Around The NFL takes a wild turn as the Chiefs are officially eliminated from playoff contention and Patrick Mahomes suffers a torn ACL, sending shockwaves through the league.
00:04You know, over the last month, we could kind of see it.
00:07But just, while it's not unexpected, also kind of shocking that it happened the way it did.
00:13And then, obviously, the exclamation point, in a good way, in a bad way.
00:18Yeah, we'll get to the exclamation point, of course.
00:20Was the injury to Patrick, we'll get to that.
00:23But on the Chiefs themselves, they've played a lot of games.
00:27They are not the same team, and I've said it before.
00:29This is not the end of the Chiefs, because you do have Patrick Mahomes at some level over the next decade or so.
00:36And he's still going to be, you know, Patrick Mahomes.
00:39But they have to change things.
00:41They have to change a lot.
00:42Yeah, they're going to need to reinvent themselves.
00:44You talked about how surprising it was for the Chiefs to be here.
00:48Apparently, pretty surprising to Chris Jones as well.
00:53Oh, this was crazy.
00:54Because this is Chris Jones in the postgame,
00:55and it seems like he realized only as he was talking that the Chiefs had been eliminated from contention.
01:00We still have a fighting chance.
01:04Are we out of the playoffs?
01:06We are.
01:07Okay.
01:11Yeah, that audio on the backside, that's not just us leaving.
01:14That was just him speechless, because he's like, we still got a fighting chance.
01:17And he's like, wait, no?
01:18Somebody in the audience is shaking their head.
01:20No, you don't.
01:20I'm like, no.
01:21Unfortunately, big dog, you don't.
01:22You don't, big fella.
01:23What do you say after that, man?
01:25I don't.
01:25What he did.
01:26I don't know.
01:27And by the way, quick buy or sell here.
01:28I'm totally buying it.
01:30That he just figured out that?
01:31That he didn't know.
01:31Yeah.
01:31Yeah, that he didn't know.
01:32Now, to be fair, I think this also points to the ways that all these players are like,
01:36oh, yeah, I'm not paying attention.
01:37Or especially the coaches, I'm not paying attention.
01:39Come on now.
01:40Yeah.
01:41Sometimes I imagine it's true.
01:42Like, hey, man, we got a game.
01:44It don't matter.
01:44This next game, let's see what we can do here.
01:46And I think that that's probably where Chris Jones was like, we can still fight for it.
01:49It's like, actually, you can't, man.
01:50Yeah.
01:51It's a wrap there.
01:53Now, the big kicker on this game, along with a number of other players that we'll talk about
01:58here in a second, but Patrick Mahomes, late in the fourth quarter, they're trying to fight.
02:02Because, again, this is only a three-point win for the charge.
02:05They're fighting to try and either tie this game or give themselves an opportunity to win this game.
02:10And then Patrick Mahomes leaves with a knee injury that, I mean, he gets off the field
02:15and they're holding him up and taking him to the locker room and say, oh, that's not good.
02:19We ultimately find out, after he undergoes an MRI, that it is indeed an ACL tear.
02:24And so that's where, when you talk about, they're going to have Patrick Mahomes and they've got to, you know.
02:28September at the earliest.
02:30There's that.
02:30So you're definitely going to hurt camp-wise.
02:33But, of course, Patrick Mahomes is really solid in his game, I think we could say.
02:40We understand what he is.
02:41He understands what he is.
02:42But I do wonder, does this at all change the way that he plays?
02:46Because one of the things that's made him incredibly difficult to handle is his ability to move around.
02:52He's not the fastest dude, but he's got such a particular, I don't even know if agility is the right word.
02:56Like I said, he's the fastest.
02:58He moves well.
02:59Now, does an ACL and a return from that change him at all?
03:03Like any of that start and stop or lateral movement that allows him to get off schedule and throw the football the way that he does?
03:08That's a more than fair question that a lot of people are asking.
03:10I can't imagine that it does.
03:12I really can't.
03:13That's just not the way he's wired.
03:14It's not the way he's ever played a football game.
03:16And even if he's not scrambling, as we've seen him do, you know, get to the sideline, pass the yard marker and all that stuff,
03:23I think he'll be able to move a lot.
03:24But what it really changes for me is I think it sort of sets a calendar for the Chiefs to reinvent themselves, as you put it.
03:33He's not going to be available.
03:35It's about a nine-month altogether at best recovery from an ACL surgery.
03:40So that's September.
03:41That's the regular season, you know, already upon the team.
03:45And you almost, not right off next season, but you almost, you put it into the equation of reinventing yourself.
03:53I think they have to just sort of regroup.
03:55No more Travis Kelsey.
03:57You know, no more a lot of players.
03:58You know, get some draft picks.
03:59Get some acquisitions that are maybe a little longer term and then come back and realistically look at 2027.
04:05I think they got a lot of money on the books, too, man.
04:07They got to try to figure that out.
04:09That's what Casario did here his first couple of years.
04:12I think you kind of have to kind of go down that road.
04:14I mean, the league is really, you talk about windows, two- to three-year windows are really, and they've had a number of those.
04:20They've had a couple of those.
04:21Let's look at 2027.
04:22If you're realistically trying to reinvent this team.
04:24I mean, I feel like the way that they're situated, they have to try and see what they can do for 2026.
04:28Sure.
04:29In all reality, that's going to be a big thing.
04:31But even Bill Barnwell was talking about the pot.
04:33Like, when this team is great, he averages about three scrambles, two-and-a-half scrambles during the season per game.
04:40And that ups to like three-and-a-half scrambles in the postseason.
04:43Patrick Mahomes and his legs are a huge part of like one of the get-out-of-jail-free.
04:46I can't see him changing, though.
04:48But I hope not because, I mean, just from a talent standpoint, we love the National Football League.
04:52This is one of the great things in the league is Patrick Mahomes and the way that he does that.
04:56It's one of the magician-like things that we see.
04:59But that's been a large part of it.
05:01And we can't deny, when dudes go through injuries, trusting your body is one of the most difficult things outside of, I mean, even rehab and all of the medical portions of it.
05:12So he's going to have to go through rehab.
05:14Some other guys that are also going to have to go through rehab.
05:16Just real quick, a couple more things on Patrick Mahomes.
05:18This injury is a product of the last three or four weeks, and you will not convince me otherwise.
05:23He's been dealing with an injury, a knee problem, some sort of something.
05:27How many times, like in basketball, you say, well, he's got a calf strain.
05:31He's got a calf strain.
05:31Boom.
05:32Two weeks later, Achilles.
05:33Yeah.
05:33You know, he's had a knee, he's had a knee, he's had a knee.
05:35Boom, ACL.
05:37You will not convince me that it wasn't.
05:38So you think it was probably dealing with some type of ACL sprain?
05:41Something.
05:42It was coming.
05:43Oh, I mean, like there's additional strain that is placed on the other muscles of your body as they compensate for whatever injuries that you deal with.
05:48Yeah.
05:48No, I'm just curious.
05:49If they would have kept him out, it probably would have been a strain or something.
05:55I would have done that, but there was no way they were going to keep him out either.
05:57They were hanging on by a thread to try and win games, and as you saw, Gardner Minshew came in at the very end, and he was trying to lead a drive as they, well, I think they had already gotten to field goal range.
06:07They were trying to get deep.
06:07They were right around midfield, and then he threw that pick.
06:09Is that what you're talking about?
06:10Yeah, and then he threw the pick at the end of the game, because they had an opportunity with Harrison Bucker, although he's been the missingest field goal kicker all year.
06:16I think he has eight misses this season.
06:17Right.
06:17But they were trying to get themselves to at least play for overtime, and Gardner Minshew wasn't able to get it done there.
06:23And then the most incredible stuff that we just have to share, because it's been out there, but if you haven't seen it,
06:27the NFL playoffs are not going to have Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Patrick Mahomes for the first time since 1998.
06:37One of those three quarterbacks has been in the playoffs.
06:39Don't worry.
06:40They're going to have C.J. Strauss.
06:41They're going to have C.J. Strauss.
06:41That's going to be the new addition to the statistics, right?
Be the first to comment