The Chiefs will STILL make the PLAYOFFS – Jeff Saturday + The Jaguars’ performance | First Take

The Chiefs will STILL make the PLAYOFFS – Jeff Saturday + The Jaguars’ performance | First Take

Indeed they were. Hello. Happy Tuesday everyone. Stephen A already started the introductions but we’ll do it one more time here on First Take. I am Shay Cornetti is Chris Kanty. Jeff Saturday. Sergeant Friday I believe it was. I like that too. Don’t don’t don’t it’s the only critical word that I am allowed to say to Jeff Saturday today because my sister Carmen is home watching. She loves old blue eye. Yes. Yes, she does. She love herself. She loves herself. At least we got one intelligent one in the family. We’re great. We got the goat. But we got the goat. It’s hard to argue with Jeff Saturday when you look in his eyes. It’s hard hard to argue with him. But let me tell you who’s going to try their best, these two today here on First Take. Uh let’s go to what happened last night cuz in a week where we had a lot of teams have their coming out party, Jacksonville late to the party, but they came out that’s for certain. So last night the Jags got the best of the Chiefs thanks to a pick six off Patrick Mahomes. last second unprobable touchdown by Trevor Lawrence. And with the win, the Jags match their win total from last season and the Chiefs fall to below 500. Here’s Patrick Mahomes on the loss. Yeah, I mean, uh, obviously it sucks. You know, you you let a game slip away. Um, credit to them. They they played hard. They played hard the entire game and we got to be better. You know, we we we’ve lost too many games already. Um, and so we got to find a way to to be better as a team and um, come together and uh, play better throughout the rest of the season. Now, that’s for certain. Look, with last night’s loss, I mentioned the Chiefs are under 500, but it’s at the latest point in the season since starting three and four in 2021. A year ago, they did not go to the Super Bowl. That year, I’m sorry, 2021, they didn’t go to the Super Bowl. Last night was the Chief’s third loss this season in a one-sore game after going 11-0 in one-score games just a year ago. And so look, we knew the Jags were coming, right? They had started out really good so far this season. The Chiefs looked to be better the last couple of weeks, but does last night, Stephen A, say more about the Jags and where they’re at or the Chiefs and their problems? Well, for me personally, when I think about it, I like to say I think it says more about the Jags and how they’re coming up because it was Monday night. It was a big stage for them. And we we know what Patrick Mahomes can do. When Kansas City took the lead, we weren’t surprised. We see that Rasheed Rice is going to be on the way back. Okay, you know Xavier Worthy’s already already there. Kelsey’s already there. Hollywood Brown’s already there. Okay, you look at Thor in the got to pay attention to him. You see the requisite weapons that Kansas City has at it as it at its disposal and you’re anticipating that things are going to be on the come up. Meanwhile, you see the Chargers having tailed off a little bit. Broncos making some noise. The Raiders are just garbage right now. We get all of that. So, you expect Kansas City to be in the mix. And you were wondering coming into this game whether or not Trevor Lawrence was gonna step up and handle the big stage. You know, they’ve got some weapons, but in the same breath, you got some cats that haven’t been necessarily reliable like Thomas and others. But then you look at him coming into the game and you’re saying to yourself, his completion percentage wasn’t that great, receivers needing to step up, these question marks about Jacksonville coming into this game, particularly with the number of changes that they made in the offseason. Were you going to step up and answer the call on your home turf in Jacksonville on Monday Night Football with Patrick Mahomes on the opposite side of the field? Usually that last the the the the possession is in his hands, you know, and he’s willing to dictate and he’s going to dictate it and you’re just it’s a nightmare. Damn, Patrick Mahomes got the ball, but it was Trevor Lawrence’s turn last night and he answered the call. And you got to give credit where credit is due. And that’s why I say this was more about the Jaguars last night in terms of what I’m paying attention to cuz the Chiefs I’m not really worried about. I wanted to see what the Jaguars was going to do. So, are you saying you trust Trevor Lawrence? I’m not saying that. I’m saying that I’m saying I’m saying that he’s elevated he’s elevated himself. We want we needed to see that from him last night to have a reason to believe in him based off of what we’ve seen the last couple of years. I hear you cuz I still got questions about Trevor Lawrence which means I got questions about the Jacksonville Jaguars which is why I think last night’s game tells me more about the Kansas City Chiefs. the fact that your staple over the better part of this decade has been the defensive side of the ball and they allowed for 21 unanswered points and at the end of the game Harrison Bucker has the gaff kicking the ball out of bounds gifting them the ball on the minus 40 yardd line and then your defense allows the Jacksonville Jaguars to drive 60 yards for the game-winning score that’s an absolute embarrassment we already know that the Chiefs have some issues on the offensive side of the ball right they can’t run the football four of the five games that they’ve played, they’ve had a non-running back lead the team in rushing. That ain’t great. Yeah, they’re relying on too much of Patrick Mahomes trying to be special with the off schedule plays. And even though he did show some of that last night, that is not something that’s going to be able to be sustainable. And so I guess my issue with the Kansas City Chiefs now, because everybody has said that Kansas City is going to be fine when Xavier Worthy gets back, Kansas City is going to be fine when Rasheed Rice gets back. I think we have to acknowledge that this version of the Kansas City Chiefs is not like versions of the Kansas City Chiefs that we’ve seen in past years. Yeah, I I’m gonna go with the same thing. I I think it’s the Chiefs and and and Shay brought it up in in the beginning, 11-0 last year in one score games, 0 and3 this year. And if you think about the problems they’re having, it’s their best players. Like Chris Jones against the Chargers, right? He goes inside on the last play, Herbert gets outside, they end up losing that game. You you have uh Kelsey hits him in the hands in Philadelphia. Ball pops up, interception goes the other way. Last night, Mahomes and you know, basically put the put the nail in the coffin. Interception, pick six, goes all the way back to the house. These are all their best players. Bucker kicking the ball out of bounds. You know, these are all the guys that you’ve depended on for the last four and five years and who have continued to show up week in and week out. I am I’m I’m I’m bullish like w with with with Stephen A on the offense. They will get that part back. I am concerned from the defensive side with Spags that they don’t because that is how you hang that’s their calling card is closing teams out. The the offense walked off with a four-point lead. Like like those are usually close outs, right? Those are moments of closeouts. Spags defense gets after it and I get like the throw that that Lawrence makes on the right side to to Thomas is absolutely insane, right? Dropping the bread. a catch and the throw are magnificent. But the the Jags the the the the Jags should have never been at 14 nothing. You thought that game was going to be over. They were resilient. They fought their way back. But my my question for the Chiefs is we’re not measuring them on the playoffs. We’re measuring them on winning the Super Bowl. But the the Chiefs are we they either win the Super Bowl or it’s a failed season. That’s a tough measuring stick year in year. This is what drives me crazy about you two. This is what drives me crazy. Listen, I defer to y’all. You I’m brilliant cuz I know I’m not. I’m okay. But this is what drives me crazy about y’all. So, we’re looking at the Jacksonville Jaguars who won four games last year, right? They already have four wins this year. We’re looking at them leading the league in turnovers. In forced turnovers. Think about that right now. We’re looking at them on Monday Night Football against Patrick Mahomes. Okay, what week is this? Week five. We really gonna sit up here and make a big deal about what we’re seeing from Kansas City in week five. This is Patrick Mahomes. I mean, think about this. When you talk about a Rashid Rice, a Hollywood Brown, a Travis Kelce, you know, all of these cats, they haven’t been on the field together as Kansas City Chiefs yet. Not one time, right? And so, ultimately, you’re anticipating, okay, what’s going to happen when that happens? Because we know what Andy Reid can do. We know what Patrick Mahomes can do. And we know what Travis Kelce can do even at this stage in his career if you’ve got other people that you’ve got the key on and you don’t get to really key on him. So I’m looking at it. I ain’t even bring up a Czecho and Kareem Hunt because we know, listen, we’re not satisfied with what they’re doing. No, but we also have seen them perform in big moments before. I’m just saying it’s week five. I’m not thinking about Kansas City. I’m thinking about a Jacksonville Jaguars team that this time last year and week five was irrelevant already. This time two years ago and week five was irrelevant then. All of a sudden, not only are they not irrelevant, they’re up in first place. I’m just saying, “Wait a minute, guys. You got to pay attention to this new coach, new system. You draft your you draft drafted Travis Hunter. You got you got Trevor Lawrence out there looking like a damn quarterback for a chance cuz the last time we saw him look like that was when he came back from a 27 nothing deficit against the Chargers in the postseason on their home turf.” This is the best comeback that they’ve had since that day. Since that day. That’s what I’m talking about when I’m looking at the Jaguars. Y’all are talking about the Kansas City Chiefs cuz the expectation of the Super Bowl. And I’m saying there’s a long way to go before the playoffs begin when it comes to them, but when it comes to the Jaguars, every damn week count cuz you never know when they’re going to plummet. Oh, no, no doubt about it, Stephen. A, but I think two things can be true. It’s important that Jacksonville has a signature win when Liam Cohen is trying to establish his program down there as a new head coach. But I think we also have to acknowledge that yesterday’s accolades don’t get you tomorrow’s wins. And right now a lot of guys on the Kansas City Chiefs are more named than game. This is the latest that they’ve been below 500 since the 2021 season. And they didn’t make the Super Bowl this year. And Jeff Saturday just got done telling you we judge the Kansas City Chiefs based on their ability to be able to get to and win Super Bowls. So there is a different standard. I am not going to gloss over the things that we’re seeing from this Kansas City Chiefs team. I can’t gloss over what I saw from Chris Jones at the end of yesterday’s game. It’s hard. He gave up on a play. It’s hard to give up give him the benefit of the doubt on a a play with the game in the balance, especially when I saw him loaf. Here’s the video. Well, here we go. I mean, here’s here’s here’s the video of Chris Jones making that run. And and here’s the thing. He’s not even getting off the ball. But here’s I can’t even give him the benefit of the doubt on that play because I saw earlier in the second half him allow Trevor Lawrence to run into the end zone on another touchdown in the red zone. Those types of plays, that kind of effort from your best player and one of your team leaders is absolutely unacceptable. And so you have to wonder at what point does complacency set in with the Kansas City Chiefs. Remember in the Mahomes era, they’ve played two months more of football than anybody else during that span when you consider those deep playoff runs. Yeah. So, I mean that has to be weighed when it comes to what we can expect from Kansas City for the remainder of the regular season. Now, I will say this, okay, first of all, Xavier Worthy, I don’t know that he’s all the way 100% healthy. And you’re right, we haven’t seen them all play together. That wasn’t an excuse last week. That wasn’t an excuse last week with the Baltimore Raiders with a swollen ankle. I mean, this seems like a newish kind of injury. Anyways, as we go back to the defensive side of the ball and Chris Jones not doing what he’s expect, we’re over here always criticizing with Patrick Mahomes throws a pick six. Travis Kelce, the offense, the defense. I’m sorry, Chris Jones did not look like himself yesterday in prime time on a Monday game against a very good Jaguars team. Like, he deserves a little bit of the smoke for sure. And listen, he a loaf is a loaf. And and the and the problem is that’s your captain. Like that that’s And I mean, how many Super Bowlers have he has he closed out? It’s a dude now. He’s not just good for the Chiefs, he’s one of the best in our business. And so when you see a guy in a moment like that stop, not drive, not go in football from pee-wee on, it’s on defense. Pursue, pursue, pursue through the echo of the whistle. Stop before you go on. Y, we owe it to the audience to read the quote that Chris Jones gave after the game. Okay, we’ve got to finish that play. It was a fluke play for him to be able to break that many tackles. I put it on us as a defense. We’ve got to finish. We’ve got to bring him down right there. Yeah. To weave. Not by him. Now, you can continue. I just want to make sure that everybody know you watched the video and then you saw the quote cuz we want to contextualize things properly on the first and that’s fair. And and again, he’s he’s this is the best in our business. And when you see a guy do that in that moment and that’s what I was talking about why it was more of an indictment to me on the chief is it’s their best players. This is these are the guys who leave. So think about it. Think about the hierarchy of a locker room when you walk in. When I first walked in the Annapolis Colts, I watched Marvin Harrison practice that I’m going to practice like that guy. He’s in the Hall of Fame for a reason. He took every day like it was a game day, right? He was like, “Look, we get paid to practice. We play the games for free.” Type idea, right? It’s those guys. So on the team as as the attrition of football happens and 33% of your team changes over you go look at those guys people watching that that that ain’t how we lead and the problem right now is too many of their best players in marquee moments are not showing up and and listen I I I think they will make the playoffs. I think this is still a very good team. In fact, I think they’ll probably win their division, right? But but I’m not measuring the Chiefs on making the playoffs. When you have the when you got that guy at quarterback and you got Spags and that defense, I’m measuring them winning the Super Bowl. When I see the best players make the or have the problems, this isn’t some young rookie left tackle. This is the guys like they got to make respectfully. I think what you’re breaking down is not enough. Is it a matter of them losing it or is it a matter of arrogance? Yo, we ain’t worried about nothing because we know the playoffs is a new season and when we get there, we know what we can do. We know what we’re going to do because we’ve been to five of the last super six Super Bowls. Is it about performance in terms of ability or is it arrogance usurping their ability and that’s why we’re talking about them the way? Yeah, I I don’t think it’s arrogance. I I think No, I do not. Because here’s it’s never like you don’t the the the last play. You could talk about the loaf, you know, whatever that may be. That could be a different conversation. But like Mahomes getting picked, getting tricked, uh the Kelsey, you know, hitting him in the thing, like hitting him in the hands, and then Philly picking it off. It’s it’s the details. Bucker kicking the ball out of bounds when you got the lead. Like those are mistakes you can’t make when you are that team. They’re too good to make those mistakes. Those are the ones that I I I don’t like seeing. Yeah, I don’t like seeing them either, and that’s why I lean toward complacency. Although I will say there does feel to be a touch of organizational arrogance because of how special Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are that they haven’t done enough around both of them to take full advantage of what they’re bringing to the table while you got them together in their prime. That’s separate in in a part. But when it comes to the performance on the field, when you have your leaders playing below the standard that you established over the last decade, that is a problem, Stephen A. And you have to ask the question why. And the only thing that I can lean on is the fact that they’ve been able to pull out of these no dives. They’ve seen seasons where they started out three and four and found a way to win their division, found a way to get to the conference championship game. They’re leaning on past experience and that proof of concept that they can do it. And the problem with that in the NFL is that every season is brand new. Yeah. And there is no guarantee that when you dig this early regular season hole, you’re going to be able to climb back up. I just I I I I’m in no position to disagree with you. I just know that in all my years of covering sports, I’ve run across on many many occasions you going up against competition. Competition that you’ve owned and you make a lot of assumptions about what they’re going to do or what they’re not going to be able to do and that might compromise the level of urgency that you need to have. I’ve seen it. I’ve heard folks speak on it. I’ve heard I can’t even tell you how many times you you go into a locker room after a game. You talk to players before game. Yeah, we going to bust it. You live in North Police. They ain’t ready. The brothers say they ain’t got it. They ain’t You know, and literally you have no concern and then all of a sudden they shock the world. I’ve seen that happen to teams that have been champions before. That’s all I’m saying. [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Chris Canty, and Jeff Saturday join Shae Cornette to discuss what happened during the Kansas City Chiefs’ loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

0:00 Kansas City Chiefs vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
1:05 Patrick Mahomes’ comment
1:32 Kansas City Chiefs’ record
2:00 Was this game more about the Chiefs or the Jaguars?
9:20 Chris Jones’ effort
13:30 Thoughts on the Chiefs

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