Do the Chiefs need a A NEW COACH?! 😱 Stephen A. Smith DISAGREES with Chris Canty 🔥 🗣️ | First Take

Do the Chiefs need a A NEW COACH?! 😱 Stephen A. Smith DISAGREES with Chris Canty 🔥 🗣️ | First Take

Welcome back to First Take. Patrick Mahomes had successful surgery last night to repair the torn ACL in his left knee that happened in the loss to the Chargers on Sunday. So 9 months is typically the recovery time for ACL tears, meaning Mahomes will miss the team's offseason program training camp, and it puts his availability for the start of the next season in question. The 2026 NFL season opener is set for September 10th. All right, so with that loss to the Chargers, the Chiefs are going to miss the playoffs for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. That ends 10 consecutive 10- win seasons and nine consecutive AFC West titles. So, Kanty, as we look at the fallout from this, because it has been a miserable year in Kansas City, aside from this Mahomes injury, which is literally adding insult to injury, um, is this just a bad year for Kansas City, or is this a sign that the Chiefs dominant run, the dynasty is over? >> Oh, the dynasty is done. The Chiefs as we know them are finished. And I think this year highlights the malpractice that has gone on within that franchise over the last several years. They have taken the greatness of Patrick Mahomes for granted. And I will say something that one of my good friends, Nick Wright, who is a Kansas City Chief said, said yesterday. We're about to find out just how bad the Kansas City Chiefs are during these final three weeks of the regular season. They have not protected the franchise, which is Patrick Mahomes. This year, Patrick Mahomes is the second most contacted quarterback over the last three years. Mhm. >> No quarterback has been hit more on dropbacks than Patrick Mahomes. And oh, by the way, during that same span, their receivers lead the league in drops and they're 22nd in rushing. So, you mean to tell me your quarterback doesn't have any protection, your quarterback doesn't have reliable receivers, and you have no reliable running game to lean on? Got it. That's the best way to accentuate a top five quarterback of all time. It makes no sense. Everybody that's in charge in decision-making power in Kansas City needs to look themselves in the mirror. And they need to get serious about trying to do right by Patrick Mahomes by fortifying that roster and putting better supporting cast around him. And until they do, we will look at one of the greatest talents that we've seen at the quarterback position in NFL history and wonder why he can't get back to the level that we saw him at through the first seven years of his career. >> Yeah, I agree. I mean, you know, to Oh, go ahead, Stephen. Now, you got something. >> CC is not wrong with what he's saying, but I find myself sitting here believing that he's a bit too harsh. I I really do. I mean, I I'm just again, I'm thinking about this brother that gets up six o'clock in the morning terrorizing America on that radio show. And I'm just saying, damn. You know, he's just I mean, and he's just terrorizing EVERYBODY, YOU KNOW. AND I I FIND THIS MORE THE SAME like they've been to to five of the last six they've been to five Super Bowls in six years. They've they they've been to three straight. They won backtoback titles, right? And I'm saying, okay, coming into this season, we had expectations for them. It wasn't just for Patrick Mahomes, but one thing he can't do is catch his passes. We didn't anticipate the Rasheed Rice and Xavier Worthy and Thornton and even Travis Kelce we're going to be dropping passes. We didn't anticipate that. So again, I agree with you that the dynasty is over. But I'm thinking about it because Denver is here. Charges are coming. Jacksonville and Houston can't be ignored. The New England Patriots have arrived. I'm thinking about it because of those reasons as opposed to something that you really really can't anticipate. All of these drop passes really did you expect that? I didn't expect that. And and that so now I'm looking at it. All right. Your pass rush is suspect. Your running game, you pointed that out. CC obviously has lacked production as well. No doubt about that. But receivers dropping passes. That's not something that you expected from them. And then I'm looking at it now and you're absolutely right. They're the second worst cap team in the National Football League. the only team with, you know, under, you know, over the cap as much as they are is the Dallas Cowboys. So, it is a really precarious situation that they're in. I'm just saying to myself, damn, if you told me that, you know, I was going to have Rasheed Rice and Xavier Worthy as my receivers this year, I I think that's a pretty good crop. That's how I'm thinking about it, CC. But maybe I'm wrong. >> Yeah. I I I would say this. I would say that everybody on on the offensive side of the football for the Kenzie Chiefs has ownership in this, right? Like Patrick Mahomes didn't play his best football. The receivers didn't play their best football. The offensive line had a bunch of injuries. They didn't play their best football. The running game was what it was. Those running backs. I think part of it is the the Brett Beach. They need another run of like Bolton, Humphrey, Trey Smith, McDuffy. They need they need some young players to come in and be developed. They got I think everybody rested on their laurels of Patrick Mahomes going to drop back and save us and and he'll make do and he'll make plays out of nothing. And the problem with that philosophy is it doesn't it only travels so far and when your quarterback starts getting hit the way he was all the timing gets thrown off things things happen. The other part to Stephen A's point a lot of teams offensively have caught up. You think about like the Shawn McVeys, but think about Ben Johnson year one, Liam Cohen, year one. Like these guys are coming in and they're they are a value ad. They're getting young players to play exceptionally well really quickly. They're putting them on there. And that Trevor Lawrence, he's not a young player obviously, but he's never played nearly as well as he has this season. And that's part of what Liam Cohen has done. And and I look at these teams, Mike Greybel and Josh McDaniels, what they're doing with Drake May in in in uh New England. Everybody else has has done and has kind of grown. I did not feel the same way about Andy Reid and Matt Naggie. I don't feel like there was a lot of creativity in that offense, which is which is really the opposite of how people kind of identify them. And is part of it because of injury or lack of run game? I don't know. But but the facts are the facts. they haven't done the things to help Patrick Mahomes and and unfortunately with the injury, you know, we're going to we're going to have to wait for quite some time to see him back. >> Can't chime in here to to piggy back off of something you said that where I do get your point even more so. You know, when you talk about what's criminal, Jeff Sally just brought up that Andy Reid, Matt Naggie, you know, the pair and how an an absence of innovation, an absence of creativity, etc. What's criminal about that is that we saw that in the blowout loss in the Super Bowl. You would think that that is something that would have been alleviated considering the manner in which you lost on the biggest football stage in the world and that and and and we saw none of that and you got 12-0 including the postseason 12-0 last year in one score games. This year they were 1-7. So you just find yourself looking at them and saying what's up. That does point to that that that that Matt Naggie Andy Reid combo right there that you would have expected better than that from them. No doubt. So, how do you fix it, Kanty? Like, I mean, you you mentioned the cap space. 40 They're 43 and a half million over the cap next year. The offensive line's bad. The receivers aren't good. There's no run game. Like, how do you fix it? They they've got nothing but time without Patrick Mahomes for at least nine months. >> Well, the cap part is not as complicated. That's just two restructures, Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones. So, that'll take care of itself. But getting the return on investment on the draft picks is absolutely mission critical. Yes. I mean, three of their last five first round draft picks have been on the offensive side of the ball, and they haven't gotten the return on those investments. And then, oh, by the way, we got embarrassed in the Super Bowl in large part because our offensive line couldn't stop a parked car, i.e. the the pass rush of the Philadelphia Eagles. And what is our response in the offseason? TRADE AWAY OUR BEST OFFENSIVE LINEMAN. >> YEAH, >> that's that's that's brilliant, right? >> Absolutely brilliant. But here's what I will say. I don't think that Patrick Mahomes is blameless in all of this, but I don't blame him for anything that he's done off the field. Where I will hold him accountable is where we hold all-time great quarterbacks accountable, which is their leadership. >> Yeah. >> And that has not been displayed in terms of holding players to a standard and having a sense of urgency that's required. There's a always a healthy amount of tension in any productive workplace and the Kansas City Chiefs just don't have that and quite frankly that's been missing on that offensive side of the ball since Eric Benemy left the building and I'm wondering whether or not Patrick Mahomes can step in and be that in order for the Kansas City Chiefs offense to move forward. >> Yeah, both of those people that you mentioned, Eric Benemy, Joe Ty, the offensive lineman where they >> in Chicago and it looks pretty good. Yeah, >> it looks pretty good. >> Stephen, >> when you when you you talk and you talk about Joe Thooney, I I'm like, you traded him away for a fourth round pick >> when you know you got to protect Patrick Mahomes. >> He got a point CC. You got You got a point CC. Yeah, you just do. You just do. >> Let's leave it here. Let's move on to the AFC East. What a comeback. >> What an incredible comeback with reigning MVP Josh Allen and the Bills in New England. Buffalo was down 21- nothing in the second quarter and outscored the Pats 35-10 to come back and win this game. They pull within a game lead of game of the division lead. And despite that 3531 loss, the Patriots still have the strongest chance to win the AFC East at 64 and a.5% according to ESPN analytics. But a loss to either of those teams opens the door for the Bills who now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. Jeff, which team needs the AFC East more? >> Uh Patriots. Listen, there when you look at the the Buffalo Bills, I would tell you whoever they play in the playoffs, if they make it to the playoffs, whoever they play in the playoffs, they're going to be favored because of Josh Allen and the and that's just the facts. Oddsmakers are going to do it. When you talk about the New England Patriots having everybody come to your place, secondyear quarterback, young team, they have not had an overly tough schedule. I know they beat the Bills, they split with the Bills, but you know, from a from a how many good teams are you beating? they're going to be on the low end just because of how their schedule played out. You want those games at home with a young team, you know, brand new head coach there, being at home, being in that environment, it pays dividends. I I would tell you that if you you would trust Josh Allen more to go on the road again. CC made the point he hadn't won, he's played really well on the road and so so Josh Allen would not be my concern. Their run defense is my concern in Buffalo. Uh but but as I look at this team, I think the Patriots need to be at home. >> Let me just tell you, >> Mike Vrabel has done an insanely good job in New England. Them boys are kicking themselves. They are kicking themselves of letting one get away. They let one get away. And Buffalo, give them credit, their defense balled out in the second half. They did a number of different things and shut, you know, shut the P other than the Henderson, you know, big like run to the right and then sprint out to the left for however many yards. They basically shut them down. This is a That was a a minor miracle in New England. I don't see New England giving games away like that very often. Uh they feel I'm sure Vable is going, "Hey man, this is what happens, right? You take your foot off the gas for one second, we're going to learn a lesson from this one." Uh but Patriots getting that homefield advantage matters to me. >> Yeah. I I will say this. I I don't I don't look at what happened in week 15 as an indictment on the New England Patriots. They were down their arguably their top offensive lineman and their top defensive lineman. that showed up in a major way, right? >> Because they weren't able to keep Drake May clean and >> they weren't able to stop the run when the Buffalo Bills got it rolling in the second half. Milt Williams changes all of that. So, if and when he's back for the postseason, I would expect the Patriots to be a lot better in that regard. Now, when it comes to who needs to win the AFC East more, >> it is clearly the Buffalo Bills. >> Wow. Clearly the Buffalo Bills because it is Super Bowl or bust for Shawn McDerman and Josh Allen. No Patrick Mahomes, no Joe Burrow, and potentially no Lamar Jackson. And for a quarterback that's never won a road league game to have to go on the road and to get What do you mean, STEPHEN A? HOLD ON NOW. LET ME fix this. He did this. THIS IS THAT 6 A.M. THIS THAT 6 A.M. GUY TALKING. >> STEPHEN STEPHEN A. Let me make my point. Let me make my point. It's year one for Mike Vrabel and Drake May. Year one. Year one. It's year eight for Josh Allen and Shawn Mcder. If they don't get it done now, when is it going to happen? It's Super Bowl or bust for the Buffalo Bills? It needs to happen now. In order >> That's not the tenor of the question, though. >> What do you mean? You said >> that's not the ten of the question. In other words, when you when you're asking >> when when you're asking the question which team needs to win a division more, you're bringing up history. I'm bringing up in the moment right now based on how these teams look and what we for what we foreshadow is on coming FOR THE POSTSEASON AND I'M SAYING TO MYSELF I'm looking at a guy like Drake May do you know that he's got 26 starts and he doesn't have a single fourth quarter comeback >> right >> that I mean that that that's kind of alarming when you think about the postseason you talked about you talked about how they were a bit hampered on the offensive and the and the defensive line right you talked about that we talked about him no fourth quarter comebacks I'm looking at the New England Patriots And I'm I'm imagining, excuse me, in Foxboro, particularly with a secondyear quarterback, YOU WANT THE CHAT to play at home rather than having to go on the ROAD AND PRODUCE. JOSH ALLEN. I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHERE HE IS. HE'S JOSH ALLEN AND HE'S PROVEN HE'S JOSH ALLEN. IT DON'T MATTER WHERE HE'S AT. GET HIM IN and he's going to DELIVER FOR YOU. WE DON'T LOOK AT THE BUFFALO BILLS. What do I say all the time, CC? Don't let it be you. Don't let it be you. And we never looked at Josh Allen and said it's him. when it comes to the the postseason failings of the Buffalo Bills, we've looked at everything else. We've looked at him and said, "Oh, he did his job." And so, I just look at it from that standpoint and I say under these circumstances, I would say New England needs to win the division more so than the than than the Bills because New England is the one I would have less faith in them on the road than I would have in Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills on the road. That's the point. Stephen A, >> would you agree that there has to be more urgency to win a championship in Buffalo than in New England? >> Yes. >> You would agree with that? >> I would agree with that. Hold on a second. Hold on a second. Okay. This is Josh Allen's worst team. If you take Josh Allen out of it, his receivers, his defense, his run game, like you're asking him to do, let me tell you something. If Josh, >> that's what happens when you paid a quarterback $300 million, sir. >> They paid PATRICK MAHAN $500 MILLION. >> LOOK AT THE TEAM AND LOOK AT THE TEAM AROUND HIM. >> WELL, you take six for one. >> But but my whole But my but my whole point is they have to have urgency to win a championship. That's the point. >> Everybody, but they their team isn't built. You got to look at the Buffalo. They grow up. They are playing better. If they give themselves a shot at the Super Bowl, it is a minor. They don't have the dudes the same dudes. You think about their defense. You think about their receiving core. Josh Allen is doing more with less than any other quarterback. >> They don't have the dudes. But guess what? They also don't have to go up against the Chiefs. And outside of the Cincinnati Bengals, that's the only team that's put them out of the playoffs. So that so that's why they have to >> That's everybody. The Chiefs beat >> I I don't know what you want me to say. I'm just trying to point it out. >> I want you to say Patriots should BE SHOULD GET HOME. THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY. >> LISTEN, I was wrong. >> No, I wasn't wrong. I wasn't wrong. There have only been three wild card teams to win a Super Bowl in the last two decades. >> That's for sure. >> So, it it actually benefits you to win the division and have a home playoff game. I think the Bills need that more than the Patriots cuz the Bills got to get to a Super Bowl more than the Patriots right now. >> All right, we got a little >> I feel you on the urgency of the Bills getting to the Super Bowl. I'm just saying when you talk about who needs to win the division more, I'm thinking about okay, whoever doesn't win the division, what challenges do you face and are you equipped to deal with it? I like Josh Allen's chances on a roll better than I like Drake Maize. >> Yep. >> That's my point. And I'm looking at it from that standpoint and I'm saying, yo, if if I'm the knowing the Patriots, particularly when you consider in history at home up 21 points or more, they were 124 and one in history and they had won 104 straight games. Went up by 21 points at home. And then that got derailed by whom? Josh Allen.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Chris Canty and Jeff Saturday join Courtney Cronin to discuss the latest storylines in the NFL, including:

0:00 Mahomes is injured
0:55 Bad year or bad sign?
2:50 Stephen A. responds
6:00 Chiefs on offense
9:20 Bills vs. Patriots
10:07 Who needs the AFC East more?
14:30 Jeff Saturday responds
13:00 Stephen A. weighs in

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