.
Speaker 4: I think even a like five point st starts for
Speaker 4: carrying the playoffs, which is so unlikely as.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's it's a it's a collection of the
Speaker 2: things I think on any given play when we're not
Speaker 2: executing the right way, it's just either one guy out
Speaker 2: of a gap, it's you know, not giving great effort
Speaker 2: as a whole, as a group like we.
Speaker 3: Have been in the past.
Speaker 2: You know, when you're playing violent, you're playing fast, you're
Speaker 2: playing with great effort. That cleans a lot of that
Speaker 2: stuff up. So it's from an execution standpoint.
Speaker 3: From a.
Speaker 2: Standard damp, a standard standpoint, like we just got to
Speaker 2: make sure we get back to that in this game.
Speaker 1: You've played in this game now before, what did you
Speaker 1: the one experience that you had in this game, you know,
Speaker 1: teach you about maybe your approach the second time around.
Speaker 2: You got to play full sixty minutes, you know, to say,
Speaker 2: you know, we're We're up by ten points late in
Speaker 2: the game, and I'm thinking, you know, hey, like we
Speaker 2: we're about to win us a super Bowl, And that
Speaker 2: thing switched pretty quick, you know, and that scarred me
Speaker 2: for life, like because now to this day, it doesn't
Speaker 2: matter what if it's a preseason, regular season playoff game.
Speaker 2: You know, I never start getting excited until that clockade zero,
Speaker 2: you know. And so that's that's gotta be the mindset,
Speaker 2: playing all the way all the way to the very end.
Speaker 2: Because they got a pretty special guy back there throwing
Speaker 2: the football, and uh, you know, we got to do
Speaker 2: our best to stuff them for life.
Speaker 4: The fact that it's the same team, same coach, same quarterback,
Speaker 4: even the same color uniforms are gonna wear that day.
Speaker 4: What emotions does that bring and how do you channel them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that's gonna get built up
Speaker 2: all week, you know, the rematch and uh and that
Speaker 2: sort of thing. I think at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: there is two completely different teams because there's a lot
Speaker 2: of different faces on each side of the ball. You know,
Speaker 2: we I think we just gotta treat this as as
Speaker 2: it is. You know, this is a different offense than
Speaker 2: what it was back then, uh when we played them.
Speaker 2: It does have a lot of similar players there, obviously
Speaker 2: in crucial positions.
Speaker 3: But we just got to.
Speaker 2: Make sure we we we prepare the right way and
Speaker 2: were ready to go on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Felt like you you said after Super you felt like
Speaker 1: you you could get back there. You know, this is
Speaker 1: just kind the mindset because like, oh, it's easy to
Speaker 1: get back year as you did so young your career.
Speaker 1: What was the most difficult part of getting back there
Speaker 1: over these last few years, whether it was COVID year
Speaker 1: or you know, coming up short of the NFC Championship.
Speaker 1: What has struck you the most about that client back?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean every year it's kind of different, I think.
Speaker 2: You know, you think back to twenty one, we barely
Speaker 2: scraped into the playoffs on that last you know, game
Speaker 2: of the season and far our way to the to
Speaker 2: the NFC Championship game and lost to a really good
Speaker 2: Rams team who went and went on to win the
Speaker 2: Super Bowl. And then last year we lose our quarterback
Speaker 2: in the NFC Championship game, don't really have a chance
Speaker 2: at it. And then this year being down in both
Speaker 2: games uh in the playoffs to then come back and
Speaker 2: win them. You know, I think in every single one
Speaker 2: of those situations, it's just been different, even back going
Speaker 2: back to nineteen.
Speaker 3: So every year is different.
Speaker 2: You got to find a way to win and and
Speaker 2: get over that humph. You know, it comes down to
Speaker 2: one or two plays in the game in the playoffs
Speaker 2: and and even into the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: We us have a very good defense with the good minebackers.
Speaker 4: They knew that they had to stop Travis Kelce uh
Speaker 4: in that last game and they and they don't what
Speaker 4: what makes that uh so special for the Chiefs, that
Speaker 4: quarterback tight end relationship.
Speaker 3: That they went.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they obviously have as great a bond
Speaker 2: as any you know, one or two punts in the NFL,
Speaker 2: like from a quarterback in skilled player position maybe in history.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: I think the fact that they know he Pat knows
Speaker 2: exactly where Kelsey's gonna be on every give and play,
Speaker 2: Kelsey having the confidence and the trust and and Pat
Speaker 2: that he can run his routes a certain way where
Speaker 2: it's not necessarily gonna be by the playbook.
Speaker 3: He's just gonna try and find open space.
Speaker 2: And they can, uh you know, they can just kind
Speaker 2: of have a feel out there on the field. You
Speaker 2: can go into a game saying, you know, we're just
Speaker 2: gonna double them, and that's gonna open up other things.
Speaker 2: So you want to try to stay true as well
Speaker 2: as contest that. But yeah, I mean they're obviously one
Speaker 2: of the best to do it. In the locker room
Speaker 2: at halftime Sunday, you look at a stat sheet where
Speaker 2: you're like, we gave up are eighty yards at the
Speaker 2: first time.
Speaker 3: No, I didn't, uh, I didn't want to look at
Speaker 3: the status.
Speaker 2: See, I'm sure that would have that would have really
Speaker 2: compounded on top of the feelings that were already there.
Speaker 2: But I mean I knew it wasn't It wasn't a
Speaker 2: good half at all. And yeah, we had we had
Speaker 2: to switching things.
Speaker 1: Up that you faced the last two games.
Speaker 4: How much does that help giving so much more consistent
Speaker 4: effort going forward?
Speaker 2: Uh, having gone through the adversity as a team or
Speaker 2: on defense?
Speaker 3: Yeah, on defense?
Speaker 2: You know, I think, like I said before, like this
Speaker 2: is an opportunity in my eyes, to to correct the wrongs.
Speaker 3: That we've that we've had.
Speaker 2: I mean, you talk about even though we played the
Speaker 2: way we did and still found a way to win
Speaker 2: with the offense that we got right now, says everything
Speaker 2: about our team and about our chances of winning this
Speaker 2: game that's coming up. Because if we do sure up
Speaker 2: the things that we need to do, if we do
Speaker 2: come out and we play the defense that I know
Speaker 2: that we're capable of doing, I know we have a
Speaker 2: great chance of winning the game.
Speaker 1: Play with a ton of passion and you can see
Speaker 1: it on the film. If you're watching that film and
Speaker 1: you see somebody going half speed or loafing, are you
Speaker 1: the kind of guy that gets in a guy's face
Speaker 1: and says, hey, that's unacceptable, that's not our standard.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I think it's a the thing that is more meaningful
Speaker 2: than just trying to get on get on specific guys.
Speaker 3: I think as being the guy that.
Speaker 2: Shows, you know, consistency and is the truest example of
Speaker 2: exactly what we're looking for. You know, I can look
Speaker 2: at game, I can look at plays in that this
Speaker 2: past game where I wasn't fully given my hundred percent effort,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's like, who am I to sit
Speaker 2: there and talk down on somebody else when I wasn't
Speaker 2: all the way there?
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So I'm always trying to look at myself first in
Speaker 2: the mirror and make sure that I'm the example today
Speaker 2: when we're out there to practice.
Speaker 3: How how do you look in practice right now?
Speaker 2: Like, how do I look in what example might give
Speaker 2: into my guys for what we're trying to look like
Speaker 2: on Sunday. It's not just gonna happen just because we
Speaker 2: talk about it's got It's gotta be something that you
Speaker 2: do day in and day out, and we have that
Speaker 2: opportunity today's.
Speaker 3: Locker situation as you need, Yes, it is.
Speaker 4: Initiated.
Speaker 3: Well who's this guy say about him? But his status
Speaker 3: on the team.
Speaker 2: That, Yeah, it's funny that.
Speaker 3: I mean, it really doesn't get talked about much.
Speaker 2: We just kind of walked by and we're like, ah,
Speaker 2: this is just kind of you know, Trent's little mall
Speaker 2: that he has right here. You know, it's, you know,
Speaker 2: just kind of his own little area. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: he's already got a gold jacket to his name, so
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure he can do whatever he wants in
Speaker 2: that locker room. And guys are not gonna say much
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 1: When you talk about learning from the last Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: how important it is to play sixty minutes. How helpful
Speaker 1: is it to have someone like sars for it on
Speaker 1: the defense that has.
Speaker 3: Been through that and want a Super Bowl?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, uh, it's just helpful to have a
Speaker 2: Super Bowl champ on our side. You know, a guy
Speaker 2: who is a a Pro bowler and an All Pro
Speaker 2: and has been outstanding for us this entire year. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm really proud of Mooney the way that he's competed
Speaker 2: and played this year. And obviously he's been there, he's
Speaker 2: done that, and having that veteran presence in the secondary
Speaker 2: is gonna help him on that side of the ball,
Speaker 2: or I'm just in that area of our defense and
Speaker 2: we're gonna need him big time comes Sunday.
Speaker 4: You haven't meet him yet defending.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's something that we got to continue
Speaker 2: to try to search for and find out through the
Speaker 2: tape leading up to Sunday. And you know, I think
Speaker 2: he's obviously one of the greatest to ever do it,
Speaker 2: and he's gonna have his plays in the game. We
Speaker 2: got to make sure we limit him to making it
Speaker 2: this least amount of those as possible during the game.
Speaker 2: You're yeah, I think just the thing that's been so
Speaker 2: great with with him and with me and the entire
Speaker 2: defense is the flow communication and continuing to you know,
Speaker 2: to talk through things. I think him obviously coming down
Speaker 2: from the box of the sideline, me and him talked
Speaker 2: about it. You know, it's not about just like, you know,
Speaker 2: the whole energy of him being down there. It's more
Speaker 2: so about just being able to look each other in
Speaker 2: the eye and in those crucial situations where it's like, Hey,
Speaker 2: what do you want? Like what do you want to
Speaker 2: He's asking me, like what do you want to play?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 2: You know, it's not about just giving a call and
Speaker 2: making us play it. It's like, no, we're fully into
Speaker 2: this thing together. You know, we're gonna we're gonna ride
Speaker 2: it out all the way to the end, and we
Speaker 2: have an opportunity to, uh to finish this thing the
Speaker 2: right way. Halftime adjustments or how do you explain that? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, that's that's consistent as long as I've been here.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I feel like even last year, even though we had
Speaker 2: a number one defense, like there were times and games
Speaker 2: where like the first half just wasn't working for us,
Speaker 2: and we made like one or two changes and in
Speaker 2: terms of just what we're what we were calling, you know,
Speaker 2: simple adjustments, and then we're you know, we start snuffing
Speaker 2: people out and it's like, dang, like the Miko is
Speaker 2: a genius.
Speaker 3: He made all these changes.
Speaker 2: And it's like, well, we made a couple of changes,
Speaker 2: but it was just like a matter of just getting
Speaker 2: the flow of the game and executing and just making
Speaker 2: a couple of adjustments. And I feel like that's been
Speaker 2: the same case here. We It's not like we did
Speaker 2: a whole bunch different in the second half. It's just
Speaker 2: guys started playing you know, and uh being more aggressive
Speaker 2: and stopping the run, so that puts more pressure on
Speaker 2: golf getting three and outs, getting getting to take away
Speaker 2: like those little things like that ring.
Speaker 1: Twenty nineteen for NFC Championship and and where.
Speaker 2: Is it and what are your.
Speaker 3: Thoughts on it? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know where that ring is. But uh, I
Speaker 2: remember we got one. I was like, oh, this is cute.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got a Super Bowl second year, Like this
Speaker 1: is where it goes because Trent.
Speaker 2: Is like, let's go to Super Bowl out of Trent today.
Speaker 1: Do you have any sense of like just you know
Speaker 1: his journey, like having talked to him since Sunday, or
Speaker 1: you just know how much this means Fani?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think we can all kind of
Speaker 2: kind of sense how much it means to him. And
Speaker 2: you can you can sense it in the way that
Speaker 2: he speaks to the team. He always talks to the
Speaker 2: team right before we head out for the game, and
Speaker 2: you know, and just the emotion that he plays with
Speaker 2: the way that he plays and the emotion he showed
Speaker 2: after the game, even after winning the NFC Championship, knowing
Speaker 2: that he has an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: You know it means a lot to him, just because
Speaker 2: at this point in your career, what you're fourteen, having
Speaker 2: done everything, did all the Pro Bowls, all Pros and
Speaker 2: all these sorts of things, like you wanna do something
Speaker 2: that is gonna cement your legacy forever, like being able
Speaker 2: to win the Super Bowls, everything, So I know it
Speaker 2: means a lot to 'em.
Speaker 3: Thanks guys,