‘Critical Moments’ – Chiefs vs. Broncos Preview w/ Kingsley Suamataia | Defending The Kingdom

‘Critical Moments’ – Chiefs vs. Broncos Preview w/ Kingsley Suamataia | Defending The Kingdom

Oh, I’ve been asked all actually the last couple of weeks about this Chiefs Denver game coming up and is it a must-win? No, it’s not a must-win. There’s a lot of season left, but it is a critical time. And yes, it’s a critical game. This edition of Defending the Kingdom is brought to you as always by your good friends at Ticketmaster. They become your really good friends as you see these awesome games coming up here from now until the end of the regular season to get ready for the playoffs. The Chiefs will have Rashi Rice in the Wildcat. He’s going to run the Wildcat power near side and he will trot into the end zone. Touchdown Kansas City. Hi everyone, I’m Mitch Holtz, voice of the Chiefs along with senior team reporter Matt McMullen. And this theme of this podcast on defending the kingdom, Chiefs and Broncos. Broncos twoame lead over the Chiefs who we all know have won nine straight AFC West titles, second in NFL history. Not a must-win, but a critical time and a critical game. Yeah, it feels important. Uh because right now the Chiefs still control their own destiny in the AFC West. You play the Broncos two times. You have an opportunity to make up that ground on them and at the tiebreaker over them. Uh but you got to win these games and Denver’s playing good football this year. We’ll talk all about their team. Uh kind of a weird season for them. Uh but they’re eight and two. They’re playing good football and we have to have our best on Sunday. Yeah, very interesting study when you look at the Denver Broncos closely and what they’ve done to give them credit to have that 8-2 record and they’ve done it very similarly to the way the Chiefs did it in 2024, right? The 11 one possession wins for the Chiefs like oh man. Yeah, we got criticized for it. Yeah, can’t do that. You can’t. Broncos are doing it. Hey, it’s gutsy. Yeah, gutsy. But hey, give them credit. You win these close games and do it in a variety of ways. They block field goals, too, uh to win games, but give them credit. They’re eight and two and the Chiefs are five and four. Before we dive into this game and the critical nature of it, let’s go around the world. Let’s do it. I’ve got four for you today. And I’ve got a couple too. Hopefully a big day for RH Rice coming up. Uh we have a listener in Cape Town, South Africa. I want to go to Cape Town. Be cool. Me, too. Yeah. Yeah. Be great to do a show there. It would be. I think we should just got to avoid the First time we’ve had Cape Town, I think. I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Um this is a cool one. Shout out to Go ahead. No, my daughter lived in Botswana for two and a half years with her husband and they would go to South Africa and I’m pretty sure they went down to Cape Town a couple times, but yeah, I think it’s like a beautiful place. Just got to avoid the sharks. Um, shout out to uh Janie O’Donnell from Omaha. So Janie is 93 years young. Yeah. Uh, and a lifelong cheese fan. Her son Ralph, who’s also a huge cheese fan, uh, recently became the bishop of Jefferson City. So shout out to you both. Yeah. Pretty cool. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, but shout out to you, Jamie. Um, awesome that you’re stuck with the Chiefs this long and it’s paying off here over the last 10 years. Omaha Kingdom hotbed. Mhm. Uh, shout out to Phillip. So, uh, Ellie and I have this new routine where we get kalachis every, uh, Saturday morning. You ever had a kalachi before? Yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah. Kalachis are amazing. If you’ve never had one, it’ll change your life. Now, if you’re really going to have a kalachi, Uhhuh. you need to go to either Cuba Cuba, Kansas. Okay. Wilson, Kansas. or Wilbur, Nebraska. Okay. Those are the Czech capitals of those respective areas. Really? Yeah. Dual capital for Kansas. And they make a mean kalachi. You wait till you have just go to Wilbur, Nebraska, and have a kalachi and all other kalachis will not taste the same. Okay. Okay. Well, that’s good to know. I uh all of you Czech folks of the Bohemian heritage will you can get Matt just send him some of your best kalachis from W, Nebraska. I’m in the market for it. Or Cuba, Kansas. So, we started going and getting kalachis every Saturday morning and then we get coffee after the fact and uh we did it the three weeks that the Chiefs won three games in a row. We didn’t do it before the Bills game. So, that’s on me. That is on me and I’ll own that one. Uh we were back at it during the bye-week though trying to get some good. If you get a from Wilson, Kansas, Cuba, Kansas, or Wilbur, Nebraska, we may run the table. Okay, I think I have to do it then. Just saying. Well, I’ll bring this back around. Uh we ran into Philip while he was also getting some kalachis on Saturday morning and he said hi. So, shout out to you, Philip. I hope you enjoyed your breakfast. Do you have Czech heritage? I don’t think so. Okay. I don’t think so. I think this is kind of more of a melting pot situation, but regardless, they’re delicious. Um, so, uh, Ellie and I also went to the KC current playoff game on Sunday. Bummer of a game, current lost, uh, without their two, uh, best goal scorers. Awesome experience though. Atmosphere was super cool. Um, it was very cold, uh, but we hung in there. Um, two DTK defenders came up and said hi. Unfortunately, I was so cold and had gloves on, I didn’t think to write their names down, unfortunately. You know who you are. Thank you for saying hi. Uh, bummer of a game, but awesome experience. And the current will be back. That team is awesome. Have you been out there yet to a current game? No. And I so want to do that. It’s on the bucket list. Um, yeah, I’d love to take my granddaughters out there and drive by that stadium all the time and thinking that is a cool looking stadium. It’s super cool. The atmosphere is great. Uh, and that team’s going to win it all here soon enough. Still want to do it. Um, anyway, uh, one quick announcement. So, uh, fan of the year voting is now going on. Uh, congratulations to Dr. Ivet Richards. She is the Chief’s fan of the year. Uh, Dr. Richards is incredible. I had a chance to meet her a few weeks ago. Gigantic Chiefs fan, but also has done like so much in our community just to help others. Uh, largely through her role as a director of community connection and mission at the St. James United Methodist Church. Uh, so involved in helping others, kind of dedicated her life to it, uh, and loves the Chiefs. And she is our fan of the year. So, you can vote for Dr. Richards to be the NFL fan of the year by visiting the link in the bio section of this podcast. Go uh let’s go support our own, right? Vote for Dr. Richards. That’s all I’ve got for you today. I’ve got a couple. Uh again, we know about the 300 meter walk where there’s somebody internationally waiting for me on my walk to the stadium on game day. And you didn’t have any last. No, didn’t. But the Chiefs Kingdom show has turned into international. They go to a game, they come here for a pilgrimage. Uhhuh. And then they stay over and go to a Kingdom show. It’s become a deal. So that’s really cool. Yeah. One, this is in the States, but Susie Espinosa from Tampa, Florida did this. Okay. And um so great gal, but Howard and Allison Manion from Manchester, England. Okay, that’s cool. I don’t know if they’re Manu or Man City. Stayed away from that. Then Rick and Carol Riker from Sebeck, Washington, which is the pickle ball capital of the USA, and no less than 14 Germans came. I’m going to I’m not going to read them all. I’ll save that for the next one. Okay. Uh next DTK, but I’ve got their names. But these German fans keep coming to games and to make the they just want everything. Kind of give me everything Chiefs. and then they’ll stay for the Kingdom Show and just have at it, you know, with the geeks and the red coaters and the um lake rats and everybody else. So, it’s just been kind of fun and it’s internationally. They’ll come up and go, “Where are you from?” you know, and but they’re all Kingdom Defenders and it and it’s been awesome to see. The other one I would say is to Officer Bronn of the Kansas Highway Patrol. Yes. Um a wonderful young lady, really courageous lady. Um, this is you and I have it should be the perils of Matt and Mitch. It should could be its own segment. Yeah. So, during bye-week I went to help my dad in Smith Center. They’re in the Elite 8, as you know, 1A. Let’s go. And a terrific game that I got to see. That’s not the story. The story is it usually takes four hours. This took eight o over eight hours. Um, there was a terrible accident I7. That’s one. But then a tire blows up. My tire blows out in the dark of the night uh on the Kansas turnpike. And how fast were you going? uh fast enough. That’s scary. Pretty scary. Super scary. But yeah, thank the Lord. But this guardian angel comes up in the Kansas Highway Patrol uh car and incredible gal. Uh Officer Bronn, that’s all I know. But I did talk to her and found out her dad I know her dad. Of course you do. Yeah. One of the top This is the most Mitch thing ever. One one of the top football officials ever in the state of Kansas. And he too in his career was Kansas Highway Patrolman. Okay. But she was so good and helped me so much. And you know, it’s halfway terrifying because 18 wheelers are going by you about from me to you. Uh for those of you not Yeah. in the dark for, you know, mere feet away and it’s just roaring by and there’s so much traffic there. And she was great. She goes, “If I get called out, I’m going to have to leave, you know, until we get things fixed here. But, um, I’m gonna stay here. I’ll help you try to help you out here and try to keep you safe.” But it made me think of all the women and men who are part of the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Missouri Highway Patrol, the Nebraska Highway Patrol, the Iowa State Patrol. I have met many of you sometimes that way, but mostly uh at events uh in De Moines and other places like I’ve, you know, when I was helping with the HY Indie Car race, they would all be there, giant cheese fans, many of them. So, uh, the point is I was just reminded every night how much those women and men have to deal with, especially on the turnpike. The turnpike’s a little bit like combat duty. I I’m just going to tell you that right now. You And so, you never know. But, I just want to give a shout out to Officer Brun of the Kansas Highway Patrol. Thank you so much. I can’t uh thank you enough. And your dad’s a pretty good football official. But that being said, um, and we’re also, um, we’re taping this on Veterans Day. And for those of you foreign fans who come here, the fact that really to visit the National World War I Museum should be on your bucket list as much as going to GEA Field at Arrowhead Stadium because it’s phenomenal. Yeah. And there are people in the that live here that have never gone and and you need to go and because of the meaning of it. But I’ll never forget the 2018 game against the Arizona Cardinals. It was the exact 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. And the 11th hour, the 11th month, the 11th day, November 11th, and 21 bells were sounded in our stadium, much like it was sounded all across Europe at that exact time 100 years earlier. And I remember just one by one, players stopped. They were warming up and just froze. And now Brad Young and our production crew was phenomenal that day. But I just remember the moment and thinking of Kansas City giving attention on Veterans Day to all of our veterans, but especially uh with the National World War I Museum here of why why on 11-11 in the 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month, and why it’s so meaningful. Yeah. I think the World War I Museum being here is in a lot of ways for people like in New York with the Statue of Liberty, like they never go see it, right? They’re like, “Oh, well, it’s here. I’ll go do it at some point. Uh I’m fortunate that growing up my dad was like, “No, we’re going. We’re going to check this thing out.” And uh I go every couple of years. Um especially when people come in town. It’s incredible. Uh and yeah, if you live in Kansas City and just have never gone before, it’s really worth your time. You’ll learn a lot. And if you’re making these pilgrimages like so many people are to go catch a game here in Kansas City, uh you should add it to your your itinerary of your trip because it’s unbelievable. Um, you have a chance to go to the World War II Museum in New Orleans when we were down there. I I’ve gone before. Okay. So, not on that trip. It’s incredible as well. It is amazing. Really amazing. Just incredible history and uh we’re both total nerds, right? But not just about football, about history as well. And to learn about how things have shaped the world. Um, how the world could be much different if it wasn’t for uh the greatest generation of individuals that put their life on the line uh to create the world that we live in now. Uh, I could do down a whole rabbit hole with all this, but yeah, fascinating stuff. And if you’ve not been to the World War I Museum here in Kansas City, you got to do it. What’s also fascinating is this football game. The Broncos with a 8-2 record, the Chiefs at 5 and four. And in between are the Chargers, uh, sitting there in between the Broncos and the Chiefs. But this Broncos team is a fascinating study. I’m not sure I’ve seen a team like this in the NFL for a while. uh you and I talk maybe the O2 Buccaneers that won the World Championship or the 2000 Ravens, a a efficient offense, a uh a dominating defense, but that’s where we are with this team. And you get into some of the numbers and it gets interesting in how they’ve gotten to 8 and two. What about the 15 Broncos, too? Yeah, kind of similar. It kind of turned in that season. It was about halfway through and um remember we beat them and they I think they had seven straight possessions where was a three and out or a turnover and yet they were able to rally behind an incredible defense and Von Miller’s amazing Super Bowl, right? But uh yes, I think the second half Broncos of 15 remind me of this team. Yeah, and we’ll dig into why. Uh their defense is exceptional. Um it’s the number three scoring defense in the NFL right now. Right ahead of the Chiefs actually. Uh, and it gets uh it’s because of their pass rush. Their pass rush is just incredible. Um, their 46 sacks lead the NFL. They’re 14 more than the next closest team. That gap is the same as the gap between uh the next closest team, the number two team, and the number 25 team. So, think about that. The Broncos have 14 more sacks than the second most sacks in the NFL. So, it’s been great. Uh, led by Nick Bonito, of course. He’s nine and a half sacks this year. Also fourth in the NFL in pressures with 48. But I think what makes them so interesting defensively is it comes from everyone. So they have 10 different players with multiple sacks this year. Jonathan Cooper has seven and a half sacks. Zack Allen has six sacks. Uh but there’s plenty of players on their roster that have like a sack and a half, two sacks, three sacks. And that makes it really difficult to defend. They also blitz a lot. And you think about teams that have like a talented front four like they do. You might assume they don’t blitz. Well, Vance Joseph, their defensive coordinator, is about as aggressive as anyone else in the league. Uh they’re blitzing at a 27% rate this year. It’s top 10 in the NFL. They’ve blitzed the opposing quarterback on at least 30% of drop backs in eight of their 10 games this year. Only exceptions being Jake Browning and Davis Mills. So take that for what you will. They blitzed Patrick Mahomes at a 50% clip in their game against him last year. So we’ll get into this further, but got to be ready for the blitz and that pass rush on Sunday. Yeah, it’s exceptional. You mentioned the 46 sacks. It’s the most after 10 games in 37 seasons. Wow. It’s the 1989 Vikings that had at least 46 sacks after 10 games. So, that puts it in perspective. And you mentioned 10 guys with at least two sacks. 14 have at least one sack. But to me, the new school part of this Denver defense is the think about the ball’s coming out so fast. Now in the National Football League, we talk about Trevor Lawrence or to a tongue of Io, the ball’s coming out so fast, like less than 2.5 seconds. These guys are right now redefining football in the NFL. It’s it’s the blitzing, but it’s also the quick rush that they are getting affecting plays with a pass, rush, and pressure inside of 2.5 seconds. Um, it is the highest in the league by far, not even close. So, it’s called the quick pressure rate and uh Bonito’s number one in the NFL in it. But these guys are on you so fast, you’ve got to make a quick decision or hope your pre-play call is there and if they do blitz, you’re you’re you don’t have the time you normally have necessarily to go where’s my blitz hot read. And that’s why this team is exceptional. I think the evolution of the pass rusher has been kind of fun to watch over the last 10 years because Bonito only weighs 240 lbs. Really light for a three-own edge rusher. And I remember him coming out of Oklahoma a few years ago uh and all the draft experts were kind of saying, “Well, this is like a designated pass rusher kind of guy. He’s a player that can come in on sub packages. He can’t play the run. He’s not going to be in there on three downs.” Well, he’s proven all of them wrong. I think he’s been tremendous throughout his career. And yeah, those quick pressures are due in part to his speed around the edge. He’s not 275 lbs. He’s 240 lbs and can run by tackles, right? It is just critical. uh to get back to our title of this podcast that the Chiefs protect in this game. And if you go back to the Bills game, that’s where the game was lost. It was lost with the protection. Uh because Mahomes was pressured at a 46% clip against Buffalo, easily a season high. NextG stats had Patrick as the least pressured quarterback in the NFL going into that game. One of the main reasons the Chiefs offense was humming like it was is because Mahomes had time to throw and the offense was on schedule. Well, the Bills kind of threw that out of the window, right? I mean, they had a great defensive plan. I’ll give him credit. Uh but they consistently were pressuring this offensive line in Mahomes. Can’t let that happen now against uh this Denver defense. Yeah, it was the highest pressure rated on Patrick since 2020 in that Buffalo game. Zack Allen was also part of this. An absolute beast. Number one in the league in quarterback hits. So some of Bonito’s um shenanigans and give him credit is because you have this flesh-eating inside player who I don’t think gets enough credit. He’s one of the more underrated players in the league, Zack Allen. Yeah. Well, those interior guys often don’t get a lot of credit. Uh but when you’re part of a defense like this that has such great edge rushers in Bonito and Cooper, and you have a player like that in the middle, uh it kind of makes you wonder as an offensive coordinator and as a staff, who are you going to double? Who are you going to prioritize? It’s difficult. And the Broncos do a great job and Joseph does a great job scheming this thing up where you make that decision. Okay, well, they’re going to throw these guys at you coming from maybe an overload on the other side or whatever it may be. Uh, it’s difficult. Their pass rush is excellent. We could talk about it for 30 more minutes. Got to find a way to mitigate it in this game. And I do think having Rashi Rice helps it a lot. Uh, the Broncos have not faced the Chiefs with Rashi Rice in a while. Uh, certainly didn’t last year. And I think Rashi’s ability to be an extension of the running game in so many ways with those quick passes over the middle, that’s one of the ways that you can help prevent the Denver pass rush from blowing up the game. One thing we’ve talked about all week, too, is using the horizontal game. So whether it be pop passes or jet sweeps, uh, for years, the Chiefs did a great job against guys like Max Crosby, uh, Nick Bosa in San Francisco by making them think for like a half second, maybe the ball isn’t going to be just a traditional drop back. Maybe this is coming my way. If you go back and look at the fourth and 19 conversion uh with Rashi against the Bills a couple weeks ago, you watch Bosa on that play, Joey Bosa. For a second, he had a clear lane at Mahomes, but stopped because Kelsey was behind him and he thought it might be a screen. Those little mental games go a long way in helping you move the ball and preventing these great pass rushes from getting home. Uh and hopefully we see some of that here in this game. I think it could be effective. Yeah, it’s a good point because just to rush up the field is unsound when the play goes under your armpit. We’ve seen that happen or you get influenced to stop. So who would you have on defending the kingdom considering what we’ve just talked about in the last eight paragraphs of defending the kingdom? Maybe one of the main protectors. So why not talk to Kingsley Su Matia? And what a treat we’ve got right now. Uh one of the emerging offensive linemen in the entire National Football League. Kingsley Su Matia is with us on this episode getting ready for the Broncos. Uh it’s just been so exciting though to see your ascent. Uh what would you say has happened to make this climb? Um probably just a lot of trusting God. Um trusting the coaches, trusting them, trusting in me and um yeah, just going out there doing my thing. So yeah, definitely a shout out to a lot of the coaches and especially the guys I play with, all four of them. So trusting me that I can be there. So yeah. So, I think your first start ever at guard in the NFL was against the Broncos, right? Last year in week 18. Uh, where do you think you’ve grown the most between that game and now? Uh, I would definitely say the mentor aspect of it all, like uh moving from tackle to guard. Um, tackle, you got the whole space, but being in guard is like that phone booth, but I fell in love with it. So, um, that’s probably the biggest uh thing is just the mental part, the physical part in the fact of working shoulder-to-shoulder with Creed. Now, you’ve had some different tackles. We’re getting Josh back, but we’ve had different tackles since then, but twists and stunts and games. How big is it to work with those guys on your right and left? Oh, it’s definitely important. It’s uh it’s definitely different being in the middle of it all, having to work with Creed and then having to work with my tackle. But, uh I remember my first twist I ever saw, it was it all happened so fast. I was like, uh I think I had this guy. But, yeah, it it’s definitely a big learning. Uh yeah. So, this Broncos squad, is this the first team that you’ve faced twice now as a guard? It must have been, right? And I remember you saying after the game that Zack Allen was like, “Hey, man, you’re pretty good at this. Have you thought about that at all?” Like, you’re going to face him here again and you have a chance to go up against the team for the second time now at guard. Yeah, most most definitely. Uh, he’s definitely one heck of a player and you see what he does on the field and um but yeah, it definitely be a good it would be a good matchup. So, I’m excited to go against him again. So, yeah, Kingsley, this Bronco front is elite. I mean, we know that. What do you think makes them so? And then the best countermeasures against them. I think all of them just have a a great motor. Um, from their DNS to their DTackles in the middle, just the whole defense. They play with a high motor. Um, but I’m definitely excited this week. Uh, what we got um throwing at them, starting to run games off strong, and then just opening the pockets with whatever we got with the throws. You think the buy felt a good time where you guys can kind of get healthy, recharge, and kind of attack the second half of the season? No. Yeah, most definitely. It was definitely a good time to have a some time off, but man, we’re ready to roll, man. Like, we we never astray. Like, we’re all stuck together. We’re ready to attack this rest of the half of the season. What’s been so fun, Kingsley, is to watch you whether it’s power and you’re pulling guard to guard, it gets real fun, or you’re the play side guard. What happens when you get the play call and you’re going, “Oh, it’s that play that you like?” Uh, it’s definitely exciting. I don’t know. I get excited any play, but probably like when you got a pulling play and I’m pulling like I’m just excited to run it full speed and just hit somebody. Yeah. You’re pretty good at that. Uh, is there someone on the offensive line that you’ve kind of leaned on uh over the last year, whether it be Trey or Creed or or whoever, and kind of has helped you uh develop into an interior lineman? Uh, most definitely Trey and Creed. It’s it’s it’s even across the board. And even JT when I was at tackle. So, they all helped me be the player that I am today and I I thank them for it. So, yeah. One cool thing, too, is the screen game. And the screen game is a art form. How much have you learned about being an effective screen player as a guard? Um, flat and getting vertical. That’s that’s been the main thing especially when you know coach he’s like get vertical don’t don’t your eyes get all over the place when you see guys little guys running down you want to chase them on an angle just get vertical and the guys behind us don’t they’ll do the rest so the NFL and even college football acumen in your family is crazy like your family tree is nuts with like NFL players uh is there anyone that has reached out to you or that you kind of keep in close contact with in terms of your growth as a player right now uh all of them uh this Yesterday, uh, Puka text hit all of us. No, Jacob Robinson, one of my boys I play with high school. He’s at the Niners. So, he, uh, yeah, he checked on all of us and see how we’re all doing. So, yeah, definitely all of them. They all hit up, we all I text him, they text bags. So, yeah, it’s good. It was super cool when you and Pane got to exchange jerseys. That was awesome. Definitely. Yeah, I needed that one. Yeah. But that being said, I like if it’s a family reunion, you guys got video up and you know, you’re I can’t imagine what your family reunions would be like. Exchanging stories. A lot of stories, but a lot of food. So, so yeah, there’s going to be a lot of food. There’s a lot favorite food at the family reunion. You’re going, I hope this is there cuz I’m going to devour it. I probably just say pig. Yeah. We do this thing. You you cook it underground, put some rocks over and some dirt and let it cook all day. Yeah. So, yeah. But anything I eat anything. Well, let’s hope it’s cooking all day cuz it’s been cooking all season. Kingsley Sue Matia. Thanks to Kingsley and man, to see his growth at left guard is huge. No pun intended. Sounds like Chiefs Kingdom show, but he really has come on. Yeah, I’m excited for him. Uh we knew he had great potential. just a matter of going out there and playing and doing it and getting that experience. I mean, he’s still super young. He was drafted at 21 years old. His whole career is still ahead of him. Uh, and all the talent in the world. Uh, and I think it’s kind of cool that his first start at guard ever was against the Broncos last year and he was talking earlier this year about how Zack Allen made a point of going up to him and saying, “Hey man, like you’re pretty good. Like, you have a future in this.” Well, now we’re going to Denver for a very important game. Kingsley has some more starts under his belt at guard and across the way is Zack Allen. Got to have another good game against that guy. Yeah, and I still want to go to one of those family reunions and have, you know, cuz I my mouth salivating. Um, and then I just talk football with these guys. Uh, but let’s get into this Denver offense and let’s just start where it’s uh I think it’s most impactful and that’s the offensive line. Bulls has really improved at left tackle, but Quinn Miners is leading this offensive line. He’s a stud at right guard. Uh we’ve featured him before when he came out of Wisconsin Whitewater. Um but he’s just he’s grown leaps and bounds. I mean, this is a guy that’s in the Creed Humphrey Trey Smith area. Offensive line, the pressure rate is u is excellent. They have allowed the second fewest sacks uh in the National Football League. They’ve only allowed 10 when you look at what they’ve allowed. But here’s another thing. They’re number two in the NFL in clock killing drives. So if the game is there, this is where the big reason they’re eight and two and they’re winning one possession games. When it’s the game’s there critical, the offensive line just shuts it down. And so that’s what this group has done. Uh otherwise, when you look at this team offensively, you’re going, “Wow.” I mean, they’re the third team in NFL history to win seven games of their eight where they did not score first in a game. Boon Knicks, and I’m gonna give him credit, don’t take this as a criticism, it’s just a fact. And the fact that he has six career wins where his pass rate, passer rating is below 70. He had a 54.8 passer rating and they won against the the Raiders. That game, the 10-7 game against the Raiders the Thursday night before this one was a they both had, I believe, more penalties than first downs. That hadn’t happened since the 76 expansion battle between the Seahawks and the Buccaneers. And yet offensively, they’re efficient. And this offensive line is good enough and really good at times to say game over. Yeah, a lot to break down here with these guys. Like you said, like a really interesting offensive study. So, talking about Knicks specifically, uh it’s been up and down, right? He has 18 touchdown passes. That’s good. Uh but he’s also completing just 60% of his passes. That’s 27th in the NFL among qualified passers. Uh he’s also averaging just six yards per attempt. That’s 29th in the NFL. So it’s a lot of like short stuff, right? Short quick passes, uh roll outs, boots, stuff like that. Uh he’s attempted 47 throws of 20 or more yards, like air yards this year. That’s actually tied with Matthew Stafford for the most in the NFL, but he’s only completing 32% of those. That’s the lowest completion percentage among quarterbacks with at least 40 deep attempts. Now, their running game is really interesting. Um, it gets back to their offensive line, like you were saying. Their whole offense is built around their running game. Uh, they’re averaging 129 rushing yards per game between JK Dobbins, uh, and RJ Harvey. Harvey is a kind of an exciting player. He’s interesting to watch. Dobbins is having a great year, though. He’s fifth in the NFL in rushing yards, uh, with nearly 800, averaging over five yards per carry. Doesn’t have a bunch of huge games by any means, but he’s topped at least 60 rushing yards in nine of his 10 games. And what that does opens up their play action passing game. And Knicks has been using a lot of play action this year. 28% of his drop backs have used play action. They’re just inconsistent overall. I mean, they’ve scored at least 28 points four times, but also 20 or fewer points five times. And like a lot of fourth quarter heroics, so they have the best uh point differential in the fourth quarter of any team in the NFL at plus 60. They were losing in the fourth quarter against the Eagles, the Jets, the Giants, and the Texans, and maybe some more games. That was just a quick look for me. And they won all those games. So, you give them credit. Uh Knicks has made plays late in these games when he really needs to. Uh but this offense has been inconsistent overall. That’s just factual. And for the Chiefs in this game, you can’t let Denver be in the game late because listen, we talked about our team last year, how we found ways to win, right? Well, we’ll be uh not hypocritical. The Broncos, to their credit, have found ways to win these games late. If you’re the Chiefs, keep the pressure on these guys offensively where they have to match you score for score. Hard to do against this great Broncos defense, but that’s kind of been the trend here is the Broncos have been able to hang around in some of these games where maybe they didn’t play well offensively and they found a way in the end. Can’t let that happen here on Sunday. Yeah, easier said than done. This Denver defense really goes back to last year. They’ve had the least uh points allowed over 27 games, not just the 10 games this year. But this ying and yang of like offensively, what what are they? What are they? Only 10 points in their first offensive possessions. Only 10. Now only Tennessee and Washington are worse. So like, okay. And part of the um incompletions, they have only Jacksonville’s got more drop passes on a percentage than these guys. So if if Bose’s offtarget some, they’re also dropping a bunch with these guys. And so uh again, it’s it’s they’re just a interesting group to follow. Um they’re six and two in the one-sore games. Last year they were one and six and still made the playoffs. We’re 0 and4 in those games and we’re 0 and4. So people like well that’s even and out last year. Okay, maybe maybe so. But maybe the Chiefs will get hot in one score games. I don’t know. But again, it’s an exceptional defense, a resourceful offense. I know you got a stat here because they have they have 119 offensive possessions. 119, but they have on those 34 threeandouts. Only Philadelphia has more three and outs than these guys. Yeah. Um their three and out percentage is 29%. Uh second highest in the league. Uh but yeah, you mentioned the offensive possessions. 119 offensive possessions is crazy. Now, they haven’t had their buy yet, so they’ve played an extra game, but 119 offensive possessions, most in the NFL. The Chiefs only have 84 offensive possessions this year, fewest in the NFL. Why do I bring this up? Well, both teams have scored exactly 28 touchdowns. So, the Chiefs have 28 touchdown drives on their uh 84 possessions. The Broncos have 28 touchdown drives on their 119 possessions. That is a difference of 35 possessions. and the Chiefs have the same number of touchdown drives. It’s easy to watch the Bills game and to get frustrated and to say, “Man, this offense like it isn’t finding ways to move up and down the field. This offense overall this year, especially once everyone got back, has been so good.” Like go back to the Detroit game, right? Or uh the Raiders game or wherever it may be. Like this offense is humming overall. A bit of a speed bump against Buffalo. Not quite what we expected in that game, but this offense is still really good. And I think uh it’s a fun matchup between a great defense in Denver and an offense that had a week to get healthy over the buy, a week to recharge and to go after these guys. I I think it’s going to be an awesome matchup and hopefully the Chiefs offense can win more often than the the Broncos defense does. Yeah. So, it’s critical, but someone who’s had an eye on the Broncos and everybody else in the AFC West a long time before this was our AFC West spy. Yes. Ari Wolf. Uh so, let’s check in with Ari and see what he thinks about this game. the rest of the division and the rest of the league. Hello to everyone. Week 11. Excited to see Matt, Mitch, the by-week, you know, for the team. Great to get some rest. I missed you guys a lot. Can’t wait to get back to out west this week. Uh we begin in the AFC West as we always do. Uh the Thursday night game last week featured Denver and Las Vegas, a football game that my eyes were tortured at times. It was one of the worst Thursday night games I’ve ever seen. Somehow Denver escapes their 10 and uh w with a 10-7 win. They’ve now won seven straight games. Uh they had more penalties than points. Nicks throws two picks, only throws for 150 yards, and he’s the player of the game. Gino Smith is terribly banged up late in the game. Why he keeps going back out there and not letting Kenny pick and play was making my mind want to pop. Gentlemen, explain to me how Denver is 8-2 and why the Raiders aren’t at least considering giving Kenny Picket a shot. Matt, let’s start with you. Yeah, that was a tough one. The whole prime time slate uh this past week was pretty difficult. Now, being the sicko that I am, I watched every second of it. I could not turn off um Broncos Raiders even though I wanted to at times. Uh to answer your question, the Broncos defense is terrific. Uh and it’s something that Mitch and I have been talking about on the podcast. Their defense is awesome. Their pass rush is incredible. It’s something that we’ll have to deal with uh here this Sunday. But uh Gino and the Raiders offense really didn’t have much of a chance. Now, it’s interesting how football comes down to a couple of plays because the Raiders early on looked like they had a pretty good game plan and Genty had a couple of big runs. They had a touchdown uh but all taken off the board, right? And then late in the game when it was still there for the Raiders, the ball goes off Genti’s face mask and into the arms of a Broncos defender. So, uh, the Raiders have struggled this year as we know. Uh, and the margin for them is is pretty thin against a a good team like Denver. Um, but the Raiders had their chances, unfortunately. Came up short. I just get mesmerized because I want to see Zimbabwe, but now you’re covering it up. So, and my daughter was in Botswana for two and a half years, and that’s right behind your left ear. Uh, but it’s I love your map. the uh I felt like it was one of those like lower level World Cup games that was nil nil until like a red card happened and then somebody got a kick, you know, kick it from point blank range and won one nil in advance. Uh to be honest, Denver’s a very interesting study. Uh Matt and I have been talking. I don’t think we’ve seen a team quite like this probably for a quarter century in that their defense is historic. Uh they’re on a sack trail to blow out the 85 Bears. It’s the most sacks in 10 games since the 89 Vikings. But it’s their quick pressure rate. The fact that how do you negate great upfront pressure? Get rid of the ball. Get get out fast, right? Tua is out in 2.2 seconds and Trevor Lawrence is out in 2. These guys get pressure faster than anybody in the league. Bonito is an animal. Zack Allen might be the most underrated player in the entire league. And then don’t forget Jonathan Cooper who’s who’s really good. So that’s how they win the game. They just completely put you take all four tires and take all the air out and then you got to somehow grind away. Now offensively, God, the Broncos, I mean, when you look at Bo Knicks has six career wins with an under 70 passer rating, it’s almost like he doesn’t do anything through the semester and then he takes the final and gets an A because he’s awesome in the fourth quarter. I got to give him credit, but it’s like what’s going on in the other three quarters? Their offensive line is good um and really improved. McGllinchi and what how he’s improved and Bulls is big time and then Miners is a stud. But that’s that’s why these guys are eight and two now. They’re kind of the Chiefs of 2024, right? Let’s be honest. We had 11 one score wins. Can’t do it that way. Wow. That I don’t know. You just can’t do that in the NFL. Broncos do it. That’s a gritty team, but they’re doing the same thing the Chiefs are a year ago. Sorry, folks. That’s what’s going on. All right. I want to follow up with you, Mitch. One other comparison I had to what Denver is doing. It kind of reminds me of the Trent Dilford Ravens that had the incredible defense with Ray Lewis, right? I mean, their offense was hard to watch. They had the big tail back, but boy, other than that, their defense carried them through a lot of games. And you know, we mentioned the Brad Johnson Bucks, too. The Brad Johnson Bucks, too. So, you know, some quarterbacks, you know, when we think about Super Bowl champion quarterbacks and their name pops up, you’re like, “Ah, that guy won a Super Bowl.” Well, Brad Johnson trend for that would certainly be included. Let’s move on next to the Chargers who improved to seven and three. Uh yes, in prime time it was not particularly entertaining game, but the Chargers have won three straight. They’ve overcome a ton of injuries. I think you guys will like this quote from Harbaugh. It was so it’s so Jim Harbaugh. He said, quote, “It was won by heart, grit, and guts.” And that’s what this one was. They stopped Aaron Rodgers, but I kept seeing Justin Herbert get hit again, again, and again, they win 2510, but he’s still getting hit every game. Is that sustainable? Is this this Chargers seven and three team? Is this going to be a team that can win 11, 12 games? I don’t see it, but you guys have been following this team all of your lives. Let me tell me, is this Chargers seven and three team a real threat in the AFC? Well, not having Joe Alt is a really big deal. Um, you know, he gets hurt, goes on IR, comes back, and gets hurt again. And I believe he’s out for the season now. That’s a huge deal. Look at where they began the season with Slater and Alt, maybe two of the best bookends in all of football. Well, now you don’t have either of those guys. Uh, and that’s a big deal. Now, I thought Pittsburgh’s pass rush would control the game more. So, they got after Herbert, got him on the ground pretty often, but it didn’t seem to matter because Aaron Rogers was throwing the ball directly to Charger defenders on the other side. It’s one of the worst games I’ve ever seen Rogers play. Uh, really bizarre, like he was missing high a lot. Um, the Steelers had chances in that game uh until they didn’t because they just kept giving the Chargers offense the ball. So, uh, the Steelers defense, I think, did their part for the most part in that game until it was out of reach. Uh, really no fault of their own. Um, but I do wonder how sustainable it is for the Chargers moving forward with their protection. Um, but hey, we’ll give them credit. They have the record right now. They’re playing good football and they’re finding ways to win games. Um, I won’t criticize them for that. Uh, but it will be tough moving forward with their tackle situation. Something to watch for sure. I don’t know. Let me let me look through my Jim Harbaugh glasses. Like he’s always uh eyesight does go with age and so maybe that’s going on. Aaron Rogers, is that black and gold or is that blue? I can’t tell the I thought Ari, did somebody copy and paste the Thursday night game and just put it on this one? I thought I was watching those same game, right? Seriously, it was And it and pass rush for the Chargers was great. U Tui Palotu was awesome. Uh so I just thought, God, this is the this is the uh Raiders and and Broncos all over again. It’s just the Steelers and the Chargers. Well, speaking of the Steelers, I want to make a comparison to last year. You may recall that Russell Wilson for the first part of the season looked great as the Steelers quarterback. I believe they peaked at 8 and three. It feels like this is deja vu, right? Aaron Rogers gets off to the great start and all of a sudden the offense isn’t doing anything. I’m not saying it’s an indictment on the Steelers offense. I’m not laying it all on the quarterback, but is it is interesting. Both guys brought in that first year get off to amazing starts. People are talking about the resurrection of Aaron Rogers. Just a week ago, people were saying that Aaron Rogers should consider playing another season. And then you watched the game the other night and you’re thinking maybe this is the final season for Aaron Rogers. All right. Now, to my game of last week, I have to put a qualifier on it, gentlemen, because I’m bringing it up for the purpose of having another conversation because the game itself was entertaining. It didn’t like blow my mind. I am referring to the Patriots at the Buccaneers. Two teams with winning records. I think a lot of people wanted to see what this Patriots team was all about. Could they go on the road against a solid Tampa team, a Todd Bulls defense? What would what would Drake May look like? Okay, so the Patriots win the game. Drake May is under 50% passing, pedestrian numbers, throws an interception. He is currently the oddsmakers favorite to win the NFL MVP. What am I missing? And this is really a time to let’s just talk NFL MVP for a few minutes. Is May really a candidate to win? And and what am I missing? Because when I watch him, I think, boy, this guy is a ascending talent. I like the way he plays. I like the way he carries himself, but MVP that seems to have made a huge jump in uh in a half a season. Uh Matt, let’s start with you. What are your thoughts on the current MVP race? Yeah, well, I’ll start by saying I think May is really good. U I remember watching that game a handful of weeks ago where they went into Buffalo and beat the Bills and he was awesome in that game. like showed me a lot. So, I think he’s a really good player and a big time ascending player. I do think the MVP is all about narratives, though. And narratively speaking, a player like May going into New England and kind of resurrecting this franchise that was so great for so long and had some down years and now uh they’re winning their division, you know, they’re they’re they go into Buffalo, they beat Buffalo. Like, he has all the narrative stuff going on. And I also think narratively speaking, he is so much better than people expected him to be this early in his career. And it’s all about expectations, right? We were joking around earlier that if Mahomes throws one interception, everyone freaks out nationally because the expectation is that he’s perfect all the time. Well, it’s kind of the opposite for May. He’s a young player u that has potential, but maybe hasn’t seized it yet. Well, all of a sudden, if he’s playing pretty good football and they’re winning their division and winning big games, well, that narrative is through the roof because he becomes the guy. I think right now it’s probably Matthew Stafford if I’m being totally unbiased. I think Stafford’s playing great football right now. Uh, but it’s also week 11 and there’s a lot of football to be played and this thing changes every week. I mean, last week people were saying Mahomes was the odds on favorite, right? I still think Mahomes has a great shot to win it if we can do what we know this team can do over the last several games of the year. But uh if I had to pick someone right now, if I’m being totally unbiased, I think Stafford has earned it so far. I think there’s a way bigger story here than Drake May. And I and I’ll tell you why. And and it popped up when I thought the transformation Mike Rabbel’s made to that entire team. It’s only the second team, Ari, only the second team in 60 years in the Super Bowl era that has started 8-2 in a coach’s first season. The other the 2013 Kansas City Chiefs. This was a complete transformation here. Y when Andy came in and it was everybody. It was from the kicker to the 53rd guy to Alex Smith who he brought in. To me, the New England Patriots are a exact replica of the 2013 Chiefs. They got Stefon Diggs enjoying playing football again and trying to be unselfish, right? He’s like, oh, let’s just do what we need to do to win. So, like, wow, that’s overcoming something. The way they run the ball, the way they block, the way they play, the way they play all four quarters, the way they attack every snap, it is a complete transformation. To me, it’s a little bit refreshing to show everybody in the NBA, the MLB, maybe even the NHL, and for sure the NFL that a coach and a staff can make a complete transition back to what it should be to win games. That’s what’s happened here. We haven’t stopped since that year and New England is doing it now. But I also like the fact I’m just a bravable guy. I like everything he’s about. He’s he just oozes the kind of football mentality that I love. So if you’re just talking coaching and his news conferences, wait a minute, Ari, his news conferences now have become like you hope it pops up on your reels, right? It was it was like the days when Bob Knight was in his heyday at Indiana and we played them a couple times when I was doing K State and I made sure I went to his news conference just because of the what’s going to happen, right? Because if you ask some stupid question, he is going to put a blowtorrch right up your nostrils. I love it. Now, so now when you look at coach of the year, you know, for a while I was just thinking Shane Styen’s kind of like cruising there. Well, now I think it’s really you look at Vable and the turnaround there. Uh they’ve got some interesting candidates there. Uh I want to stay along with the Patriots for a second. They are currently the number three seed. The other teams that are involved, Indie has remaining that game at Kansas City and they also have to go to a very good Seattle team. Uh Denver obviously has the two games versus the Chiefs. They have the Packers at home and then they have the Chargers at home. It’s setting up depending on especially what happens with the Chiefs and the Broncos this week. The AFC could be a thrilling finish vying for playoff position because there’s a lot of teams with really good records. All right, let me get back on track. Week 11, I know you guys will have coverage. Let me say this, Ari. New England has by far the easiest schedule left of anybody on the earth. They have and I like Wford, but they have the Wford Terriers and they have uh Cal Poly San Louis Abyispo the last two weeks of the year. I think that’ll help them possibly get the one seat. That is just wild. I mean, they could be the ones. So, all right. So, this Chiefs Broncos game is setting up to be the most significant game between the two franchises in years, right? I mean, the Broncos just haven’t been able to put it together. Now, they’re eight and two. You’ve got the Chiefs coming off the buy. It’s sort of it’s the most significant game for the Chiefs in a regular season game it feels like in eons because last year they won all the close games. You’re five and four. You beat Denver. Everything’s in front of you. If you lose to Denver this week, suddenly the season has a different shape. Look, you could still be the wild card. They’ve shown they can be the wild card then, you know, still go to the Super Bowl. What’s the feeling in Kansas City within the building, within the organization about the challenge this week of playing this elite defense? just give me a sense of the vibe around the building about the thoughts about playing the Broncos this week. Well, one thing that I’d say is I think there’s a lot out there about how this is like the most important regular season game for the Chiefs in a while. I want to push back on that a little bit because I think it’s easy to look at the last several years and see the Super Bowls and the AFC Championships and think that the Chiefs have just cruised to all these AFC West titles. But I think about 2023 when the Chiefs were nine and six at one point. Um, there was a chance the Chiefs could miss the playoffs in 2023. People forget about that. I remember the game against the Bengals here at home against the Jake Browning led Bengals and it felt like a playoff game. That game was intense and the Bengals are playing really good football defensively. Browning was playing well like that felt like a playoff game and I remember the intensity going into that game was through the roof and we don’t look back on that now as a big game in Chiefs history or anything but at the time it felt like a big game in the regular season. Of course, the Chiefs go on to win the Super Bowl. I think about 2021, which this season has felt a lot like the 2021 season so far. Uh, but the Chiefs start three and four. I remember a Sunday night football game in Vegas that year, uh, where if the Chiefs lose that game, they would have been in last place in the division. If they won it, they would be in first place in the division. That’s how close everything was. Huge game going into it. And the Raiders had all this momentum. I think the Chiefs went three and out on their first possession in that game. and everyone’s freaking out, going crazy, thinking the Chiefs demise is here. Well, of course, the Chiefs win that game, go on to host the AFC title game that year. So, I think there has been these moments, these regular season games over the years that had kind of a similar intensity. Um, and the Chiefs took care of business. And the reason I bring all this up is because the culture here is not just one of we just cruise the AFC West titles, this is easy. Like, people aren’t freaking out. like this team has been in these moments before where there’s big kind of flashoint games where you know the the Barbarians are at the gate, right? What do you do? And and the Chiefs time and time again have found a way to win these games and we don’t talk about them because they end up in the Super Bowl and that’s a much bigger story, right? So anyway, that’s what I’d say. I think the narrative and the the vibe in the building right now is one of uh being refreshed, recharged, and ready to take care of business. All right. This is about the time of the week in a big game week where I start getting clips from Matt with Lord of the Rings on it, which I just love. Yes. Uh we’re about we’re about that topic. Yeah, we are. Wednesday afternoon. Whatever you like about Mike Vrabel, you would love about Andy Reid. And here’s why I answer you question this way. Andy Reid has it taught this whole team, and it started in 2013. Bigger the opponent, better the opponent. Embrace the Embrace it. embrace it and attack it. That’s not talking smack on Denver. They’re we’ve laid it out there. But this theme of this podcast has been it’s not I keep getting asked in all these shows. Must win, must win, must win. No, it’s not a must-win. It’s a NASCAR race and there’s seven laps to go after this one and so we can see engine failure and all kinds of stuff. It’s critical. That’s what we’re saying in this. It’s crucial and that’s the theme. But and the vibe here is he gets everybody to love these games because the bigger the challenge, the greater it is. And that’s why we’ve been able to go to five Super Bowls in the last six years and oh, I don’t know, go to Buffalo and win and go to D or go to Baltimore and win and beat the San Francisco 49ers who were challenging the Bears. Uh or that was the Eagles challenging the Bears sack record. So, the mentality here is let’s go. Not to talk smack, but that’s just what we do. You sharpen the sword and go to battle. Let me be clear, gentlemen, to all those in the kingdom. I oppose these as conversation pieces. There are probably people, they know you’re undercover. You’ve got you got Raiders on, but if they look and see this hologram, there’s a Chiefs there. So, it’s it’s We know. We know you’re Dude, you’re on the front lines. I’m an Andy Reid guy through and through. So, I don’t care who they’re playing, when, where. I always believe that he will have the game plan. He will have the team with the right mindset. So the bigger the moment, the more I trust in Annie. So just know that when I’m posing this, there is zero doubt in my mind that he will have the Chiefs ready to go. All right, to the other games coming up in the AFC West this week. Uh the Chargers against the suddenly now kind of depleted Jags team. Um another interesting trip though, right? I mean, you got to go all the way across the country. Uh Travis Hunter is out, which I think is a huge bummer. That that whole story didn’t really pan out the way the Jags hoped it would be. But this is an interesting one for the Chargers, right? You’re coming off like a big high-profile game. You beat the Steelers. Now you go to the Jags and look, they’ve got to maintain pace, right? Even when the Chiefs win on Sunday, right? They’ll be there. They need a win to stay at three losses and be right there with Denver. Uh this strikes me as the kind of game in the past that the Chargers have found a way to lose. kind of like when they went to the Giants earlier this year and lost. Uh Matt’s always looking for ways to convince yourself of these things. I am somewhat convinced that the Chargers can blow this game and lose to Jacksonville. Your thoughts? Yeah, that’d be great. Uh I would love if the Jags can win this game. Uh one thing that I was looking into was, well, hey, maybe the Jags pass rush can get after Herbert because we talked about their tackle situation. Well, the Jags have the fewest sacks in the NFL. So, I’m not sure that that’s how it will go. Maybe it will. Maybe Josh Hines Allen will go crazy. U the Jags are just a weird study and I can’t really figure him out. Um you know, we had our game against them, which in retrospect is kind of inexplicable the way that it went. Uh they played great football against us and um Mitch has this awesome stat or this at least concept that we’ve talked about about teams after they play the Chiefs and how they fare because they put so much time and energy and thought into our game. Um and give them credit. They beat us, right? But you can tell that uh maybe it’s that game, maybe it’s not. But they have not been the same team since that night, right? Um so uh can they do it? Of course they can. They have a lot of talent. Um and when they’re playing good football, they’re among the better teams in the NFL, but they’re they’ve been so inconsistent this year. It’s hard to know what exactly you’re getting from the Jacks. They they live RF takeaways. That’s the only thing they’ve got. If you look at all their we look at their report card, they’re getting D’s in chemistry and, you know, C’s in math. Hey guy, they got an A in takeaways. They have 17. But if they don’t get them, I’m not sure there’s enough gas here. Uh but it depends on and the Chargers want to run the ball right now and they can’t. They’re just so uh McConi’s really good. He’ll make big plays and and now Gadston’s hurt. So who knows? But I don’t know if Jacksonville’s got enough. And and it is it’s a study. Go back even to 22, 23, 24. Look at teams after they play the Chiefs, either the week after or the next two to three weeks, and so much helium goes into our game. Not to be arrogant, but there’s so much helium that goes into our game that they’re they’re out of breath in the for the next two or three weeks, and we haven’t seen Jacksonville recover yet. Well, I’m going to I’m going to come back to that theme in my final thought because we’re on the same uh wavelength. Uh the final game involving an AFC West team is a game that I think the NFL wishes it could flex out of. Uh that is the Cowboys taking on the Raiders. Certainly not as sexy a game as maybe they had hoped had the Raiders overachieved and the Cowboys could put together a semblance of consistency. Uh I keep saying that the Raiders are going to win a game they’re not supposed to. I’m just going to stop saying that. Maybe the reversal happened. Uh I mean any thoughts? I mean, is this a game the Raiders can win or is the Cowboys will score too many points because the Raiders have showed an inability to put points on the board? I will talk myself into watching just about any football game. Um, this game I’ll talk myself into watching because we see the Cowboys in a couple weeks. So, I am interested to see um how they look u how they play against the Raiders. Um, and whenever the Raiders are out there, I’m always curious to see what Brock Bowers can do. You know, getting back to our conversation about the the Broncos Raiders game earlier, that was the craziest thing is Bowowers had like two targets in that game. And I understand like he’s the main focus of the Denver defense. Like they’re going to try to take him away, but still your best player gets two targets. Like just kind of bizarre to me. So I’m expecting Bowers to get like 15 targets in this game against Dallas. I’ve got a folder made of the u I put in the Raiders uh game against the Broncos and the Charge the Chargers game last week. So, I’ll just pull that one out again because I think this is going to be the same game. Yeah. I just I It feels like a 2-1 penalty kick win off a header. I don’t know. Uh yeah, I just The Cowboys I’m like, Matt, we we’ve got three games in 12 days. And the Colts, don’t look now, but they get a buy this week. Oh, great. And that’s who we got coming in next week. Yeah. So, we got we got two grinders here going later in December, but this one’s a grind. But one of part of that grind is the Cowboys. The other thing, and I’m going to do a minute with Mitch on it next week, is we’re playing, even with the Cowboys and the Bills, you’re looking at we’re playing probably the top six offensive lines here in the league, at least in that group, because Buffalo’s there, Dallas is there for sure, the group we’re playing this week, and the Colts might be the number one offensive line in the league. So, yeah, schedule makers appreciate it so much, but let’s go. All right. So, when I was determining the game of the week, we’ve already discussed the Broncos and Chiefs. I mean, there’s your game of the week. So, I had to pick a different game. You could make a pretty compelling case that the Rams Seahawks, right? I mean, the Seahawks have been much better than we expected. I think Sam Darnold going up against Matthew Stafford. I mean, it’s it’s got some juice to it. But I think Dan Campbell and the Lions taking on the Philadelphia Eagles is a game of sort of NFC juggernauts. And I think people have been clamoring to see these two play. I think everybody thought they were going to play in the NFC Championship game last year. Then the Commanders changed that. I want to see how these Lions look against the Eagles because I I do think in terms of physicality, terms of toughness, the way they go about their business, there are some striking similarities. Uh I’m just really excited to see the game. There’s something about Dan Campbell that just adds something to every game. Sirriani, while he has been very successful, is not to me as likable as Dan Campbell, but there’s something about the bluecollar nature of the cities. I don’t know. This has been a a game when I saw the schedule come out, I thought a Sunday night game, Eagles and Lions. Gentlemen, what’s your take on the Sunday night game? You know, I think the Lions have had a season kind of similar to ours in a bunch of ways where they start playing really well and everyone’s kind of on board and then they lose and then it’s kind of like, well, what’s going on with the Lions and then they start playing really well again and everyone gets back on board and then they lose, you know. Um, I think the Lions are a really talented football team. They’re getting healthier now. Um, and I think they’re going to go in and beat the Eagles. I really do. Um, it’ll be an interesting game. The Eagles have had this inexplicable season where they’re they’re winning all these games, but they’re doing so in kind of like grinded out fashion. Speaking of not very 24. Yeah, it kind of sounds like that, right? But you can’t live that way. They don’t get criticized for it. Um the speaking of prime time games that aren’t terribly entertaining, that Packers Eagles game was a true test of football fandom. Uh I did watch the entire thing. I thought it was a little bit better than the Broncos and the Raiders. They were both 10-7. Both hard to watch, but I guess I at least felt like there was a higher level of overall competency in the Monday night game. And I agree with you. It was not an easy watch. Well, wait a minute. When your kids come home with a D+, you’re going, “Well, it’s not a D, kids. That’s okay.” Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, the the Eagles, to their credit, they’re figuring out ways to win these games. Uh, but I think Detroit has more juice than the Eagles do, and I’m interested to see if they can go in there and win that game. The Rams Seahawks game is super interesting though because you have two top five offenses and two top five defenses in the same game and we’re gonna learn a lot about those teams. U really interesting matchup and of course it’s a divisional game. I mean the NFC West might be the best division in football this year. Uh just that’ll be a fun game to watch for sure. If it is Dan Campbell um against Nick Serriani with pugle sticks like the Marine Corps, I’m gonna take Dan Campbell and give you three and a half points. Okay? And we’re not supposed to bet, so I’m not betting. Uh but I’m taking Dan Campbell if he’s going to bite both kneecaps off of uh Serriani. And I know Serriani. Okay. Um, to me, one of the most the wildest stats going into week 11 is the two teams that have the most three and outs, Ari, in this league are the Eagles and the Broncos. Crazy. And I would win a lot of money if I went to the beach house and started betting people on that because those aren’t the two people are going to mention. So, the Eagles, this is to Matt’s point, they’re just kind of winning on the, you know, defending the power play it seems like every week. defense is good. I mean, they’re just in that same there’s a lot of teams in that same discussion, but uh I just I feel like the Lions are getting their defensive swag back. Hutchinson stayed healthy. He’s the u he’s the big lug nut of that wheel. So, the Lions are going to make another push here. One final thought on that. The We always talk about how he rose him in the deals. If Jaylen Phillips plays the way he did on Monday night, that third round pick’s going to look like a bargain. I mean, I realize he’s just a rental. So, you look, they’ll get a, you know, they’ll get a pick if he leaves, but you might resign him. If that guy is healthy, he is a beast. I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much time focused on one guy, but he changed the look of that defensive front up there. I mean, he is a he is a physical specimen. All right, want to move on to the final thought, and it involves something you referred to earlier. So, when you think about past Super Bowl champions, you don’t usually think of them having a game or two in a season that you think, “Wow, like their level of play is just poor.” I if I’m a Buffalo Bills fan, after watching they play against the Dolphins, I’ve got real concern there because I feel like the best teams find ways to win even when they don’t play well. To me, it wasn’t just that Buffalo didn’t play well. Did you look at their sideline? Did you look at the lack of energy? they just didn’t look like a team that was fully engaged. And I don’t normally think of teams going on to great success in the postseason. So, what I’m saying is you can’t focus all on the Chiefs and bring it all and play this great game and beat one of the, you know, that beat a dynasty and then show up in Miami and lose 30-13. It goes back to what we talked about on a couple episodes ago. I realize it’s any given Sunday. Anything can happen, but amongst the elite teams, you don’t often see a team not just get I can take the score. It’s the way it looked. The eye test was terrible for the Bills. Josh Allen certainly did not look like an MVP. If anybody brings him up as an MVP candidate, I’m just going to remind them of this game against the Dolphins. Does that game at all change your guys’s view on what the Bills look like as a contender in the AFC? Um, well, I think in terms of their overall outlook, maybe. Sure. I mean, that’s a game that they shouldn’t have lost and they didn’t look very good. In terms of when they play us, it’s pretty clear that they have built their team to play us. And, you know, I think if we played the Bills 10 times, I think each team wins five times. Um, I think what’s pretty incredible about the game against them a couple weeks ago is that despite the Chiefs not playing very well on either side of the ball, we still had the ball with five minutes to go down a touchdown. So, it was right there for the Chiefs. I I’m always going to think that Buffalo will rise to the occasion in the matchups against us, but that was surprising to see them lose that game to Miami. Uh, and yeah, I mean, they didn’t really play well in any facet. The same helium Jacksonville had, they just sent up the Eastern Seaboard. Uh, and that showed up as a UPS delivery for Buffalo and then boom, they’re out of helium. I honestly thought, and this is not to cast dispersions on Buffalo, they’re trying to change the way they’re doing things. If they don’t win a certain way, RA, they there’s just they’ve got to control the line of scrimmage. They’ve got to control time of possession. They’ve got to get enough takeaways. This isn’t Stefon Diggs running seven routes. This is a different team. They’re living off James Cook and they’re living off Josh Allen and his his uh passer rating at the deep third is not very good unless it’s against us. And he was awesome against us at 23 of 26. And give the dude credit. Fireball California. I love it. FFA, but this team, the Buffalo team, now faces a new pressure of New England threatening to push away from them. Y somebody’s not gonna make the playoffs in the AFC. Probably going to be Jacksonville, but somebody’s not going to make it. And Buffalo’s got to win a certain way that the way they’re constructed this year. And they’ve got to get pressure with those outside guys if and that’s how they got us truthfully. Um but I mean those guys had the game of their lives. Joey Bosa was great. Michael Hoy before he got injured was great. Blah blah blah. But they’ve got to win a certain way. If not, they’re in peril of losing to anybody any week. All right, gentlemen. Uh Matt, you got a final thought for us this week? I do. So, I’ve been doing this whole like family and football thing lately, just uh by coincidence. You know, my my parents were at the Bills game a couple weeks ago. Uh had an amazing time. um despite the result. Like that was a huge bummer, but otherwise like they had so much fun being in the front row, you know, in Buffalo written on the Chiefs. Um and kind of a similar deal this week. So, uh those that have been listening to DTK for a long time know that my wife comes from a family of Broncos fans. She has since obviously converted, but her dad, her mom, maybe to a lesser extent her mom, but her dad and definitely her brother are still big-time Broncos fans, right? Well, they circled this game quite a while ago before we even knew the Broncos were going to be this competitive and said, “Ellie, would you want to come out to the game and watch the game in the stands, so we planned on that and it’s happening.” So, Ellie is going to this game uh in Chief’s gear with her Bronco family. And I’m just I won’t actually be obviously in the crowd with them. Going to try to go say hi beforehand. But I do think there will be a moment when um this game’s going on and and you know Mahomes makes a big play or something and my father-in-law and his Broncos gear is going to look at his daughter that previously had no interest in going to NFL games is with him at this Chiefs Broncos game wearing Chiefs gear cheering on the Chiefs. And that brings me joy. So anyway, the good people of Denver, please be nice to my wife. She will be in Chief’s gear in the stands and hopefully she is the happy one leaving the game and not my in-laws. That’s my final thought. It’s scripture. A man should leave his mother and his father and the two shall become one. So you Sorry, Ellie. You left all that behind. Matt’s hoping to get a little money out of the deal, but I got a feeling that we’re losing some equity there. So, this is just this a tough deal for this guy. I love it. What do you got for me, Mitch? Do you have a final thought? only that I need you to pan up a bit because you’re at North Africa and if we pan up we’re going to find Germany. What’s been crazy about the Chiefs Kingdom show and I’ve told Matt this I’m going to start ripping off names next week. We have had Germans that come to the home games and stay for the Chiefs Kingdom show. We’ve had at least 16 over the past like three weeks when we’ve had home games. It’s amazing. The whole World’s Team German thing is real. These fans come here for a pilgrimage and they want to stay. They want to soak in everything they can about the Chiefs before they go home. It’s been kind of fun. That is awesome. I did five years of NFL Europe and by far the games in Germany was the best experience I had. Frankfurt was incredible. Uh the Ryan Fire played in Dusseldorf. Some incredible moments. And then my very last thought, Mitch, I know you’re one of the busiest guys on the planet and you also to me are one of the funniest guys on the planet, but today your comedic timing better than ever. If you can find an open mic night tonight, I think this is your night. I think it’s your night, Mitch. You just it’s it’s it’s just going today. I’m feeling the love. Gentlemen, always a pleasure. Let’s go Chiefs. Take down the Broncos. And that’s going to do it for out west this week. Thanks to Ari keeps uh he’s never sleeps. He just is always very vigilant about the AFC West. I want to close out this way because the uh this um talking about the critical nature of this game, not a must-win, but a critical game is I went back during the bye-week and looked at something and I got to give Dan Hughes, my partner on the Chiefs Radio Network, credit about this because he he opened up the question and then it sends me down a rabbit hole. This is the life you and I live. Hey, what about blah blah. And you don’t you go, okay, I’m going to spend the next hours to look at it. The double dip. I call it the double dip and it’s the wraparound. It’s getting the chance to have the last possession of the first half in the first possession of the third quarter. First possession of second half. The Chiefs this year five and four nine games. They have won the toss seven times in those nine games. Because Dana goes, I think we were better last year in the double dip. I went back and looked at it. No, we weren’t. We won the toss 10 times, lost it 10 times. So really wasn’t any direct thing to differentiate of what that got the Chiefs to 15 and two by being great in double dips. This year it means everything everything. Hear me out on this. There have been five times in the five wins I should say. So that’s 10 occasions that you’ve got the double dip. I can either score at the end of the second quarter or the start of the third. In the five wins, the Chiefs have seven touchdowns and one field goal. That’s eight of the 10. In the three losses, that would be six. zero touchdowns, one field goal, and four three and outs. Wow. So, it is sometimes you do a hypothesis and you do the research and go, “Nah, this doesn’t work.” This one is exactly that. The Chiefs when they win are maximizing those critical drives, especially in the double dip, and when they’re losing, they’re not. It’s been pretty much that black and white. And it’s not like in those games that they’ve lost, it’s not like they come out of halftime and drive down and eventually they drive sputters. It’s the three and outs. And that’s what’s interesting is the Chiefs have one of the lower three andout percentages in the NFL. The Chiefs really don’t go three and out often. Uh but we’ve talked about uh on the franchise a few weeks ago about how like momentum is real in the NFL. Well, momentum is real when you come out of halftime. You need to go down and score some points to either get back into it or to put it away in the case of Jacksonville. uh and you go three and out and you punt the ball back to the other team and they have all the momentum in the world. The Jacksonville game is such a great example of this because the Chiefs like had that game like it felt like the Chiefs were up by a bunch and they come out of halftime uh I think still up a touchdown trying to kind of just create that distance and they go three and out and punt the ball to Jacksonville and the rest is history. Kind of the same deal in Buffalo where an opportunity to go down there and uh get back into it and and you’re not able to. we have to wait until the fourth quarter to really get things rolling. Uh the Chiefs have been so good offensively generally speaking this year and there’s a few situational things in the games that they’ve lost that are so uncharacteristic that have led to those losses. I’m hopeful that with a full week to kind of self scout u to get recharged once again to get healthy. They can go out there and be the offense we know they can be. And if they win the toss, let’s hopefully sandwich halftime with a couple of touchdowns. It may be obvious to think, well, the last two minutes of a game, that’s so critical. What may not be as obvious is there are critical junctures at other parts of the game. Last drive of the second quarter, first drive of the third, especially if you get both of those possessions. You and I don’t play Madden, but we play college football. We do. When you play Madden or college football, it comes to life because you’re going, I get the ball right back. So, you need it when you’re New Mexico State playing Georgia on the road big time. Yeah. the Manhattan Project. The point here is critical game. It’ll be full of critical moments, both obvious and not so obvious.

Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus and Senior Team Reporter Matt McMullen break down the Kansas City Chiefs’ upcoming matchup with the Denver Broncos, plus Kingsley Suamataia joins the show! Ari Wolfe also stops by to talk through some storylines from around the AFC West and the NFL as a whole.

To vote for Dr. Yvette Richards to be the NFL Fan of the Year, click here: https://www.nfl.com/honors/fan-of-the-year/

0:00 | Opening Thoughts
1:58 | Around the World
12:03 | Broncos’ Defense
19:26 | Kingsley Suamataia Joins the Show!
24:54 | Broncos’ Offense
32:52 | Around the NFL with Ari!
1:07:36 | Closing Thoughts

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