Ryan Clark is taking the Chiefs OVER the Bills, because… 👀 | First Take

Ryan Clark is taking the Chiefs OVER the Bills, because… 👀 | First Take

Back here on first take time for a quick take. Baker Mayfield lit up against the ners. He was 17 of 23 for 256 yards with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. No Mike Evans, no Chris Godwin, no Bucky Irvin still gets it done. Cam, what do you make of Baker’s performance? I mean, what we’ve been able to see down in Tampa this year is nothing less than amazing. I mean, it’s been just a plum pleasing pleasure just to even witness it. I mean, the people call him Baker Mayfield, but I’m going to call him Baker John. Baker John is short for Baker John Tavius. The full display of electricity that Baker John has brought to the football field this year is something that I could just sit back on Sundays and just marvel after. My man is uh top five in passing yards, top five in TDs, and top 10 in QBR. All the while doing it with only one interception. And Stephen Anthony uh uh what we got? Uh Ryan Terry and uh I’mma add another one. Amina Laquisha with all that nook and nifty bucket. My man Baker John is over there having him a year. You know what? See, and I was going to ask him too, how does he come up with the middle names? But you know what? Cuz he’s because he’s game. That’s what he does. Let me say this. Let me say I didn’t like that in the middle. That was a That was a different one right there. No doubt about it. You know what I’m saying? But I will say this to you. I mean, right now, Baker Mayfield is the MVP. Yes. Absolutely. Right now, NFL MVP. Okay. Without Mike Evans, without Godwin, you know, Bua was ruled out of Sunday’s game after suffering a hamstring injury. He still goes out there and he does what he does. And that and that run, what was it? Fourth and what was it? Fourth and third. It was third and 14th. Third and 14. I mean, the brother’s special right now. He’s doing his thing. No doubt about it. And you said during the commercial break, you you were saying this RC, you were saying it wasn’t before it was Coxy. Now, now now he got Moxy. Now he got Moxy. You know what I’m saying? And and listen, he took a lot of Listen, right here on First Take, I was saying, “Yo, man, the brother got more progressive commercials than wins cuz that’s what it was.” I mean, we saw progressive commercials everywhere with him on them. And when Sunday came, we want to see the wins come associated with it. But he the biggest thing that I can say about him, he is a testament to not giving up on a lot of players. Like you gotta you gotta really really really take your time and know what you’re doing as an NFL evaluator to make sure you don’t give up on cats too early when you see somebody cuz I thought his career was over by the time he got to Carolina and then you see what he’s doing now. You would have never thought it but look at him. What it is though, it also shows that the public or the media or the outside perception, we don’t get to define what growth looks like. Right? What I love about what he said was it’s the same stuff just a different day. I have not changed. I’ve always spoken this way. I’ve always behaved this way. I’ve always led this way. I’ve always wanted to play this way. But because we are winning, because we are doing well, now the outside perception of me is different. He like, “I’ve been that and I’ve been this.” And we’ve seen Baker Mayfield play well before. The difference is now that when you lead the team like he does, when you do what he did on third and 14, when you throw a touchdown to Tez Johnson late, and then when you go into the media and he’s saying talking about him flipping, he said, “If I was 142, I could fly, too.” Like, he’s a part of that team. Cam knows this better than anybody cuz he was a football player, not just a quarterback. When your team counts you as one of the guys, when you’re ingratiated into the locker room, when you’re thought of as a football player and not just a QB, it has as much to do with how you behave and you treat them and you go about your day-to-day as the way that you play football. And you see all of those dudes now getting behind Baker Mayfield, the leader. And to me, that’s as much a part of why he’s the MVP as the play and the execution in important moment. There’s also a collective appreciation from a business standpoint, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the players in that locker room. Because you see, when you make so much money and you chalk up so much of those salary cap dollars, okay, then all of a sudden, I mean, you got cats that’s going to respect you, even rever you, but in a sense resent you because that’s less money for them. That ain’t the case with Baker Mayfield. He signed a three-year, $100 million deal. They had got him at 33 million. They restructured his deal to make sure he could get what was it 50 million guaranteed up to 115 million in incentives. It’s still a freaking bargain for a quarterback in the National Football League this year. So if you’re the Buccaneers, you’re sitting prettier than most because Dallas Cowboys would be a perfect example. We can’t take away what Dak is doing. Dak is the highest paid quarterback in the NFL at 60 million per year. We seeing Trevor Lawrence on a come up at 55 million along with others. We ain’t debating what Josh Allen that he’s earning his money that Lamar Jackson went healthy earning his money. Okay. But when you see a guy like Baker Milfield at the quarterback position, getting the pay that he’s getting and producing the way that he’s doing, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got him at a bargain, which enables them to take care of so many other people in that locker room. And you best believe those players in that locker room appreciate the position they’re in right now. Yeah. And Baker Mayfield just doing it without his top targets and Mike Evans. And also wait till they come back. Exactly. Wait until they come back. And that Buccaneers team, they’re going to be even scarier than they look right now. All right. The Chiefs got back on track with a commanding 30-7 win over the Lions last night. Patrick Mahomes drew for 257 yards and three touchdowns in the win, improving to 21 and five in his career following an inseason loss. the best record by any QB since starts were first tracked back in 1950. The Chiefs have now won three of their last four games since starting the season 0 and2 and now have the second shortest odds to win the AFC behind only the Buffalo Bills. I’m taking the field. We We ain’t never seen the Bills just dominate the AFC. The only team that we can say that about in the last seven years is the Kansas City Chiefs. Oh, by the way, the team that you should have buried when they were already in the hole because now they didn’t pop their head up off top of it and we all in trouble. This team is now three and three. Rasheed Rice comes back next week. And if it wasn’t for Baker Mayfield and the record of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to me, Patrick Mahomes would be the quarterback. We talked about playing the best ball. We talked about carrying a team, putting a team on his back with his legs, with his arm. And since Xavier Worthy has returned, this looks more like the offense we’re used to seeing from them. And when you go out and you stop a Detroit Lions team and hold them to under 20 points, especially since the first week of the season against the Packers, and they were doing everything, hook and ladder, quarterback quarterback catches in um out of the back field. They tried all that they could do. And you play that well on defense for Spags. The offense is moving the football like they’re moving the football. If not for an improbable drive, an improbable play by Trevor Lawrence, we’re looking at this team at four and two without having some of its best players early on in the season. And Travis Kelce looked like Travis Kelce last night. I would take the Chiefs as a more probable Super Bowl contender than the Buffalo Bills right now. Here’s my problem and my issue with with with what what RC just articulate. Cam, I’m coming to you because I don’t have much to say. Here’s my problem with RC right now. You know, again, I’m brilliant because I know I’m not. I listen to those who are my man Cam. I don’t I don’t I don’t I listen to Cam, but I can’t imitate him because he come up with some stuff that I just wouldn’t think about saying on national television. Okay, that’s true. Right. In RC’s case, here’s my issue with RC. All you had to say was for once, I mean at least once a year. Yo man, I listen to my man Stephen A and I echo what he said because I’ve been saying that for weeks. I’ve been saying it for weeks and and I usually defer to your brilliance and your excellence and I say RC said but RC did not. No, no. RC did not say he did. He did not say Stephen A’s been saying this. Stephen A’s been saying this. I’ve been saying it. I’ve been saying his name but you don’t get to just take it like we both RC when it come to Kansas City. No, I ain’t get that from RC. I ain’t get that from Cam. It don’t matter if you got it from me. I didn’t get it from you. I’ve been saying Rasheed Rice coming back week six. That’s all we need here. Everybody, everybody can Hollywood Brown, Travis Kelce, the whole crew. They ain’t been together and then thought doing something and PCO acting like he want to run the football now. I mean, I’m just looking at them. Kansas City. Hell no. We ain’t going with the Bills. We going with the field because the field includes Kansas City. But you can’t have everything, dog. You got all the jobs. You got all I don’t have all the You got everything. Now you want to take my take, dude. You got just as many jobs as I do. You got many jobs. I’m not going to lie. You do got a lot. You got a lot of jobs. You got a lot of jobs. Go ahead. Who you taking the Bills or the field in the AFC? Now you got the producers in my ear saying hurry up. I thought you ain’t had too much to say, Stephen. A but I’m gonna answer this question by basically that’s cool. All all is party. All is party. You know what I’m saying? So, it’s two it’s twofold right here because one thing that I do know is when you hear, “Hey, hey, let’s go Buffalo.” And when you start seeing those fans get involved in the game, I’m going to have to go with the Buffalo Bills. If Buffalo ain’t at home, I got to go with the field because there’s one thing that the Bills mafia brings to a dynamic of a game. And when they’re not inserted into the game, they’re a whole different team. Now, I don’t want to give credit to whoever, and I don’t want to, you know, just ruffle anybody’s feathers, but I will pluck feathers every now and then if need be. At the end of the day, when you start to see Kansas City Chiefs play how they playing, they look a little different, they feel a little different, and they act a little little different because if and when Rashi Rice comes and inserts himself into this roster and you have Xavier Worthy making the biggest impact of all because not only is he catching the pass, but he’s leaving and relieving El Tradora to now make plays as he once did. It’s gonna get real spooky, man. And I don’t think the NFL wants to see that again, but it’ll still be good for business as a whole for the NFL. I mean, uh, you know, at one point the Buffalo Bills were hosting in the playoffs. That’s right. And a man named Patrick Mahome win and then beat them. Walk into that building and walk out of window. That’s just what they do the postseason. Usually the Bills are able to beat the Chiefs during the regular season. It only matters post. And Cam Doo know something about plucking feathers. He’s always plucking one for one of them hats of his. You know what I’m saying? I know he do. He stay peacock peacock. I know what he doing. Have guys showing up to only player only meetings late, guys not showing up to player only meetings. Like there there’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? So, so it it’s it’s a lot of uh it’s a lot of things of of that nature um that we got to get cleaned up. And it starts with the little things like that. That was Dolphins QB Tua Tongaboa calling out some of his teammates after Miami’s loss to the Chargers. Elsewhere in the AFC East, the Jets lost to the Broncos 13-11 in London, the Dolphins and Jets are now a combined 1 and 11 this season. The Jets finished with -10 net passing yards in the loss and leading to questions about QB Justin Fields job security. Is he going to be your quarterback next week or would you Come on, man. What kind of question is that? He did not have a good game. I mean, I think it’s a fair play. There’s a number of guys that, you know, I mean, sometimes this this league is like this and there are guys that have bad games. That doesn’t mean you just bench them. Come on. You know better than that. So, speaking again earlier this morning, Glenn admitted that Fields took a step back Sunday, but said, “I don’t think you just try to bench a player after having one true bad game.” So, Stephen A, here’s the question. Which team needs to reset more? Is it the Jets or the Dolphins? You know, sometimes we have to admit we just don’t freaking know. I just got on national television at the beginning of the show and said, “Mike McDan’s got to go.” I’m not going to say that about Aaron Glenn. But I’ll be damned if somebody ain’t in a position to call me a liar. I don’t know. I I mean, ladies and gentlemen, clearly with the Jets, it’s an organizational thing. The New York Jets I I I want America to understand how bad the New York Jets have been. Cam Newton, the retired Cam Newton, okay, won league MVP five years after the Jets had their last win season. Last, I’m sorry, made the playoffs. They’ve had one winning season in 14 years. They have missed the playoffs 14 consecutive years. And it it it the level of futility is so alarming. You have to wonder whether or not you should change the water board. Dang. It the water might be cont. You got to look into everything. You got to look into everything. It it’s it’s it’s so bad you got to look beyond football to find out where else something’s going wrong because it has to be contaminated football because you can’t believe that level of futility exists. The Jets are awful. Awful. I mean horrid. And Aaron Glenn is at the helm now. And then when you got players like yesterday like that was the explanation. I mean that was the explanation. I don’t know. They like they’re like, “We don’t know what’s going on.” Now, that’s where the indictment comes in. When a player comes across as clueless as to the direction of a play or or or what play was being called or whether or not it was the right play, the players were on the sidelines saying they didn’t understand the play. That’s coaching. But the coaching may very well have been contaminated by the franchise because when we saw Aaron Glenn on a real NFL sideline, he was considered an elite defensive coordinator deserving of the head coaching job. Yeah. So I I don’t know the answer to this question. All I know is this. I hope he don’t lose his job, but if he does, it ain’t going to be nobody protesting about it. And that’s just the truth. Look, I I hear you say all the time, Stephen, that there’s a black cat walking around that Jets facility. It certainly it certainly feels like it every single year. Cam, I’m scared to drive by that practice facility. I might something might go wrong. I might I might come down with something. It’s bad over there with the Jets. It’s bad. Cam, who needs to reset more, the Jets or the Dolphins? I’m going to go with the Dolphins. Uh there’s valuable excuses that can be said and be had in New York. Now, I will say plays or displays of what we seen yesterday from the New York Jets, uh execution wise, those are reasons why coaches get fired. It’s not just because of the record. It’s more so the display of how you guys are losing the game. when you see guys, you know, having poor execution of of blunders right before a half and then that that’s not the thing. Stephen A, to your point, as you said earlier or alluded to, you know, with Tuatong Aloa and Mike McDaniels, I’ve never seen Garrett Wilson just act out like this. It’s like, what are we doing? Like, I mean, ever. And, you know, I ain’t never see this happen with Aaron Rogers last year and he had all the reason to act out in this type of manner. But at the end of the day, when you see Aaron Glenn console him right there and come up with an understanding that’s promising what’s happening in Miami, it ain’t no thing. It ain’t nothing to just come back from that because it’s unraveling faster than November 1st as a mummy. Meaning that Halloween costumes is now put up for next year. Uh ladies and gentlemen, it is bad and I mean real bad for Tua and Mike McDaniels. And it’s going to be unfortunate outcome, you know, in in a couple weeks. Well, here’s why I say Miami because you got to have patience at least this year with the Jets. You mentioned that Aaron Glenn came from Detroit with Dan Campbell and Dan Campbell’s first year. They only won three football games. They didn’t get their first tie until November 14th, 2021 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the week before they lost 44-6 to the Eagles, right? And then later December 5th, they get their first win. So it took that entire time for culture to take place, for things to take hold. And they had a former Super Bowl starting quarterback as the quarterback to kind of lead them. That’s what the Jets have to figure out. Is Justin Fields our guy? How do we get Justin Fields, if I’m Tanner Ing Ingstrand, how do I get him to play his best? in Miami. We’ve seen their best already. We’ve seen them be a team we thought could contend for the AFC East. We’ve seen them be a team that gets it to the playoffs and goes to Kansas City and because it’s below zero temperatures, they can’t even function. A team that’s unraveling before our eyes publicly pointing fingers at one another. The Jets are starting over and now the team that needs to reset or maybe to start over is the Miami Dolphins. Well, what I’m saying is, and I don’t disagree with that, I’m just saying that Dan Campbell was losing football games. You didn’t see players on the sideline throwing their hands like we don’t know what we’re doing, you know, and like like yesterday was a very very bad day for coach Aaron Glenn when Justin Fields got ladies and gentlemen, do you understand that the that that it was minus 10 passing yards yesterday? You have you you you you went backwards. It’s minus. Do you understand that non football people can go on a football field and do zero? Like zero. Do we need a graphic for that though? Do we need you understand the magnitude of what I’m saying? Nonoot people can go on the on the football field and record a zero. No yards rushing, no yards passing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. You understand? You know how difficult it is to go through a game and be minus? My lord. And then I throw up how you had the players, Gary Wilson, them looking like befuddled and lost. And that was for the world to see. I’m just saying that kind of moment, that kind of thing happening on your watch is a very bad thing. It’s one thing to lose. It’s another thing to look lost. When you’re the coach, your players aren’t supposed to look lost. Why is Bill Bichc taking heat? This is a six-time champion as a head coach, an eight-time champion overall. We’re watching Carolina. It’s not just that they’re losing games. You’re looking at Bill Bichc in the microphone forgetting the technology that we live in in this day and age. Repeatedly asking, “What are we doing? What are we doing?” See that? And again, it’s not as flagrant, but you see that. And when you see something like that, it becomes very, very scary because it means that as a coach, you’re not reaching your players. Yeah. Or you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. We ain’t going to ever accuse Bill Bich for not knowing what he’s doing. We don’t know to say that about Aaron Glenn when it comes to him as a head coach. Yeah. No, I think but I think the point you make about how it looks is extremely important. Like how hard are we competing? How are we executing? How prepared are we for each situation? Those are the things that Aaron Glenn has to focus on as this season goes on because it’s apparent now that this roster is not in place to win. Yeah. So, what gives me hope as you go into next season? What happens down the stretch of this season? Does this team stay together? Does the locker room continue to galvanize? And can we get young players to play at a level where we believe there’s a chance for you to win? If he doesn’t do those things, they’re going to continue to be these questions that we see postgame as to whether or not Justin Fields will be the starting quarterback the next. And by the way, last thing, Cam, and stuff. You got Sam Donald who was there. He’s balling. You got I mean, Zach Wilson is a backup in Miami. We get that part. You know, you just see Aaron Rogers, he’s winning in Pittsburgh right now. I mean, everywhere you turn, people are having ammunition to troll the New York Jets. It’s just very, very bad. It is. It’s bad. But you gave Aaron Glenn a little bit more grace because it is his first season. So, you wait to see what happens in the hopefully consequential seasons that will come for him. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Cam Newton and Ryan Clark join to discuss the latest storylines in the NFL, including:

0:00 Bucs are 5-1
1:30 Baker Mayfield’s improvement
5:50 Taking the Bills to win the AFC?
8:06 Chiefs vs. Bills
9:45 Cam Newton weighs in
12:15 Who is worse: Jets or Dolphins?
13:30 Stephen A. weighs in
16:27 Cam Newton weighs in

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