Speaker 1: All right's still a few days away from Super Bowl
Speaker 1: fifty nine. But never a bad time to talk football.
Speaker 1: I never know where our next guest is. He could
Speaker 1: be in Hawaii, he could be in Germany. He could
Speaker 1: be golfing, he could be grinding on tape. I'll let
Speaker 1: him tell us, Scott Mitchell, where you're at.
Speaker 2: Not a Thursday afternoon, just sitting in the living room
Speaker 2: on the couch. I'm actually building a studio, Spence, So wow. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to be joining the ESPN network
Speaker 2: of stations here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: Do you have something Do you have something you'd like
Speaker 1: to I was going to say, do you have something
Speaker 1: you'd like to announce to our audience and quite frankly
Speaker 1: all of us over here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the old Sister station, I guess, I guess
Speaker 2: you'd call it that nine sixty. I'm going to be
Speaker 2: doing a show in the UH in the afternoon from
Speaker 2: one to two, so on that station. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Do we have a name? Do we have a name
Speaker 3: in place? Scott?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm thinking the hour of power, or
Speaker 2: the power hour, or the lunch hour, or because it's
Speaker 2: only an hour and I gotta you know, I got
Speaker 2: to swing for the fences with the hour. So I'm
Speaker 2: gonna I'm gonna bring the best to deepest cuts and
Speaker 2: takes and just fly off the rails for about an
Speaker 2: hour on the radio. That's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: I like it The Power Hour with Scott Mitchell. Let's
Speaker 1: do the Power Hour with Scott Mitchell.
Speaker 2: I like that. Okay, all right, and you know what, Rail, you.
Speaker 1: Know, you know what, Scott, Just for you, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: workshop some things tonight and I'm gonna send you a
Speaker 1: couple of ideas.
Speaker 3: How about we do that.
Speaker 2: I would love that. Okay, yeah, fireing, Let's do it well.
Speaker 3: Very exciting, very exciting. All right, Scott, let's stock a
Speaker 3: little super Bowl. But before we get there, let's stock
Speaker 3: a little.
Speaker 1: Let's stock a little conference champs Conference championship games, and
Speaker 1: then we'll move on. Let's start with Philly and Washington.
Speaker 1: We had you on last week. I thought you did
Speaker 1: a good job of articulating just how exciting you're one
Speaker 1: for commanders fans. Well with Jayden Daniels under center, I
Speaker 1: thought Philly would win, but I thought it would be close,
Speaker 1: and they smoked them. So takeaways NFC Championship, Philly moves on,
Speaker 1: Washington goes home.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And and really it's football is about the trenches,
Speaker 2: and it always is. I mean, you can talk about
Speaker 2: the marquee players and the stars and the superstars, but
Speaker 2: it's it's the guys up front. And and Philadelphia might
Speaker 2: be the best team in the NFL up front right
Speaker 2: now on offense and defense. They had guys injured on
Speaker 2: their offensive line and they were they were still being very,
Speaker 2: very effective. And you know, on the other side of it,
Speaker 2: you have no rookie quarterback has ever taken their team
Speaker 2: to the super Bowl. So it's it's a tall order.
Speaker 2: But when I hear stats like that, it just tells
Speaker 2: me it's about time someone did. And that that's kind
Speaker 2: of why I picked Washington, and I you know, I've
Speaker 2: just been so impressed with Jayden Daniels. But this fell
Speaker 2: Philadelphia team, Uh, it's they're gonna be a tough out.
Speaker 2: They're they're really really athletic in the secondary, and they've
Speaker 2: just they've been like glue on on the receivers for
Speaker 2: the teams pretty prolific offenses, and they've they've really stepped
Speaker 2: up their game. And you know, It's going to be
Speaker 2: interesting to see how well the Chiefs handle that, you know,
Speaker 2: because it might take Patrick Mahomes doing a little running
Speaker 2: magic and he's done more of that into the playoffs
Speaker 2: and uh, but it's it's going to be a tough out.
Speaker 2: And then you know sa Kwon Barkley, as you know,
Speaker 2: he's such a talent. And I've heard people say, oh, look,
Speaker 2: you know the the running back is now pack in
Speaker 2: the NFL, and and I don't. I don't believe that's
Speaker 2: necessarily true. What I believe is what is always the case,
Speaker 2: and that's talent. Talent always finds a way to rise
Speaker 2: to the occasion, no matter no matter what position where
Speaker 2: it is. And Sakuon Barkley is a special talent. And
Speaker 2: he's a guy that they figured out how to, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, how to be explosive. And coaches in the
Speaker 2: NFL they don't care like they're just like, wherever I
Speaker 2: can find production, wherever I can move the ball, wherever
Speaker 2: I can have a mismatch, That's where I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: And and they have that ability. And part of it
Speaker 2: is Jalen Hurts is a guy that can run as
Speaker 2: well as throw the football and and so there's just
Speaker 2: an honest factor with him in the game. And you
Speaker 2: kind of saw that where they really played off of
Speaker 2: each other so nicely and so so they're they're gonna
Speaker 2: be tough offensively and and and you know they've been
Speaker 2: there before and and so they're not this moment isn't
Speaker 2: bigger than them for the Eagles. Uh, you know, it'll be.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be hard. It's gonna be hard for for
Speaker 2: Kansas City to actually win this game.
Speaker 1: I always roll my eyes when I hear people say, well,
Speaker 1: the running back position is dead or the center position
Speaker 1: is dead in basketball, like you know, every you know,
Speaker 1: for for a long time, everybody's saying, well, if you
Speaker 1: do not have a six seven, six ' eight wing,
Speaker 1: dominant wing in pro basketball, you can't win a championship.
Speaker 1: Small players, point guards don't move the needle. And then
Speaker 1: Steph Curry was like, oh yeah, I mean, ultimately, the
Speaker 1: top end talent, you cannot blanket a position by saying
Speaker 1: this position is dead because the top end talent at
Speaker 1: any position, Scott will always move the needle, running back, right.
Speaker 3: Guard, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: If you can have top end talent, then all the
Speaker 1: conversation about a position or group being dead is just dumb.
Speaker 2: No, it really is. And it's a great point. I mean,
Speaker 2: these these athletes can't they can't go excuse me for
Speaker 2: being this body type or being this position type, and
Speaker 2: and it just it just how it's just how it
Speaker 2: is in the NFL, and they they just find a
Speaker 2: way that that talent. And I'm you know, I'm sure
Speaker 2: the same thing is is the case in the And
Speaker 2: you know, you think of Michael Jordan coming along, and
Speaker 2: like they've never seen a player like Michael Jordan, and
Speaker 2: now you see a lot of players like that, and
Speaker 2: and and Steph certainly, you know, he he kind of
Speaker 2: changed the whole whole dynamic of of how the game's
Speaker 2: played and the position and and you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: it's really about I just remember early on in my
Speaker 2: career and Gene Upshaw, who was the president of the
Speaker 2: Players Association, and they were trying to ratify this whole
Speaker 2: idea of free agency, and he just said, there's always
Speaker 2: going to be stars there, and they're just they're they're
Speaker 2: going to come from all different kinds of places and positions,
Speaker 2: but there's always going to be stars. And this league
Speaker 2: ultimately is driven by those stars wherever they come from.
Speaker 2: And the league knows this. You know, they're going to
Speaker 2: promote the heck out of out of whoever is that
Speaker 2: is that star. And they don't they don't care what
Speaker 2: what position it is. I mean, you look at a
Speaker 2: guy like Taysom Hill, undrafted, but just the guy has
Speaker 2: talent and they figured out how to put him on
Speaker 2: the field. And quite frankly, Jalen Hurts who's in the
Speaker 2: super Bowl, was initially drafted because the Philadelphia Eagles thought
Speaker 2: he was the next iteration of Taysom Hill. They drafted
Speaker 2: him to be kind of that specialized Swiss army knife guy.
Speaker 2: And lo and behold, he actually turns into a quarterback
Speaker 2: and Taysom Hill didn't, you know. So so the talent
Speaker 2: is one of those things. You know, Puka Nakua, who's
Speaker 2: one of the top receivers in the NFL, he it's
Speaker 2: because he's good and and and so there there's always
Speaker 2: a place, there's always a position, you know. You I
Speaker 2: think another guy who's done that is Vilichick. And you
Speaker 2: you know, you get some of these, you know, Wes
Speaker 2: Welker's or Julian Edemans, and they go those guys are undersize,
Speaker 2: they can't play, and they go, no, they can. You
Speaker 2: put him in the middle of the field here and
Speaker 2: let them let their talent shine, and they'll get open
Speaker 2: and they'll catch the heck out of the football and
Speaker 2: they'll make your offense so much more explosive and dynamic
Speaker 2: and productive. But it's just it's again, the NFL will
Speaker 2: find whatever nook and cranny, whatever position, whatever uniqueness it is,
Speaker 2: if you can play, you will stay.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you, Yeah, you know that's good. That's good.
Speaker 1: I just stay tuned one to two on our sister
Speaker 1: station coming soon, The Power Hour. Scott Mitchell, since I
Speaker 1: asked you about Jade and Daniels last week, let me
Speaker 1: dig into your thoughts on Jalen.
Speaker 3: Jalen hurts so Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Last year, only Carolina, Chicago, and New England have fewer
Speaker 1: passing yards per game. Jalen was number ten in QBR.
Speaker 1: He's the last ranked quarterback of any qualified quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: the postseason in QBR. But for some reason, I still
Speaker 1: really like him. I feel like maybe I'm on an
Speaker 1: island here, but it's interesting that we have a team
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl where the coach is in question.
Speaker 1: And the quarterback is in question, thought to be the
Speaker 1: two most important pieces of pro football. But what do
Speaker 1: you like about Jalen? What bugs you as somebody played
Speaker 1: that position?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't. I don't like Jalen Hurst. I love him, actually,
Speaker 2: and I'll tell you why. Here's a guy who went
Speaker 2: to Alabama, leads him to a national championship, goes back
Speaker 2: and gets benched in the national championship game for TUA,
Speaker 2: and then Stace doesn't transfer, doesn't pout, doesn't complain, takes
Speaker 2: his medicine, finishes out, and then goes to UH Oklahoma
Speaker 2: as a grad transfer and and really turns it around
Speaker 2: because Jalen was not a good passer. And then he
Speaker 2: goes to the NFL and he goes, as I said earlier,
Speaker 2: as this novelty and then he can you know, he
Speaker 2: kind of converted himself into a guy could actually throw.
Speaker 2: And it to me, it was really remarkable because I
Speaker 2: really did think he was going to be like at
Speaker 2: Taysom Hill, where you know, he couldn't really throw that well,
Speaker 2: and and there are people that say, oh, maybe he
Speaker 2: still can't do it. But the guys why I love
Speaker 2: him is because he's stuck through all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: He looked at where he was weak and he figured
Speaker 2: out how to make it actually a strength of his
Speaker 2: And he's a winner. He's he's been a winner. He's
Speaker 2: a guy I like these guys that you know have
Speaker 2: have kind of been through some stuff and got a
Speaker 2: little bit of a chip on their shoulder. And and
Speaker 2: he just feel like he's kind of that guy that like,
Speaker 2: don't count me out. And and the worst thing you
Speaker 2: could ever do is like tell me that I'm no good,
Speaker 2: because I'm gonna I'm going to prove you wrong. And
Speaker 2: and that grit and that toughness is part of why
Speaker 2: this team is in the super Bowl and why they're
Speaker 2: there and why they can why they can win it.
Speaker 2: And he, I mean, he's got enough around him, I
Speaker 2: mean as a whole football team that you know, he
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be Josh Allen. He doesn't have to
Speaker 2: be this superstar guy by himself. He's know, he having
Speaker 2: a second fiddle in uh Saquon Is has probably been
Speaker 2: a huge benefit to him. And yeah, I just I
Speaker 2: just wouldn't count out Jalen hurts it all.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Josh Allen's go over to the AFC, championship game,
Speaker 1: and on Friday of last week, I said, I'm riding
Speaker 1: with the Bills.
Speaker 3: It feels like it's Josh's time.
Speaker 1: But I fully anticipate sitting on my couch on Sunday
Speaker 1: evening going you idiot, what are you doing?
Speaker 3: And that's, uh, that's what happens.
Speaker 1: So your takeaways of Kansas City just doing Kansas City things,
Speaker 1: finding ways to win, and what's your take now on
Speaker 1: yet another exit from Josh Allen and the narrative around
Speaker 1: him moving forward.
Speaker 2: It's a tough one. And it's tough because I mean,
Speaker 2: Josh actually played pretty decent, uh, you know, in the game,
Speaker 2: and but you could just tell that that anchor still
Speaker 2: on his around his neck. You could see when the
Speaker 2: game got closed, or you know, they'd show visions of
Speaker 2: him on the sideline. You know, most most guys are
Speaker 2: like stone face. You know, they don't give you any
Speaker 2: expression and you can just feel the worry or they're like,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, here this goes again kind of thing,
Speaker 2: and and it kind of impacts your your your ability
Speaker 2: to play because that last drive when they just really
Speaker 2: needed it, whether it was calling plays or what they
Speaker 2: were doing. Uh, you know, it just it was kind
Speaker 2: of it was playing kind of small, you know, it's
Speaker 2: almost almost tentative. Uh, you know, Kansas City goes, look,
Speaker 2: we're gonna There were two different plays and two critical situations.
Speaker 2: One where Patrick Mahomes rolls out and actually runs for
Speaker 2: the first down. And then there was another play that's
Speaker 2: really it's a zone and a man concept and and
Speaker 2: that you know something that that they you know, called
Speaker 2: probably a million times, and he throws the ball to
Speaker 2: the back out of the backfield and it's it's the clincher.
Speaker 2: And and Nannie Reads talked about this and every code,
Speaker 2: you know, every play they have these plays, you know,
Speaker 2: for those situations like, you know, unveil your best play
Speaker 2: in that critical situation. And one that's you know, it's
Speaker 2: instead of well, let's just run our quarterback for a
Speaker 2: quarterback sneak three or four times. And and so I
Speaker 2: just I think in order for Josh Allen to get
Speaker 2: over that hump, there's got to be more play to win.
Speaker 2: You know, damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. You've got
Speaker 2: to be more bold and more creative in some of
Speaker 2: the things they're actually doing. And hopefully it will because
Speaker 2: he's you know, he's a really good talent, and they're
Speaker 2: a really good team, and they're really close, and it's
Speaker 2: just unfortunate you have to play Andy Reid and Patrick
Speaker 2: Mahomes at their very best. That's that's hard to hard
Speaker 2: to get over.
Speaker 1: Speaking of that, we'll move over now to Super Bowl
Speaker 1: fifty nine Caesar's Super Dome, New Orleans, Louisiana, and it's
Speaker 1: a rematch of a game a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: that felt like Billy was on their way and then
Speaker 1: Kansas City, you know, they did what they do, They
Speaker 1: came back and they wanted again in Kansas City is
Speaker 1: a slight favorite. I thought this line would move and
Speaker 1: it hasn't at all. Uh for the for seventy two
Speaker 1: hours now it's the Chiefs minus one point five the
Speaker 1: over unders forty nine point five. What you gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: Scott about this game coming up on Sunday the ninth.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure that slight advantage is just because of
Speaker 2: the experience of Patrick Mahomes and and and Andy Reid,
Speaker 2: and they just they just understand. It's almost like they
Speaker 2: you know, they just expect to be there and this
Speaker 2: is just just this normal territory for them. Winning a
Speaker 2: super Bowl is really hard, and winning a second one
Speaker 2: is harder, probably the hardest thing to do. And and
Speaker 2: now the third one is you know, it's it's kind
Speaker 2: of house money. It's like who cares at this, you
Speaker 2: know this point. So there's I don't think there's any
Speaker 2: pressure on Kansas City extra. I know a lot of
Speaker 2: people are going to make a big deal about a
Speaker 2: free peat because you know, it's never been done in ball,
Speaker 2: But I just don't think it's really gonna bother them.
Speaker 2: They both of these teams are are pretty complete, you know,
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball. And I just, you know,
Speaker 2: I just I just feel it's going to be a
Speaker 2: good game. I don't think anyone's gonna get blown out
Speaker 2: of this game. I don't think the Eagles are going
Speaker 2: to be like overwhelmed, you know, or intimidated or or
Speaker 2: anything like that. I feel like there's energy and you know,
Speaker 2: gas still in the tank for the Chiefs, because that's
Speaker 2: an emotional thing to go through and win seventeen games
Speaker 2: in a row, not just seventeen, but in a row
Speaker 2: by one point one score or less. That just kind of,
Speaker 2: you know, after a while, gets on your nerve. You
Speaker 2: think of that old gunslinger. You know, he's been in
Speaker 2: that gunfight so many times that now he just he
Speaker 2: just kind of has this little tremble to him or
Speaker 2: or you know, saving Private Ryan. You know, for a while,
Speaker 2: it just you get the yips, you know, you get
Speaker 2: you know, it just the nerves just they just take
Speaker 2: over and they and it doesn't feel that way for
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. They feel like, cool, we got a chance
Speaker 2: to win. We know how to do this at the
Speaker 2: end of the game, and they do it. And so
Speaker 2: I just I feel like something in me just says
Speaker 2: this is going to be just a really good football
Speaker 2: game and something that a lot of people will win.
Speaker 2: And I really think it's just going to come down
Speaker 2: to at the end of the game, you know, who
Speaker 2: manages the best and who who can find that way
Speaker 2: to just get that drive, that one drive laid in
Speaker 2: the game that seals the deal. That's what I really
Speaker 2: think this whole game is going to come down to.
Speaker 1: All right, Scott, before I set you loose, get ready
Speaker 1: the way too early. Twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six
Speaker 1: twelve team CFP projection from Bill Conley of ESPN with
Speaker 1: his sp plus data and out of the Big twelve
Speaker 1: representing the conference in Bill Conley is the University of
Speaker 1: Utah in the twelve teams CFP next year. Give me
Speaker 1: a Scott Mitchell hot take on that.
Speaker 2: Well, the covers weren't there, you know, I think it
Speaker 2: felt that way. I mean, there was just a painful season.
Speaker 2: Utah was in every game pretty much, even the Colorado
Speaker 2: game that got away from him in the end. They
Speaker 2: were they were it was a it was a it
Speaker 2: was a winnable game until you know, they just kind
Speaker 2: of could get nothing going offensively. So you have a defense,
Speaker 2: it's going to be good. It was really good last year.
Speaker 2: It's going to be as good, if not better again
Speaker 2: this year. And then and then you just add some offense,
Speaker 2: you know, just just find some production offensively. And and
Speaker 2: I really like what I really like, uh, Jason Beck.
Speaker 2: I've had a chance to talk to him, you know,
Speaker 2: quite extensively, actually, and I like what he's all about.
Speaker 2: I like his his style, his philosophy, and and and
Speaker 2: Coach Whittingham is putting him in a position to really
Speaker 2: implement what he knows, what he believes, and he's got
Speaker 2: his quarterback that he believes. So so there's not even
Speaker 2: though that you have these new players coming into the
Speaker 2: program offensively, they're not new to what's going to be
Speaker 2: going on, so so you're really you're not going to
Speaker 2: have that longer like learning curve that you would if
Speaker 2: you just brought a bunch of athletes in off the
Speaker 2: street and they go, Okay, we're gonna you know, if
Speaker 2: you're way ahead when the quarterback knows the offense very well,
Speaker 2: and uh, and then these other people can come along
Speaker 2: and and and there are some players offensively, they have
Speaker 2: some weapons. They're going to play to who they are
Speaker 2: and what their strengths are. And the Utah gets any
Speaker 2: kind of offense next year, they're gonna they're definitely gonna
Speaker 2: be competitive and can win every single game they play
Speaker 2: in next year. So I don't think it's that far
Speaker 2: fetched actually.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, I love it, Scott. Thanks for
Speaker 1: the time, buddy. You have a great week and weekend
Speaker 1: and get you on soon. Okay, all right, all right,
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