00:00Hey, we are putting Madrid behind us today, looking ahead to Sunday's Falcons game.
00:04Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City head to the Benz with a Josh Downs in tow as well,
00:09who the Chiefs just traded for.
00:10Patrick Mahomes has also been dealing with a right elbow injury.
00:13He's considered day-to-day at this point.
00:16Now, defense is without Jesse Bay.
00:17It's been traded away.
00:18Chiefs have Josh Downs.
00:19That's got to change up how the Falcons defense looks at this Chiefs offense.
00:24Well, yeah, and I think if you're Jeff Holbrook, you're planning on Josh Downs playing, right?
00:28And the bottom line is when you look at the Chiefs offense,
00:33the downfield passing has been almost non-existent.
00:36Like anything that they've gotten explosive-wise has been underneath throws
00:40the way they've always done to Travis Kelsey and some of the other options,
00:44and those guys getting upfield and creating those with their legs.
00:48It's just they just haven't had the receivers,
00:50and that's why they go out and get a Josh Downs and try to make it happen with him.
00:54But, you know, Xavier Worthy has been great, especially with the ball in his hands.
00:58And I don't know.
01:00They are a – that offense, if you can stop the run game, has a lot of issues.
01:05We saw that against Seattle early in the season.
01:08So we'll see what the game plan is.
01:09But it's not as – it's not as explosive of a passing attack, obviously, as Cincinnati.
01:17And you have a window there where you can make some things happen
01:21if you can get to Patrick Mahomes.
01:23I just wonder if we're not looking at a game that's –
01:26Patrick Mahomes is always going to be the headliner when Kansas City comes to town.
01:29I mean, he's probably the best, if still the best, quarterback in the league.
01:34But this is a game really featuring two running backs that are top tier in the league.
01:40You know, Bajon's got 169 carries for, I think, 880 yards.
01:45But Kenneth Walker's right there behind him with 159 for 872.
01:49So – and there's – he's got 11 touchdowns on the season, rushing and receiving combined.
01:56I think the key to this offense right now, the key to Kansas City is
02:01they've figured out they want to run the football, maintain it, and kind of –
02:05and then, you know, because they're not as good in some of the skill position players
02:10as they were in the past, Rasheed Rice is – he's got moments, but he's, you know, not it.
02:16That's why they brought Xavier Worthy's, to me, never really been the player
02:20that he looked like he might be coming out of college.
02:23So – and I think Travis Kelsey's had a pretty good year to this point.
02:26Seems like he's been a little bit more reliable this year in certain situations.
02:29But I think the key to stopping Kansas City, believe it or not, is still Kenneth Walker,
02:35which is what has been all year.
02:36And we went out and signed him for a reason, and they've really, really leaned on him
02:40to be a workhorse.
02:41Yeah, and I don't want to – I think the way I say it is like, oh, you go and
02:46stop the run,
02:47they're going to have issues.
02:47That's monumentally difficult.
02:49I think – I need to make sure I underscore that.
02:51Like, they're one of the – I think they're the best rushing team in the NFL
02:54in terms of yards per carry right now.
02:57But, you know, at least you're looking at it where you've got a puncher's chance
03:00and you say, okay, we'll load the box and we'll get downhill here.
03:03I think that when you look at, you know, the more well-rounded offenses,
03:05you're going, all right, I don't know.
03:07You start missing a player here or, you know, an injury here,
03:10and then all of a sudden it's a rough thing.
03:11But I do think given what Travis Kelsey is, what Patrick Mahomes is outside the pocket
03:17and what Kenneth Walker has been and what our linebackers have been
03:21over the last couple of weeks, it's going to be a monumental task
03:25to try to slow them down.
03:26There's no two ways about it.
03:28As far as James Pierce making his return last week,
03:31I know he's dealing with a back injury.
03:32Are you expecting – it felt kind of like a ramp-up period in a way
03:36with the back injury flaring up.
03:37Are you expecting more out of him this weekend?
03:40I think – I don't know if it's a ramp-up period,
03:42and maybe Bo has a different thought.
03:44I thought it was more like styles make fights
03:46and they're going to get the ball out so quick that it really kind of –
03:49as a matter of fact, and Bo might know this off the top of his head,
03:53but I think Zedarius had less snaps than James Pierce did last week.
03:57It's funny that you throw there because you saw my eyes move from y'all to my screen,
04:03and I wanted to see James Pierce's snap count percentage.
04:07So James Pierce played 15 snaps, which was 26%.
04:11It was just one snap more than Pierce.
04:15But I didn't recall seeing – but the thing for me was I didn't see Pierce
04:21on the field until it might have been the second quarter.
04:25Yeah, it was – I kept looking and I was going –
04:27and we knew that when we talked about in the pregame,
04:29it's going to be a tough draw for either one of them against Marius Mims.
04:32I think it was Tony Pike was who we talked to from their radio network,
04:36and he was like, Marius Mims is a superstar, like a superstar at right tackle.
04:41So it was going to be a tough draw with Joe Burrow getting it out quickly.
04:45Like I said, I think styles make fights.
04:47I don't know if it was necessarily a ramp up.
04:50I know he had the injury, but I just thought it was like a, hey, you know,
04:54how much can he affect the game if this is –
04:56if he's not holding the ball for more than two seconds.
04:58I think it might have been an all things kind of led to the one –
05:04you know, none of those things are wrong, but none of them are necessarily right.
05:07A little bit of a ramp up.
05:09Don't overdo it.
05:10You also are, you know, struggling with a back injury.
05:13And then the other part was it was seeing what personnel groupings that they were using
05:19at that point in time and putting you in when it fit to have you in there
05:24because there are times where it doesn't fit to have James Pierce in there.
05:28James Pierce is not a run-stopping edge in my mind.
05:32He might eventually get better at doing those things,
05:36but if, you know, Cameron Thomas I think played a lot,
05:40and I think it's because of his versatility, he can get after the passer,
05:43he can do a little bit of – he's his, you know, against the run,
05:48and it's not like Cincinnati wanted to run the ball.
05:50I was listening to someone talk about the Cincinnati offense a couple days later
05:54and said it might have been Rich Gannon on the NFL network on Seriously,
05:58and he was like, they don't run the football, but they just – they don't want to.
06:03Like, they don't even try.
06:04They don't even try to run the football, and Kansas City is the opposite.
06:08They have went from that kind of team to they are trying, and it's investing in it.
06:13So, look, you can get Patrick Mahomes on the ground,
06:17and if you want to get to him, hit him that elbow.
06:19Allie, you mentioned that elbow.
06:21He went back in the game, but where is it at now, and where is he going to be?
06:26So, you almost have to go into this game saying,
06:30hey, we can't forget that they have Justin Fields as their backup,
06:33and their offense drastically changes when he goes into the game,
06:37if he has to go into the game.
06:39What other matchups are your eyes looking towards as Sunday approaches?
06:44Mike, what do you think about Travis Kelsey this year?
06:47I think he's been better this year, and I'm just curious,
06:51with Jesse gone, who draws that assignment?
06:56Because I know maybe it was a different defensive staff,
07:03but when we played them back in, what, 24?
07:06I feel like Jesse was the guy that got that assignment.
07:11Yeah, I mean, this is one of those age-old conversations
07:14where you look at the nickel spot, and Sidney Brown obviously is our big nickel.
07:18Like, you bring him in when they're in sub-package,
07:21but you know they might be running the football.
07:23And usually when we have a pass-catching style tied in, right,
07:28the way other teams would probably look at Kyle Pitts,
07:31you'd say, okay, let's go with Mike Hughes or Billy Bowman
07:34or even Avion at the nickel spot.
07:36With Travis, it's tough, man, because you need somebody obviously you can cover,
07:42but with their run game, like you want Sidney Brown in as part of their run fits, right?
07:46But you need somebody who understands what Travis Kelsey's trying to get done
07:50in the passing game.
07:50So I don't know the right answer.
07:52I would think it's going to be a down-and-distance thing
07:54the way it has been most of the year, but he's a tough draw.
07:58There's no two ways about it.
07:59And it's just not necessarily his ability.
08:01It's his savvy.
08:02And he's, what is he, 37 now, 36?
08:04I mean, he's...
08:04Yeah, he's 37.
08:06I mean, that's crazy.
08:07But it's just his understanding of what he needs to do with Patrick Mahomes.
08:12It is just lethal.
08:13It's lethal.
08:14And it's been a...
08:15I feel like it's been a little bit of a resurgence,
08:17because am I wrong in the fact that I didn't think he was the center of their offense
08:20the last couple of years as far as his production?
08:24He fell in love.
08:25That's what happened.
08:26Well, I guess, you know, marriage has been good for him
08:28because he's kind of got...
08:30He's back.
08:31He leads the team in receptions.
08:33He leads the team in yards.
08:36So he's been kind of that guy for him.
08:39So he's going to be key to stopping as well.
08:42He leads the team in yards.
