Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs to have a playoff-like atmosphere | FNIA | NFL on NBC

Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs to have a playoff-like atmosphere | FNIA | NFL on NBC

Sunday Night Football. Another one. This also over in the AFC. I mean, this is just going to be it’s going to feel like a playoff game. There’s going to be some games this weekend that are going to feel like playoff games. This is going to be one of them. The Chiefs are six and six. It is going to be defending Arrowhead. They’re defending Arrowhead. They’re defending this era of Chiefs football on their home field. Texans at Chiefs. First thing that pops into your mind, Rodney, with this one is what? It’s going to be cold. The weather will definitely be a factor. And you’re dealing with a team like the Texans that have a great defense. Their offense has improved, but they have to go on the road. They have to play outside of that dome. And it’s going to be 17 degrees. It’s going to be windy, cold, and it’s going to affect them. And I know CJ Stra played at Ohio State. A lot of those other guys didn’t. And it’s going to affect them. The Chiefs, this is what they do. They wake up every day to this weather. It’s second nature to them. And coach, I believe the Chiefs will win this game. This is one game. They’re going to put everything into this one game. They don’t care about the stats, what happened the previous five, six games. They’re going to put everything into this one game and I believe they’re going to come out victorious because of the weather and because they’re the Chiefs. Well, I’m not quite so sure. It is a playoff game. They’ve got to win it. I think we’ll see everything that the Chiefs have. What I don’t uh have confidence in is them saying, “We got to play a balanced game. This is a great defense. We got to keep them off balance. We’ve got to run the ball. If they run Pacheco and Hunt, I think they’ll win the game, but I’m not sure they will. I think they’ll put it in Patrick Mahomes hands and that offensive line that’s banged up now, they will not be able to pass block these uh Texans pass rushers. So, that to me is the question. How much will Kansas City run the football? Coach, if you can see the fact that they’re not going to be able to block those pass rushers, you don’t think Andy Reid can see the same thing? He just has to go back to the game plan that he had a couple weeks ago when um Kareem Hunt went crazy and ran all over. Was that Indianapolis? I think I believe it was. Yeah. If they use that game plan, I believe they’ll win, but I’m not sure they will. Um I think it’s going to be a a tough lowscoring game. Um I I’m picking the Texans right now. 38 Hey Jack, three and a half hours in 17°ree weather. I don’t know if they’re going to be able to handle it. I just I didn’t see Miami Dolphins. We were there for the Miami Dolphins and you saw them guys fold after the first quarter. Difference is this team has a very very stout defense and defense can win in cold weather. A amen. Amen. They most certainly do. Uh the Chiefs have been not the Chiefs this year at moments. The defense is, you know, bottom of the league in a lot of key categories, third down included. They’ve had a lot of penalties throughout the course of this year. there’s just been kind of bonehead moments that we’re not used to seeing from the Chiefs. That being said, they’ve been better at home. Uh, and they’re going to get a chance here with some of their toughest games down the stretch to be on the home field. Denver, the Chargers, uh, the Texans, they’re they’re going to have a chance to defend Arrowhead. And and I I said this to Rodney, I said this to you guys both on the meeting yesterday. Andy Reid’s gonna be 68 years old. Travis Kelce is going to be 37 years old. Chris Jones has had an up and down year. This is an opportunity for them to keep this era alive. If they lose this game, there’s going to be a lot of conversations about new players, new faces. Absolutely. Going in there to Kansas City. This is a massive game. Yeah. But I don’t I don’t But even if they lose, I don’t think this is a massive rebuild because you have Patrick Mahomes because you have some pieces. You know, obviously they’re going to continue to work on on the offensive line and things like that, but I don’t think they have to blow it up like most teams. Most teams have to blow it up. have to find him a quarterback. They don’t have to do that. Yeah, they might get rid of Chris Jones. Travis Kelce might go into broadcasting and retire, but those guys, I mean, eventually you’re going to have to replace those guys, but I like I like what the Chiefs have done. I think they put themselves in this position. At the end of the day, like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what happened the previous games. They’re putting all their chips in right now. Andy Reed is telling those guys, “Guys, forget about the stats. We’re going to go all in and we’re going to win this one game.” And that’s what great coaches tell you. No, that that’s where they are. And this is a the first of 11 maybe playoff games for them. I mean, that’s where they are. We’ve got to win to to keep going. If we don’t win this game, yeah, we’ve got four games left, but the season’s over. So, that’s what you’re going to see. You’re going to see the best that Kansas City has. It’s going to be a tight game. It’s going to come down to the fourth quarter, and somebody’s going to have to make a play to win it. Uh they’ve been able to do it in the past. haven’t done it that well this year. We’ll see what happens. Guys, I I just like to say this, too. Um, you know, Demo Ryan to me kind of reminds me of a young young Tony Dunie. Just the level of respect that the players have for that guy in the locker room, the way he’s come in, the way he’s impacted these players, the way he’s pushed them in a respectful way. They really respect and admire this guy and just reminds me of a young young Tony Dunie. So, coach, you know what? You’re doing great things because a lot of guys are paying close attention to you. Keep it up. Well, he has been amazing. They start out 0 and3 and your quarterback gets hurt in concussion protocol for and you’ve got to win these games with your backup quarterback and he went to the defense and just said, “You know what guys, until CJ gets back, you guys have to win games for us and they they’ve done it.” So, now they’ve got themselves in striking distance and it’s going to be a great game. And props to David Mills, too, who who really played well as a backup quarterback coming in it done. and the Chiefs started 0 and2. So this is a game it’s a good reminder that these were the slow starters out the gate. It looked bleak for the Texans at moments of this season. And so their ability to just survive and then build wins now get their quarterback back, survive some of the offensive line issues that they’ve had. I just wonder just as a matchup, does Kansas City have the pass rush to affect CJ enough? Because that has been an issue season. No, they got to blitz. They got to blitz to create pressure and that blitz might come on second down, might come on first, might come on third. They got to do a lot of disguising in the secondary, but they’re going to have to blitz George Carlus. He’s not getting pressure. Chris Jones when he create when he has one-on-one, you know, matchups, he’ll beat the guy, but for the most part, he’s getting double team. So, yeah. Yeah. No, they they don’t. And how CJ handles that pressure, if he can see it, get rid of the ball, don’t turn it over, they’re they’re going to be tough to deal with. Um, the other side of it is the same way that you’re going to be in these tight games. Fourth quarter, you’ve got to make a play. I’m going to give you a prediction. One of these teams, whoever wins this game, is going to make the playoffs. And nobody’s going to want to play them in in in January. If the Texans win, I don’t want to play them. If the Chiefs win and get in, I don’t want to play them either if I’m in the AFC. If the Texans win, coach, I’ll have a different level of respect for them because they would have shown me a mental and emotional toughness that I didn’t think they had. They are talented. Like when you put them on turf and I look at their defense, their defense is loaded. They’re talented. And even on the offensive side of the ball, you can see a lot of potential and a lot of talent. But if they can win this game and overcome the code and all the different elements, that’s going to give me a different respect for the Texans. And I believe and I I will believe exactly what you said. people will be scared of him, but if they lose this game, nobody’s gonna be scared to play the Texans. Uh McDuffy, he’s been viewed as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for the last handful of years. Uh not a good game for him on Thanksgiving, Rob, what did you see from him against Dallas in particular? And how does that translate with Nico Collins coming? Well, not even not even just Dallas. This whole year, um he hasn’t made those big plays in the passing game. They’ve been catching passes on him. He’s an excellent tackler. He’s a phenomenal blitzer. They put him at nickel and let him blitz. And that’s where he’s really excelled. But he struggled and he’ll have a hard time trying to defend Nico Collins. Nico’s big. He’s extremely fast. And Nico’s tough. You can’t bully him. You can’t push him around. And he’s going to come all night. I think that’s going to be a tough matchup for him. Coach, I I agree. I I don’t think they have anybody that can handle Collins. I don’t think they can sit there with a fourman rush and do anything with this passing game. So the question is, who gets the advantage? Does Steve Spagnolo have the timely blitz that Straoud is not ready for or are they prepared and they pick him up and they they have a big day? Um, we’ll see what happens. I I think it’s going to be a little 5050, but I think CJ is going to make enough plays to win the game by that much. Hey, hey, coach, the last point I would make, I saw Steve Spagnola up close and personal when he destroyed us in 2007 and he went after us as a defensive coordinator. He devised a game plan that really shut down the number one offense in all of football. I’ve seen it firsthand. I was sitting on the sideline. So, am I going to pick Steve Spagnola or CJ Stra? I’m gonna go with the the veteran defensive coordinator with all that experience and all the Super Bowl rings. Jack, what is it about his I was going to ask is it a bigger game game plan wise for Andy Reid or for Spags? I mean, what is it about Spags and the way he can put together these playoff, Super Bowl, big key game game plans that somehow just always seem to work, coach? Like, what what specifically is it? How does he do it? I think the thing is you don’t know what to expect. You know, blitzes are coming, but you don’t know where they’re coming from and how how he’s going to do it. Um, you know, in the big moments it’s going to come, but where is it going to come from? And he just has a way to still be creative and that that’s hard to do. overload pressures that you probably hadn’t seen like pressures that he probably ran in week one or week three. He’ll go back to those where you probably didn’t go back to week one as a team and studied those type of things. But he just has a lot of confidence in his guys. He’s got a secondary. They do a really good job of being interchangeable and disguising coverage. And um I I just love his aggressive mindset and especially in games like this. He’s coming after. We have a split board pick. Man, this this is exciting. Let’s go playoff football. Playoff football. We’re all thinking. I mean, this is a dream. Week 14. I I wake up every morning and I think this weekend is going to be absolutely awesome. I can’t believe you know what Andy Reid said, You know what Andy Reid told said, Jack? He said, “Go Chiefs.” I did. He said, “Say what? Tickle your toots every play.” Go ahead. But I’m with you, Jack. We look at I think the Pittsburgh Baltimore winner is going to go to the playoffs. I think the Indie Jacksonville winner is going to go to the playoffs. And I think that the winner of our game is going to go to the playoffs. I don’t know who that’s going to be, but these are big games. That AFC is wide open, too. Wide open for either one of these two teams. Fellas, appreciate you so much. Cannot wait to get out there to Kansas City Arrowhead for that playoff atmosphere. Going to be spectacular. Rod, final thought. What is it? Dress warm, my brother. Bring your Bring your Hey, do you need me to get you some snow pants because I can pick you up some? Probably. Probably. You wear You wear a large, so I got you. I I will be dressed warm. Awesome. Awesome, guys. I’ll see you both. Cheers to you both. Hi, I’m Mike Trico and thanks for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports.

Jac Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison discuss how the cold weather in Kansas City will impact the Houston Texans and why this matchup is important for the Chiefs to keep their “era” alive. #NBCSports #NFL #SundayNightFootball
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Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs to have a playoff-like atmosphere | FNIA | NFL on NBC https://www.youtube.com/NFLonNBC