Chiefs & Cowboys Path to Playoffs | What NEEDS to Happen + Thanksgiving Game Preview 👀

Chiefs & Cowboys Path to Playoffs | What NEEDS to Happen + Thanksgiving Game Preview 👀

always count on Sundays with the NFL on CBS and Paramount+. Back here on CBS sports HQ, both the Chiefs and the Cowboys put the rally caps on and just went full steam. The Chiefs and the Cowboys getting dubs and a come from behind way. The Chiefs were down 20 to 9 at the end of the third, end up winning it in overtime against the Colts 23 to 20. And then how about them Cowboys? They were looking real bleak in the first half against Philly. And then things certainly changed. Let’s circle back to the Chiefs now sitting at six and five after picking up that crucial win against the Colts on CBS. The Patrick Mahomes magic on full display. The run game actually was there. It looked like it was kicking. And now it’s a tough turnaround on the road on Thanksgiving against a Cowboys team that seems to be clicking at the right moment, especially on defense a little bit. So here’s more from Patrick Mahomes on playing on a short week on Thanksgiving. Take a listen. I grew up watching Thanksgiving games. No matter who you’re a fan of, if it’s the Lions or Cowboys or whoever’s playing at night, I mean, you grew up watching those games. And so I think as a that kid in me wants, wants to be able to go out there and play on Thanksgiving and find a way to win. And obviously short week we’re grinding in here right now and getting the whole game plan in and making sure everybody’s prepared and ready to go. But I think we’re excited to get to go out there and play on Thanksgiving against a really good football team and and the whole world watching. And how about them Cowboys man the offense with Dak CD George Pickens. It’s been decent for the most part of the season. That’s not the concern. It was. It was the defense that was the concern not the offense. Cowboys marching back from being down 21 to 0 to beat the Eagles. This team can’t afford any more losses really the rest of the way if they want to make it into the playoffs. And but again the Cowboys scoring 24 unanswered points to beat their divisional foe. And we’re getting a look at the chance to make the playoffs here with the win and with the loss for the Chiefs and the Cowboys. Currently, the Chiefs have a 64% chance. If they get a win, it goes to 74%. With the loss goes down to 47. The swing is a little bit different for the Cowboys, who are sitting at five, five and one. An 11% chance with the win goes up to 21%. And then with a loss, that swing goes all the way down to 6%. So let’s welcome in here on set. We’re going to dive in and talk about the Cowboys here. As mentioned the offense is not really the concern because we’ve been talking about Dak Prescott playing at an MVP level for quite some time at the trade deadline. Jerry Jones is very active. And he goes and gets Quinn and Williams and the splits. And you’re very familiar with Quinn as a as a Jets guy right. Yeah. His stats in these two games of the Cowboys versus what the other eight with the Jets are very stark. I’m going to stop talking. How big of an impact has Quinn and Williams been or will he be as they try to move forward and improve that defense? It’s been a monumental impact. And it’s not just him, right. Obviously him coming in and you see his stats, what he’s done over the last two games 15 pressures, six quarterback hits, a sack and a half. It’s been what he’s added as far as the rotation. Odighizuwa was the guy they paid this offseason. He was supposed to be the guy. I think we’re seeing the best of it because of the addition to Quinnen Williams, because now you also have Kenny Clark as well. Now you can rotate those three guys, and now you don’t have to worry about guys getting tired. You’re going to get fresh guys. And you see it right here coming at waves at the quarterback. You see Quinnen Williams doing all that damage in the middle to the Eagles offensive line. They’ve needed a guy like him. And right there you see his mate Kenny Clark. So this is what I’m talking about a guy who can now rotate in and he’s not asked to be the guy from day one. They didn’t have the subsequent depth at D-tackle. That’s why teams were able to run the ball and have their way. Now they have that depth, especially in the interior, that defensive line. That’s where you need to be strong. He’s made a monumental impact and that was a great trade by Jerry Jones. All right. You know that’s music to Jerry Jones’s ears. Of all of us saying that out loud about his moves at the trade deadline. Let’s go to the other side of the ball on offense. I don’t know what happens with CeeDee lamb when he faces the Eagles, but he forgets how to how to catch the football team’s George Pickens. It feels like he’s emerging as wide receiver one ever since the bye. Do you see it still going that way and towards that trajectory as we get down the stretch here? George Pickens is a top two receiver in the league this year, and the only guy in front of him is Jaxon Smith-njigba now Jackson Smith and has played out of his mind. But I don’t know if there’s a corner in the league currently right now that wants that smoke one on one with George Pickens, because it didn’t matter what the Eagles did. And that was my matchup going into this game. Adoree Jackson versus George Pickens. Because a lot of times CD gets all the extra attention. Well he was having his way with Adoree. But then he had his way with the other Eagles corners as well. And those guys are perennial Pro Bowl type guys. When you talk about Quinton Mitchell and also Cooper Dejean. So he’s taking his game to the next level. It used to be he was just a 5050 jump ball guy Jacqueline. Now he runs all the rides right here. This is a dig route. This is an in-breaking route that is in the middle of the field right here. Sets the DB DB up. Wins it out in the flat. He has a diverse route tree now which we didn’t see with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And again besides Jaxon Smith-njigba this is the second best receiver this year in the NFL. Yeah my younger brother is a Steelers fan and he doesn’t want to admit that George Pickens is a top, even top five receiver right now. He’s literally being being I mean, look, look who we’re comparing him to in 2007 Randy Moss season when he got there his first year. Like that’s the impact George Pickens has made for this team. I’ve been saying for the longest CD needed a running mate. Well, to your point, maybe George Pickens is subletting him and being the number one guy because he has been dominant. And even when CD left, people knew George Pickens was getting the ball and they couldn’t stop him. So I get it. It’s a contract. You’re going to get the best of this guy. But it’s fun to see that teams are scheming, you know, plays for George Pickens when he was with the Steelers I don’t feel like they used him the right way. Do you think years down the line we could be talking about George Pickens and Randy Moss in similar conversations? Randy’s different. I’m not putting him in that category. Randy was a guy. That was when he was born. He was touched by God like to be six four and run A43. And George Pickens is a fast guy, too. Randy Moss is in a different stratosphere. Absolutely. Okay, so the Cowboys, we talk about their schedule the rest of the way. They have the easiest strength of schedule remaining down the stretch. Obviously it starts with the Chiefs and the Lions, which is which is difficult. But then it eases up after that. Give us a record prediction during this stretch. So when we originally did this, me, you and Noah, I had them going nine, seven and one. I think their path is ten six and one. I have them beating the Chiefs at home this week. When you look at this Dallas team and how explosive you talked about them being on offense, I love the corners for the Kansas City Chiefs, but they’ve really struggled to get after the quarterback rushing the passer. You’re not going to be able to cover George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb and Jake Ferguson all day long. I think this Cowboys offense is so explosive that they will give Fitz to that Chiefs defense. And adversely, you talked about it, right. Maybe the Chiefs have found an identity being physical running the football. They ran 41 times. Well this Cowboys defense since Quinnen Williams has come over has been really good against the run. And even before that with Kenny Clarke they were much improved against the run. So to me that’s strength on strength right now. The Cowboys defensive line is playing really good against the run. So this would be interesting I love you talked about the defense getting significantly better I think not only the acquisition of Quinnen Williams but guys getting healthy. The Marion Overshown is like their energy bug over there. There’s not too many guys at linebacker that can cover Saquon Barkley to the flat and tackle him. He did that multiple times last week. So I just think getting guys back healthy has really propelled this team and their trajectory is going up right now. I currently have them finishing at ten, six and one. I think that gets them into the playoffs okay, ten six and one. And then we saw it. They’re a plus 540 to make it into the playoffs. Let’s welcome on sports science Mackenzie Brooks here to the conversation Ken great to see you. We’re going to have you walk us through for the Cowboys and the Chiefs. The playoff implications over the next three games or so starting with the Dallas Cowboys where she has them at ten, six and one when it’s all said and done, finishing well. I love the optimism there, and I promise my Eagles fandom isn’t playing anything into here. But in all seriousness, if you are the Dallas Cowboys, in order to get over that 50% chance hurdle to make the playoffs, you have to win your next three games. And while there’s a chance they could beat Kansas City and a chance they could beat the Lions, we give them both around like a 37% chance individually to win both of those games here. So again, when you break it down, it seems more reasonable. But when you try to multiply and multiply and multiply three games in a row together, that makes it around a 9% chance to pull all three games off here. And that’s just a crack over 50%. That gets you to around 53% chance, so we’re not as high on them. The worst case scenario, you lose both of these games coming up and you fall to a 9%. The best case scenario is up to 53. But here’s where things get interesting. That 1 in 1 split, right? Obviously beating your own conference opponents is going to be far more impactful than just getting a win in general on your schedule, like against Kansas City here. So while both a one on one split situation, don’t look that optimistic, at least if you’re beating Detroit instead of Kansas City in the one on one, you’re getting to 15% instead of 10%. So the Chiefs have a little bit more wiggle room, which we can get into here. But for Dallas, you do need to win your next three games to get over 50%. And McKenzie, I’m so glad you brought that up because if you’re Dallas, the Detroit game is probably more important because that’s a team that you’re vying to potentially take a wild card spot away from. So to me, and we talked about this last week, McKenzie, when we did this with the Dallas Cowboys, I said starting with the Eagles game, they had to win two out of the next three, right? They beat the Eagles, which was big because it’s a divisional game. Say they were to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs or they beat the Kansas City Chiefs. But then they lose to the Detroit Lions. The only issue is Detroit is going to be one of those teams vying at the end of the wild card for that spot. And when it comes down to tiebreakers, you want to have a one up on a team like the Detroit Lions. So the only way, the only way it wouldn’t matter is if Detroit ends up winning the division. But if they’re a wild card team, that could be a major blow for Dallas. Even if they do win two out of the next three. What I’m talking about that Dallas game, if if they were to lose to the Lions, that could be a major blow to them when it comes to wild card implications. So for Dallas, it might not be the end of the world if you lose to Kansas City and then go on and then eventually beat Detroit, Detroit could could maybe work in your favor. Ken, you mentioned that there’s a little bit more wiggle room with KC. So walk us through the scenarios the next three games for them. How much wiggle room is there for Kansas City? Well, it’s basically the same thing we just talked about, right? I mean, the difference between beating the teams that you’re head to head, competing for wild card spots with head to head in your conference in general, those are going to be far more impactful. So yes, a win versus Dallas is great and it’s definitely the ideal situation. But it’s about beating Houston, a team you’re literally fighting head to head for with a wild card spot that becomes far more important here. So again, right now Kansas City beating the Colts was great for them and two claps for them. And that keeps them in the race. It wasn’t this drastic thing for them because they still have all of these losses to teams actually in the wild card race. Obviously Indianapolis is in their own tier over competing for a division here, so going one and one for this team feels a lot more likely to still have good playoff chances here. When you look at it here, if you lose to Dallas but beat Houston, you’re still in that 60% chance to make the playoffs. That is so massively different than beating Dallas and NFC, but losing to your AFC conference opponent and only having a 46% chance to make the playoffs. So the best case scenario for them can be all the way up to around 83% chance if they go two and zero in this game. But again, the one and one still feels like they could get in the playoffs, unlike the situation for Dallas. Guys, I’m going to have a nice laugh. If we look back in the Trevor Lawrence slip. Six is what knocks knocks him out. And and it really could if Indiana continues to win. That’s the only thing they AFC South could potentially beat up on themselves. Because now the Houston Texans are back in play. The Jacksonville Jaguars are back in play. And if you look at it, the Indianapolis Colts out of those three teams probably have the hardest remaining schedule. They got to play Jacksonville twice and they have to play the Houston Texans twice. So those teams could beat up on each other. And if it comes down to a Jacksonville game right. Remember they do have the head to head win which would be the tiebreaker. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Titans just play spoiler to somebody in there because Jags. Exactly. It always happens. It always happens I don’t want to get into it. All right Kens, we need a quick pick on the game. McKenzie where are you at on this? Oh I do think it’s going to be the Chiefs here. Ironically, last year we weren’t high on the Chiefs by any means. And they just kept, you know, defying all odds here. But now we actually are bottom on this team. They’re run D at home specifically. So awesome. But still going to hold up on the road against the Cowboys here I like the momentum they have. As much as it kills me to say I do think they cover. They’ve really struggled on the road this year, and I think the way Dallas is, the trajectory for the offense and the defense, I’m taking the points. But you know what? I don’t need the points. Give me the Cowboys Moneyline on Thanksgiving. They get it done on Turkey Day okay I’m going to be in a household with a lot of Dallas Cowboys fans on this day. So for my mental well-being I am pulling for the Cowboys as well. Lee J Kens, we certainly appreciate it. It’s all going down on Thanksgiving. Chiefs, Cowboys on CBS 430 eastern. By the way, Thanksgiving is the first career start in the NFL for Patrick Mahomes at AT&T Stadium. He grew up about a mile and a

Leger Douzable and Mackenzie Brooks join CBS Sports HQ to preview Chiefs vs Cowboys + each teams playoff chances.

(0:00) – Chiefs outlast Colts
(1:13) – Cowboys comeback to beat Eagles
(2:10) – Quinnen Williams becoming a star
(3:45) – George Pickens vs Ceedee Lamb
(6:02) – Cowboys strength of schedule
(7:50) – Cowboys-Chiefs playoff implications
(11:11) – Chiefs vs Cowboys preview

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