Why Kansas City Chiefs are NO LONGER top-tier NFL team | THE HERD w/ Colin Cowherd

Why Kansas City Chiefs are NO LONGER top-tier NFL team | THE HERD w/ Colin Cowherd

Welcome to the Herds official YouTube channel. Make sure to like and subscribe. Don’t forget to check out the Colin Coward podcast. All of our NFL instant reactions and more football content. There are so many interesting things to talk about today. Uh Albert Brer is now uh Monday morning quarterback is now joining us live. Listen, let’s get to the CD Lamb thing because the Cowboys face a ticked off Packers team. I don’t know what the line is. I’m taking Green Bay. Without CD Lamb, it was pretty obvious yesterday. Dak wanted to throw the ball down the field. Pickkins is not a separator. He’s very good after the catch. They need CD Lamb to score. I mean, to make any big plays. Do we know an update on CD? Yeah, I don’t know that it’s going to be the full four to six weeks that you’ve seen out there. So, I think there’s there’s a chance that timeline gets shortened by a bit, but obviously it looks very iffy. um it being a high ankle sprain for for for this week against the Packers. And um I’ll tell you the way that defense is playing right now, um the Cowboys defense is playing right now, Dallas probably needs all the offense they can get. So not a great spot for uh for Dak Prescott to be going up against a Packers defense that even though they lost yesterday, still played really well and has played well over the first three weeks of the season. Um it’s amazing to watch Daniel Jones and M. Jones resurrect their careers, but I think Daniel looks different. Daniel’s always been bigger and faster, a very good athlete. I wonder I mean I I was on this for a year. I I think the Colts roster is actually pretty good. I think their O line’s good. Warren’s a star. Jonathan Taylor, Pitman D. Like I like their players. Is the league surprised at this? Are you getting texts from people around the league on Daniel Jones? Because these are big throws, Albert. He’s throwing the ball down the field. Yeah, I I I I think there is a little bit of surprise over it, but it’s the bet the Colts made. And and you know, I I think I may have used this statistic with you, but if I didn’t, here it is. Um, and this is one that a couple Colts people gave me over the summer that I thought was really interesting. Last year, they were 29th in the NFL in total defense, and they were 30th in giveaways, and they still won eight games. So, they bring in Luan Rumo to fix the defense. And then, you know, when I talked to Shane Stiken and some other people there about what was going to win their quarterback competition, it was we just want somebody who can come in and operate the offense essentially put their hands at 10 and two and run the offense the way it’s being drawn up, which of course I think is a bit of an indictment on Anthony Richardson. And I think was also subtly a vote of confidence in what they already had on the offensive side of the ball. In other words, what they’re saying is if we could just get competent quarterback play, there are enough guys here. And that’s Michael Pitman, that’s Josh DS, that’s, you know, AD Mitchell in spots. That’s Alec Pierce who’s played well through the first month of the season. Y it’s Tyler Warren, it’s Jonathan Taylor. It’s an offensive line that’s gotten younger and has improving. Got a good left tackle and Bernard Raymond. Um, yeah, I mean, I’m with you. They there was a real belief internally that the talent there was better than the rest of the NFL thought. And I think that’s showing up. And then, you know, the the difference Louisumo is making on defense is showing up, too. And bringing in guys like Mooney Ward and and and and Cam Binham. And um they’re playing more aggressive and and and I think better ball on that side of the ball, too. Listen, the Rams match up very well with Philadelphia with two exceptions. Corner, where they don’t have a big corner and the interior of their old line, they’re not very good at center, backup, right guard. They can’t block Jaylen Carter and Jordan Davis. They couldn’t block him on the fourth and one. Two kicks. They couldn’t block him last year in the divisional round. The Rams look like a team to me that may make a move at the trade deadline. Am I crazy? Cuz I think they with Stafford his age, I think they’re going to make a move at the trade deadline. What say you? I think you’re right. Like I think there’s definitely a possibility. Now, it’s important to remember they’ve already invested on the interior of the offensive line. They paid Kevin Dodson. They drafted Steve Aila at the top of the second round. So, they’ve already made their investments there. I think corner becomes a little bit more interesting and I I think a lot of this like these holes is sort of philosophical for the Rams if you look back in recent years and last four or five years they’ve really um focused on investing at the offensive skill positions and along the defensive front and their belief is they have to enhance their quarterback and affect the other team’s quarterback and it’s really worked when you look at the skill group they have on offense between Puka Nua and Dvonte Adams and Kirn Williams and Blake Corm and on and on and on. You see it there. And then on the defensive front, they’ve been able to effectively replace the production they lost with Aaron Donald, which might have seemed impossible at the time when Donald retired with guys like Jared Verse and Braden Fisk and Kobe Turner and Byron Young. And the second piece of that, of course, is where you’re investing a little bit less. And again, they’ve invested on the interior, the offensive line, but at corner, they haven’t. And so that’d be the spot I I I’d watch really since walking away from Jaylen Ramsay. They haven’t invested much in that position. I don’t I believe they haven’t used a top 100 pick on on a on a corner in over five years now. Wow. And their belief is that that position in today’s NFL is more of a speed bump than a stop sign. So, you’re better off trying to get to the quarterback than you are trying to stop the elite receivers. Um it will be interesting to see if there’s a little bit of a of of a shift um when you get closer to the trade deadline if that opportunity exists for the Rams. Um because most certainly yesterday it was a huge problem in those key spots. They could not stop AJ Brown and Dvonte Smith. So, I think the Colts are surprisingly good. I think Denver has really surprised me. Way too many mistakes. And watching Bo Nick so far, he he played so many college games. He came in ready to play. I think he’s hit his ceiling. I do wonder if Shawn Payton’s a little frustrated yesterday. It’s Herbert making the plays late and not Boone Knicks. What do you What do you think about where Denver’s at? Well, I think the environment is a little bit different than it was last year. I mean, last year that team was winning games on defense. And it’s a different thing when you’re you’re asking your young quarterback to put up 20 or 24 points rather than getting a shootout. And you know, towards the end of the game yesterday, you saw Justin Herbert take over and Bonets had to keep up with him. And then the week before um against Indianapolis, and they probably should have won that game anyway, but that was a high-scoring game. So these are different types of games than the Broncos were winning last year. And so then the next question becomes, can Bon Knicks elevate? And look, this is always the way Shawn Payeyton built in in New Orleans. You had guys here and there they invested in the skill positions, Jimmy Graham, Marcus Coloulston, Alvin Chimera, but most of their investment was in the offensive line and it was on Drew Brees to make the rest work. So I think now the big picture question for the Broncos is can they still build that way with Bon Knicks as their quarterback or are they going to eventually going to have to do a little bit more to put weapons around him? Yeah, you know, you watched the Chiefs last night and they’ll be better when Worthy returns. They’ll be better when Rice returns, but they don’t run the ball. The offensive line’s average. I said they they remind me of a pitcher, an old baseball pitcher that’s lost about 5 miles an hour off his fast ball. And I I don’t put them in a Super Bowl class. I I know everybody thinks they’re going to get better, but I saw Rice and Worthy together last year for a few games. They still couldn’t run the ball. I didn’t love their offensive line. M they’re another team Albert I think could take a swing at the trade deadline to help their offense. Could they not? Tyreek Hill maybe if he becomes available. I could see something like that. I I I think they do want to see what it looks like when they get some of their guys back. And I I I you know I look back at at at history, Colin, and and to me they are what the Patriots were for 20 years. And it’s interesting if you look at the um 8-year period that the the Patriots went to the AFC title game every year, right from 2011 to 2018. In four of those eight years, the Patriots actually started two and two. And the idea was that they were so good they knew they were going to be there at the end. They spent the first month of the season trying to figure out who they were going to be and then they’d lean into that. And it’s taken the Chiefs a little longer to do that this year because of the guys who are out. like you said, losing Worthy in the opener didn’t help and then Rashi Rice has got the six-game suspension. Um, you’ve got a rookie left tackle. So, to me, like this really is going to be about what it looks like in week seven, week eight when you have Rice back, when you have Worthy Healthy, when you have Josh Simmons at left tackle with some games under his belt. To me, that’s the real lipness test is they’re looking at it now and saying we we like we know we’re a work in progress. It’s going to be about where we can take that work in progress over a month, over two months. And it’s actually interesting. They at halftime yesterday uh at the Meadowlands. They met as an offense in the locker room. And basically, I’m not going to say it was like a come to Jesus meeting, but the coaches sat down with the players and said, “We need to stop trying trying to do too much. We need to play each play for itself.” Like play play by play. That’s how we’re going to how we’re going to attack the rest of this game. And I think you did see a little bit of a calmer Patrick Mahomes, a little bit of a a more level offense the rest of the way. And and to me, the proof is in the pudding with um with with how Mahomes played. And I think one stat to look at over the first three three weeks is is his rushing attempts because you know things aren’t right with Kansas City when Mahomes is running the ball a lot. They were really high in week one, really high in week two. This week they got that number down to five. Five rushing attempts for Patrick Mahomes and three of them were kneel down. So I do think they think they’re slowly moving in the right direction. So this is awful. Nick Bosa season ending torn ACL. Yeah. Clear tear. Oh boy. That’s awful. Not good. Not good. Boy, is any is any organization suffered more injuries than saying I don’t even know how to explain it. I I don’t know what that bad luck. I mean some of their players are older. They’ve got a lot of, you know, mileage on the tires. I Oh, that is a um Yeah, some of this is that like some of it is, you know, you’re you are a little bit older and you do have a little bit of an older core. So, yes, you know, when you are relying on a bunch of guys that are a little further on now. Nick is younger than someone, but he does have injury history. Christian McCaffrey and George KD are clearly on the back end of their careers. Um, you know, if you’re relying on guys in key spots like that, these things can happen. I will say like they deserve a lot of credit for getting to three and 0 without KD without party for a couple weeks. Bosa goes down in game yesterday. Um so there’s a belief that they’re going to get better over the course of the year. Um, you know, just having talked to the players and coaches there, um, the the feeling is that because they are playing so many rookies on defense and because they should get some of these guys back on offense, KD, Iuk, um, that they they they’ve got a chance to be a much different team come week 16 or week 17 or week 18, but I mean, losing Nick Bosa is a massive massive blow. Yeah, they were the fourth oldest team coming into the season. So, um, that’s just awful. Awful. Um, you know, I thought it was mostly Caleb and Ben, but the Cowboys, Cowboys are really bad on the back end. I mean, I don’t know how DJ Moore, Cole Kit, and Roma Dunge get that open. So, some of it’s just Dallas without Micah, not a consistent pass rush, but it did look like Albert there. I thought the drive at the end of the first half and beginning of the third, it there was a um it there was some harmony like it was layered. It was screen game, run game, play action like Yeah, I thought it looked like a real offense, a layered NFL offense. Your thoughts? Yeah, it’s starting to look more coherent. And I think slowly but surely, you’re starting to see Caleb play on time a little bit more. To me, it was like it goes back to that that that was it Monday night or a Sunday night game um in August that they played. It was a preseason game against Buffalo. I can’t remember which, but it was a prime time game. And and to me, the most encouraging thing about that game was how fast the ball was coming out of of of Caleb Williams hands. Like Ben Johnson had really gotten Caleb Williams to trust what he was looking at rather than defaulting to pulling the ball down and running around and trying to make something happen. And you know, I it was discouraging then to see that kind of disappear in week one. But I think slowly but surely, you’re starting to see it come back now. There’s a lot of volume to Ben Johnson’s offense. There’s a lot for these guys to learn and there are going to be some bumps as a result of that as they figure out what they’re really good at, as they figure out what they want to lean into. And and I think they’re still in the middle of that process. And you know, I think the best thing you can say is like each week it feels like Caleb is playing on time a little bit more. Each week it looks like the offense is running according to plan. each week you’re starting to see a little bit more creativity which to me shows a little bit more trust um from the coaches to the players and what they’re doing and so um you know I I I think I think there’s there’s reason for encouragement that the Bears are going to continue to grow this way but it was always going to take time because of what Ben Johnson’s offense is and has been over the years and um you know he made the point to me over the summer that nobody was really scrutinizing it that closely when he first became the OC in Detroit, but it didn’t always look right there and we know what that became. So, they have high hopes that they’re eventually going to get there with the Bears finally. I don’t, you know, it’s one of those things as the season is now 17 games and starters don’t play a lot in the preeason. Everybody’s going to have a clunker. Uh the Eagles had a clunker in the first half, came back to win. They had a clunker, I would say, in the first game against Dallas. They didn’t play particularly well. Green Bay yesterday, I’m like, listen, they dud 10 nothing. It was the fourth. if they had a really bad pick. I don’t make much of it. I just kind of This is not college football. You’re just going to bake in an upset. That That’s how I look at it. Do you see it differently? No. I mean, I I you would like to see the offense playing with a little bit more rhythm. Um but that’s a damn good Cleveland defense. Like I don’t know how much people have paid attention to this, but it really looks like they hit on on on the two defensive players they took in the first two rounds and Mason Graham as a D lineman and then Carson Swissinger looks like a star. He’s a stud. Yeah. And so you add those guys to what you’ve already got in Miles Garrett and Denzel Ward and Jim Schwarz pushing the buttons and um they’ve been really good through three weeks. And so, um, you know, I think you you can chop chalk part of Green Bay’s struggles on offense yesterday up to that. you know, obviously, um, you know, the block kick. There’s some things down the stretch of the game there that you don’t want to see if you’re Matt Laflur, but like you said, like these are are long seasons and these things can happen. And sometimes you you go on the road against a team that that that that’s really desperate and you lay an egg and I think that’s sort of what happened. And there should be plenty of motivation for the Packers coming back this week because you know where they’re going on Sunday night. Yeah. And you know that their best player is probably gonna probably gonna be pretty excited to get back there. I can’t wait. I mean, the first half will be interesting. Maybe not the third and the fourth quarters. Um, Monday morning quarterback, the great Albert Brewer is always my man. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Colin. We were talking about the Chiefs last night. It was kind of a dud of a game, but um since the start of last season, just just think about this about how Kansas City is struggling. Since the start of last season, Momes has fewer passing touchdowns than Aaron Rogers with the Jets and the Steelers, fewer big passing plays than CJ Strad, who has struggled and few in a in a quarterback rating lower than Tua. So after the first half last night, it was ugly and Albert Brerier said the offense had a little meeting at halftime. At halftime yesterday, uh at the Meadowlands, they met as an offense in the locker room and basically I’m not going to say it was like a come to Jesus meeting, but the coaches sat down with the players and said, “We need to stop trying trying to do too much. We need to play each play for itself.” Like play playbyplay. That’s how we’re going to how we’re going to attack the rest of this game. And I think you did see a little bit of a calmer Patrick Mahomes, a little bit of a a more level offense the rest of the way. Yeah, listen, they won, but the problem being um the Chargers are now 3-0 all division wins. The Chargers have beaten the Raiders, now the Broncos and the Chiefs. So, as Kansas City is struggling to create a run game and protect Patrick Mahomes and waiting for their best two receivers to get healthy, the Chargers keep winning. Now, the good news, the Broncos have found ways to lose the last two weekends, but um listen, the Chargers feel like they have surpassed at least for the time being the Kansas City Chiefs in an offensive league. They are struggling. 22nd time of possession right now. And with no run game, that means your defense is on the field longer. Your defense statistically gets hurt more than your offensive players. So they need worthy back, rice back. They have got to improve their time of possession and third down efficiency to keep their defense off the field cuz they are living right now on that defense. Meanwhile, Matt Hasselbeck stopped by. Say what you want. I I know nobody wants to give Caleb Williams credit. You know, I always people always say, Colin, give my team credit. That’s what Visa does or Mastercard. I’m not in the credit business. I’ve been saying this. I’m in the honesty business. Pittsburgh did not win yesterday. New England lost the game. New England was a better team. I mean, I looked I went and looked after the game yesterday at at the the box score. I mean, New England had 30% more first downs, almost double the yards, dominated time of possession. I mean, the Steelers even had more penalties. It’s the same team that went 0 and5 down the stretch. They can’t run the ball. Protection’s sketchy. Old quarterback doesn’t move well. Expensive defense that for some reason feels very vulnerable. And I said it last week, you’re going to beat Jake Browning. You’re going to beat Joe Flacco. You’re probably going to beat Drake May. Uh, and New England gave the game away. Five turnovers, dumb penalties, an awful interception right here. Ju just a terrible throw. So, um you know, I I this is the same team Pittsburgh that went on a fivegame skid at the end of last year. I mean, they got five turnovers and all their possessions without that and they scored three touchdowns. So, New England’s young. They make a lot of mistakes. They’ve got a a lot of new personnel. They’re not very good. But I I can’t give the Steelers credit on this because I’m here to be honest and I don’t think Pittsburgh’s very good. I thought they were totally outplayed. And I mean again, everybody’s going crazy because Aaron’s breaking records and he deserves credit because I’ve always thought he was better than Brett Favre top to bottom anyway. But with quarterbacks in the NFL with at least 20 attempts, Aaron’s dead last in air yards per completion. It is a dink and dunk offense that can’t run the ball. And listen, you get you get credit in this league for winning games when you’re playing terribly. And and and and the Steelers are going to go, if you look at their schedule, who’s coming up next, it’s, you know, Flaco and it’s it’s Jake Browning. They’re going to be five- one and the fans are going to be going crazy. Uh but they have fewer offensive yards than Detroit. And the Lions don’t play until tonight. They’ve only played two games. So, I I mean I I looked at the just the box score. If you would have not watched this game, you would have thought New England only won, but they blew them out. So, uh I mean they forced forced five turnovers. Mike Tomlin said, “I like that.” That’s why we spend as much time uh practicing down in that space as we do as a collective. Uh we got to be great on defense uh in the effort to win the point swing. We got to be great on offense and when you take the ball away, man, you you get all seven points. Usually you’re fighting for four. It cannot be going the way you desire. Uh but you better have enough emotion. You better have enough belief. Um you better stay the course in an effort to do it. I feel like I’ve been watching the exact same Steeler team for five years. Quarterbacks pass their prime. They can’t run. Pass protection is sketch. They’re loose on the details. that they kind of figure out a way. Their defense isn’t as good as what they pay for it. Uh but they kind of figure out a way to beat the bad teams. And this league’s got about 60% bad teams. And here’s Mike Vrabel on the turnovers that killed his young team. We don’t need to learn a lesson. We just have to not give them so many chances with turnovers. Take care of those things. And you know, there’s a lot to clean up. A lot of good in there. but unfortunately just not enough to to get us to win. I I’ll give Velable credit. He’s not necessarily barking at his players. He knows what he has. He He can see all the mistakes, the the youth. Um but I I I can’t just say every team that won deserved to win. Like there are weeks I mean Philadelphia trailed 26-7, but they dominate the second half and they earned those block kicks. The Eagles earned that stop on fourth and one. Eagles deserve to win that game. I mean, they dominate the second half. And Tampa Bay, had they lost, well, it would have been their fault. I mean, Jets scored three quick touchdowns. Boom, boom, boom. But in this instance, it was just a young team making mistakes with penalties and turnovers. Uh, but, you know, they won in Pittsburgh. They’re celebrating. I I I can’t give you too many flowers on that. It it it it is a very that that offense is a water pistol. There’s just not a lot there. Aaron made a couple of nice throws. He and DK Metaf have some symmetry there. It works. You deserve credit for that. Uh Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Top of hour number two. Matt Hasselbeck stops by. He’s going to talk all about the Chicago Bears uh among other teams. Tonight, Ravens Lions. We like Baltimore. Uh Baltimore at home against an NFC team usually turns out

Colin Cowherd is joined by Albert Breer to react to the latest in the NFL. They discuss whether the Indianapolis Colts and Daniel Jones are legitimate contenders, why the Los Angeles Rams aren’t on the Philadelphia Eagles level, what is wrong with Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos, why Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City are no longer an elite team, Nick Bosa’s injury for the San Francisco 49ers, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears’ win over the Dallas Cowboys, and more. Next Colin discusses the issues with Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

0:00 Albert Breer & Chiefs
15:35 Pittsburgh Steelers
17:37 Chiefs Concerns

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