Only Weird Games 10/1: The Chiefs Deep Ball is Back

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1:11Only Weird Games, just me and Seth. Right now, I'm Josh Abrisco, he's Seth Kaiser. Nate Taylor should join us here a little later in the program. In the meantime, Seth, both of us did wear black today, and I didn't mean to do that. And I don't think you probably did either. Take our corresponding decorations and the whole branding of the show, everything to heart. This is not a secretly reviewing a Raider fandom, it's just some bad luck in the wardrobe department. It's just wearing black is easier than working out. And even a guy in the middle of a midlife crisis, as he works through that, and is still at the lightest weight that he's been at since he was 24 years old, still needs all the help he can get when he's 41. And so, I mean, every now and then, you just need a little black to help you out. As you are here for the best. Well, it kind of like, you know, matched with the chins. So that's a little black. It helps hide some of the extra chins. I grow beard like you do, but I'm not manly enough.

2:13Oh, I do think that's a bingo card spot. Thank you, Nick Springer, producing the show today. I will, I will scan for that. There's got to be some reference in the midlife crisis and the flexing, at least on the Seth specific bingo card. I will be checking that. And yeah, Seth, I would say I would recommend maybe just get yourself like a stick on beard or something. It hides a whole world of sins under there, but I actually think I'm going to trim it up a little bit. I don't know. We'll see. And we'll see. Maybe if the chief's lose of the raiders, I'm just going to shave my head and become a monk or something. I don't know. I say, I don't want that to happen, but I am enjoying the feeling of this game actually mattering. We'll get more into the matchup in that here in a second. But you have written about the return of the deep ball over in the chief in the North news letter. And I have an update on Josh Simmons that I can relate to you from Andy Reed yesterday. I'm just going to give you the quotes here as transcribed by yours truly over on chiefs on SI dot com. Go give us a click. Why don't you? I'll tell you what Andy Reed said about Josh Simmons and then we'll see where that sets us up here. Obviously hasn't practiced this week.

3:17Extremely unlikely to go against the raiders and then the buy week after that. We'll see how that all times out. But Andy Reed said the following on Wednesday. Josh is the only one with an injury and he is making progress. He's had a bulging disc in his lower back and it's kind of hindered the strength of his leg. But he's working through it. He's here every day grinding away and we didn't have to make any roster moves. So we didn't have to put him on IR or anything. So it's all worked out good that way. The positive is though he is making progress and getting stronger, which is important with those backs as we all kind of know. Bucks can be a little tricky. Reed was then asked if the difficulties of the back injury that trickiness so to speak had contributed to the uncertain timeline to get Simmons back and Reed said, yeah, the timeline. That would be the other half of not putting him on IR. You never know with these things. The positive is that he's here and he's working is getting better. The exam that he's had is making progress, which is the biggest positive of everything. He was asked if surgery is a possibility for Simmons. He said, no, I think we're headed in the right direction here where that shouldn't happen, but we'll see. We'll see where it all goes, but I think we're going to be knock on wood. We're going to be in a good place here with time.

4:25Seth, that's the most substantial and the most specific update we've gotten on Josh Simmons. I think like the day of it getting of the injury or the day after the injury and training camp might have had the word like back tightness thrown around. A bulging disc has a significant severity attached to it and talks about losing strength and a leg that also seems significant. What of that stood out to you and obviously it'll be at least a little bit before we see him out there. You know, a bulging disc can mean like I'm not a doctor. I've had a bulging disc in my back multiple times and it would have really stung to play football like that. The thing is though, I've had a bulging disc that's been asymptomatic and I've had a bulging disc to where I couldn't walk. So I don't know. The big thing for me and we've talked about this stuff at Nazim. It's at the point where the level of vagueness and kind of secrecy around it has not.

5:31I don't think the team's done Josh any favors here. I don't think they've they've helped out in terms of speculation. I think fans are obviously kind of trying to figure things out. You obviously coming from a fan perspective. It's hard to separate mystery and that kind of stuff from what happened last year because that was remains one of the great mysteries that the chiefs are never going to really talk about open. So all that's understandable. That said bulging disc. Okay, fair enough. I did notice one thing that did make the rounds as much was that my homes talked about Simmons a little bit as well and said that he's put in the work, which is nice to hear. And so that's really all that's all we have the hope for me would be maybe after the by week. I mean with backs you just for me. And in my back experiences I hurt my back when I was 21 for the first time working in the oil patch. I was a dare can and I just I just put my back and you know a lot of young men have the same story you're lifting stuff like Superman you hurt your back a little but it doesn't hurt that bad and then just gradually gets worse.

6:39And it just hurts and sometimes it limits mobility sometimes I've had it bad enough to wear you know the leg goes numb. That's always a bummer. So maybe that's where he's at for me. I think it's still been handled weirdly but I can separate that from where we're at now. Okay, this has been handled weirdly don't love it makes at least creates the appearance that there's a little bit of weirdness going on behind the scenes. But okay, old you just we'll see how it goes. They really could use him back and that's really all there is to it. I like the fact that we got a quote from read and the homes and we'll just kind of see where it goes from here. What I would just say to people I'm not in the business of telling anyone how to think the way that I see it is multiple things can be true. That he's got a bulging disk in his back. It can be true. That early on they thought he was going to be absolutely fine and that he got a second opinion and really didn't feel completely fine and maybe who knows there's a little bit of hey we think you could go but you're saying you can't go so fair enough kind of going on there who knows.

7:41But it's a bulging disk. Fair enough and then and then you move on see when he can go. It can be handled weirdly by the team. It can be that there's maybe some second opinion weirdness stuff that's happened and it's also still just a back issue. All those things can be true simultaneously. I am in the business of telling people how to think but I don't want to hear because I don't know what's going on in Josh Simmons's back. This is even for me outside of my pay great so that's the update that we have and when we have more updates we'll let you know. But let's go ahead and let's take the top off of this story in the chief in the North newsletter you took a closer look at how the chiefs have attacked the deep ball through these first three weeks Patrick my homes absolutely slinging it right now and again I've continued to kind of note like I don't feel like they've been able to do everything they want to do from a deep ball perspective because of the uncertainty at left tackle but even with that being said some of these deep shots have been things of beauty my homes has avoided pressure.

8:41And some huge instances and he's just eaten pressure in a few instances that makes me makes me sick but also makes me very happy what what stood out to you in terms of how the chiefs deep ball game has come together so far this year. The first and foremost thing would be not just the deep ball but intermediate shots to the middle of the field because you didn't see hardly any of those last year you talking between that like the 12 to 18 to 12 to 20 type yardage right in the middle of the field. I'm going to leave my shirt on for now Oscar thank you for the comment as ever so I I would just say I am again that's just for now who knows what the next hour will bring yeah if Nate does if Nate's not here by the 35 minute mark we're going tarps off. Yeah and Ronson treats is absolutely correct Nate would have taken his top off I mean it's just honestly you would have even need to send anything and there's like a 20% possibility he might have taken his top off on the show within last six months yeah like he's never thrown on a white beat or and you know started lifting weights like a like a weirdo but he's done other weird things it's so easy to have made me the normal guy of this podcast I don't have any other two friends anywhere in my life who have successfully done that to my reputation.

9:54I honestly had anyone bet on that when this was still just an audio only show that like me and Nate were going to be the real problem when it was visual what I really appreciated was you realizing midway through like our first show you were like oh I'm going to have to like okay so I'm going to have to be bait man on arrest development like this is like that's right that's right yes I'd like to think I'm a comedic actor first but given given the opportunity to be the dramatic anchor you know what sometimes you got to test your range you got it anyway. And I wish you would Nate would yeah I you know it's usually when it's just the two of us that that's when I'm like oh right sometimes I can talk about this stuff seriously so the thing to to notice is how much better my homes is throwing the ball deep so I charted by by my chart in three games 14 throws that were either deep balls down the field or intermediate middle of the field the first two one was inaccurate it was downfield on the left sideline to Thornton the only deep ball they attempted against dead.

10:54And I remember because it was you know the pressure there was a lot of things going on there Thornton is credit got a couple steps or like a step and a half so it's nice to see him throw it nice to take it. Then you had one you can't really chart for accuracy the worthy interception where they just both saw differently and then mohomes through nine straight accurate throws which nine straight accurate throws is good in like a normal game if it's only deep shots and intermediate middle of the field stuff that's an incredible number. And I had one inaccurate one to rice that turned out to be the pick and that was one where rice you know they talk about whether it's rice whether it's mohomes. Mo homes is sliding the left we talk about this on Tuesday he let that momentum carry the ball a little bit behind rice rice still should have caught it and especially should not have batted it in the air. It's it's a situation where I do like kind of look forward the situation is a situation where I want both individuals to claim blame because you probably both could have been better. Totally fair to put the inaccurate pass on mo homes and the interception on rice you know like yeah but that's a quarterback and a receiver it's a it's a two man job there absolutely other than that throw and then I mean it's just been nails one accurate throw after another down the field intermediate left side right side 40 yards down 30 yards down with pressure without pressure it's been unbelievable.

12:17Mo homes is throwing the ball the last several weeks as well as I've ever seen him throw the ball and especially down the field and so that's the first thing that stands out because one thing that was wrong with the deep passing game last year as the mo homes wasn't throwing the ball down the field with particular accuracy and some people will be like all that's an Xavier worthy issue and there's some true to that but when I went back this off season and charted every deep shot to take one thought I was like look. There were like 400 yards that got left on the table when the homes just didn't throw the ball as well as he could have down the field. This year let's say you tighten up half of those that's 200 yards and 17 games that matters those big place swing games I mean you see that you know I mean just you know against the colds you know you suddenly hit a 30 pretty hard shot down the field it changes a game and so that's the first thing the second thing is the fact that some of them are dialed up a lot of them actually play action under center. Diled up to where he's got a pretty clean read in the middle of the field or pretty clean read down the field to be able to set his feet and throw and then when he's not he's sliding around pressure really well partly because I don't think he's having to do it every snap and I think they're seeing mo homes really is at his best always has been in space.

13:34To where he's got a little more room to look around a maneuver as opposed to a pocket that's kind of crushing on him especially now the past rushes have figured out that with the interior rush they can't get too far field so if he starts to flee through the a gap they can they can kind of you know just break off their rush. So all that's a long road to a short thought of saying there's two big things you asked people on the first thing that stood out is how much better my homes is doing it the second thing is how much better the offense is doing of setting him up to succeed in those situations. I want to check off a bingo card box I want to take our first break and we come back I want you to dive in to the details that have made that happen we'll do that right after this shop chief stickets and more with no fees plus say big with code KCSN at tickets for less dot com the official ticket provider of KC sports now. My name is a trail jolly a lot of people call me tj founder and C. L. of the integrity capital management so integrity capital management originally started as a property management firm but we slowly transitioned to what is described as an incremental development firm that's focused on situational housing I know most people say affordable but we believe in creating housing for people that are actually need and built to the end user I believe everyone needs a home because when you have home you have hope reality is that when you build in a business one thing you don't think that's what you're doing.

14:52You don't think about it's like what a true banking relationship means and you know I had the honor of her to meet in Debbie early on in my career where I was just trying to get going as a small business it's really challenging at times because people don't understand the concept or not believe the longevity because you just get started but Debbie was willing to take a chance on me take the patient with me. I was looking at like a graduate initiative she seen she seen it believe what I'm about anybody that's really true about their business and want to get some things done I would definitely trust hands down and prize because they've seen along with Aaron and Jackie and all the amazing people that work behind the scenes even for the dressers aside I would say hey give my opportunity because you want to be disappointed and you actually being hands that actually somebody care and I will see you from the start to finish. Speaking of things I just wouldn't have believed back in the earliest days of this show I'm old now I'm not as old as Seth obviously but I am significantly older than I was when this show began and that has led to me hitting a extraordinarily large number of little life signposts and specifically I was thinking about this a little bit

16:14about week or so ago was the five year anniversary of me nearly dying finding out I had type one diabetes not dying shout out and you know all of the things that have followed that but I was texting with my mom about that and it kind of hit me thinking like holy bleep like I wasn't really I weren't engaged with that happen like we have covered a lot of ground in that time and every once in a while something comes around you you have to as we have established many times over you got a hand and I'm not going to be able to do that. You got to handle your business whatever your business may be life ticks on and things happen and you want to be as prepared for those moments as you can be so that's why I'm here to tell you about ethos who can I think help you be prepared for some of life's twists and turns ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy 100% online the whole thing could be a big headache ethos is here to make it not be that way you can get a quote in seconds apply in minutes and get same day coverage there's no way I'm going to be able to do that. No medical exam you just answer a few simple health questions you can get up to three million dollars in coverage with some policies as low as $30 a month and you'll get your lowest rate from their network of trusted carriers ethos has a 4.9 out of five star rating on trust pilot with over 5,500 reviews.

17:32So take 10 minutes and get covered today with life insurance through ethos get your free quote at ethos.com slash chiefs that's ETH OS dot com slash chiefs application times may vary rates may vary trust pilot ranking as of 81226. Seth let's get back to the film review here you you already kind of set the stage of what jumped out to you what are the intricacies that you found interesting why is it functioning better so far this year and do you think that is going to continue. I mean it really does it's been beaten to death this week especially and so I think this is the first week of emergency defense really gearing up to stop it. The way that she's have. I mean you could really say I was hoping they would modify their offense like that was my my biggest hope is that Andy read would significantly modify his offense I did not think he would like revamp it the way he has I didn't think he dust off stuff from his Eagles days of like the early 2000s and like just not only incorporate under center runs not only incorporate under center play action.

18:44Not only incorporate under center play action with bootleg stuff not only incorporate you know actual new and pretty innovative like stuff that's been done the last couple years in terms of the sea gap insert things that they're doing with receivers in a lot of places not only do that. But he's also just like a five step dropback from under center like a couple times like just a straight up like you are watching football in 1995. To the snap and drop back without a play action it blew my mind and it made me realize like I don't know how many times I've seen that. Yeah, how many times has Patrick my home's done that in a game in his life and like I feel like he's done it like five more times this year than any other point point of his career. Yes. And so and he looks it's funny because I think they did it like once that I can remember last year and I remember thinking wow Pat does not look comfortable doing that. Now this year I'm like man he looks comfortable doing that which means this has been the plan. This has been the hey Pat you think you can you think you can be comfortable under center.

19:49Oh yeah, absolutely. And Patrick my home's because he's a cycle path even while working on rehab I guarantee you has been working on okay how do I work on reading the field while I drop back after taking under center snap. And the great thing about that is on an under center drop back creates play action without having to do play action not to the same extent but defenses in today's NFL especially I don't know if this always used to be this way. But in today's NFL you're still going to get some of the same effect of play action just by being lined up under center and dropping back. Because most teams if they're going to throw the ball they don't line up under center to do it and they or they do some form of play action. So it really is a cool thing to watch linebackers get influenced even by just a drop back it just changes so much and a quarterback it allows him to read the field while dropping back as opposed to turning back on the defense and having to read quickly.

20:52So they've incorporated all that I would say he's revamped his offense the last two games against Denver I would say I recognize. 80 85% of what they were doing like maybe even a little more in terms of like recent stuff you know when they shifted when they downshift to the short game in the past game that is right the running game I was like oh we're trying some stuff this is nice. But in the past game it was fairly similar to things we've seen a thousand times in the last three years. The last couple of weeks every week both of the last two weeks I've seen like 15 plays. I'm like I don't think I've ever seen them do that before and it is so much fun and so that's that's really what Andy's done. He's revamped the offense more than I even hoped he would. I perhaps dreamed he would this much but I didn't I really didn't think he would and the great thing about that is now you're going to have a Raiders team that I assume is going to be preparing for it.

21:55Which means you can start to sprinkle in a few other things your pure drop back game should in theory get a little bit easier if they have to prepare for a bunch of other stuff first or even RPOs ever calm down. Right. Wait, calm down. Even RPOs if you actually run out of them and if you're actually running traditional run game stuff can be much more effective and last week they ran an RPO and you didn't notice probably because Patremom's handed the ball off. They gave like five yards. I couldn't believe it. I watched I actually rewind I was like was that it? Did he just hand off it off? He did. So there is a lot of change that they've made after multiple years of not making changes so that's been so much fun to watch. I want to acknowledge why I was clearly distracted at the beginning of that because as you were talking about the five step under center dropbacks like being an artifact of like the 90s. I was thinking I'm visioning I'm envisioning in my head right now Brett Farve highlights and I think he's under center for most of them.

23:01And so I just pulled up NFL YouTube channels Brett Farve top 50 most incredible plays of all time and I just let the first five play and there was like three play action one shotgun and just a good under center five step drop bang. And that the idea that that is is like half a play action like activation there is such a fun way to think about it because it wasn't to your point like that was just a way that a quarterback would drop back and. That was at a time though I think when defenses were were often run first or at least committed to stopping the run and saying what are you going to do for the ball over our head what. And then I would do it and you would go okay well that's that's different now that other guys weren't doing it that way before far but that's we're talking about you know foundational quarterbacks that I grew up watching and great role models also you know that I bet I was I was going to say everything else aside I pet those highlights absolutely slapped. Yeah I'm going to watch the rest of the videos we're done I'm not going to do it mid mid pot or sake but I'm ready to watch the rest gosh that guy could throw football good lord like everything like I've watched John away highlights John away had great highlights I don't agree that he was a very efficient quarterback but you know whatever I'm not going to go down that road we've done that before I will say everything people say about like John away highlights it's when I watch marino marina right far highlights I'm like God gave those guys an arm that is just like good lord like so anyway I was going to that's

24:26a whole thing I thought as I oh man I bet those five passes were unbelievable to yeah I'm the first one I think he caught himself so they're working up from 50 to one and I'm just going to I'm at least going to like the top 10 as soon as we're as soon as we're done here I just I love I love quarterbacks they can do that and it's why I will I will be it's why I know exactly what would get me fired as an NFL general manager I just I it's a night because I would draft Anthony Richardson every year and I would say what eventually I'm going to get a eventually I'm going to get my guy and then we'll win more games because I haven't drafted any defense of lineman in six years well I mean if you drafted Anthony Richardson every year maybe his physical profile eventually you could switch him to the fence of line that's true he's a good boy he's a big dude but no you you would have been that guy that yeah what it would have drafted him which honestly I was like yeah the Viking should yeah and K.O.C. was like no I won't fall for such a silly trap I'm drafting JJ McCarthy thank you thank you Seth for that because me falling in love with Andy

25:26Anthony Richardson I've I've looked like a fool since the first minute you know and I this is it I haven't taken a lot of lumps on this I also wasn't all that public in my Anthony Richardson love is just a type of quarterback that I will be wrong and fall for every time yeah I I need I need the nine defenders to show back up for their for their public finger wagging because you were wrong and you know I I also though if I was if I was a team but needed a quarterback I would just keep drafting them which is interesting because that's not what one the last Super Bowl and although I also don't know that I would have paid Baker Mayfield all that money that's easy for me to say right now I digress I could just talk about quarterbacks from the 90s and early 2000s for 10 straight episodes anything else from the deep ball thing I have one sort of corresponding question in the deep ball game to this point anything else though that you haven't gotten to that you wanted to mention the only thing would be as they're continuing to try to figure out I want them to find other ways to get there because teams are going to be they're going to be grinding film and they're going to start really emphasizing play action stuff to

26:29center center stuff and then it's going to okay what's the next unfolding now really in theory with play action and then play action into you know intermediate and deep looks especially when you're as gifted as my homes and one thing I forgot to even have this in so I've got two things so I'm gonna stop and go to a thing I should just at first they are also layering in some of their screen game and throwback stuff from it which creates this whole other weird element that you have to deal with because it's my homes and he just throw the ball completely across the field to Travis Kelsey even though no one's supposed to do that ever but he will when five Miami defenders decide to like converge into one spot and so they've done a good job with some of this throwback stuff that can really punish teams for trying to cheat on both the run and the boot they're really they're they've shown a lot of ability to punish some of that stuff so that's been cool to see with the screen game which they they took a little break from against Miami I don't know if you notice they weren't as like they they weren't that was actually one of those the funny thing is Miami you could tell they weren't showing as much as they did against the colts

27:38and I still saw like 20 new things so it was great the other thing would be as they find hopefully new ways to get there new ways to threaten the field deep I want them to involve tech one more that's just that's just going to be good business and he runs high variance routes so it's going to be game by game really and match up by match up but that's one thing teams are gonna have to fiddle around with their alignments trying to figure this out because one thing you can do to really mess with play action is to make sure teams aren't running the ball effectively and you can do that by stacking the box but now you're in middlefield closed and maybe you can just run by him a little bit and so there's there's things they can do but I want to see them unfold that and they're going to have to be able to do some pure dropback stuff at some point because I assume they're not going to be able to run the ball well against every team so speaking of being able to run by defenses when that is presented to you how do you see this reflecting on Xavier worthy both his first three games and his next you know the remainder of the season I I am in a place right now where I could see three more games

28:46before I feel like I need to like make a call and it's not like there's an obvious replacement for like if they if they sign Tyree kill on Thanksgiving or whatever or before whenever it is then then maybe that's a slider that you can move but right now that's not a job that Cyrus Allen is doing inside a job that Jayman Royals is doing so like I'm I understand the frustration I'm not cashing in my my limited Xavier worthy chips right now when you look at where the the deep passing game is as we've agreed that it's also a little bit hampered by the the left tackle uncertainty where do you see worthy fitting in should he have been a bigger part of it so far do you think there is still room for him to become that guy in the next few weeks I think they've given him a chance in several different ways to become that guy and unfortunately he just hasn't been able to do it um the biggest thing you know um they gave him a shot especially against the Colts to really like hey we're gonna give you some of these these quick easy targets you know turn a turn a you know quick throw into six or seven yards whatever um run in intermediate route across the middle of the field

29:51where you can use your speed because that's one one of the beauties of these play action looks is it just buys additional time and gives him time crossers to worthy should be golden because no one can run with him on a crosser they and we've seen that the problem is you end up running into someone else in coverage and he just can't survive contact um it's been tough now he does in previous years made some really tough catches with taking huge hits where we're all like whoa like no one questions his toughness I think to play the position he plays weighing 165 pounds like and and I'm not trying to like make fun of him I think he weighs like 165 pounds he's got to be just tough as nails he's trying with blocking but he just hasn't done it um so you can always get better it can always improve but I would just say at this point even after three games I might after the buy maybe go back and look we'll see what he does against the Raiders I'm not what ready to willy to really completely cash in my whole like okay I think we're talking a role player here more

30:52I always thought his ceiling was like a good wide receiver two type but he's just not showing the consistency in terms of how he wins contact is just jarring him too much so that that's unfortunate but when like you said there's really no obvious replacement um but what I will say is again for the dolphins and maybe it was match up specific suddenly you had rice running a few of those crossers and he did pretty well with them overall fair enough and suddenly you had rice you know he had the drop of course but that wasn't a great throw but you you had him getting those quick throws and he looks like he's kind of back to himself after the catch and so I mean he's one of the better healthy yak guys in the league like there was a time he had argued to maybe be the best and so he's gonna get those quick throws and so I think Xavier where this role is going to shrink you might just see more of those sacrificial x routes and and get down the field because he is still dragging defenders he is still so fast that you have to drag that safety with him and there's value in that but it might just be more limited than than you know what we were hoping let's take a break we'll

31:56bring in Nate Taylor and we'll look ahead to chiefs raiders right after this folks the football season is heating up and every week feels bigger with draft king sportsbook the number one sports book for live betting the game it can change in an instant and with draft kings live betting your next pick can change right along with it plus get extra protection with early exit opt in and if your player leaves the game with an eligible injury in the first half your bet is protected no matter which game you're watching you're always connected and in the action with one app new draft king's customer sign up with code kcs and spend five bucks to get a hundred and fifty dollars and total bonuses within 14 days that's code kcs and in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours. Game of the problem call one hundred gambler 21 plus physically present in Missouri eligibility restrictions apply 50 dollars and non with drawable bonus bets issued every seven days via click to claim for 14 days bonus bets expire seven days after issuance for additional

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33:58you can be two the us army be all you can be listen here Kansas city fans I know you do anything for a win on game day and for an ice 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 taste of bud light turns a win into a win win 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 to enjoy the official beer sponsor of the Kansas city chiefs enjoy responsibly and heizer bush bud light beer st. Louis Missouri Nate Taylor of ESPN and of the christmas u.s. open hat I don't think I've seen before on the show making its debut Nate how are you enjoying rater week and did you also accidentally wear silver and black today you did this show we did not get the memo tomorrow's red Friday apparently today was silver and black Thursday and we all

34:59apologize um no this was you know this is this is just me picking out something for my closet with no real understanding that it's a it is greater week I'm sorry um I got this hat at the us open so uh definitely wanted to uh to show that off at some point it is my new favorite hat it's uh it's gorgeous um if people I'm putting on a kingdom hat now I feel like we got to fix the vibes around here now I should talk about the games if people want to know yes that's that's that's from fluschy meadows um I'm also wearing a roof shirt uh shout out to our Canadian brothers and sisters uh they have great apparel um not that they asked for this ad um yeah I'm doing great people want an update on tary kill is that what I've been hearing not necessarily it just kind of it just sort of came up it just sort of came up I I I Nate you say something like that and now people

35:59are going to want the update so I feel like you really that call yourself you really called your own number there uh that's not entirely true zag in the comments and on Nate seven Josh promise to get naked if you didn't show up that's not entirely true there was there was talk of tarps off but we made it this far so please okay I mean look if I have to take off the silver and black I'll do it momentarily and if you want to see me shirtless from like the nips up I can do that too we've done that before that's old hat we have done that before you didn't have a public last time I don't mind doing that and no uh you know my fire 25 it was not me uh I didn't sneeze but I did ask the question after or Bethany sneezed um shout out to her uh you know sometimes it just it just happens you sneeze in the middle of a press conference at a ill time moment and then christian's has plenty of fun with it and then I'm the one in the back happy to go it hasn't been pretty good on force down can I ask you about that you know hey I didn't ask you

37:00about the pass rush um I mean there's some concerns about the pass rush but I I've also I was also the person in the media room today Josh who said man it's three games I can't really discern anything about this defense through three games because they've been so different and the opponents haven't been necessarily like the most difficult but cool you're getting turnovers uh you're stopping the team from scoring uh especially in critical moments obviously uh late in the game and overtime against the Colts um and okay you're three and oh like uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh I always want to have a four or five game sample hell it'd be nice if you had a six game sample um so yeah about Tyree Kew I think they're the odds on favor as a week four um you know he probably will make a decision later this month like towards

38:01maybe Halloween um so that's your chief's Tyree kill update not to say that there won't be other teams in well but I think they will be but I think as of right now the the chiefs are probably the odds on favor just one of the reasons why mag garrifolo said on Tuesday I believe that he he wouldn't be surprised if the chiefs and tyree kill had a reunion um I've been thinking that way for almost a month now so uh the chief success has been efficient to them because obviously it keeps uh it keeps their attraction to tyree kill pretty high um and as we've seen before they probably could use another receiver and you don't have to give up a draft capital in future years in order to acquire that player unlike some other ones if you were go through the trade deadline um as it relates to anything else uh I know there were some people that were wondering if I was on a covert mission to to get you guys a Josh Simmons update I've more been you know on the phone and understanding that people have different variations and theories um you know there were some

39:06that was brought to me the day as we talked as a productive group it was like me Jesse Newell Mac Derrick and we you know make shots of McKinsey Nelson from from channel 41 and it was it was some thought of like well did Andy Rief think he told us that it was the bulging this and then uh I'm assuming Brad G or someone from the chiefs had to remind him you read uh no no coach Rizzie or B. Nass about Josh Simmons on a weekly basis is because you didn't give any real details about his back injury um if you would have asked me if I if I thought it was a bulging this that was definitely in the possibility uh I have not seen him this week it doesn't mean he isn't rehabbing or training or going through um different testing I wouldn't be surprised they've done more in my ice scams um based on my understanding because like you can get an initial scan you can just see how it does over the course of of the injury um they still have a definitive timeline which I think is most interesting is that okay the coach said after six weeks as a bulging disc

40:11and you know when he's coming back and the answer is could be anytime between after the by-week and uh moving forward so no pass who I would not say post by-week is a guarantee you're just gonna have to wait and see and Andy Rief said the backs are tricky yes that's true but like most teams give a a considerable timeline and the chiefs just really haven't done that um and so we'll just have to see what it is um after the by-week but you know he hasn't practiced this week uh you know colobus and I don't know if you guys have mentioned this NFL offensive rookie of the month three games but like he's kept hatching my homes alive uh so credit to him uh and oh come on Steph I'm just sitting here you know you don't seem enthused with uh I just really enjoyed uh I just

41:15really enjoyed you just comment from unknown uh SDC 13 I'm always scared when I read people's names so I have to start Diego Pounds if Benson gets getting more tape on him I think what you're saying is if Benson struggles a little more take a look and see what Diego Pounds can do I mean I really like Diego Pounds's preseason tape honestly this is your response to Nate's accusation that you worked fired up for colobus and being named rookie of the month month so I do like the accusations here might have some work it's for a point I'm happy for him okay thank you bad because it's really really impressive what he's doing but it's also like he had some struggles against Miami which Josh could I just apologize in advance for what I'm about to do here um oh never mind I can't have you either of you ever seen a picture of Jacob Rodriguez yes I have I saw him in the flesh on Sunday the dolphins he has just the most tremendous mustache the the the dolphins rookie who

42:21looks sensational by the way oh no yeah incredible mustache like and then this is the burp Reynolds mustache this this dude is supposed to be a a 20 oh it's not going to focus for me that's a real okay maybe my fun there you go screen that's supposed to be a 22 year old rookie the you know what is the line from you know he looks like the dad from inside out thank you I was gonna go with like oh hey well thank you for joining the team general Thrag I'm glad you could make it like do they have to have an extra roster spot for the caterpillar that apparently joined the team that lives right under his nose I don't know that's I gotta say I rest I dash I do appreciate that our lawyers and listeners really want me to go not just behind the scenes but like be in the training room with with Josh Simmons the more I read these comments I don't think they let them do that guys yeah I don't I don't I don't I don't think like I don't think my key card will work yeah I don't think you'll beat me in uh Aaron and the comments

43:26now we're all reading the comments which is a disaster for the next 20 minutes of this show Aaron says he looks like a fireman from my mom's magazine and that's just very well written is like just well written this is the fireman that your your your your mom started a small kitchen fire just to have that show up oh no all this fire is going we have a fire season no we can't I think I threw it out last week this is yeah I'm feeling a little faint definitely gonna need some mouth to mouth where where is Jacob that's that's the crazy part of the light is Jake is it is the Jacob shift start the fire yeah so I apologize for that I just like I was read he played so well I actually like looked in a little bit super impressive rookie he was wearing 10 and I just thought it was Tyree kill plan defense yeah I mean that's oh man my filter worked all right um but no I know so Nate just so you're where I appreciate the update on Simmons we covered it a little bit

44:26just like oh god an update yes it maybe has been handled a little bit weirdly but it just is what it is it's bulging disc bulging discs can mean anything from you don't even know what's there to hey my left foot is numb so you know that's I mean that's that's that's just my experience with that so we'll see what happens but he's definitely not gonna play against the Raiders which means it's gonna be max cross be versus Kalo Benzo most likely and if the Raiders don't then I have serious questions if their coaches watch film um I'll tell you what quiddie pay and knock on coons is not an easy secondary matchup I think Jordan foot sent me the details on this earlier I think I think crossby was around a little more than 75% of the time on the right tackle correct jalen or usually what he what he likes from a preference standpoint I'm just curious what that number does end up being and like the graphics says key matchup versus Raiders here it is I'm very curious to see what max crossby is going to do in terms of is he picking matchups or like again

45:27I don't really even mean this as a particular knock on Vincent or more the Raiders have the advantage on both edges and they would have the advantage on both edges against most teams like that's just a fact of them having three is it fair to say they might have three defense they have three defensive events who would certainly help the chiefs pass rush in an insignificant way like I do whatever you think about George Carloftus or armason Thomas or whatever but quiddie pay and knock on coons would fit the rotation very nicely here so if if max crossbees having a nice start over on jalen more side and and pay in coons to just sort of rotate through on Benson side I don't know that they need to move max crossby to just beat up on clueless Benson but if jalen more holds his own I would imagine that crossby will go test the rookie that that's my that's my hunches things stand out does that seem right to you guys one of the reasons why you should test the rookie is to see how the protection plan changes if you're being matched up with colil Benson and the cheese may have to

46:27give more tight in help more six seven man protections from my homes that way you have maybe some advantageous matchups on the other side of the ball knowing that max crossbees can clearly win around the edge or with a potential double teamer chip if necessary so that's one reason why I would do it if I'm the chiefs I would hope that you would actually see max crossbees across from jalen more because then you could sort of manipulate the raiders and some aspects because hey this is where he's going to line up so we know where that's you we know that we can run plays sort of towards him to get him to hesitate or to think about things before just pinning his ears back and we can sort of do things that are you know play action or misdirection base that can hopefully take advantage of some of his aggressiveness so I think there's a real cool part of this game as to like max crossbees can really determine what the raiders feel like is the best path towards getting my homes but if he stays in his normal spot okay how does

47:32you know and you read and aerophenemy want to just want to put because what they basically did on Sunday and I and I don't disagree with them by the way but what they basically did on Sunday is hey man it's you and chop Robinson welcome to the NFL that's just a way it's going to work right and they might say the same thing with like hey it's colubin and and mahogany coos like that's that's just what it's going to be we have to give more attention to max crossbees based on talent based on reputation but if max wants to switch size I think would be really fascinating to see how that adjustment would force the cheese to adjust on a certain way so that they can hopefully be able to continue to pass the ball downfield I know you guys talked about the return of the deep ball and my homes has been excellent when given time and given clear pictures as to when he needs to deliver the ball the the the issue for the raiders is is that they lead the league with nine turnovers which is shocking they do not have that many penalties is in particular on defense and their

48:34three passwords for joss that you mentioned have more sex than the chiefs combined so they are a they are a legitimate they're the most at least through three games now I'm trying to afford they are the most put together pass rush the chief will face all season as a as a through four games just disagree with your words Seth this is largely an audio product all right I mean more so than the Broncos then huh I mean as close as you have the three edges because Cooper was out it's just tough when you've got two legitimate superstar level players in Alan in Benito as opposed to one superstar star level player that said three versus two all that kind of stuff I I largely agree with a lot of I think the raiders defense is the best that it's not the best that they faced but it's it's certainly the second best by a pretty wide margin and it's going to have the most film on them and they struggled against Denver to move the ball through the air now to be fair it was interesting they didn't really unfold a lot of this play action stuff

49:37until weeks two and three which I thought was really interesting and I wonder if part of that was like look no one's going to buy it unless we try to just send a warning shot to the NFL in week one which they couldn't have imagined it would go that well right on Monday night football he's going to run for like 200 yards in front of God and everyone like that worked out so beautifully like wow man we're going to run so much play action now chance again like we talked about two unfolded new iterations or with the raiders they've got really good passerschers their run defense my understanding is overall been solid overall but they haven't really played teams that run the ball particularly well so this will be kind of an interesting thing you've got a dangerous pass rush can you slow it down with some run stuff they've incorporated a little more jet sweep action type stuff last week I'd like to see them continue to do that especially when you're dealing with crossby um but this is their chance to really like show that they can neutralize a good pass rush still be highly effective down the field and everywhere else in the past game because they haven't

50:40done that this year they've been very effective in the past game two straight weeks against lesser pass rushes the past the past game was not particularly good against a good pass rush so now you show the raiders I will say they don't have the secondary that the Broncos have which changes the math considerably but the chiefs don't have man coverage beaters so is this like one of those moments where oh man it hurts us so I think there's a lot of the interesting things here but that's where like in terms of key matchups one thing the raiders do really well rushing from the edge is something the chiefs have struggled to defend against so they got to show that they have some answers for that other than men we hope Josh Simmons gets healthy this is why I think this game is so interesting because now let's flip it what are the raiders do well offensively where is their talent concentrated it's at tight end and at least theoretically it running back with action genty he hasn't fully put it all together yet but last year was a disaster situation on a lot of levels so hard to gauge there but Brock Bauer's came back last week and immediately look like Brock Bauer's and Michael Mayor is like he might be their number one tight end and then Brock Bauer's is their number one

51:43guy like there's you can do so much with him he can be your number one tight end this is this is me talking as a lifelong Travis Kelsey stand where it's like I don't I mean that is a compliment to Bauer's not a dig that he can't block because that's not true but if if you are hunting for matchups as kubiak for this offense everything you do is trying to get the ball to Brock Bauer's I think if you're Steve Spegnolo everything you do this week is to try to prevent Brock Bauer's from getting the ball Seth what's the plan and spads is generally very good at taking away the number one option whatever that is make somebody else beat you but if that's ashton jinty he can if it's Michael mayor as like a real matchup problem not getting any attention I think that's not worthy like not he's not Brock Bauer's but he is a real weapon if all your attention is going to another tight end on the field what's what's your strategy for trying to slow that down they need to be really really disciplined against the same thing that they've been killing teams

52:46with on the inside of the ball under center play action stuff we all watch this preseason when nick veys offense just march down the field under center play action boot under center play action boot running backs open in the flat tight ends open at the second level just snap after snap after snap kubiak's stuff and like not just clink kubiak but but his dad's like I mean the kubiak's system has I think given spags some problems in the past they're not all the time because you've got iterations of it that he's done very well against it's not like just every play action stuff you know he's oh spags just doesn't know how to figure it out but some of the things he likes to do at a time seems like they end up with a little more confusion in the back and against that stuff for me I think you really make someone else beat you you make hurt you make hurt cousins beat you you you you say to sneak hey here's the deal we're gonna line you up a little off the line and we are gonna put a linebacker over the top of bours every snap like the old the way with the

53:49Patriots used to you with Kelsey because they would I mean it was so funny they'd have high tower gold wide and like right into the slot and just hit him at the line and just and then he was like well I guess now you're covering the flat I guess it's not really super helpful but it's something or it's into a blitz that isn't really that effective because it's slow but the goal is to slow down Brock Bowers now or Travis Kelsey at the time for like a solid second and a half and then have a guy right there in coverage on him that's what I'd like to see because Bowers really is he's he's he's almost as good as that iteration of Kelsey no one's as good as that iteration of Kelsey being almost as good as like holy cow like you're like a Hall of Fame level player and I think you you say Kurt Cousins we're gonna play man coverage across the board with Delane and with Williams maybe with Fulton a little bit we don't think your other receivers are good enough against man coverage another option that I think is kind of interesting like with Mayor especially

54:51not so much Bowers Jatin Hicks played some slot in college and his issue hasn't been physicality it hasn't been coverage it's been assignment stuff which is why Spags struggles with getting on the field but he's got the physical chops to play a tight end one on one in coverage he did it all the time he did it was slot receiver sometimes in college he's pretty athletic and moves well and has good change direction for a giant tight end or the giant headed a giant safety and so that would be an interesting thing as well to utilize him if you want to do some more man looks when he would also keep him like right on the line of scrimmage being able to help out at the point of attack so those are a couple things I'd look to do because the tight end stuff does definitely worry me as does Kubiak versus Spags because Kubiak's doing a great job there Seth did you did you have an inch I got two spectra those press conferences week earlier today did you tune in for any of that I can't it it was it was a hard calendar year Josh it wasn't a big day it takes about a hundred percent of the snaps through three games and he's

55:51way out snap Chris Roland Wallace I might have been wrong about that so I mean Spags can change did you hear his press conference today it did he talked to someone who didn't he did talk about the return of Shemari Connor who led the team and defensive snaps taken last year good football player we all think that he's a really good safety and Spags said I'm paraphrasing but it's the closest my memory will get me he did say that you know they were tracking for Connor just being one spot throughout throughout the season and he's not sure if that's still the case I don't think that's because Jaden Hicks has been playing so well that he can't go back to safety I guess the implication there is that Spags has some here's what's interesting about it before we get to Seth's meltdown was going to talk in a eighth direction here the implication of that I think is that Spags is like yeah it's been a rough go in the slot for Lajerius need a few times when he's asked directly about Lajerius teams like not it's fine it's Lajerius neat I'm going to play him until we both retire him this same year and right off into the sunset together you know so um I think the defense will be better with Shemari Connor back he's a good player who's been

56:54relied on to do a lot of things and I'm happy to hopefully have him back for this game here against the Raiders Seth what are you who are you praying to right now I just don't understand don't understand what exactly I don't understand why he was looking to you to put a guy in a spot that he's clearly struggled what spot is that that spot would be slot corner for his Shemari Connor and you don't I don't want that because it's not your big airs everybody bingo cards that's the middle one on the far right side of the full size card thank you so it's not fair to Shemari Connor it's not fair to the deep it's not fair to me you know what it's not fair to me this isn't fair this isn't fair like here's the thing sp if they if they okay speed is struggling why because his lateral agility isn't up to keep up with slot receivers you know who else isn't Shemari Connor and we watch it happen for years and I like Spags I don't say it's like we were trending that way but now we'll see it's like no first idea best ideas Spags don't doubt your

57:56instincts you're a Hall of Fame defensive coordinator I just maybe can I can I remember can I remind you Seth not only is Shemari Connor coming back to the field presumably to play 100% of the snaps presumably to be in the nickel especially if it's Brock Bauer who is gonna you know try to feast from the middle of the field um to my Connor's been out this season because of a knee injury yep so we should definitely have him you know just yeah his knees aren't white what they used to be so he's not as quick you know what might work a guy coming off a knee injury here's the thing to cover a tight end you know you don't need that same change of direction although against like I mean we've watched Kelsey for years his corner looks like he's got a verbal tight end he's not but he's also not like he runs he runs terrific routes and but he's more he is more um it's not the exact play style because just like there's never been another Kelsey there's never been another gronk he's closer in play style to gronk then Kelsey he's not as dominant physically because no gronk

59:05was just that was so funny to watch it's like I'm gonna get to this spot boom boom knocking guys out of his way and then he caught it because his hands were like the size of you know like a table but like with with with with powers he has such great ball skills he doesn't open up as well as Kelsey he doesn't have those same hips right so I don't think it's quite the same thing is the way Kelsey's been able to shimmy guys and that kind of stuff that's where I think someone like Hicks or somebody Connor I could see it situationally as a big as a big nickel I just like maybe I should trust Spags to control himself because here's again we talked about this Tuesday um monster delaying came back and no Williams who has been playing great ball still played like a hundred percent of the snaps you know didn't legarius need nice um jade and Hicks more of a playmaker than Chris Roland Wallace and I really like Chris Roland Wallace you know who's played a hundred percent of the snaps jade and Hicks even though he's got some you know some stuff that he he misses some assignments occasionally but he's clearly a playmaker and this defense meets playmakers so I

1:00:09Andy Reid is running under center and under center play action I can trust Spags to grow I just feel like he's gonna see Connor in the slot and be like man that looks good man think of all the things he can do from there and I want to be like I I would pay someone good money to be like accept cover slot receivers you know what I mean because I oh you can do so many things there yeah accept that one thing and like I I appreciate you letting me rant I took us almost to a full hour I think I think it's gonna be okay he loves to eat so much Sneed has struggled some in the slot I think the obvious thing to do here depending on how Sneed continues to play is to play Sneed as more of a safety type to slide the lane inside to nickel quite a bit like when you've got you know three corners on the field giving 100% of the snaps and let him dominate on the boundary and inside and then play Christian Fulton who's played really well on the bounty when you have three quarters and then have three guys who are three of the highest you know if pf f grades take for a grand salt but at least one place thinks they're three of the

1:01:11best man coverage quarters in NFL and then just play man coverage and say your guys can't beat us that would be so fun to watch in spags you could blitz like two guys constantly if you did that 30 seconds apiece I want one thing to watch for from all three of us I'm gonna go first to show you that it can be done in 30 seconds and I'm gonna do not disturb so Seth text me it won't put his phone number on the internet you want to try to bother Kurt cousins interior pressure is the way that you would do that he's gonna get rid of the ball quickly in this game I think that's very predictable it's very hard to get rid of the ball quickly when you can't step up into anything and when Chris Jones's long arms go straight up in the air and you're batting passes down I'm not in a place where I'm like mad at the start of the season for Chris Jones but I do think that if there is a game for Chris Jones and Peter Woods to take over this would be a phenomenal one to see that defensive tackles having a big game that's my thing to watch for time. Seth 30 seconds let it rip what is it the biggest thing for me to watch is how they're gonna unfold an iteration of

1:02:13the passing game where they manage to drop back successfully and find ways to help their tackles beyond play action and that is beyond you know the moving pocket and that sort of stuff because you do need to have some semblance of a classic dropback game and this is their best shot to do it against a team with a legitimate pass rush because their secondary isn't quite as good so I want to see them drop some of that. Nailed it Nate 30 seconds let it rip. The answer to their problem is playing Nansor Delayne on Brock Bowers and seeing if the Raiders have a different if they can play left handed. I like Michael Meyer I think he's a very good player and I'm betting on him to beat us. There's just no way that I'm gonna let Brock Bowers feast in the middle of the field without somebody who can jam him and play him hip-to-hip Nansor Delayne on Brock Bowers that's the solution. Time and we nailed it. I had three seconds to spare it's the Chris Harris Jr. against Travis

1:03:16Kelsey plan. Correct. Stefan Gilmour against Travis Kelsey plan. I don't think you did have three seconds to spare but we went to a we went to a video review and they said there was a second left on the clock so you got one more playoff and all as well just the way that the way that football is going this year there's always an extra second in there when it absolutely must be found. Enjoy Raider Week one and all thanks for hanging out with us here on this edition of Only Weird Games. You can read more of Seth's work over on the Chief in the North newsletter. I haven't plugged once yet that my my regular show everything else the Joshua Brisco is now on Patreon. It's still free once a week. There's one show week that's exclusive to Patreon. Sad fans on Reddit from Beards McFly is over there as well. JBBrisco.com will get you there and you can look at all the options and Nate it's his letters are above his head there at oh it's Espin ESPN you can type that into Google and see if you can find that little website with the four letter name Nathaniel take us in to the Raiders. Actually I'm going to take you into the walker room because today I went in thinking something will happen today I'll be able to get something out of this for the audience.

1:04:24Oh wouldn't you know it it's the left tackle of your Kansas City Chiefs. No ladies and gentlemen that is not Josh Simmons I have not I've not seen Josh Simmons with my own eyes for the past two weeks so maybe that treatment plan has been um you know it doesn't have time to show me his presence so a little bit and walks into the room we should probably talk to the NFL offensive rookie of the moon. He said hey man you got a minute? He said nah not this week then I said okay and then I had to make sure I was like did you do you know why I wanted to tell you? huh? You saw it right or maybe you're just in the playbook the film room the classroom you're just

1:05:30you don't see anything from the outside world so let me be the one to inform you that you were the NFL offensive rookie of the month did you know that did you did that happen? you know what I just saw that what I also want to tell you that your mom followed me on Twitter and her know what it's pretty cool tell your mom I said hello you can't say that to players Nate you just can't he's a sure dude the Achilles culture Troy the man wants to tell you can join 14,000 members of chief's kingdom by subscribing to the kcsn daily chief's newsletter it's onsite chiefs coverage from veteran award-winning beatwriter herbie teope plus kcsn's team of writers be the most informed chiefs fan at kcsn.com kcsports network is a locally owned independent media company based at ovlam park

1:06:32the number one ranked chiefs coverage has paved the way for more than 10 million downloads across the network since 2021 and with more than 250,000 followers across social media kcsn now covers the chiefs royals sporting kc and kccurrent along with kuk kstate mzoo 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 and thanks again for listening it's not just electric it's toyota electric and during toyota's easy toy sales event going electric is easier than ever right now save instantly on a new toyota eb with special incentive programs for first time eb buyers and prior eb owners choose the sleek busy the adventurous busy woodland or the sporty chr but don't wait these special savings won't last we make it easy toyota let's go places