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Speaker 1: We say hello to Sam McDowell, who is a columnist

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with a Kansas City Star with this year on Sports

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Talk sem Andy, Sam, it's Matt and Ross. Thank you

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for joining us. First question out of the get go,

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I guess we're all trying to count the number of

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days and it's the last time the starters played for

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the Chiefs. Are you worried about this supposed twenty four

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to twenty five day layoff or is this just a

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storyline that people are trying to figure out how to

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make a time before the game coming up on Saturday.

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Speaker 2: No, I mean it's a great question, man. I mean

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I think that at some point there is too long

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of a layoff, right, I mean, you couldn't take two

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months off and expect the guys to be fresh, So

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there is a point where it becomes too much. I mean,

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but over Andy Reid's history, and this is what would

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have guided my decision.

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Speaker 3: Had I been Andy Reid.

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Speaker 2: He performs extremely well when his guys get time off,

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and he's even better when he's the only team with

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time off. So over his career, Andy Reid is twenty

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nine to three when he's the only team operating with

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a bye week, Now, obviously this is two bye weeks essentially,

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when you give the starters week eighteen off, and then

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they have the natural buy and the playoffs that they're

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in with the number one seed, and so that's where

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the equation potentially becomes a little different. But the Chiefs

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did switch up practices a little bit. They actually played

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ones against ones, which they had not done since training camps.

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So there's some you know, at least attempt to try

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and replicate what the speed of a playoff game will

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be like. But yeah, I mean, I think regardless of

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what happens in this game, people will use it as

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a sample for whether or not it worked, even if

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maybe the correlation doesn't necessarily equal the causation of the result.

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Speaker 1: Among players skill position players that we know and recognize,

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who was beat up during this time off and who's

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getting the most recovery. And again, the number one question

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would be is how is Pat feeling going to this game.

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I'm sure practice has been light and they starting to

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ramp up in the last couple of days.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Patrick's ankle was obviously an issue earlier

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in the season, actually, you know, kind of late in

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the season, but he's fine. I mean, he looks fine

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at practice. The guy I think really benefit from this

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or one. Chris Jones missed the last two games now,

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the last game of the season against the Texans, now

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against the Steelers sorry versus, and then against the Broncos.

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Now part of the reason he missed the Broncos is

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just because that game didn't mean anything. I think he

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would have pushed it had the Chiefs needed him. But

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certainly that's a guy who can take advantage of a buye.

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The other guy who hasn't been heard that can take

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advantage of it is Travis Kelcey. I mean, it's no

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secret that Travis kelce is on the older side. He's

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thirty four years old, and a year ago it made

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a statement in the locker room when Travis Kelcey voluntarily

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took the last game off to end his streak of

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consecutive one thousand yard seasons. But he looked an entirely

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different player once the postseason arrived because of that week off.

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So I think you'll see a different Travis Kelcey, even

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if it's more minimally so than the drastic difference we

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saw from him in the postseason. I think he's really

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the guy that could benefit from this twenty four day

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layoff that they've got.

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Speaker 3: What about in the backfield, saying we saw last year

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Andy Reid really rely on Isaiah Pacheco to be the

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bell cow. How do you think things shake out this

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year as the playoffs coming along for the Chiefs?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think you know, we saw a

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lot of Cream Hunt in the last matchup, particularly to

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try and close out that game and prevent the Texans

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from getting the ball back late in the fourth quarter.

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And Cream Hunt's going to be part of the game plan.

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And there's some similarities with the way they run, you know,

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as far as they both don't shy away from contact.

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But I think that's deceptive because I do think they

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are different runners. You know, Cream Hunt is a guy

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that does not get explosive runs, but he does not

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lose yardage. You know, he tends to fall forward. When

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you look at success rate and rushing in terms of

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getting four yards on first down and getting you know,

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two thirds of the way there on second down, Cream

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Hunt has a very high success rate, even though his

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yards per carry isn't great. Well, that's a product of

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the fact that he does not lose yardage, and I

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think when you're playing against a team like the Texans

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that has the third best run defense in terms of

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dvoaight in the league, I think that's a really important

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thing to have. So I anticipate the Kareem Hunt's going

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to be every bit as part of this game plan.

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As I say I Pachuck Oh well.

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Speaker 3: Sam mcdal with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety,

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let's just flip to the defensive side and how it

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fits against Houston as far as what do you think

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you saw in the first matchup and the Texans, whose

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offense has been really bad all season long, it's coming

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off literally their best performance of the year.

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Speaker 2: Saw a lot of blitzing, and if you know Steve Spagnola, well,

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the Chiefs defensive coordinator, that's not going to change, and

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particularly in this matchup. I mean, as you mentioned, the

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Texans offense hasn't been great this year. Well, the primary

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reason hasn't been great because they haven't been able to

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protect for CJ. Stroud and he's not performed well when

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he faces extra rushers. And that's not all on him,

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it's the fact that they haven't picked up blitz as well.

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But I think some of that. I you know, I'm

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sure the Texans coach is diagnosed it. In the off season,

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they're probably going to try and educate him better on

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how to get his linemen better situated for blitzes and

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oncoming up extra rushers. But the fact is right now

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in the playoffs, they haven't performed well against the blitz

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all season, and that's a matchup that I certainly anticipate

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that the Chiefs will try to exploit regularly.

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Speaker 1: Sam, I want to ask you about and we've we

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had a guest down from Kansas City earlier this year

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when the two teams met during the regular season. A

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lot of close games, a lot of fortuitous bounces, the

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field goal block, the field goal made, the call made late.

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Your interpretation of that as slippage or just creative veteran

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teams finding a different way to win every single week.

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How did you see it as the team was not

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putting away teams like many folks thought are on the

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league they should have.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think it can be both. You know,

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I don't think that this team, you know, the starters

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went fifteen and one. I don't think this hurts the

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quality of a fifteen and one team. But I do

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think that there's something to the fact that they don't

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blank in the moment. And you know, you mentioned a

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couple of examples. They won six games on the final

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snap of a game this year, and that does not

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include the game that I'm sure a lot of people

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watched against the Raiders on Black Friday, where it was

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technically the second to last snap that the Raiders fumbled

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and then they melted on the last snap. That's seven

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of those fifteen wins that they've got this year. So

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I think, you know, it's totally reasonable that a lot

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of people are looking at this Chiefs team is more

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vulnerable than they have been in the past, because they

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have been vulnerable. Some of those games that I'm talking

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about came against the Panthers, they came against the Raiders,

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I mean, they came in overtime, and so they came

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against a non playoff Bengals team before the Bengals had

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figured it out late in the season. So yeah, I

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definitely think that the Chiefs are susceptible. I mean, they've

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proven that they've at least can make it a game

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with anybody, and the Texans are certainly not just anybody.

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They're a playoff team, they're a division champion. There's a

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reason that they're here. They've got a terrific defense. So

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I know the line is what it is, the spread

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is what it is. But it would not surprise me

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at all if the Texans could, you know, be very

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competitive with the Chiefs and make it interesting in the

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fourth quarter because I've seen that all year.

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Speaker 1: Question, is there anybody that you have spent time looking

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at this year that needs to have a better postseason

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than they had during the regular season. I know you

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brought up Travis and you know, Ages maybe starting to

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work off him a little bit, But is there anybody

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else that you're like, you know what, if this team's

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really going to three peat, these players have got to

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step up and maybe do more than what they did.

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Maybe you saw them during the course of the seventeen

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game schedule.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. So it's kind of a TBD answer because

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my answer is the left tackle and I'm not exactly

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sure who's going to play left tackle. I think it'll

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be the matchup that the Texans saw last time they

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played at Arrowhead, you know, last month, which is having

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Joe Tooney, an All Pro guard, play tackle in which

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case your guard replacement for him, Mike Caliendo has got

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to step up because he did not play well against

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the Texans, and the Texans have a terrific front and

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so they've got to protect Patrick ma Holmes better than

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they did in that first matchup. Now, the other option

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that they have, and the reason I said it's uncertain

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who's going to play left tackle is because they signed

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DJ Humphries late in the season after he'd been you know,

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recovering from a knee injury. He played three quarters against

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the Chargers and then he got hurt that he missed

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three weeks, and then he played the finale against the

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Broncos while all the rest of the starters set as

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they're trying to evaluate him and he's not playing with

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Patrick Mahomes, but he's still playing for a starting job.

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So Andy Reid has been coy so far this week

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on who's going to have that starting job at left tackle.

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But however that shakes out, it's going to shake up

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the left side of their offensive line. And you guys

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know better than I do the way the Texans can

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get after the passers. So that's absolutely going to be key,

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not just against the Texans, but whoever the Chiefs play

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in the postseason.

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Speaker 1: Sam mcdal is a columnist with the Kansas City Star.

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Worthy of a read this weekend if you want to

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get an out of town perspective on this game. Are

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we holding it twenty five degrees for kickoff? Does that

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seem about right on Saturday?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems warm compared to last year, because last

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year about this time it was like negative five, So

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we'll take the twenties.

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Speaker 1: Goodness, gracious, Thank you friend for the time. We really

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appreciate it. Looking forward to reading your work over the weekend,

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and stay warm. We really appreciating and you joining us

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on the show today.

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Speaker 2: Thanks guys, enjoyed it all right.

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Speaker 1: Sam McDowell joining us from the Kansas City Star is

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a columnist