KC Laboratory 9/9: How the Chiefs Will Handle the Broncos Pass Rush

0:00Coming up, the latest episode of the KC Laboratory. Here on KC Sports Network. Welcome into a live game preview edition of the KC Laboratory presented by M.Prize Bank member FDIC, our amazing partners in possible here at KC Sports Network. We are so grateful. We are so thankful for them. They're supportive KC Sports Network as day one members here at KC Sports Network. We are just we are so grateful for them.

1:06I'm grateful for my friends today. I'm grateful to be talking cheese football. I'm grateful to be talking about a game week edition. The cheese play on Monday and I am excited to be kicking off our game previews here at KC Sports Network with my dear friends Craig Stouts and Matthew Lane. Maddie, how are we? Listen, it's here. We made it. We made it to the start of the NFL season. There is currently a game going on right now. We have made it to the start of football season. We are well into the beginning of the college football season. Go LSU. And yeah, I mean, we're just having we're having a grand time here. We are getting we are getting into those and this feels right. It feels great. Everything but the go LSU part. I was with you on Maddie. Now that doesn't that doesn't feel right. It's game week. I can't believe we're here. I'm so excited as amped as I was for preseason week one and I was I am so excited to get

2:09to go out and watch this team play actual football against an AFC championship appearance team coming off of a good offseason. We're going to find out a lot about this cheese team in a hurry this week. I am so excited to get to watch football. Oh, I can't believe it. I can't believe it's here. I'm so excited to be breaking down and looking forward to a single week. No more big picture stuff. We get to kind of start paying attention to a week by week kind of kind of conversation. And that's that's a lot of fun. You know, there will obviously be big picture stuff that hits. But like this is all the speculation is leading up to this moment and getting a look at the version of the 2026 cheese. And I think there is a lot of mystery around the 2026 cheese. I'm sure some of that will will will exist on this show. But I think the first mystery is the headliner. And by the way, we're going to kind of do things a little bit different with the game preview this year. It's not necessarily just like your traditional offensive

3:15preview player to watch defensive preview player to watch. We're mixing things up a little bit. We're going to have some some movable segments kind of depending on what we think the big storylines are for this game. We're all picking one. And so that's kind of how the this this is going to this is going to kind of kind of structure. But every week. There will be something that we kick things off with. And it's the big big idea of the week, the headliner of the week. And I think if you're a cheese fan, if you've been paying attention to this team for the last month in any capacity, you know what the headliner is for this game. And we all we all want it to be. Well, we all want it to be is just tomorrow. Is this a problem? No, no, it's about the putt returner battle. Come on. We all in the revolution on that. It's not about Patrick. My home's return. It's not about it's not about the putt return battle. It's it's about the continuing conversations,

4:18continuing speculation, continuing concern around the chief's offensive line. Specifically, what is happening with their left tackle Andy Reek comes out this week. Uh, does not seem to indicate as though Josh Simmons will be playing in this game at the left tackle spot. Early indications are that it will be Calil Benson playing on the left side, Jalen Moore, on the right side. And I think that is the biggest question mark, the biggest key, the biggest focal point, uh, the biggest conversation her surrounding this team right now is what this team is going to do at left tackle. How they're going to survive at left tackle, uh, throwing an undrafted free agent mini camp invite, uh, against Nick Benito, presumably, uh, one of the best speed rushes in all football. It's a big challenge for this offensive line Matthew. Okay, so this is this every week we're going to start with the story that everybody has heard the most about and we

5:22don't want to run into the ground, but we do have to mention it. I want to ask you to hear. If do we want to talk about Josh Simmons at all for this part or do we just want to operate under the assumption that he might not play and what that means for the chiefs in this game? I have not shared my Josh Simmons thoughts for the week so I can touch on them briefly and then I think we can move on to is not going to play. So um, Andy Reed to be clear in this has not ruled him out. The chiefs have not ruled anybody out at this point Wednesday night at 7 10 PM in the best time zone that is mountain time zone. This is not a situation where Josh Simmons is ruled out and Andy even said the words even though he said it is a stretch for Josh Simmons to play said the words he is trying he is working really hard he wants to play this week. So Josh Simmons

6:25is trying to get on the field. This is not a scenario where he's saying no, I need another week and they already know about it. He's trying to get on the field. When the practice report the chiefs have not practiced so far this this week when the practice report comes out tomorrow and Friday and Saturday. There is a chance that we could see Josh Simmons either as a do not practice which I think is what everybody is expecting to see or a limited practice which would give you some hope about him potentially playing or it's a full practice and Andy has just been pulling the wool over everybody's eyes. So I think we are going to operate and take Andy at his word and say it is a stretch for him to play even though he did acknowledge he's not ruling him out yet he is not saying that he's going to be out yet he was far more concrete about Shemari Connor being out to be fair here. He even brought up. Yeah, I think it's a big stretch for Shemari Connor to come back. So this is a situation where Josh Simmons could play but I think it's unlikely

7:31we've started that off the top. Let's talk about it as if he has not been eligible for this. Okay, perfect. No, I think that's great because that is that is a good point like there's he has not been ruled out yet and he didn't even say that he doesn't think he will play it just made it seem like you know they it might not right and so here we are. Let's say Quill Benson is your starting left tackle and he seemed to indicate that if Josh Simmons cannot play, Quill Benson has been taking their reps at left tackle. He would likely be the one to slide in there. He didn't directly say it but he did call him their left tackle in the situation. He was asked why not have or essentially would Jalen Moore slide over and then Quill Benson play right tackle and he said and I quote I'm not going to tell you that right now but we're going to put our best fight out. And so I want to just preface this with I think we're going towards Quill Benson playing left tackle. Josh Simmons can't play and he had another follow-up work. He continued to mention Benson is left tackle unless he is playing some you know super high level

8:33mind games. Quill Benson is going to be your left tackle. We don't have time for conspiracy corners today Craig even though we don't get to win. Okay, what is the play it? How are the what do we think they do to survive a guy who has played zero snaps left tackle in college? Six snaps in the preseason during a game at left tackle realistically and I said this I tweeted this out. I went back and watched his huddle highlight his high school highlights not tape highlights 14 minutes of it and not a single left tackle rep and 14 minutes of huddle highlights. Okay, so this thing doesn't have a ton of left tackle experience. What are they going to do with the it's that against a Denver Broncos defensive line which has been very good. A Nick Benito who's a phenomenal pass rusher. How do we think they plan to counteract the fact that they might have to start Quill Benson at left tackle in this game? Well, this team has got a deep bag in which they try to try to slow down exceptional pass rusher with limited tackle play and they've got a pretty deep

9:40bag. So there's one caveat I'll get two in a second. But yeah, you're going to get some chip help. You're going to get you're going to get some help out of the backfield. You're going to get some attached tight ends. You are going to get some tight ends flowing to that side to try to create traffic for an edge rusher to try to work around. You're going to throw a lot of different looks. You're going to you know, you're going to try to you know, get some double teams at times and you're it's going to it's going to be a mixture of all those things. You're going to get their RPO game. The one thing that they I'm curious that they what they may or may not do because of Patrick Maholm's injury because this is his first game back because of the you know, the recovery and because he said, Hey, I don't really want to run as much. I shouldn't run as much. They like to move the pocket. They like to move the pocket a lot in these situations as well. And so it winds up being 15 different things to try to slow down a past rusher and give the help.

10:45It becomes a little bit more predictable if you have to do it when weekend week out. Good for the Broncos. They've got a lot of the cheese trying to do that last year. I'm they've got a deep bag. I'm just curious how deep the bag isn't how predictable the bag is if they are going to try to slow it down. I do think that they have the opportunity to open it up a little bit. I don't know that it's going to be a I don't know how typical this is more recently typical Andy Reed week one where he's trying to play to peak in December. They've got an easy three game stretch after this relatively easy. There's nothing given in the NFL relatively easy three game stretch after this. Do we see them come out and play a little bit more screen heavy knowing that they're going up against Alex Singleton and Justin Strinod at the second level. Those are not guys that scare you when trying to blow up a screen regularly. Certainly, you know, Hufanga running the alley that changes the math a little bit there. He's very good at safety. And I think that

11:48he can help cover some of that up. The chiefs are also very lucky that Jonathan Cooper is suspended for this game because I would be very worried if they had Jonathan Cooper and Nick Benito out there against two backup offensive tackles. That's not great or Jalen Moore's not backup, but you understand what I'm saying. I would be scared if they had to help protect both of those guys with chip health. Jonah Ellis is a very good player. I like Jonah Ellis a lot. I think he's going to be good off the other edge there. They certainly start to take care of Zach Allen on the middle there. But once they get into that second rotation, you don't have another guy that you feel comfortable rushing the passer against these offensive tackles with if you're the Denver Broncos. If they're going to leave Jonah Ellis and they're going to leave Nick Benito out there, I think they can lean on the run game a little bit more. Those guys are good at getting after the passer. Ellis is a good try hard run defender out there. Nick Benito is a lighter bindier pass rusher. That's what they put him on the field for. That's what he's best at. Line up and lean on these two guys. Jalen

12:52Moore, Khalil Benson, whichever side of the field they play on. I know we're not getting into conspiracy corner, but whatever side of the field they play on lean on them to run the ball a little bit more. Make the defensive ends have to think about this two way go a little bit more. Throw a few more screens underneath and make everybody try to come up a little bit more. Don't do these big long dropbacks where you're asking Khalil Benson to try and hold the arc against Nick Benito while Patrick Malmstrom's out of the back of the pocket. Please, please don't do that. Play within the structure. Lean on Andy Scheme. Open the playbook a little bit more to kind of keep them off balance a little bit throughout the game and hope that you can get through this and get two weeks two three and four. We can be a little more vanilla with a better offensive. Yeah, I mean, I think you guys are both right there in that the chiefs have shown over the years. They have plenty of tools in the bag to help compensate when their offensive tackles whether injured

13:55or maybe just not as talented as one of the greatest, you know, one of the better defensive ends lining up across from them. Maybe we can go back to the Super Bowl and Nick Bosa, what they've done in their moments against like guys like a Von Miller or anybody you want to name off in the past. We all do have these memories of them being able to I don't want to say shut those guys out of the game or skiing them out of the game but make it very difficult for them. And I think you will see a lot of that. You will see a lot of motion coming their way. You will see a lot of behind the line of scrimmage jet motion tight ends coming across. You're going to see a lot of action to try to distract them. You're going to see a lot of tight ends will be lined in line to force Benito to line up either a little bit tighter or B have to rush even farther up the arc and rely on this interior to form a tighter pocket. The ball will probably try to get out quicker. I think those things are all fair. You're going to see them all and they will all help to varying degrees. I think those things also work a lot better when the opposing defense can't sit on all those things. And I'm not 100% sure the Broncos aren't spending all week preparing to sit on the screen game to sit on the motion to sit on all this stuff because they're not scared of what we

15:00what we know as of now the chief's offense is going to have. You know, we'll get some more on that but the chief's offense the past two years has it been particularly dangerous pushing the ball down field. So they're not going to sit in too high. And just let you get the advantage. You're not going to be able to just to scheme a defensive end out of the play routinely. So I do think there's a little bit extra challenge that they maybe didn't face when they were going up against Bosa and the latest the last Super Bowl against the 49ers. That offense had a little bit more bite to it which made what they did a little bit more effective than what it might being the first week after a down year last year. Now there's one other counter to that though. And Craig mentioned it too. We just run the ball. You know what Nick Benino is not particularly good at defending the run. Right. This is a team that also lost John Franklin Myers who probably wasn't his didn't come off his best year defending the run. But that is another beefy or bite they had up front that they could go out there at different times. They don't have Jonathan Cooper who plays adequate week against the run. Like they're down some guys. If you want to really stay ahead of

16:01this, I don't think it's quick passes. I don't think it's trying to scheme Nick Benino out of the game. I think you just run the ball and you either keep him off the field or make him get tired of getting blocked in the run game. So the past rush has become less effective. Like I think that's the direction they have to go. This has to be a game where you probably get closer to a 55-45 run pass split. Like you might have to run the ball more than you throw the ball in this game. And I know that has to bug Andy. But like they might have to. I think that's the clearest clearest path to protecting a Colibenson or Jalen Moore in this game from the past rush. Just be given everything else we talked about. More on that later. I think whatever. I think the good news. I think if you're looking for good news is. And yes, the reasons to be concerned about a Colibenson playing left tackle are real. The good news is that this coaching staff has had the time. They know what the plan is. They know they know the plan. You know, they they know who's going to be trotting out there at left tackle. Whether it really is Colibenson. Whether it's actually going to be Josh Simmons and

17:06his back miraculously hills, wink wink nod nod. Whatever it is. We're not doing conspiracy quarter. Don't don't don't throw that carrot in front of me and tell me we can't do conspiracy corner. We've gotten a little trouble for intrusive thoughts too. So yeah, we didn't. I just I think the good not on that site. I don't know what you guys were talking about. I think the good news is that whatever this is, the cheese are going to be able to quote unquote, explode the strengths of whoever's out on the field and they'll have a plan and they'll they'll and they've had a lot of time to think about it. They've had a lot of time to. So last thing on this to be able to move on to everything else. Do you try to figure out at the end of this game on a scale from one to 10 10 being the worst one being like the best in this situation. How do you think you will say that the Colibenson's performance or Jalen Moore's performance at left tackle was blank. Get 10 being like the most concerning one being the least. Do you think they will scheme so well that it's a one or do you think that they won't have any answers and it's a 10.

18:10I think it'll be a five. I'm going to say a six. A little bit more worried than that. But I do think that they'll do a good job of trying to scheme around it. Brown because it's just really good at football. I think I think the takeaway will be is hey the cheese is a really good job of handling that. Can they do it for more than one week? Yeah. I think that one week game plan. I think that they can put together a one week game plan for sure. I think that's I think that's where it's going to sit. I'm at a seven. Sorry. I didn't even say I'm at a seven for it and not because the player or because of the the task. I just think that Colibenson has like one you more as versus the Raiders but worse potential. Not saying he will be. I'm just saying like I think there is that level like this is one of the few times where I think you could see a singular offensive lineman completely sink a game plan no matter what you do. Not saying it's going to happen. It's just like I am worried when you put a guy that I would say didn't always have the best tape in college playing right tackle. If he is to play left tackle in the NFL as an

19:13undrafted rookie for you. I think you could see one of those like Kingsley versus the Bengals. Juan, you have versus the Raiders. We've seen this like we've seen this snowball in the Chiefs and Games before. I just think that that is a possibility. So like my concern I do think how there's a more around the seven. We all picked a segment. We all named a segment. We'll address those segments right after this. Folks, there is nothing more important than sleep whether it's the gym or just everyday life. You've got to recover and it is the ultimate recovery hack. Since switching to my old Sri Laks cooling mattress for Brooklyn bedding, recovery has been a breeze. By spine feels supported. My body fully relaxes when I sleep and I'm not fighting that urge to get comfortable at night. Brooklyn bedding knows that sleep isn't a one-size-fits-all-thing. That's why they offer mattresses for every body type, sleep style, even in hard-to-find sizes. Sleep hot like I do. Brooklyn bedding uses glaciotex covers, copper infused foams,

20:15and temperature-regulating materials to help you keep you cool and comfortable all night long. Brooklyn bedding is one of the few mattress brands endorsed by the American Chiropractic Association for Spinal Lime and back health. So you know you're getting the supportive sleep your body needs. Brooklyn bedding also offers a 120 night comfort trial. Love it or the help you return or swap it hassle free. Here's what you got to do. Go to Brooklynbedding.com and use our promo code KCSNATCHEC.com to get 30% off site-wide during the back to school sale running until August 20th. That's Brooklynbedding.com and promo code KCSN for 30% off site-wide, exclusively with our code. Brooklynbedding.com promo code KCSN. Success in real estate takes more than vision. It takes the right financial partner. When someone takes something rundown and turns it into something great, that's called a comeback story. Like Brain Group, they take distressed properties here in KC, completely rework them and

21:21then turn them into valuable real estate. But that kind of work needs the right bank behind it. Enter Imprise Bank. They're not about cookie cutter loans. They saw Brain Group's vision back them and now they're making big moves in Kansas City real estate. Talk about your partner impossible. Imprise doesn't do one size fits all financing. They invest in potential and back growth. Visit imprisebank.com slash KC to learn more. Imprise Bank, member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender. You know that moment. The moment when you realize you left your favorite sunglasses at the beach, run the roof of your car or a gas station three states away. I promise you this is true. I I lost another pair of sunglasses on Labor Day at Psych's Lady Golf Course. It happened again. I wish they would have been my been shady race because they changed the game. These sunglasses are made for real life. They're seriously good looking. They're polarized. They're durable and

22:23they're not stupidly expensive. And here's the wild part. If you lose or break them even on day one, shady rays will send you a brand new pair. No guilt trip, just replacements. I can wear my sunglasses without fear when I choose to wear my nice pair of sunglasses and not my golfing pair of sunglasses. On Hikes at concerts on the boat wherever they have sunglasses for golfing, fishing, hiking, biking and even sunglasses for kids. Shady Rays is I wear that has your back. I'll be wearing them on the course the next time I'm out. Go to shadyraise.com and use code KCSN50 for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. It's right. Go to shadyraise.com and use code KCSN50 for 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. All right. So instead of our linear offensive breakdown, we're mixing things up and I would like to welcome everyone into the twilight zone. It is the segments aptly named

23:26by Maddy Lane. Hello Matthew. Yes. Hello. So what we're doing with the game preview this year is every every week we in kind of letter earlier we are going to have we all come in coming up with an idea and we're going to name it a segment. Now these segments aren't going to be the same every week, but they might return throughout the year. The whole point is we want to build like a menu of segment titles that things fit into. So we're not talking about the same four things all year because let's let's say the chiefs have been a very similar team for about seven years now. Right? So we continue to talk about the same stuff week after week because they have the same issues and the same strengths. Now the twilight zone on four days. I just want you to let you know my player to watch this type one. Anyways, please continue. Wait. Now this is perfect. So because the twilight zone is taking us back to something that we've probably talked about eight thousand times before. But I think it's very apt in this particular game because of what we just talked about in the headliner too. What I want to talk about is what are the chiefs going to do against man coverage? How are you going to beat man coverage? And the reason I think it's super important for this game is because

24:29you're dealing with what you expect to be a significant like deficiency on offensive line versus the past rest you expect to go up against. You are out man there. You are outnumbered. So from the Broncos perspective, just play man literally play man. Simplits is play tight in the line. It's really hard to complete screens and get yak if you're just playing man coverage all the time. Right? Like it's hard to do these things that we're talking about to help cool Vincent and Jalen Moore. If there is constantly going to be a defender specifically hunting down the receiver, you're trying to get open to open areas. Right? So if the Broncos play a ton of man coverage, which they were in the top 10 in the NFL last year and man coverage, that might be a problem for the chiefs. The chiefs last year saw the most man coverage on third downs out of any team in the NFL. It was over half of their third down pass attempts were against man coverage. Now, I don't know exactly how often the Broncos played man on third down. But I'm going to go on to win and say against the chiefs, they're probably going to play it quite a bit. They had success playing man coverage against the chiefs last year. Everybody did. That's what they were doing it.

25:31The chiefs EPA and then success rate versus man coverage with throwing the ball was incredibly low. So we have man coverage. It's this possible thing they have to get over. The chiefs haven't really shown a great answer to beating man coverage. I'm just curious is what their play of attacks going to be here? How are you going to protect your tackles with the quick passing game with getting the ball in space? If there's always going to be man coverage there, who is going to beat man coverage? How are you going to get open? I don't want to say this every single week, but this particular game given what we talked about the offensive line seems like it might be a pretty a pretty big showcase for the chiefs to come out and show some kind of answer for man coverage. Especially since the Broncos can run man coverage, it will because they've got the best cornerback in the game. I am very curious to see who he lines up against if he follows anybody around or if they just say, hey, we're just going to hang out on this side of the field and do this. I expect to see a lot more like bunch formations out of the chiefs this year. They've got a guy in Taikwant

26:35that it feels like they trust to play more snaps this year that can be kind of the tip of that bunch. They can line up Xavier worthy behind him. Where she riced behind him. Hell, even maybe a little bit of sirens Allen mixed in there behind him there. Try and get some switch releases. Try and get these Broncos to communicate and force them into these roles, especially on third downs where they've got to follow Xavier worthy on an out and up for instance, where maybe the free safety can't get over the top or if it's too high and trying to get worthy to set down in a whole. I think we see a lot more of those types of things. On top of that, I think we see a lot more wheel routes out of the backfield from the running backs. I don't know. I know we just got done talking about how protection is going to be a key thing. They're probably going to have to leave some guys in to help. Maybe we even see some ships from the running backs as a part of this, you know, the plan here, but there are going to be times if you are leading a running back into

27:38chip all the time, you are going to see linebackers are going to be late. I can see a lot of instances where Andy kind of wrote the dope some with a few chips in the backfield and then releases Kenneth Walker on a wheel route. They try and hit him up the sideline up against the linebacker and man coverage. I think they need to use the natural speed that they have with worthy and Walker, specifically on some of these patterns where the bronkers are expecting to get one thing, switch it up a little bit and try and get those guys in one-on-one matchups and let them use their speed to beat man because all you got to do is beat man a couple of times before defensive coordinator start question. Now that's a couple great thoughts there. I do think yeah, activating the running backs in a way that they haven't done in recent memory and haven't really been able to in recent memory. I think this whole running back room is kind of capable of of doing some things out of the backfield in the passing game and I think all three could be weaponized if all three of them are active which I would be stunned if they weren't. But I do think

28:38that they all have a skill set that could, you know, get them out, get them in space, get them on angle routes. I think Emmett Johnson can run and I think Bashar's made the current. We two words. I think I do think, I know you said the, you know, you kind of question whether or not the chiefs can get the screen game going too. But that can be a good pressure beat or two, a good man pressure beat. And so if they're going to play a lot of man, if they're not in it, if they're going to try to bring pressure with it, get that screen game going again. Like that is another thing and that's back to the back. Most likely, right? So I think we look at this team, we look at this roster and say it's pretty much their running it back. This team couldn't beat man coverage last year. The backs are going to have to find ways to help. The backs are going to have to find ways to be better outlets in the passing game against man. They're going to have to be a little bit more involved with man and hopefully this team is going to be able to figure out some

29:41things in the screen game as well. I think those were were really good call outs for for how this this can work. What do you got? Yeah, I got one more thing to here. Well, I want to say on the backs. I like what the backs are showing the open fields. Like I think screen games, checkdowns. I think those are good. Craig's point on the wheel route is very big because like I still don't know if we've seen a lot from the running backs as of now besides for Shart Smith, who was a former wide receiver that they present as a man coverage like weapon, right? Like yes, you can always get the ball to your backs and to check release or the screen game and they can make plays. But in terms of getting teams or scaring teams in man coverage, it's not like they have shown a Christian McCaffrey and I even to that level, but like an Aaron Jones level of like fear that they are putting in opposing defenses like, oh, if we go in man, we might get routed up by a running back. I don't know if they've shown that yet. Maybe it's the game they do it though, right? This is an opportunity for them to come out and show that. And one other answer is the cheese typically against man coverage. You know what their best answer has been over the past. Tell us it's Tyria kill left. Patrick

30:42Moana scrambling likes. Yeah, it's almost how much of that do we think we're getting in this game. It's just like this is why man covers me really sticks out for this game. You probably are going to have a little bit less mohomes. You probably have a past protection scheme that wants to get the ball out. So if the Broncos just come up and challenge you, who makes plays and listen, it's an undergrad. It's a late day three rookie. I think Syri's going to be very good. But if we get to this game and they say, hey, we really need somebody that can get open versus man, I'm looking at Xavier Worthy and I'm looking at Syri sound and saying one of you two has to be the one to create this separation. It's just that is a sneaky way for I think somebody like Alan to make an impact early even if it's just a couple catches or just a couple targets or an even a low amount of snaps. I could just see him being impactful on third downs because he has a skill set that nobody else has of right now in this roster has one other thought think about this is something we really haven't seen the chiefs utilize a lot lately. And I hope Micah Hayes isn't listening or watching the chiefs used to be able really were really good with rub routes. And so like the shoot route out of the

31:44backfield from the running back. Just getting them not the swing, but the more direct shoot route with some traffic created that used to be a staple for them that they haven't been successfully utilizing because they didn't have anybody to catch the shoot. They have it or he bring out backwards or he had no idea what direction he was supposed to be heading. But that's another like that's another Andy tactic when teams would play man. They could get the shoot right out of the backfield. They get like you know I Jalen Royals you know create a little traffic little hit bump shoot out of the backfield like that's another little tactic that Andy's been really good about using against main coverage in the past as well. So it's just another thing another knock or another you know check mark for the for the running back room as well. So I think that was a good call I've got one more here and I talked about it a little bit on 21 questions. I know that we've talked about it during the offseason. You know what is the absolute best way to beat man coverage

32:47running the ball. If your DBs are turning their back to the backfield and you've got Kenneth Walker hitting the edge putting his foot into the ground and your DB is still running up the sideline with savior worthy that's bad news. The best way to get a defense out of man coverage is to sit down and run the ball effectively and successfully because now you want guys with their eyes in the backfield as many people as possible especially if you're getting Kenneth Walker to the edge you are going to force teams into zone coverage a lot more often because they're not going to want to turn and run away from that which then sets up the rest of the chief zone beaters there. So lots of different ways that the chiefs can go about this and all of them that we've talked about here are all feasible given the fact that they may be without you know maybe without too great offensive tackles out there this week. All right next segments I'm excited to hear this one we are going to get on a little deep dive

33:53with Craig Stout's Craig. You wanted to bring a deep dive to the table once you tell us what we got. I did bring the deep dive in for this season because Arpal his dirtness just you know he and his partner just had a baby and so he's not getting to do his weekly deep dives in the way so I'm going to borrow it for a little bit shout out dirt for all of this. I want to talk about something on the chiefs defensive side of the ball here. Tremar Connor as we alluded to is going to probably be out in this game and while you may not have a high opinion of Tremar Connor at any point in his career he is one of the chiefs to best safeties and the person that they have talked about and Andy Reed specifically mentioned needs to step up into this position is Jaden Hicks. Anybody who's watched Jaden Hicks play football knows sometimes that guy gets way too aggressive coming down hill and he allows guys to get behind him into the secondary.

34:54That's really bad news if we see a Jaden Hicks that is going to try and run the alley and bring big hits to the equation all the time because I think Bo Nick sucks but I also think that Bo Nick throws a pretty enough deep ball and Jalen Waddle is out there for the Denver Broncos now. This is a bad situation. We talk about Josh Simmons missing and how that's a big deal. Tremar Connor for everything that he is knows the structure of the deep and reads things out especially well from this from the safety position while he may not be the fastest guy he's at least going to try and stay over the top of some of this. Jaden Hicks very frequently gets sucked up inside for reference Bo Nick's last year during the regular season here's the deep die part of it through the third most passes that traveled 20 plus yards in the air in the NFL.

35:55Now he did throw the most passes in the NFL as well so that is part of it but third most through 76 such passes 20 plus yards down the field. He was also very much let down by his wide receivers. He had the second highest drop rate on those passes only Trevor Lawrence had a higher drop rate when he was throwing the ball down the field there. This is a situation where when you look at all the players that were targeted 20 plus yards down the field. Cortland Sutton is fourth. Cortan Sutton is going to be on this team. He's going to play there. Troy Franklin was 13th in the NFL. Jalen Waddle is a massive upgrade over Troy Franklin in that route and Marvin Nims had the same amount of deep passes last year that Jalen Waddle did for the Miami Dolphins at 38th in the NFL.

36:56I think we are going to see Jalen Waddle basically take all of those Troy Franklin Marvin Mims quality reps that they're going to see in the offense. They're going to dial those up in a major way. Jalen Waddle since he came into the league has had a lot of usage that was not him targeted down the field because he's been playing with Tyree Kill and guess what? Tyree Kill is also very good at that as well. The Denver Broncos were very intentional by going out and getting a guy that can play deep can go on these go balls can be a down field threat for this offense that is going to be largely short passes by Bonyx running the ball and then shot plays. They're going to try and make every single one of those shot plays count. I am terrified as a chief fan of Denver running play action. Jaden Hicks getting sucked up and then Jalen Waddle just running straight by him because Lord knows he's fast enough and Bonyx hitting him down field. My deep dive is

38:02I think they built the entire offense out of shot plays this year in Denver and I think the coming out party against the team that is missing maybe there it's an arguable maybe their best safety him and a loweat Gilman who's coming off of an injury that is scary to me. I mean Bonyx has his flaws but he's been able to connect on some deep passes to receivers that are I wouldn't say great on deep ball receivers and here's the thing Jalen Waddle hasn't been had it been Miami's primary deep ball receiver that had been Tyree Kill and also look at their quarterbacks. Go back to win who well could almost throw a deep ball in those for these two years here over was it 2022 and 2023 Jalen Waddle had 34 targets over 20 plus yards caught 15 of them, 16 of them every single year he's been in the NFL his receiving grade on targets over 20 plus yards according to profile focus you know take that for whatever you want in the 90s every

39:04single year he's been in the NFL the volume has been low some years the efficiency hasn't been great because there's been a lot of sprays but like the two year period there where they were sending him deep more often he was pretty darn good at it and so now you put him on a team and another offensive coaching staff with an offensive scheme that is really good at scheming up deep shots. Yeah it could be a little bit of a problem and I think Quilland Sutton's also pretty good on like vertical balls he's made some plays down there for the Broncos over the years they've used short Franklin they use Marvin Mims they have I mean Pat Bryant I think they're really excited for this year and he might not be a deep guy necessarily or just they have a lot of options and I think the water one particular go ahead I did Pat Bryant's the new slam boy. He's the new slam boy but he's kind of good at it yeah he said oh I believe me I'm a fan unfortunately yeah I'm a fan. Waddle's just Waddle's tricky because I love no Williams I think no Williams you have a good year I don't know if Jalen Waddle's a great matchup for no Williams

40:05that's somebody that can just gas ride by him. I think Montsourne Delay very good player he might have a little bit more up and down here I think he's very good and he has the athleticism to run with Waddle but he's also really aggressive and you know what good vertical red receivers can take advantage of you being a little too aggressive right and so it's just I think this could definitely be a game where you see Waddle really stress this team I don't love the that we're probably leaning towards Jalen Hicks maybe it's Chris Roll and Wallace right maybe we're wrong and it's Roll and Wallace that plays next to a low he gill but then I feel maybe a little better but I just we could have a situation where you don't love your back in safety especially because you know you got to also stop the run because Denver loves to run the football they also run the ball a lot it's just it's it's a tough it's a tough challenge and I think Waddle does make this team significantly more dangerous throwing the ball down field and I would feel better which tomorrow he corner out there on the field because I do think he has the most experience in the safety room I do think he's probably we don't know what Gilman looks like in spag system but tomorrow he corner playing safety

41:07not in the slot but playing safety is clearly a better safety than Hicks or what we have seen in limited snaps of roll and Wallace he's been a very solid player he's been Brian Cook level player playing as a deep safety when he's just playing safety I do think missing him does might matter pretty big save your wampa a racer here I would like wish I mean yeah why not he's not going to get beat over the top like Hicks might yeah Jaylen Waddle very limited snaps in the preseason one catch for 35 yards yep oh yeah I think 23 23 air yards on that I think I say what was the air yard on that I was young every 23 23 air yards yep you know Waddle is also really good at digs and like crossers and so squirt and sudden and that is something that bonix is not throw particularly well except for against the chiefs apparently that's not a throw that theme makes particularly well but if we're just talking about a little bit of worries adjacent to the deep shot what happens on those deep crossers where those safes are supposed to be right without a con or there with

42:10these new safety room two guys that haven't started a bunch of games to the chiefs that is an area that they are going to have to be on their a game because you don't want you don't want to let the Broncos also hit stuff over the middle of the field like in that intermediate you don't want to watch bonix hit a couple digs or crossers their receivers can run him he hasn't been able to throw him but if they're wide open that gets more dangerous we're gonna take a break I've got one more big thing for us and then we're gonna predict the game you know talk about some players to walk we're gonna do all that right after this everyone I am so excited to welcome our newest sponsor draft kings to the kcs and family that's right draft kings is here the weight is over football is here we've all been watching the college ball we're all ready for NFL and draft kings is on and this September draft kings is going to give all their customers the opportunity to get boosted in every single game you like the under you like a team against the spread you got some profits you want that's cool they have you covered for every single game all month long draft kings customers

43:13can get a profit boost on every single one of these games plus get extra protection protection with early exit opt in if your player leaves the game and with an eligible injury in the first half your bet is protected that's right somebody goes down it's unfortunate you want to get out you can opt in to that early exit right then in there and get yourself covered so new draft kings customers sign up with the code kcs and spend just five dollars and get 200 and rewards within 21 days that is code kcs and spend five dollars and get 200 in rewards within the next 21 days in partnership with draft kings guys the crown is yours gambling problem called 1 800 gambler 21 and over physically president Missouri eligibility restrictions apply $50 and non-withdrawable bonus bets issued every seven days via click to claim for 21 days bonus bets expire seven days after issuance one football boost per customer maximum bet limits and restrictions apply tokens expire at the end of the final select game each day when offered terms at dkng dotco slash offer limited time

44:15offer again city fans I know you do anything for a win on game day and a nice cold Bud Light because whether you're tailgating in the parking lot or parked on the couch with your crew sitting on your lucky stool at the bar or standing in the fan section all game long the clean crisp tastes of bud light turns a win into a win win a win isn't a win without the clean crisp taste of bud lights and there's nothing easier to enjoy than that a win isn't a win without the clean crisp taste of bud light bud light easy to drink easy and easy to enjoy the official beer sponsor of the Kansas City Chiefs enjoy responsibly and hyzer bush bud light beer st. Lewis Missouri all right my turn to drop a new segment in here and I'm calling this one surprise surprise the premise is something you might see I think things that you want to see the

45:16chiefs incorporate this week to exploit the weaknesses of a team maybe something a little bit out of their norm out of the traditional scope of what we see in the office and I think it's appropriate to lead with this one this week because I think this is one of the most important games of the indie red era I think this is one of the most consequential games for the indie red era and what I mean by that is this we have spent all offseason talking about what this team may or may not do differently to make sure that what happened in 2025 doesn't happen again and we've all clamored for schematic adjustments we've all changed we've all clamored for them to modernize we all clamored for them to change and a lot of the indications that we have so far this offseason don't seem to lend themselves on paper too much of a change

46:17they did not prioritize one single blocking tight end on their roster they have kept a bunch of tight ends that are suspect you know as true in line blocker so the shift to heavier personnel I don't know we'll see uh we don't know and we're gonna find out ultimately what indie reds been cooking over the course of this offseason and I think for me for this week I think it's especially considering what's going on at left tackle especially kind of considering what's going on with Patrick Maholms they're starting quarterback if this isn't a week that they can turn around and hand the football off if this isn't a week that they can run the football in a higher clip I don't know when I don't know when there is a better time to do it I'll go I'll I'll take it even a further step is I think I think the curiosity is not just the frequency at which they run the football this week I think the the question and I

47:20think the curiosity for me is how they run the football do they get under center a little bit more because you know what I think the menu opens up a little bit more for them in protecting their left tackle if they can play from under center a little bit more too I think your options to help keep things out of play action things can stay home you can you tight ends can stay home a little bit more you can get some help out of the back feel a little bit differently you can get some movement in the pocket you can get some jet motions and some misdirections to try to slow down past rushers there's a lot more on the menu I think when you're under center but you have to be an under center running team to really help honor that a little bit so I think that I think it's too full for me how much is this team going to run the football are they going to run the football and are they going to run it differently is it going to be zone is it going to be outside zone are we going to get more gap stuff are we and look this might as well been something that when this is something this is the twilight zone to in some ways but I think this is such a consequential moment I think for the

48:22season to say all right are we just back to our same old stuff are is this the same old same old everything we're used to and we just have a better running back and that's all we needed or are there fundamental changes to this offense are there tweaks to this offense and are they going to lean into them in a game where they need to take some pressure off Patrick Mahomes and they have less resources to to take the pressure off of them than they ever have so that's the question I'm positing that's the thing I'm clamoring for and that's the thing that can help them win this football game Maddie said it earlier run the ball Andy run the ball yeah and I think I mean I'm with you I think it also matters how you run the ball not only like in terms of being good or bad at it right like getting stuck in second and eights probably not going to be very helpful in this game third and six isn't very helpful in this game but if you can get some big plays out of it or if you can just stay ahead of the sticks I think it matters I think a big part of that if you think that you need if you think this defensive line

49:24across from you you're a little bit worried about their past rush and you maybe want to try to wear on them a little bit you've got to be I think getting under center and running the ball is the move in this preseason we've seen the chiefs have gotten us with this before so like I'm trying to tread very lightly but we did see a lot of under center outside zone stuff in this preseason and they were good at it they ran it well actually they ran it good I thought Emmett Johnson particular and Richard Smith were much more decisive as runners on the on the outside zone this year then I think Johnson wasn't Nebraska last year then for Shard Smith was for the chiefs last year so maybe that new coaching matters but I we did see them go under center and run a lot of outside zone and I imagine Kenneth Walker is also looking well we just didn't see a swatch of them in the preseason right and so get under center run outside zone you can help a little bit you make the angles a little bit better for your offensive line you get a little bit more downhill and not so lateral like you do when you're sitting out at the gun I do think there's some stuff they can do so I am trying to watch this run scheme just to see what it looks like and see where they go I will say the chiefs do one thing that matters me in their zones thing though especially under center

50:27they have their tight end release ahead of their offensive tackle and their offensive tackle releases behind their tight end they don't trust their tight ends to kick out defensive ends and I don't think even the fact that it's Nick Bonito they're gonna trust their tight ends to kick out an edge player and I hate it because it essentially dooms the play from ever going outside you're never going to get outside the tackle who has to release behind your tight end right and so you limit what you can get on that horizontal stretch but that might not matter in this game maybe you can just lean on them I just had to get I wanted to say that because that just really annoys me that they still do that but yeah outside zone under centers where I got my eyes I think they ran it well in the preseason we'll see what happens I think that's gonna open up the best rushing lanes for them that seems to be what they seem to be the most comfortable doing in the preseason you know what one of the benefits of having Peter Woods on this roster is he can move a little bit you know what Steve Spegnolo likes to do when he's got a double a gap mug he likes to drop a defensive tackle into coverage we

51:27remember Derek Nottie dropping into coverage far more often it was fun they'll get me wrong and he wasn't bad at it he just can't cover very much ground if the Broncos are gonna continue to play under center as much as they did last year by the way 64% of their run plays last year were from under center the Broncos were good way to blow that up while the quarterback has his back to you is having lots of double a gap blitzes that is not new for Steve Spegnolo that is not something that we should be surprised if we see it my surprise surprise is I want them to do it all the time every time you see him under center I want there to be that threat of Mick Bolton and Drew Trankful lined up over the center forcing protection calls that are going to shift things around trying kick guys in that's gonna result in more one-on-one matchups on the outside for Armass and Thomas and George Carloftus that could result in more one-on-one matchups for Chris Jones and Peter Woods is a

52:29guide that could take advantage of those one-on-one matchups or drop into coverage and try and take away that slant trying to take away some of that especially if the cheese are going to play heavy press with no Williams Mansor Delane and Lajerius Sneed out there it's not going to be an easy release for any of these wide receivers we've seen Cortland Sutton beat this team before that was against Tripp McDuffie that was a guy that was bigger than Tripp McDuffie that was out muscle in it with some of this stuff we're going to see these corners go up and punch these guys in the mouth that's going to disrupt timing enough to where they're not going to feel comfortable with bow nicks turning his back taking a deep drop and having Nick Bolton and or Drew Trankful or Chris Jones or whoever gets free from that alignment easier that is one of the ways that you can defeat an under center passing concept there they already run a ton of run blitzes you've got Kyra's Tonga that you can also line up over the center and the guard and one technique as well they

53:33can get really creative but I want them to ramp up that frequency this week specifically to try and counter the meta put that on tape so that way when they're playing teams later this year and teams want to go under center more frequently they've got that in the back of their mind that the cheese are going to stand up there punch them in the mouth and blitz like crazy it gets their looks uh Maddie why don't you uh we'll move on to players to watch and I want to see you're from Maddie first give me give me a player to watch offensive defense whatever whatever side of the ball you want give me something that you're paying attention to in this game oh okay um he came up a little bit earlier um we're going to go with the um gold jacket man himself sire s Allen I think that you know this is going to be a this is your player to watch um we're going to pull a tight one board here and we're going to say let's just let's just watch sire s Allen this game I think the big thing that means I just want to see where and how he's utilized what you know we talked about it kit alluded to it we got a little trouble on intrusive thoughts when I said like hey and maybe the preseason lack of production matters as something I don't believe it just has crossed my mind

54:37I want to see though is this game back up the intrusive thought or what I actually believe what is this game going to tell me about where this is going and then like I alluded to said earlier man coverage is a problem for the chiefs they sucked against it last year they weren't good against it the year before can sire s Allen even if it's just a couple third downs this game maybe he only has two catches but can he get open on third downs against man coverage and give them an element of something they don't have kind of like the the aversion different body type but a version of juan jinnings for the san francisco 49ers where all he did was go out there and make plays on third down predominantly against man coverage because that's not what other guys were doing well can he do something like that so we're watching sire s Allen this game just to see and get an idea of what his usage this year is going to look like Craig Emmett Johnson that's my player to watch all the eyes are going to be on can't walker and rightfully so I wanted to pick him but I am very curious what Emmett Johnson's usage is Andy Reid came out and

55:40said yeah yeah we think that guy can pass pro can he we're going to see a lot from this broncos team and that if they have to protect these offensive tackles in the way that we think that they might have to against a good defensive line we're going to need to see a very good pass protection game from Emmett Johnson I don't know that I we're going to see him run the ball nine times ten times it may not even be that much I am more paying attention to if they can trust him to be the third down back that they've said that he can be and how that looks because what we've seen so far has been very few far between not very much at all I'm taking the word for it but I want to see it against a team and weak one here I'm very excited to watch Emmett Johnson this week I'm torn between so many players I think this is just a pure fascination on on both sides of the ball I'm going to go rookie defender and I'm debating between minceau or delay in an armason Thomas

56:42I think I'm going to go our Mason Thomas I think I'd definitely playing I'm just helping you out buddy I'll go I'll go man sword o'ling good call buddy I'll go man but you got it on you got it on the board too you get credit for both I this whole rookie class I think you're just as excited as you know I think we're kind of all in the same boat here right now but me it's where laine's got a big challenge ahead of him right I mean we just got done talking about the skill players of the Denver Broncos and the challenges they present their different body types different speeds like this is a big challenge for him whoever he's lined up across from and he's going to get exposure to a lot of different types of players a lot of different depths physical at off the line of scrimmage he's going to get some speed uh he's going to get matched up against multiple guys in this game and so he's going to kind of get pretty good exposure very quickly and this team badly needs him to uh to play well immediately

57:49they have put a lot of eggs in the man sword o'ling basket and uh he's presumably going to be playing a lot of snaps from jump street in this game uh and so it's just right off the rip it's a huge challenge for me and sort of laine and I'm excited to see what the six round the sixth overall pick has has to has offer because what we saw in preseason what limited we saw in preseason was quite good then let's see if you can kind of continue that trend of being one of those top 10 cornerbacks that we've been talking about that has just had outstanding years and outstanding careers to this point and hopefully you can continue that trend uh we're going to do predictions a little bit different uh this year too we're going to kind of make a prediction about the game some kind of stat prediction and then we'll predict the we'll we'll pick the winners of this game after this as well but this segment is brought to you by draft kings thank you to our friends at draft kings for uh this uh for sponsoring this segments and we are going to be kind of breaking down and making a prediction here uh each of us so Craig what is your prediction for this game

58:55okay my prediction for this game I touched on a little bit earlier I am going to take the over on jaylen waddles yardage this yeah that's six deep plus uh one of the things that I was going to say a little earlier and now's the perfect time for it. Tremaric corner was the player that had played within spags scheme the most over the past three years of anybody else on this secondary and it's not by a small margin it is by a cavernous a grand canyon sized margin Mansor Delaine has never played a snap for Steve Spagnolo normally has played some last year but it's not a ton a low e-gillment didn't play any last year but Jerryous need hasn't been with this team for a little bit here Chris Roland Wallace would be your next person up in some of these missing Tremaric corner missing somebody that helps organize the defense and helps communicate some of that

59:58means so much to this secondary I think this secondary is going to be good but weak ones are always rough for NFL secondaries they just are especially those that haven't played together very much missing that guy matters in a huge way I think Jalen Waddle goes over 60 yards this week against the chief secondary I like that one okay my unfortunately my yeah my prediction this gives much more positive for for the chiefs here um speaking of our of our partners over at draft kings I was scrolling around over here and I found I found this nice little line here that I like Kenneth Walker over receiving yards but not only if I go over I'm bumping that thing up the 25 so I give plus 179 on the odds because as we spent and this hour long shows so far we spent about 40 of it talking about how the chiefs are going to throw the ball to their running backs in every possible way so 25 yards doesn't seem a lot would apparently 10 targets are going to these running backs we might as well expect Kenneth Walker to break one play out of this one swing pass one screen can

1:01:02easily net you 25 plus yards especially for an explosive player what like Walker let alone any other check downs dub officer anything like that as the yardage racks up so yeah I think in this particular game given the circumstances of what we've talked about with the lack of manbeating receiving options with the questions about how the past protection will hold up and needing to get the ball out quickly Kenneth Walker who is going to be the bell cow running back for this team who they've done nothing but talk about how he's impressed them as a pass catcher something they haven't seen as much on the film I think Kenneth Walker's easily going over 25 yards here that's are we bumped it up we're taking Kenneth Walker over receiving yards over 25 big money right there does he get 25 yards on one play well I think that's the benefit of Kenneth Walker here because he is such a dynamic player it's right there I think it's available right like it's 100% available for him that's why I feel pretty good about it it's it's not so much the number it's how often we think that chiefs might target running backs and you're putting an athlete like Kenneth Walker in space what at least three

1:02:07or four times probably in this game yes I'm going to take my odds that he's going to rip off a 20 plus yard out of one of those and makes up that happened I have such PTSD for 2025 that when you said do you think he breaks a 25 yard or almost just automatically said no you know you know you say because none of the guys in the backfield last year ever we're going to do that so we're not going on the ground we're in the air earlier Maddie you know kind of mentioned like one of you know man coverage a great way to beat man coverage is just in the chief's best way of beating man coverage last year was Patrick Maholmes leveraging his legs and for you know litany reasons we've talked about like hey the chiefs need to run them ball a little bit more to protect Patrick Maholmes and kind of keep him in bay Patrick Maholmes this offseason has said he needs to run less he actively needs to make the decision to run less and yeah like the the if the if Maholmes doesn't run the Broncos can sit into

1:03:08man and kind of they can they can sit top down sit with two two high coverage and play man coverage across the board and not really worry as much about Patrick Maholmes legs I don't think they're going to do that I think they'll still respect it even though I do think Patrick Maholmes is going to run less than he used then he's used to I am going to say Patrick Maholmes has under 14 and a half rushing guards in this game I was because I wanted to talk about this and I saw that that that was a line and that seems like a fair where a fair line to try to say we're trying to keep score here we're going to be keeping score a little bit here with this this prediction segment these are all worth two points by the way and game predictions are worth one for everybody keeping track we're going to do this season alone so yeah so we're going to give us we're game of finding a little bit and I felt like this was a fair fair prediction to bring the table I think I think Patrick Maholmes does honor that I don't think he runs the ball very much in this game I don't think he tries to use his legs I don't think he's trying to set that tone off the rip that he's going to go out there

1:04:08and and just you know run all over the map and I think he's going to try to hang in the pocket a little bit better than he has in the past and maybe be a little bit more intentional from there and I think schematically they will do some things to to help make sure that that happens and 14 to half yards is a very low bar for Patrick Maholmes that you're accustomed to but I think that kind of tells you I think I think that I think the line thinks that that's probably the case as well I mean I can't wait for Patrick to rush for 12 yards on the first third down and kid to be sweating for the rest of the game I that's the one I would see that what's the one that scares me about it is we know how competitive he is so if there's a play that's breaking down and he sees him space it just takes him kind of one little scamper for his 14 yards is so low right like that's just why it's it's not going to be a build up but like one random little scamper it's there but I would take the over for sure yeah I'm taking the under I think he's going to protect himself I think the team is going to protect him and I think he's going to not really utilize his

1:05:10legs in the rushing department quite as much that was brought to you by draft kings thank you to our friends at draft kings for sponsoring this segment all right before we get out of here let's pick the game boys first one of the year what you got Craig you know I'm man I've been going back and forth legitimately about this the Denver Broncos were a good football team they're fairly healthy they're coming out week one with an advantage trying to push the ball down the field against the chief secondary that is all brand new has I've been talking about I have a lot of questions about what the chief's defense is going to do conversely with Josh Simmons out I am worried about what this offense can do and what they can rely on as a part of this but you know who's not worried about this Vegas do you know the line has tilted towards the chiefs since Andy made

1:06:11the comment about Josh Simmons I know we're not talking about conspiracy corner but fellas I think we might see Josh Simmons on my head oh I know I know but if he's fighting to get back there and he legitimately wants to get back there he is going to be a better option than anybody else that they have on the field even at 60 75 percent and I think they know that I think we see a good schematic game out of the chiefs I think we see them run the ball very effectively and use their running backs and the passing game like we've been talking about against this linebacking court in this middle of the defense that is not as strong as the rest of it I see a big game for the running backs I see a big game for Kenneth Walker specifically and I think the chiefs are going to squeak this one out 20 to 17 in a game that they are going to win and everybody's going to be walking away from week

1:07:14one feeling like oh we're going forno into the buy and we're feeling great about things max maddy me my bad I wasn't sure I know there was part of it that started smiling but I was like I forgot about this I don't know for you know I'm just trying to give my gay prediction I'm up so I think it's the top spot for the chiefs and like I don't I'm not trying to you know I'm with Craig here the line situations weird and Vegas and so we don't know what's going to happen but honestly even if Josh Simmons plays here's a guy who's been seriously enough hurt to miss three four weeks with the back issue how healthy is he going to be I don't know if they even just fresh off of recovering from an injury Josh Simmons is a great matchup for a Nick Bonito it's better obviously but there still might be some qualms there so I do think this chiefs offensive line is going to have their hands full of the Denver Broncos defensive line and their front seven in general I do think there's some space for

1:08:16them to run the ball the kind of short in the game a little bit play a little bit more ball control try to make things easier for the chiefs and patch my homes and I think there's a there's a path for that and part of me wants to say they are going to come out with a much more modern offense but I just don't know if I actually believe that I just really don't know if I believe it even though I see the path that is don't know if I believe it and so I think offensively they are going to give you some stuff to be excited about I think you're going to get some big place for a Kenneth Walker I think you might have a Rishi Rice or a Travis Kelsey catch and run with the ball a little bit and get some stuff and maybe going with the play action game steps up maybe they get the pocket moving maybe they do some stuff that makes you feel more excited than watching mesh yet again or that watching slant flat yet again I think they will do stuff that makes you feel excited about the offense but then I go to the other side of the ball I don't think she's even is bad I don't think the Denver Broncos offense is great I think the Denver Broncos offense is competent and I think that she's defense is young I think they're going to be up and down I think they are going to have mistakes I think they are going to make mistakes I think they are going to

1:09:19blow cover just I think they are gonna get beat kind of reaching out over the skis it's gonna be a learning process I think that she's dropped this one we're gonna say 27 to 23 I think it's not gonna be so gonna blow out it's gonna be competitive I think that she's gonna give you some stuff to to hang your hat on as a fan and be like, Hey, this was there's things to look better than last year. There are things it seemed to be pointed in the right direction and they lost against another good team. We can get them the next time we play. I think that is the most likely outcome for me coming out of this is the chiefs lose a very competitive game deep into it with just not quite having the the seasoning on the defense with such a young roster and the offensive sides still trying to figure out how they're going to operate in 2026. A lot of like I think opposing ideas from for the season, you know, I the chiefs have historically been outstanding in early season games week one games like that slipped a little bit recently. But Andy reads historically been unbelievable, you know, coming out of coming out of the game.

1:10:21We've got the mo homes, we've got the mo homes injury and how that plays into things. And it's like there's some questions like the left tackle, you know, the left tackle questions obviously as well. I pardon me wonders if, if you know, we're talking about this, mo homes injury, we're all talking about this, but mo homes injury like in a certain light, right, the concern, but like it's I think it's the flip side too that could potentially carry this team a little bit. The energy of having Patrick, mo homes out there on the field for week one, I think is going to be a lot. I think it's going to be a lot for Arrowhead. I think arrowhead is going to be absolutely juiced. I think this team has had to watch their leader kind of go through this process to get back on the field. And I think that's I think that's going to say a lot to that or you know, to that group of that group of men that he's happening to lead there too. So I think the chiefs are going to come out ready to play. I think they're going to have a good game plan for mitigating the past rush and mitigating whatever offensive line, the offensive line ails elements that they have. I do think that the defense probably won't get to be as in their bag like we've seen

1:11:24what this what what Steve's bag Nolo has done in the past when it comes to having a lot of young players. They might be a little bit more vanilla. To reduce explosives as much as they can't they may not be as elaborate as they could be potentially this time. Uh, you know, it's sometime in January in January, right? I'm not going to pick against them though. I'm not going to pick against them though. I think they'll I think they'll find a way to win this football game at home. I think this I think there's a lot of angry chiefs fans that are ready to be angry at the Broncos. The audacity of the Broncos to challenge the Kansas City chiefs in the division like the odd and honestly, I think I think Denver Denver is a pro prime regression candidate. And the chiefs are two. I know that's been I mean that's not the argument. Yeah, that's been the argument. And it's I think it's I think it's true. I think it's true. So I think that Broncos get humbled a little bit.

1:12:28We don't have to hear as much about bonics after this game. And I think we get a really quality Patrick Mahol was performance and a really good welcome to Kansas City Kenneth Walker moment here from the Kansas City chiefs. We're going to gut this one out 21 to 17 three touchdowns on the board against the Denver Broncos defense. No field goals. Three touchdowns in the Kansas City chiefs win. Hey, the scoring system real quick. I know you're about to close us out. So I got to jump in here. Should if you get the score right, shouldn't that be more points? So should be some bonus points for getting the score right? Yeah, you ever got this point. Have we ever got the score right ever on like exact score? Well, so, okay, so this is what I was thinking if you get the chiefs point total right and worth in the end to end the game prediction right? You get an extra point. If you get both scores right, it's an extra two points. So it can be worth three. That's what I was suggesting. So you can get up to three. No, I don't know if we've ever hit the exact score, but I definitely think we've predicted

1:13:31some wins with like the chiefs or losses with the chiefs having the right number. So like in game props or like the prop predictions that we had the player predictions, two points if you get it correct, predicting the correct winner of the game one point. But if you get the chiefs score right as well, that's two points. If you get both teams scores right, that's three points. Just what I needed to close out our show is more Maddie Math. That's going to do it for this episode of the Casey Lava Tory. Thank you all so much for listening, watching and supporting. We love you. We will talk to you after a chief's victory on Monday night. Come hang with us. We'll catch you later. No wonder you always lose with you, Floriges. You can join 14,000 members of Chiefs Kingdom by subscribing to the Casey S.N. Daily Chiefs newsletter. It's on site Chiefs coverage from veteran award winning beatwriter Herbie T.O.P. plus Casey S.N.'s team of writers. Be the most informed Chiefs fan at KCSN.com.

1:14:31Casey Sports Network is a locally owned independent media company based in Overland Park. The number one ranked Chiefs coverage has paved the way for more than 10 million downloads across the network since 2021. With more than 250,000 followers across social media, KCSN now covers the Chiefs Royals, sporting KC and KC Current along with KUK State Mizzou. We don't exist without you and we don't continue to grow without your friends. So tell them about us. You can learn more at KCSN.com. Thanks again for listening.