00:00Well, the reality for Kansas City is, and what I will agree with you wholesale,
00:05they can be had, right?
00:07There is no world someone could argue the contrary,
00:12that they are not vulnerable.
00:14If you believe they are the best team in the league,
00:16I think there is a conversation there,
00:19but there is no conversation that they are an unbeatable group.
00:22What I think is so fascinating, though,
00:25is they sit right now at five and four Super Bowl favorites,
00:30not only third place in their division,
00:32they are outside of the playoff picture, Joe,
00:36and are currently winless against the teams who are in the AFC playoff picture.
00:43Right.
00:43Now, where Kansas City is puffing their chest out
00:47are their home victories against Detroit and Baltimore.
00:51That is where the Kansas City Chiefs have garnered a lot of their respect in the market,
00:57and I'm not trying to downplay those wins.
00:59Those are good wins.
01:00So we have seen Kansas City can absolutely beat whoever you think the best team is.
01:05If you don't believe it, it is them.
01:07But they can be had.
01:09And that is something that I was attempting to set up.
01:11We didn't know who was going to be on the losing side, right?
01:14We both thought it would be Kansas City.
01:16With this loss, the Chiefs are an inverse of something we see every year in the league,
01:23which is a team who you look at their record and you think to yourself,
01:28fine, they're going to be in, but they're not that good,
01:31and they're going to get got, right?
01:33Last year's Vikings, this year's Colts, perhaps.
01:36Kansas City, if they are in the playoffs, Joe, will be dangerous.
01:40But we now have to figure out if they will be in the playoffs.
01:45They're the Super Bowl favorite and have shorter odds to miss the postseason as you and I sit here right now.
01:53Right, but let me ask you this.
01:54Do you feel after this 5-4 record, 9 weeks, 10 weeks of the regular season,
02:00that their defense is as dominant as it was last year?
02:03But the offense is better than our prior seasons.
02:06Right, but you used to be able to go into a playoff situation and say,
02:10no matter what the offense gives you, that defense will be able to keep you in games
02:15because of how good Spagnuolo is and how good that personnel is.
02:19Yeah.
02:19And now, the Bills put up 28, Jacksonville put up 30-plus, Detroit moved the football.
02:26I mean, L.A. in week one abused that defense,
02:30and so we've seen multiple teams in the conference now challenge them.
02:35So if they go up against the likes of Buffalo or even, let's say, Denver or L.A.
02:40in a playoff type of situation, are we sitting here on the desk and saying,
02:45oh, that defense is going to show up the way they did over the past three years,
02:50and Pat Mahomes will find a way to steal it?
02:52You can't say that anymore.
02:53No, no, no, no.
02:54I couldn't agree with you more.
02:56And that's why I have question marks.
02:57The fact that they're the frontrunners to win a Super Bowl,
03:01the books have to do that because they can't put them.
03:04Where are you going to put them?
03:07If you're asking me, well, the Eagles should be first.
03:10They're the defending champs.
03:11Yeah, of course they should.
03:12But they get no love in the market for whatever reason.
03:14Yeah, it's foolish that they're not.
03:15But that's the point, though.
03:17But with Kansas City, and this is why, and I will continue.
03:21I don't care.
03:21I will keep doing the I told you so stuff to people.
03:23And you were right.
03:24And every single, like, we were, Mahomes would go out there and play subpar.
03:29People are like, it's fine.
03:30It's fine.
03:31The alert to this team is great, Mahomes.
03:34Who has a top five QBR.
03:36The rush work's been great.
03:37I mean, I got to tell you, Elise.
03:39So yesterday was the first time in his NFL career under 50% completion.
03:42Right.
03:43He threw for 250 yards and 7.4 a pass.
03:47Like, they were hitting explosives when they were hitting.
03:52Yeah.
03:52Right, like, so there is something to that that draws people in.
03:56But I only agree with you.
03:59Right.
03:59That that defense can be had.
04:02Undeniably, the question becomes within the top of this conference.
04:05We're going to get into this.
04:06Yeah.
04:07How many teams do you trust to take advantage of that defense?
04:11Buffalo, Baltimore, if they're there.
04:14How much further does that extend is one of the biggest questions in football.
04:17I think Denver's up there now after their win over Houston.
04:20I know it wasn't pretty, but the way Denver's playing, and obviously when Sertan comes back from the torn chest muscle, I think they'll solidify their secondary much more.
04:30But I believe in Denver now.
04:32I believe in a mentality, an identity.
04:34The problem that I have with Kansas City, too, is on top of their defense, three of 13 on third down conversions.
04:40You know, Pat Mahomes is explosive, but the offense now has switched.
04:45Last year, they were more methodical.
04:46They wanted to sustain drives.
04:48They wanted to use at least a hint of a rushing attack.
04:51Now it's just we're going back to Texas Tech, five wide.
04:55Forget the rushing attack, and we're going to chuck it all over the yard.
04:58But when you give a little pressure up front to Pat Mahomes, he struggled this year, and we've seen that.
05:03Oh, that is –
05:04But that's the point now.
05:05It's the story of his career.
05:07And there is no dominant rushing attack to take this over in the postseason.
05:12That's another cause of concern.
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