Speaker 1: We say hello to Sam McDowell, who is a columnist
with a Kansas City Star with this year on Sports
Talk sem Andy, Sam, it's Matt and Ross. Thank you
for joining us. First question out of the get go,
I guess we're all trying to count the number of
days and it's the last time the starters played for
the Chiefs. Are you worried about this supposed twenty four
to twenty five day layoff or is this just a
storyline that people are trying to figure out how to
make a time before the game coming up on Saturday.
Speaker 2: No, I mean it's a great question, man. I mean
I think that at some point there is too long
of a layoff, right, I mean, you couldn't take two
months off and expect the guys to be fresh, So
there is a point where it becomes too much. I mean,
but over Andy Reid's history, and this is what would
have guided my decision.
Speaker 3: Had I been Andy Reid.
Speaker 2: He performs extremely well when his guys get time off,
and he's even better when he's the only team with
time off. So over his career, Andy Reid is twenty
nine to three when he's the only team operating with
a bye week, Now, obviously this is two bye weeks essentially,
when you give the starters week eighteen off, and then
they have the natural buy and the playoffs that they're
in with the number one seed, and so that's where
the equation potentially becomes a little different. But the Chiefs
did switch up practices a little bit. They actually played
ones against ones, which they had not done since training camps.
So there's some you know, at least attempt to try
and replicate what the speed of a playoff game will
be like. But yeah, I mean, I think regardless of
what happens in this game, people will use it as
a sample for whether or not it worked, even if
maybe the correlation doesn't necessarily equal the causation of the result.
Speaker 1: Among players skill position players that we know and recognize,
who was beat up during this time off and who's
getting the most recovery. And again, the number one question
would be is how is Pat feeling going to this game.
I'm sure practice has been light and they starting to
ramp up in the last couple of days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Patrick's ankle was obviously an issue earlier
in the season, actually, you know, kind of late in
the season, but he's fine. I mean, he looks fine
at practice. The guy I think really benefit from this
or one. Chris Jones missed the last two games now,
the last game of the season against the Texans, now
against the Steelers sorry versus, and then against the Broncos.
Now part of the reason he missed the Broncos is
just because that game didn't mean anything. I think he
would have pushed it had the Chiefs needed him. But
certainly that's a guy who can take advantage of a buye.
The other guy who hasn't been heard that can take
advantage of it is Travis Kelcey. I mean, it's no
secret that Travis kelce is on the older side. He's
thirty four years old, and a year ago it made
a statement in the locker room when Travis Kelcey voluntarily
took the last game off to end his streak of
consecutive one thousand yard seasons. But he looked an entirely
different player once the postseason arrived because of that week off.
So I think you'll see a different Travis Kelcey, even
if it's more minimally so than the drastic difference we
saw from him in the postseason. I think he's really
the guy that could benefit from this twenty four day
layoff that they've got.
Speaker 3: What about in the backfield, saying we saw last year
Andy Reid really rely on Isaiah Pacheco to be the
bell cow. How do you think things shake out this
year as the playoffs coming along for the Chiefs?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think you know, we saw a
lot of Cream Hunt in the last matchup, particularly to
try and close out that game and prevent the Texans
from getting the ball back late in the fourth quarter.
And Cream Hunt's going to be part of the game plan.
And there's some similarities with the way they run, you know,
as far as they both don't shy away from contact.
But I think that's deceptive because I do think they
are different runners. You know, Cream Hunt is a guy
that does not get explosive runs, but he does not
lose yardage. You know, he tends to fall forward. When
you look at success rate and rushing in terms of
getting four yards on first down and getting you know,
two thirds of the way there on second down, Cream
Hunt has a very high success rate, even though his
yards per carry isn't great. Well, that's a product of
the fact that he does not lose yardage, and I
think when you're playing against a team like the Texans
that has the third best run defense in terms of
dvoaight in the league, I think that's a really important
thing to have. So I anticipate the Kareem Hunt's going
to be every bit as part of this game plan.
As I say I Pachuck Oh well.
Speaker 3: Sam mcdal with us here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
let's just flip to the defensive side and how it
fits against Houston as far as what do you think
you saw in the first matchup and the Texans, whose
offense has been really bad all season long, it's coming
off literally their best performance of the year.
Speaker 2: Saw a lot of blitzing, and if you know Steve Spagnola, well,
the Chiefs defensive coordinator, that's not going to change, and
particularly in this matchup. I mean, as you mentioned, the
Texans offense hasn't been great this year. Well, the primary
reason hasn't been great because they haven't been able to
protect for CJ. Stroud and he's not performed well when
he faces extra rushers. And that's not all on him,
it's the fact that they haven't picked up blitz as well.
But I think some of that. I you know, I'm
sure the Texans coach is diagnosed it. In the off season,
they're probably going to try and educate him better on
how to get his linemen better situated for blitzes and
oncoming up extra rushers. But the fact is right now
in the playoffs, they haven't performed well against the blitz
all season, and that's a matchup that I certainly anticipate
that the Chiefs will try to exploit regularly.
Speaker 1: Sam, I want to ask you about and we've we
had a guest down from Kansas City earlier this year
when the two teams met during the regular season. A
lot of close games, a lot of fortuitous bounces, the
field goal block, the field goal made, the call made late.
Your interpretation of that as slippage or just creative veteran
teams finding a different way to win every single week.
How did you see it as the team was not
putting away teams like many folks thought are on the
league they should have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think it can be both. You know,
I don't think that this team, you know, the starters
went fifteen and one. I don't think this hurts the
quality of a fifteen and one team. But I do
think that there's something to the fact that they don't
blank in the moment. And you know, you mentioned a
couple of examples. They won six games on the final
snap of a game this year, and that does not
include the game that I'm sure a lot of people
watched against the Raiders on Black Friday, where it was
technically the second to last snap that the Raiders fumbled
and then they melted on the last snap. That's seven
of those fifteen wins that they've got this year. So
I think, you know, it's totally reasonable that a lot
of people are looking at this Chiefs team is more
vulnerable than they have been in the past, because they
have been vulnerable. Some of those games that I'm talking
about came against the Panthers, they came against the Raiders,
I mean, they came in overtime, and so they came
against a non playoff Bengals team before the Bengals had
figured it out late in the season. So yeah, I
definitely think that the Chiefs are susceptible. I mean, they've
proven that they've at least can make it a game
with anybody, and the Texans are certainly not just anybody.
They're a playoff team, they're a division champion. There's a
reason that they're here. They've got a terrific defense. So
I know the line is what it is, the spread
is what it is. But it would not surprise me
at all if the Texans could, you know, be very
competitive with the Chiefs and make it interesting in the
fourth quarter because I've seen that all year.
Speaker 1: Question, is there anybody that you have spent time looking
at this year that needs to have a better postseason
than they had during the regular season. I know you
brought up Travis and you know, Ages maybe starting to
work off him a little bit, But is there anybody
else that you're like, you know what, if this team's
really going to three peat, these players have got to
step up and maybe do more than what they did.
Maybe you saw them during the course of the seventeen
game schedule.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure. So it's kind of a TBD answer because
my answer is the left tackle and I'm not exactly
sure who's going to play left tackle. I think it'll
be the matchup that the Texans saw last time they
played at Arrowhead, you know, last month, which is having
Joe Tooney, an All Pro guard, play tackle in which
case your guard replacement for him, Mike Caliendo has got
to step up because he did not play well against
the Texans, and the Texans have a terrific front and
so they've got to protect Patrick ma Holmes better than
they did in that first matchup. Now, the other option
that they have, and the reason I said it's uncertain
who's going to play left tackle is because they signed
DJ Humphries late in the season after he'd been you know,
recovering from a knee injury. He played three quarters against
the Chargers and then he got hurt that he missed
three weeks, and then he played the finale against the
Broncos while all the rest of the starters set as
they're trying to evaluate him and he's not playing with
Patrick Mahomes, but he's still playing for a starting job.
So Andy Reid has been coy so far this week
on who's going to have that starting job at left tackle.
But however that shakes out, it's going to shake up
the left side of their offensive line. And you guys
know better than I do the way the Texans can
get after the passers. So that's absolutely going to be key,
not just against the Texans, but whoever the Chiefs play
in the postseason.
Speaker 1: Sam mcdal is a columnist with the Kansas City Star.
Worthy of a read this weekend if you want to
get an out of town perspective on this game. Are
we holding it twenty five degrees for kickoff? Does that
seem about right on Saturday?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems warm compared to last year, because last
year about this time it was like negative five, So
we'll take the twenties.
Speaker 1: Goodness, gracious, Thank you friend for the time. We really
appreciate it. Looking forward to reading your work over the weekend,
and stay warm. We really appreciating and you joining us
on the show today.
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, enjoyed it all right.
Speaker 1: Sam McDowell joining us from the Kansas City Star is
a columnist