Speaker 1: I'm Red Lewis, and this is NFL Inside Report as
Speaker 1: we embark on Championships Sunday here in the NFL. We've
Speaker 1: got you ready with the NFC Championship games. We talked
Speaker 1: to Jim Trotter on Wednesday. Now the a f C
Speaker 1: Championship game under the spotlight and to do it. Welcome
Speaker 1: in to it the very best, my guys, James Palmer
Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Chidia here with us today on Inside Report.
Speaker 1: Fellas great to be here with you. Let's start with
Speaker 1: essentially how the Chief's got here, because it's one of
Speaker 1: the great stories and one of the great games that
Speaker 1: we've all ever seen in the win over the Bills
Speaker 1: in the divisional round at Arrowhead, and let's fast forward
Speaker 1: to the final thirteen seconds. And James, I want to
Speaker 1: start with you because we had talked about this a
Speaker 1: little bit earlier in the season during the Chief struggles
Speaker 1: and you had brought up the fact and Jeffrey, I
Speaker 1: know you've written about this too, that how the Chiefs
Speaker 1: were really struggling with some of the communication and some
Speaker 1: of the freelancing that they're able to do within the
Speaker 1: offense and it just wasn't clicking. As much. Well, it
Speaker 1: feels like those final thirteen seconds, JP, do what Kells
Speaker 1: do it? I like that open it worked. They got
Speaker 1: back to the magic takes a snap on the near
Speaker 1: hash goes down the middle of Kelsey by the Chiefs. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The funny part is everybody on the offense didn't know
Speaker 1: this was happening. Well, I'll put you in the shoes
Speaker 1: of Orlando Brown Jr. The left tackle. He's sitting there
Speaker 1: and he's hearing do it, Kells, do it Kells. He
Speaker 1: was thinking that Kelsey's gonna chip next to him. That's
Speaker 1: what he thought. He had no clue that's what the
Speaker 1: two of them were talking about. I just told him
Speaker 1: right before they called a time out, right before we
Speaker 1: we went out there and ran that play, um, and
Speaker 1: I told him, I'm probably not going to run the
Speaker 1: route data that it's called. I'm just gonna run to
Speaker 1: the open area. And uh, probably midway through his cadence,
Speaker 1: he was screaming at me at the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: do it like, do it? Do it? And I was
Speaker 1: just like, all right, here we go, boys, And it
Speaker 1: was just a little backyard football. With a couple of
Speaker 1: seconds left, they gave us an opportunity to win the game.
Speaker 1: It's more to take the game into overtime, excuse me.
Speaker 1: And so that's how like this freelancing is operating. It's
Speaker 1: not like everybody's even included. But the best part about it,
Speaker 1: I think really is you're right. We talked about how
Speaker 1: the freelancing was causing some issues earlier and then it
Speaker 1: became now really back to being their staple. I think
Speaker 1: the point of it is Patrick was seeing things differently
Speaker 1: with the way defenses were playing, and then some of
Speaker 1: the freelancing they were doing was playing right into how
Speaker 1: defenses were taking some of these things away. And so
Speaker 1: I do think that it's It's something that has talked
Speaker 1: about a lot here in Kansas City. It's not the
Speaker 1: only place that it happens, uh, It's just happening in
Speaker 1: the biggest moments, uh here in Kansas City. And I
Speaker 1: think that's why we're seeing it because of this kind
Speaker 1: of freelancing. And Kelsey has talked about it with other
Speaker 1: tight ends Jeff like and other guys you know around
Speaker 1: the league. Um, I know c j Uzama has talked
Speaker 1: a lot about his conversations with with with Kelse about
Speaker 1: his his chemistry with with Patrick, and obviously that's something
Speaker 1: all those guys and Cincinnati are starting to build. But
Speaker 1: this is something that is, I don't want to say
Speaker 1: unique to the league, it's just unique and how they
Speaker 1: execute it at such a high level when it's rolling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you saw Kelsey talked about that after the game, where
Speaker 1: he just said, this is the culmination of years of
Speaker 1: working on things together, both him and Patrick and and
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill in that mix as well. I can't even
Speaker 1: put it into words, man um, how much work we
Speaker 1: put in together and how much fun we have doing that,
Speaker 1: and then to go out there and put our entired goals,
Speaker 1: dreams and aspirations out there. Just just bleed for every
Speaker 1: single person on his team and every single person in
Speaker 1: that stadium wearing red man that was That was a
Speaker 1: fun experience. I remember the the catch and then seeing
Speaker 1: Tyreek standing up for me calling game and then seeing
Speaker 1: Pat running over me was I'll remember that for the
Speaker 1: rest of my life. Just understanding how to handle the
Speaker 1: different situations, rehearsing different responses to different situations. I thought
Speaker 1: it was under rated how much they had had to
Speaker 1: plays in the ready to go. You know, he had
Speaker 1: a very difficult, very stressful position, thirteen seconds to play. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you're not getting those plays to work unless the Bills
Speaker 1: cooperate UM. But that also speaks to Kelsey's ability and
Speaker 1: my Home's ability to recognize the coverages they were seeing
Speaker 1: in that situation. I think Kelsey and and both my
Speaker 1: homes talked about or had you re talk today about
Speaker 1: or the other day about just how much they were
Speaker 1: seeing too high looks in being of the year. Now
Speaker 1: it's more too high with man coverage mixed in. We
Speaker 1: were seeing a little bit more man beforehand when he
Speaker 1: was young, and now we're standing zones UM with man
Speaker 1: mixed in. This group here does everything. So you can't
Speaker 1: go in and just go all right, they're gonna play
Speaker 1: shell and and go with it. They've got a bunch
Speaker 1: of shell coverage is they've got a single safety metal covers,
Speaker 1: a handful of own ones, and a handful of man
Speaker 1: was But it was a matter of just sorting it out.
Speaker 1: He did a nice job. It's all part of the
Speaker 1: maturation process, making sure that with the with the offense,
Speaker 1: making sure that the um offensive lines on the same page,
Speaker 1: and receivers are on the same page, and quarterbacks on
Speaker 1: the same page with all of them ample running back. Uh,
Speaker 1: they don't know what they're always going to get anymore.
Speaker 1: But they have seen so much different stuff over the
Speaker 1: last four years that they could handle this about anything.
Speaker 1: And by the way, just to echo your points there
Speaker 1: about Orlando Brown not knowing what Andrew Wiley the right tackle,
Speaker 1: I talked to you this week as well. I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just I had to make sure that Kelsey wasn't
Speaker 1: on my side, and because because he thought he thought
Speaker 1: that the chip might be coming too, and that's that's
Speaker 1: what everybody thought. And then you know, now we go
Speaker 1: back and we hear all the you know, the mic
Speaker 1: dup stuff with with Kelsey telling Tyreek Hill to do
Speaker 1: this and that on the first play that ends up
Speaker 1: getting them the you know, the first chunk of yards
Speaker 1: they might they right, man, you are and I'm saying
Speaker 1: go outside and come back in, like running around outside.
Speaker 1: How like when you come back in, I can get
Speaker 1: in the way. It truly is amazing that that can
Speaker 1: happen in thirteen seconds, um, and it's a testament to
Speaker 1: their chemistry together. But Jeff, how would you then characterize,
Speaker 1: you know, how far they've come from that stretch where
Speaker 1: they were three, you know, three and four after the
Speaker 1: loss to the Titans in Week seven, rattled off eight
Speaker 1: in a row and now, you know, come back in
Speaker 1: this great fashion to you know, win an overtime against
Speaker 1: the Bills. Well, it's been in bed, night and day.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure James could would say the same thing.
Speaker 1: You look at where they were first half of the year,
Speaker 1: and they were still trying to be the Chiefs of
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen, two thousand nineteen, two thousand and twenty,
Speaker 1: that could just go up and down the field, give
Speaker 1: you a seventy five yeard touchdown, passed anytime they wanted to,
Speaker 1: and and there was a lot of recalibration with in
Speaker 1: this offense at mid season, and I don't think it
Speaker 1: was I think people don't understand how hard it was
Speaker 1: at some point for them to get to this point,
Speaker 1: because at time it did it did look like they
Speaker 1: were struggling with it, that Mahomes wasn't comfortable having to
Speaker 1: play take what they give you offense. But I feel like,
Speaker 1: and I've watched him for the last four years. As
Speaker 1: as James, that was his best game. He's a lot
Speaker 1: of great games in his career, a lot of big numbers,
Speaker 1: but in terms of managing offense, making decisions, understanding when
Speaker 1: to use his legs, he didn't throw a pass over
Speaker 1: twenty five yards in the game where he had almost
Speaker 1: four hundred yards passing, and that would have never happened, uh,
Speaker 1: even a year ago, even eight games ago. And so
Speaker 1: I think it by by far it was his best
Speaker 1: game and you're seeing the maturation of a quarterback in
Speaker 1: an offense as a result. Yeah, Jeff, the three things
Speaker 1: that you said that that jumped out of me, and
Speaker 1: I want to kind of break down a little bit. One.
Speaker 1: It was not easy, as Jeff said, Like I was
Speaker 1: told by people in the building, this was a very
Speaker 1: difficult season for Tyreek Hill to learn how to play
Speaker 1: the position completely different. This is his lowest yards per
Speaker 1: catch average as a starter in his NFL career, but
Speaker 1: he also broke the Chiefs record for most catches in
Speaker 1: a season in this same year. He just had to
Speaker 1: learn to play it differently and it was a struggle
Speaker 1: for him. And not to say, like you know that
Speaker 1: that makes him any different than any other receiver. If
Speaker 1: you're the fastest man on the planet, you want to
Speaker 1: go deep consistently and burn people. He had to play
Speaker 1: in space, and he learned, you know, getting better to
Speaker 1: playing guys across the middle and playing in space. The
Speaker 1: other aspect of Jeff saying like that might have been
Speaker 1: like the best game of Mahomes. I think what he
Speaker 1: did in terms of taking what was given to him
Speaker 1: and what was that was the struggle. Early in the season.
Speaker 1: I had a long talk with Kurt Warner about this,
Speaker 1: who loves just breaking down all of these guys, and
Speaker 1: he just said it was there. He just wouldn't take
Speaker 1: it over and over and over again. That's what makes
Speaker 1: Brady great to keep taking that. That's that that short
Speaker 1: route that somebody gives you. And what we saw in
Speaker 1: this game, he just he's the leading rusher in the game.
Speaker 1: He goes, well, I'll just take the run. I'll just
Speaker 1: take the run. Finally forces them to play a little
Speaker 1: bit of man and knows that's where he can have
Speaker 1: the advantage with Travis Kell see entiree hill when they're
Speaker 1: in those situations. So the patients really really showed I
Speaker 1: think in that game that was Those are the two
Speaker 1: things we saw from the struggles to now where we're
Speaker 1: seeing it all kind of clicking because everybody took some
Speaker 1: time to figure it out, and it was not easy
Speaker 1: on on Tyreek Hill specifically. And that's kind of interesting
Speaker 1: now as we switch over to the Bengal side of things,
Speaker 1: and we will get into the kind of the ins
Speaker 1: and outs of this matchup here in just a minute.
Speaker 1: But first, for the Bengals, coming off a win in
Speaker 1: which Joe Burrow did not throw a touchdown pass against
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, knocking off the number one seed. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, got Joe Mixon going a little bit and
Speaker 1: had to rely on their defense, you know, to make
Speaker 1: some real plays in that game. But then you go
Speaker 1: back to when these two teams actually played against each other,
Speaker 1: Bengals in Chiefs back in week seventeen. Barrow throws for
Speaker 1: over four hundred, Jamar Chase goes for over two hundred.
Speaker 1: They were on fire, you know, through the air, so
Speaker 1: there is no tase, it's a touch stop, He's gonna
Speaker 1: chev and they open fail sixty nine yards to go
Speaker 1: with a seventy two yarder in the first quarter. Does
Speaker 1: this tell you, you know, Jeff, that the Bengals kind
Speaker 1: of like the Chiefs now, feel like they can win
Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways, and that might make them,
Speaker 1: you know, even more dangerous, even when the past game
Speaker 1: wasn't clicking like it like it had been for much
Speaker 1: of this season. Yeah, they have an amazing comfort level
Speaker 1: with playing different styles of football that you don't see
Speaker 1: from young teams, and certainly not young quarterbacks that have
Speaker 1: this kind of weaponry around him. I saw them play
Speaker 1: in Denver a few weeks back with a fifteen ten game.
Speaker 1: I can tell you I probably needed to drink like
Speaker 1: eighteen cokes to stay awake. It was that boring. You
Speaker 1: got exactly I was going through everything. I had all
Speaker 1: the cabin and you're I can get my hands on.
Speaker 1: But you saw the way there there comfort with that.
Speaker 1: You saw their comfort with Last week nineteen sixteen ended
Speaker 1: out getting your quarterback hit nine times. And they've been
Speaker 1: a slow starting team throughout most of this year. That's
Speaker 1: one of the big knocks on them early on was
Speaker 1: that they just they tend to dig holes and they
Speaker 1: can't get that great offense going. So yeah, I do
Speaker 1: believe you're right. There is a sense of whatever it
Speaker 1: takes to win, they will do. That's coach speak. A
Speaker 1: lot of players say that Joe Burrows has said that
Speaker 1: many times in the course of this year. But but
Speaker 1: it's true with it. With this bunch, they know they
Speaker 1: have different ways to go about it. They know that
Speaker 1: they can go up and down the field with a
Speaker 1: team like Kansas City. And I tell you that that
Speaker 1: when they got in that game, it's huge to their
Speaker 1: confidence level because they were playing for something that they
Speaker 1: were playing for the AFC North. The Chiefs were playing
Speaker 1: for the number one seed, and they walked away with
Speaker 1: a win. And Joe Burrow was right when he says,
Speaker 1: this is beyond a nice little underdog story. I'm tired
Speaker 1: of the underdog narrative. And we're really really good team.
Speaker 1: We're here to We're here to make noise and teams
Speaker 1: are gonna have to pay attention to us. Were, like
Speaker 1: I said, a really good team with really good players
Speaker 1: and coaches, and we're kinding for it all. This is
Speaker 1: a really good team that thinks they can win an
Speaker 1: a SC championship this week. And you look at the
Speaker 1: way you broke that down, Jeff, in a sense where
Speaker 1: they do dig these holes. That is if anything shows
Speaker 1: you the season what you can't do against the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: right Usually you get behind to Kansas City, and then
Speaker 1: they become more aggressive as a defense. Then usually you
Speaker 1: change your play calling. Then usually they forced another turnover
Speaker 1: and it's game over. We didn't see that. I was
Speaker 1: at that game in Cincinnati. You didn't see any panic
Speaker 1: from Joe Burrow and that group at all, because they
Speaker 1: realized a lot like we've seen over the with the
Speaker 1: Chiefs over the years, they can score like that and
Speaker 1: then they can change the course of a game so quickly.
Speaker 1: That's how they're able to really, I think, have that
Speaker 1: calmness to them because they know at any given time,
Speaker 1: any given player on this team can have an explosive
Speaker 1: play to help them out. And the part with Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow getting sacked nine times and I think there was
Speaker 1: another two with penalties that he got taken down on
Speaker 1: that so it could have almost been a leaven and
Speaker 1: he still completes almost set and the six percent of
Speaker 1: his passes in that game. That's the shocking part. To
Speaker 1: not be rattled in your accuracy when you're hit that
Speaker 1: many times. I was thinking in my head on like
Speaker 1: on nowhere else you think other than inside your head,
Speaker 1: but Chris Jones coming at you should be something that
Speaker 1: could really throw you off in the middle. But Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Simmons was just doing it a week ago and it
Speaker 1: didn't throw them off. So I mean, I think that
Speaker 1: that ability to be very calm in those in those
Speaker 1: moments and not get rattled no matter how many times
Speaker 1: he's hit is a definite advantage for the way Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow plays, because we all think when young guys happened,
Speaker 1: and that happens to young guys, Oh man, we're seeing ghosts.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen it with Joe Burrow, and he even
Speaker 1: had a major injury with getting under pressure and we
Speaker 1: still haven't seen it from him. I think it's a
Speaker 1: great point. And look at about the nine sacks. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just it's absolutely incredible that you could take that
Speaker 1: kind of beating and you know, still win a game,
Speaker 1: much much less a playoff game. But it kind of
Speaker 1: just goes back to the story of Joe Burrow, right,
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, interes a losing culture or um bud.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm I'm not a loser. I am a winner,
Speaker 1: and that's what we're going to do. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just like you may consider getting sacked nine times a
Speaker 1: losing effort, but we are not going to lose, and
Speaker 1: that's just that's just kind of what it's been and
Speaker 1: sounds like Stewart Smiler from Saturday Night five. Dog got
Speaker 1: it all right. We're not throwing up the Tyreek kill
Speaker 1: deuce is to to j P and Jeff here just
Speaker 1: yet when we come back digging into this matchup and
Speaker 1: what that Week seventeen matchup really means for the Chiefs
Speaker 1: who came up on the losing side of it now
Speaker 1: heading into the rematch here in the a f C
Speaker 1: Championship Game. Back here in NFL Inside Report, getting set
Speaker 1: for the a f C Championship game between the Bengals
Speaker 1: and the Chiefs from arrow Head Stadium as Kansas City
Speaker 1: gets set to host the a f C Title game
Speaker 1: for an NFL record fourth consecutive year. James Palmer, Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Chidia gracious enough to be back here with us on
Speaker 1: NFL Inside Report, And James, I know you just popped
Speaker 1: off some zooms with some of the Chiefs players here
Speaker 1: ahead of this game, so I want to start there
Speaker 1: with you on how the Chiefs are framing the discussion
Speaker 1: surrounding the Week seventeen loss to the Bengals as they
Speaker 1: approach this rematch here in the a f C title game, Well,
Speaker 1: we could start right on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: I think we know Steve Spagmolo's like history with rematches, right.
Speaker 1: I think he's pretty good at the second time around
Speaker 1: and making making some noise. And I think when you
Speaker 1: have a veteran defense, I think, like in some of
Speaker 1: the key roles that the Chiefs have, I think the
Speaker 1: first time around against a young team, you learn a
Speaker 1: lot and and they really were hitting the mouth and
Speaker 1: how they played, and there was definitely, Jeff some calls
Speaker 1: that we were debating, uh in some specific moments of
Speaker 1: that game where we were kind of scratching our head
Speaker 1: a little bit. And I think obviously those type of mistakes,
Speaker 1: if you know Spags are probably not going to happen
Speaker 1: a second time around. That The big thing to me
Speaker 1: is Tyrone Matthew in the middle and if he plays
Speaker 1: in this game, actually in the pot, they going to
Speaker 1: the ends on the pick, but guess who Matthew The
Speaker 1: second interception of the night brings it back to the
Speaker 1: fourteen yard line and coming back to practice on Thursday.
Speaker 1: Not out of the concussion protocol yet, but it's all
Speaker 1: pointing towards his availability on Sunday, Lagarius needs said to me,
Speaker 1: like he tells me before every snap what's happened, And
Speaker 1: they didn't have that against Josh Allen and the Bills
Speaker 1: and a guy that is, you know that Chris Harris
Speaker 1: Typer or that they're just screaming pre snap because they
Speaker 1: are so smart about what they see the second time around.
Speaker 1: It's important to have that voice because everybody, right Jeff
Speaker 1: sees sees it the second time around. If you're one
Speaker 1: of those guys that yell into everybody is a part
Speaker 1: of your secondary, when you've seen it for the second time,
Speaker 1: you almost have that advantage. So I do think his
Speaker 1: his ability to play in the middle in this game,
Speaker 1: I think changes their defense because there were actual packages
Speaker 1: they couldn't use against Buffalo with him off the field. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Frank Clark made that point after the game that if
Speaker 1: the Buffalo game just talking about just how vital Matthew
Speaker 1: is not just to the back end of the defense,
Speaker 1: but to the front end to everybody. You know, you've
Speaker 1: seen that time during the game where we kind of struggle,
Speaker 1: you know, um where whether it's pass rushing, getting getting
Speaker 1: the stuff when we needed them. Um. Also where where
Speaker 1: you see, Um, you know we gave up a few
Speaker 1: passes in the back end. Um. Those are things where
Speaker 1: you know time is there. He's able to help with
Speaker 1: the adjustments, help comp situations down and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: You know where it may seem like, you know, things
Speaker 1: are kind of getting overhyped and stuff like that. There's
Speaker 1: a different defense when he's not out there as far
Speaker 1: as communication, as far as how they blitz. That's really
Speaker 1: what his biggest value is these days. He's a much
Speaker 1: better blitzer, much better towards the line of screamage, and
Speaker 1: he is on the back end covering people. But I'll
Speaker 1: say this much. He was there. They played the first time.
Speaker 1: They were all there played the first time. It didn't matter,
Speaker 1: you know, you know who wasn't there. And this is
Speaker 1: do you guys remember, I mean, I'm watching Orlando Brown Jr.
Speaker 1: Just Walked to the m R I room because they
Speaker 1: actually have an m R I at that stadium, which
Speaker 1: is very rare. But he goes out with the calf
Speaker 1: injury pre game. Then they lose Lucas Nyang, their other
Speaker 1: they're they're starting right tackle to a season ending knee injury.
Speaker 1: Joe Tuney just went from left guard to left tackle
Speaker 1: with no reps and held Trey Hendrickson in check. Like
Speaker 1: I mean, Patrick Mahomes was clean in that game. I
Speaker 1: think we forget early on they were just running the
Speaker 1: football up and down the field Kansas City, and then
Speaker 1: they scored three points in the second half. That's the
Speaker 1: part where I don't know if that happens the second
Speaker 1: time around with this offense. But I think what I'm
Speaker 1: making is that offensive line now back to being full strength.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how much pressure they get on Patrick
Speaker 1: Homes when you just watch this. These last two teams
Speaker 1: come against him in Cam Heyward and t J. Watt,
Speaker 1: and then this Buffalo Bills defense. I think they're shaping
Speaker 1: up to be able to do what they did in
Speaker 1: the early part of that Cincinnati game. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: agree to. I think that's that will be an interesting
Speaker 1: thing to follow with with Orlando Brown back and with
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiley jumping in a right time. Yeah, good point,
Speaker 1: Jack Tony at the left tackle, Um, Jeff help, you
Speaker 1: know we're talking about this being the fourth consecutive a
Speaker 1: f C Championship game at Arrowhead. You live there in
Speaker 1: Kansas City and go to a ton of these games.
Speaker 1: They want two of those three preceding this one at Arrowhead.
Speaker 1: How big is it, like, is it Is it going
Speaker 1: to be that big big of an advantage for Kansas
Speaker 1: City to be playing there in front of the Chiefs fans. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's an advantage in the sense that they know
Speaker 1: the stage. They've won on this stage, they've lost on
Speaker 1: this stage, so that they they've seen both sides of it.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, here the there's a lot of lore that
Speaker 1: involves stadium, especially this week, people talking about the teams
Speaker 1: coming in and melting down and not being able to
Speaker 1: handle the atmosphere. I'm just like, it's not that level.
Speaker 1: It's loud, but it's not like people are gonna come
Speaker 1: in here and be scared. I don't, right, it's exactly
Speaker 1: the wicked which of the West just showed up. Everybody's
Speaker 1: running for their lives. It's not going to be that way.
Speaker 1: But and I think the Bengals, I said this on
Speaker 1: our air earlier this week, that the thing that makes
Speaker 1: them scary is they're too young to know to be scared.
Speaker 1: So that is a big thing they have going for them.
Speaker 1: And they have an attitude that Joe Burrow has given them.
Speaker 1: We're gonna keep finding through adversity. It's not gonna be
Speaker 1: perfect every time. We're gonna keep pushing through that. We're
Speaker 1: just gonna keep getting better and better and better and
Speaker 1: stacking these games. That makes them on it, that makes
Speaker 1: them believe that just have the pack my homes in
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, no matter what they're up against, they can
Speaker 1: find a way to make plays and win games. So yeah,
Speaker 1: will it be a different atmosphere than what the Bankers
Speaker 1: have experienced? Yes? Uh did the Chiefs have an advantage
Speaker 1: and having played in the last two Super Bowls? And uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that matters too. But I also feel like the Chiefs
Speaker 1: defense is vulnerable right now. You take away the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: They've seen twice in the last six weeks. They've given
Speaker 1: up thirty four thirty six. Um actually a bad Rocos
Speaker 1: team gave them issues offensive group show. So there is
Speaker 1: I think in years past, since my home has been
Speaker 1: the quarterback, when teams have come in here, they tended
Speaker 1: to be either poorly coached see Bill O'Brien the Houston Texans,
Speaker 1: or or really limited offensively see Baker Mayfield in Cleveland Browns, uh,
Speaker 1: Ryan tanney Hill with the Tennessee Titans, and so this
Speaker 1: is the team coming in with and firepower, and as
Speaker 1: much as they will have to adjust to the stage,
Speaker 1: I do think that they will be ready for it.
Speaker 1: I just like to say, Brett, Yeah, James, I don't
Speaker 1: think that ra had crowd effected Josh Allen at all.
Speaker 1: And I don't think so. I think he's on it.
Speaker 1: Like honestly, I think it built, you know, like he
Speaker 1: literally like he was getting better as the game was
Speaker 1: going on. I mean the only thing that stopped him
Speaker 1: was a coin toss. Really, I that's I really do
Speaker 1: believe that. The part that that is fascinating is we've
Speaker 1: still still yet to see Patrick Mahomes play a road
Speaker 1: playoff game, and again we're gonna go this year without it.
Speaker 1: And it's that's that's the part that I think as
Speaker 1: Jeff talks about the comfort level, it's like it's it's
Speaker 1: like routine for him now four years in a row.
Speaker 1: Every game, I'm gonna play an arrowhead and then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna head, you know, towards the Super Bowl. I think
Speaker 1: that's the part that uh, that kind of I don't
Speaker 1: want to say gives any sort of advantage. There's just
Speaker 1: a comfort that Jeff was talking about. I think that
Speaker 1: the Chiefs have that it is there, But I don't
Speaker 1: think that's gonna matter as much because Joe Burrow played
Speaker 1: in the SEC guys. That is a big talking point
Speaker 1: here in Kansas City, isn't it? Arrow Head That is
Speaker 1: getting so blown out of proportion um in terms of
Speaker 1: everything here in Kansas City about what Burrow had to say.
Speaker 1: But I I just think the point that he was
Speaker 1: making is I don't really care, and I do think
Speaker 1: that part is accurate. Yeah, I would agree, And we'll
Speaker 1: get out of here on this and and finish it
Speaker 1: here with Burrow because you know, we've we've all talked
Speaker 1: about the edge that he has, that competitive edge that
Speaker 1: he has, and how it drives this team and how
Speaker 1: it changed this team's culture. Um and you know, go
Speaker 1: back to the whole you know, you might be losing,
Speaker 1: but I'm a winner. You know the type of thing,
Speaker 1: and because it's real and because we've seen it manifest
Speaker 1: itself in reality um multiple times at l s U
Speaker 1: and then now in Cincinnati, and so this is the
Speaker 1: biggest spotlight that any of these guys have ever played
Speaker 1: in in Cincinnati, you know, for the most part. So
Speaker 1: even if Joe Burrow is ready, and if he has
Speaker 1: been the guiding light for this team James for this
Speaker 1: whole season and since they drafted him, does that in
Speaker 1: turn mean that the Bengals as a team already considering
Speaker 1: the way that he has brought them along, you know,
Speaker 1: himself and made them better around him. Well, I think
Speaker 1: it's similar to what you see with these other top quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: He's going to make sure that they believe they are.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they actually are, but I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna come in thinking that they are, and I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna find out within the game. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're going to come into the game scared by
Speaker 1: any means, because I do think he brings that to him.
Speaker 1: But Jeff, I do believe that there could be a
Speaker 1: moment within the game where there could be players thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the Chiefs. I don't think we're stopping them
Speaker 1: and we have to do something. I do think those
Speaker 1: might come about, But I do think he gives you
Speaker 1: that belief that that you're gonna you're gonna come in
Speaker 1: and do this. I just think I'm looking at this
Speaker 1: game and I'm curious as we finish this up, like,
Speaker 1: if you're not Cincinnati, l A. Or Kansas City or Buffalo,
Speaker 1: how do you feel like you're going to get to
Speaker 1: the NFC title game? Do you think, like Jeff, what
Speaker 1: I mean, Josh Allens and Justin Herbert's and Joe Burrows
Speaker 1: don't grow on trees as much as we might like
Speaker 1: to say, like, if you don't have one of those guys,
Speaker 1: you gotta go get one, Like, well, it's easier said
Speaker 1: than done. Yeah, Well, and let's I'll put the Ravens
Speaker 1: in there too, because they had a pretty good roster
Speaker 1: until he got beaten up. And the quarterback is pretty
Speaker 1: good too. But but you're right, there is a a
Speaker 1: new wave of quarterbacks coming in. And I live in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. James has seen this happened before. For the
Speaker 1: last three or four years, Patrick Mahomes has taken on
Speaker 1: iconic status, god like status, and people have acted like
Speaker 1: he's not gonna have any challenge from anybody over the
Speaker 1: next Decadeeah. And so what I always said, you go
Speaker 1: back to any decade in the last forty years, you're
Speaker 1: gonna find five ivers, six Hall of fame quarterbacks who
Speaker 1: are going to you know, play at a high level,
Speaker 1: win m vps, win championships. You know, you go to
Speaker 1: the eighties, it wasn't just Joe Montana. There was John Elway,
Speaker 1: there was Damn Arena, there was Jim Kelly. You go
Speaker 1: the nineties at Troy Kman and Brett Farve and Kurt
Speaker 1: Warrant payment. So they're always going to be others come along,
Speaker 1: and so for me, that's the exciting part. This is
Speaker 1: the year when you're find seeing those guys come along
Speaker 1: and they're doing the same thing Patrick Mahomes was doing
Speaker 1: when he came to Kansas City. They're they're showing up,
Speaker 1: they're taking control of their teams. They're infusing those teams
Speaker 1: with a certain level of personality and attitude. We tend
Speaker 1: to forget now that Patrick Mahomes was the guy trying
Speaker 1: to keep spirits up in the Super Bowl when they
Speaker 1: before they random lots play. You know that he was
Speaker 1: the guy having to do that kind of stuff. And
Speaker 1: so you don't see these guys come until they're here.
Speaker 1: But trust me, the Joe Burrows to Josh Allen's, the
Speaker 1: John Justin Herbert's, they're here to stay h alright, guys,
Speaker 1: Jeffrey James Palmer, appreciate you and uh and all of
Speaker 1: your insight here as we could set for the a
Speaker 1: f C Championship Game. Thanks dolls, and that's gonna do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of NFL Inside Report. Reminder to subscribe, rate,
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Speaker 1: games this weekend and as we look ahead to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. For producers Thomas Warren and Tim Paratka, I'm
Speaker 1: your host Rrett Lewis. We'll catch you next time. NFL
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