(00:00) Early Super Bowl predictions
(10:37) Derrick Henry’s expected impact on Ravens offense
(18:33) Roquan Smith on 2023 AFC Championship game
(28:33) Travis Kelce on Chiefs wide receivers
(40:08) Ravens at Chiefs Kickoff preview
PFT Live with Mike Florio
Derrick Henry’s expectations with Ravens for 2024 + Travis Kelce on Chiefs wide receivers
The $5 meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between a Mcdubble or a McChicken. Then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the $5 meal deal today. Prices and participation may vary for a limited time only. Hey Applebee's, congrats on becoming the official grilling bar sponsor of the NFL. How does it feel? I'm glad we'll be able to bring some extra heat. Any plans to celebrate? Yeah, we're going to serve up America's favorite boneless wings for just $0.50 each to kick off the season. Limited time, price participation in this election may vary, tax number 2D excluded. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now, you're multitasking. But what if you could also be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers you save by switching save nearly $750 on average, and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. So, multitask right now. Get your quote now at Progressive.com. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, national average 12 months savings of $744 by new customers surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all states and situations. Venom. Yes, sir. I'm in Spidey here, I know they be going at it. What's the dude that played on Spider-Man with the long arms? Green Goblin, Green Goblin, I said Green Goblin for shame. Joker. Best movie better. Come on. You're really rocking with the Joker for real for real. Everybody don't be against me though. If you know, you know, Griffith. I really don't know what they were talking about. I'm mesmerized by the new trend of the tiny little microphone with the tiny little mic flag. I don't know when that became a thing, but just like all of a sudden everywhere you go, people are talking into this tiny little mic with the tiny little box around the tiny little mic and everybody looks gigantic. That's all I took away from that opening. Good morning. Miles, how are you? I'm doing well, but you know what would be funny, Mike? If the Eagles did a video like that and they gave the mic to Kenny Pickett, it would just look like a normal mic. That's very well done. Right out of the gates. Making fun of Kenny Pickett's small hands. You had a couple of guys you could have chosen from there, actually more if we expanded beyond football. True. Kenny Pickett. By the way, you know, I really am concerned for your health and well-being. I didn't realize that you were going to be dealing with later this week a pretty significant heat wave and you don't have air conditioning and it's going to be a potential problem. I'm not trying to make light of it. I'm concerned for you. I guess you could leave. There are flights departing LAX on a regular basis. I just hope that everything goes well for you. Thank you. Yeah, it is. It's going to be a problem down here by the Pacific Ocean. It does not usually get above what's called 82 degrees on a regular basis. I think the last forecast I saw showed it was going to be 95. And I saw one a couple of days ago that says it's going to be 98 on Friday. So, you know, I'm going to be. Well, apparently, apparently the heat is already affecting Moza Internet connection. Oh, there he is. I hear him. He froze. He froze. Something you won't be doing, but I'm pal on Friday. Goodness gracious. Yeah. You know what? We tried to fix this before the show. Apparently we did not. So, yeah, I don't know what the hell's going on here, man. This is a... It's going to be an interesting show, Mike. We came to... It's always an interesting show. We came to the conclusion that you're multitasking by playing the college football game while on the air is sucking up all the bandwidth and preventing your video from properly resolved. ...and the audio from properly communicating. I'm in Kansas City, by the way. Exact same spot as last year. Exact same hotel. I think I'm in the exact same room. It really has been a deja vu experience. And the main reason for that is the Kansas City Chiefs have won two Super Bowls in a row. It would have been nice if somebody else would have won it last year. We could be somewhere else to start the season. And I have a feeling we're going to be back here next year. I'm taking very good notes. I'm going to remember the room number because I think the room number that I'm in this year is the one I was in last year. So I'm going to remember. I'm going to write it down this year to see if it's the same one next year because I have a feeling that it is going to be the Chiefs. And we're making our official picks today that no one cares about if you're right, but you get dragged for if you're wrong. We will be posting every PFT contributors playoff tree. And I got it right last year. Not all of it. Just all that matters. Super Bowl, the two participants in the winner. And nobody cares. But I have a feeling I'm going to be picking the Chiefs to win it again. Well, I got the winner right last year. So does that help? I mean, you know, I got some things right. When you pick the Super Bowl winner, that's kind of nice. But if we're going off of our picks and like what we think will happen again next year, I mean, I picked you to be sitting in that same spot a year from now. So, you know, I guess that kind of tells you who I think is going to win the Super Bowl. And look, it's never happened before. And were you the one that made this point last week? Because now that we've got like four or five different people throughout the course of the week. You have no idea what the hell says anything. But like you could remember before. Once, but at least I have an excuse now. Once Patrick Mahomes gets if, if he gets to three in a row, how does that compare? To Brady's seven scattered over. What? 19 years. If he gets three in a row. And we've got worst case scenario through six seasons. Of losing an overtime of the AFC Championship. That's the worst Patrick Mahomes has ever done. He gets three in a row. Do we feel differently? And it's one of those things where we won't know how we feel until it happens. Like we didn't know how we felt about Brady's fourth, or was it fifth? Can't keep track of those either. The 28-3 comeback, that elevated him to a different stratosphere. After that happened, after he got that ring, we felt differently. We won't know until it happens. But I think we at least need to be eyeballing how we're going to feel when the confetti falls in New Orleans if Patrick Mahomes gets three in a row. Because he will have done something no one's ever done. And I know I'm going to hear from Packers fans say we won three straight championships. It wasn't Super Bowls. So if they had started the Super Bowl a year earlier, Bravo. But they didn't. It's Super Bowls. Nobody's won three in a row. And if Mahomes pulls it off, I think everyone is going to feel differently about him in a way that makes four very close to seven because he got three in a row. I think so. I mean, I don't know if we really need to clock how we're going to feel that long ago from now. And why can't we just... I'm just saying it should be what happens. I don't disagree with you on that. I really don't. But I know from history. What does that mean? What do you mean from history? What? I know from that moment. But I just know that when something happens that we think could this happen, we feel differently when it does. And we will feel, I think, collectively, a greater level of admiration than we would expect going in. Like, hey, three in a row. It's never happened. Whoa, three in a row. Hell, when it happens, it's going to be like, damn. And I just think it's going to transform how people feel. And, you know, we've got this question now of who's the greatest of all time. And that's irrelevant if you haven't been paying attention. Or maybe you have talking point in NFL circles. So, you know, I'm just saying that if they can pull this off, it will transform how everyone feels about Mahomes. And we need to be ready for that. That's all I'm doing. Yeah. Kind of our job. Okay. She's kind of looking. Okay, yes. Yes, it is what we do. But what I'm saying is I think we already are at, you know, a certain level of admiration appreciation from homes that we may not have a thought that we would get to even before, you know, last year, right? So, whether or not we clock it now or we feel organically later, yeah, it's going to continue to escalate. Because who really thought that the Chiefs will win back to back Super Bowls, right? I mean, especially if you look at all the context that happened over the course of the season and we look at what happened in December when they're losing a Christmas day, getting embarrassed at home by one of their division rivals. And then they go on and they win the Super Bowl. And that's how we get, you know, from here to Mahomes, like here. So, yeah, I mean, we could get, you know, like in Brady's up there. I don't know what that's going to look like. I mean, I don't think you're wrong in terms of being like, oh, that's going to take us to a level we don't necessarily know the Mahomes, but I'm just, I'm looking forward to the ride. I just want to get there, you know, like, let's, I want to be weak to weak with it. I want to feel the highs and the lows and everything that comes along with going through 18 weeks of an NFL season. I'm excited. I really am. Like, this is going to be fun. You know, we get the, we get the Ravens, we get the Chiefs, a total AFC Championship game rematch, but this one's got Derek Henry in it now. I mean, it's fun. But we got, we don't have Kidarius, Tony potentially dropping passes. You know, Mahomes has Xavier worthy. Things are different. And yet, when you got 15 back there, it's still, you know, a level of consistency that we really, I mean, I guess you can only compare it to Brady in some ways. No, just based on the things that they've done in Mahomes short time as a starter. So yeah, I'm, I love it. I love it. I love it all. And I want to feel it all. So I'm like, I don't know. Do we need a clock? How we're going to feel now? Yeah, no, whatever. I just, I'm looking forward to the start of the season. Are you done? Are you done? That's the longest you've come into the baton. Yeah. Well, this was the four by four hundred. I thought it was the four by one hundred. Yeah, well, it's the four by two hundred, then one hundred leg, then another one hundred after with you. I mean, really, you extend that to two hundred, not three hundred, if not four hundred. It's like a four by four, like one by four, excuse me, then a one by one, then a one by four. So, you know what? I wanted to make it a one by four, but then a one by three. Sue me. Okay. All right. I have a headache now. I usually get myself a headache. You gave me the headache. Kidarius Tony Angle wasn't a thing in the AFC Championship because they stopped playing him after he had that drop against the Patriots. It became an interception. We did see him last year, week one. And despite the gloves, Devon and I talked about how folks were trying to downplay that great USC catch over the weekend because of gloves. The gloves didn't help Kidarius Tony last year to start the season. He had multiple drops, so he won't be in the building this year. Chris Jones will be in the building for the Chiefs, and they'll need him because, as you mentioned, Derek Henry, who played for the Titans' entire career. He's now joined the fray. And one of the big criticisms of the Ravens from the AFC Championship, they only ran the ball eleven times. I got a feeling that with Derek Henry back there, they probably will run the ball more than eleven times on Thursday night. Here's Derek Henry on whether he wished he could have been around for the Ravens to help that ground game that never really got going in the AFC title game in January. Hell yeah, I was watching that day watching that game, but yeah, but not as my turn. So, you know, got to take advantage of it. It was going to be a hell of a game. At the end of the day, just football. I've been playing since I was five years old. But the atmosphere, you know, you know, it'd be in the first game at night. You know, they're coming off a Super Bowl. They're being at home at Arrowhead, which, you know, the environment is going to be loud. It's going to be, um, it's going to be hostile, but that's what you want. I mean, especially on opening night, you know, everybody watching the first game of the year to kick off the 2024 season, so I'm excited. It's going to be fun, so I'm looking forward to it. Derek Henry is, I think, the closest thing we've seen to Jim Brown in the modern game, the way he runs. You give him a couple of yards, he's got a head of steam, and he just will blow through you, knock you down with a stiff arm, et cetera. But he is 30. I wasn't sure whether or not he was 30. He turned 30 in January. He's got a lot of wear and tear. 2,030 rushing attempts. Another 155 touches in the passing game. 9,500 rushing yards. 5,000 yard seasons. One 2,000 yard season in 2020. And I think back to Eddie George, who was a great member of the Titans. And again, this is something you and I might have discussed because I can't remember who the hell the co-host is on any given day. But with Eddie George, the wheels never really came off with one big incident. It just kind of got to the point where you couldn't do it anymore. And I just wonder, because it's going to happen for everyone who's playing in the NFL, and the closer you are to the action, the more banged up you're going to be. And you're just going to get to the point where it's like, all those guys are faster than me. All those guys are stronger than me. I don't know what's going on. Yeah, what's going on is a career of playing football and getting banged around. Remember the knock on, and it's still there for Alabama running backs under Nick Saban. They get chewed up and spit out by him how intense he is at practice and how he uses him in games. There was always a concern that Derek Henry wasn't going to have tread on the tire when he got to the NFL. And here we are. He's at age 30, which is like, you know, 50 or 60, God forbid, for a running back. I just wonder whether it's a little faulty to assume we're taking Derek Henry tightens and plugging him in, and he's going to be the exact same guy. I hope he is. He's fun to watch, and I hope that he's able to stave it off, but we know from experience that with running backs, you know, it can change. For Frank Gore didn't, for Adrian Peterson, it didn't, at least not until deeper into his 30s, for Derek Henry, we're about to find out. Well, yeah, look, I think one of the two interesting elements that are on that graph that we were just showing, talk about that back up. I mean, if you look at the yards per carry for Derek Henry last year, it was a 4.2, right? And so even though he was second in a league in Russian, he didn't even make it to 1200 yards. And so when you've got somebody who had the most attempts in rushing, you know, 280, and he only had 1,167 yards, that to me says a lot about the state of rushing in the NFL. But it also says something either about the offensive line, or what was going on with Derek Henry in terms of where his physicality is, and how he can still be productive in terms of where we are in the NFL today. So that also could say something about the offensive line, you know. So it's interesting because when you have Lamar Jackson and you have Derek Henry at the same time, I mean, that is an absolute nightmare for teams that have to defend you in short yard situations. I mean, if it is third and one, third and two, I just, I don't know what you're going to do to stop that, because all they got to do is go zone read. And, you know, if you overplay Derek Henry, then Lamar Jackson is going to take the ball and he's going to go for 10 yards. If you try to play just Lamar Jackson, then, boy, you better be strong at the point of attack in Derek Henry because you're not going to stop him for just one or two yards most of the time. I mean, it's just not going to happen. So that's, it really presents a lot of challenges for defenses. And I think it takes some pressure off of Derek Henry for sure. If he is playing in the same backfield as Lamar Jackson, I think that alone should make him a little bit more productive when it comes to yards per carry. I mean, if he's not at at least four and a half, then we do, then that's when I would say, okay, yeah, the physical cliff, you know, the father time, that's what's really come for Derek Henry. If he's not averaging four and a half yards of care. The 4.2 matches a career low. It was back in 2017 when he was sharing touches with DeMarco Murray and hadn't fully blossomed into a workhorse tailback. It's two seasons, 2019 and 2020 when he had 1540 yards and 2027 respectively. In 2019, he averaged 5.1 yards per carry. In 2020, he averaged 5.4 yards per carry. So that really is going to be one of the issues and has it been offensive line? Is it quality of quarterback play? There's a lot of factors that go into how many yards a running back is going to gain when he gets a ball in his hands, but that's one of the big questions that we're going to resolve. Starting tomorrow night, what Derek Henry is going to look like as a member of the Baltimore Ravens, how he's going to perform in that offense. And I'm just inclined to bet the over in my own mind because I just want to see Derek Henry play like we've seen Derek Henry play. It's fitting because, you know, he's kind of playing for Jim Brown's Browns now. I knew you were going to do this. I knew you were going to do this. Don't you dare stop it. Stop it. Stop it. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to let you sit here and talk about the Ravens, which are technically an expansion franchise, and they do not have the name, image, likeness, colors of the Browns. If you really want to talk about who's a successor to 32 is number 24 for the Cleveland Browns, and his name is Nick Chubb, and he is one of the only players, the only players who continues to average over 5 yards per carry this far into his career. So don't even go there with me, Mike. I'm not, no way, no way. Don't, don't do it. We can quibble about how the Ravens and Browns came to be, but you can't call the Ravens an expansion franchise because there was an existing franchise that just happened, happened to have an address in Northeast Ohio that relocated to Baltimore with all the teams, with all the personnel in the front office, with all the coaches except Bill Belichick, who they fired. And who, I think it's the Browns that get accused of firing Bill Belichick from time to time. It's like, no, it wasn't the Browns anymore when Bill Belichick got fired. Right? That is correct. It was the unnamed Baltimore franchise. I'm glad that you pointed that out because so many people get that wrong, and it's not fair that the Browns did not fire Bill Belichick. Art Model did. Yeah. Great owner. He was. All right. You know, I hope that made you feel better because it made me feel pretty good to point that out. And that was, I always look for the gratuitous opportunity to point out that the Ravens are the old Browns and the new Browns that were the expansion team from 1999. So I was just, I was glad that that came along and it took me a while for the synapses to fire, but it happened. All right. With the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card, you can earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases you want and purchases you need. That means you earn 2% cash rewards on what you want, like season tickets to watch your favorite team and 2% cash rewards on what you need, like paying for parking. That's the beauty of the Active Cash Credit Card. It's ready when you are with unlimited 2% cash rewards. The Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card. That's real life ready. Terms apply. Learn more at Wells Fargo dot com slash Active Cash. The $5 meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between them a double or a chicken. Then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the $5 meal deal today. Prices and participation may vary for a limited time only. I will be healthy. First of all, congratulations on becoming the official grilling bar sponsor of the National Football League. How does it feel to serve up the NFL? Man, it's a real dream come true. I'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season. Do you have any plans to celebrate? Absolutely. We're going to serve up America's favorite bonus wings with just 50 cents each to kick off the season. Any of our sources, whether it's in restaurant or to go, it don't matter. It's all 50 cents all the time. Are you worried at all about any competition this season? What competition? Limited time price participation in selection may vary. Taxing or 2D excluded. Roquen Smith, who a couple of years ago was a member of the Chicago Bears, is now one of the cornerstones of the Baltimore Ravens defense. Here's Smith talking about the Super Bowl aspirations held by really every team, but specifically the Baltimore Ravens. I think each and every guy goal as a team should be to make the Super Bowl, but there's a process in place and you have to respect the process and I'm firm believer in respecting the process. So it starts with week one. Kansas City is in our way for what exactly we want to do and I'm sure from their eyes, we're in their way. So at the end of the day, it's going to be a clash and hey, may the best man win, but I like us. What way to have a bigger show than when the whole entire world is watching you regardless of what happened last year? Hey, that's last year. This is a completely new season and like, hey, the whole world's going to be watching people from all over. So I'm very excited about our defense and our offense, the special teams as well, to put a show on in front of the entire world and do it and look good while we're doing it. Hey, you know, look, the Lions got the Chiefs last year, which I don't think is necessarily a good thing for the Ravens because the Chiefs will be even more on guard for the possibility of losing the night that they hang a banner and they've had those lapses in the regular season most recently, curiously and really inexplicably losing to the Raiders on Christmas Day at home. But the Ravens come in with a team that if they execute a proper plan like running the ball more than 11 times, they can maybe give the Chiefs everything they can handle. They get better as the season goes on. The Ravens do especially defensively and that's really the question now because Mike McDonald, who did a great job with the defense last year, is gone. So you've got one team full continuity in the key pieces of the coaching staff. You got another team, new defensive coordinator. That's a factor when you're talking about these two teams reuniting right out of the gates. Yeah, it is, Mike. And, you know, whenever you get a coordinator change, there is sort of an adjustment period. You know, you don't want to think about it like what a fool believes, you know, where there's just going to be nothing different when Mike McDonald is not there for the Ravens any longer. Zack Orr, he clocked that, huh? Zack Orr, who I think is going to do a really good job as defensive coordinator, I do. I mean, he is a Baltimore Raven through and through, right? It's somebody that was a linebacker for them. But I don't think that it would be smart to just say that, oh, yeah, it's going to be all the same. It's going to be kind of new. Look at what happened with the Philadelphia Eagles last year. And this is a different side of the ball, yes. But even though you had Johnson as the quarterbacks coach, you elevate him to offensive coordinator, things go off the rails. So no matter what, it's your first time calling a defense, you know, in a regular season game, and you're going against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reed and the Kansas City Chiefs. Like, that's not the easiest thing to do. No matter what the continuity is, no matter what, you know, you already know about that defense. So that's where I just, I think if you're the Ravens, you got to expect that there's going to be some sort of adjustment period. And if that's the case, that doesn't mean panic, because as you brought up earlier, you're going to get better as the season goes on. Zach Orr is going to get better at this job as the season goes on. But right out of the gate, it might not be as great as it was toward the end of last season. I did see a report yesterday about Zach Orr asking Mike McDonald for some advice on how to defend the Chiefs. Do you know what he told him? Good luck. Min it by minute, keep holding on. I mean, we both can, we both can play this game. And there's probably, there's probably other ways we can bring it up throughout the course of the show, which possibly will happen. We still have a long way to go. I keep forgetting that, you know, you do know so many times. Okay. All right, good. Well done. And look, the Ravens have shown, somebody asked me to show us that it was already in Baltimore, because there are some Ravens fans that have consternation about John Harbaugh. They won a Super Bowl 12 years ago. They're in the mix from time to time. They've been the one seed twice the last five years, but they haven't been back to the Super Bowl. They've won three playoff games, I believe, since winning Super Bowl 47. Should Harbaugh be on the hot seat? Should he be blamed for it? It's like, look at what he has dealt with in the last 12 years. The back end of the Patriots dynasty, which went right into the front end of the cheese dynasty. Yeah. How can anyone blame Harbaugh and the Ravens for not being back to the Super Bowl when you go from whatever woke Tom Brady up, presumably the drafting of Jimmy Garoppolo in 2014, so they win three more from 2014 through 2018. And then it goes into the Chiefs who win three from 2019 through 2024. I mean, what do you expect? And would you rather be irrelevant? Would you rather have, like, one playoff berth every three or four years? Or would you rather be a team that is there in the conversation? And you understand you're going to come up against some damn good teams. And sometimes you're going to win and sometimes you're going to lose. And if you don't win at all against a team like the Chiefs, you're at least in the conversation. And so I think I understand Ravens fans are frustrated, but one team has Patrick Mahomes and one team doesn't. It's that simple. Well, right. And the other part of this is, I mean, you go from the 2021 and 2022, right, where you don't have Lamar Jackson for basically all of December. You know, despite that, they still won in 2022 enough to get into the postseason and give the Bengals all that they could handle, right? In that game that was played at whatever they call the Bengal Stadium now. So, you know, I think that when you look at it that way, that gives me that much more respect for Harbaugh and what he's done, you know, over the course of so many years. It's really hard, I think, to put teams together that win in different ways. And the Ravens of, you know, 2024 are very, very, very different philosophically from an offensive standpoint, at least, than the Ravens that won back in 2012, just given who the quarterback is. So, you know, if you don't look at it that way and you don't say, okay, well, Harbaugh has done such a good job that he can win a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco and then changes offensive philosophy to fit somebody like a Lamar Jackson so that they can not just be competitive, but actual winners, right? When Lamar Jackson is on the field, that means that they are going to be a contender for a title, you know, whether or not, yeah, obviously, they got Patrick Mahomes standing in the way they got burrow in their own division. Yeah, but, like, that team is going to be as competitive as any as long as number eight is healthy and on the field. And that, to me, is a huge credit to Harbaugh. At a certain point, though, the narrative takes over for everyone in Baltimore. Most notably, John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson, can you win the big game in the postseason? And with each passing year that they don't, it becomes more of a talking point that the people in the middle of it, the folks in the crucible have to find a way to ignore and you have to find a way to reverse it, and it gets harder each year. I mean, they've had the one seed twice. They got blown out by the Titans in the 2019 postseason, and then last year, everything was set up for them to go to the Super Bowl. And here comes the Chiefs, and they just didn't get it done. And I just think that -- and it's difficult at this stage of the season to fast forward to, hey, special regular season that makes you a top seed and you're hosting a playoff game because it's a lot of work you've got to put in just to get back in position to do that. And I think one of the challenges, when you had a great season, that ultimately evaporated in three hours on a Sunday in January, going back to zero and zero and climbing them out. And again, knowing that the last time you climbed the mountain, you got thrown all the way to the bottom when you finally got close to the top. But that's part of the reality for the Ravens. They got to dig out of zero and zero and get back there. But when they get back there, it's going to get more and more intense until they finally do it, the question of whether or not they can. Yeah, there is. And that's the same thing for so many other AFC teams, right? And I think that's one of the goals for one. That's certain. You know, the Bengals can they get back to where they need to be with everything that's going on there. And Mark Chase and all that. I mean, I don't know, you know, the kind of last right with T Higgins. So yeah, I understand what you're saying about the narrative, you know, with the Ravens and whether or not they can actually get over the hump and things like that. And when you look at this graph, you got up there. Now, in the Texans, to me, are as good a shot to reach the AFC Championship game as any of these teams. And look at what CJ Stroud did as a rookie. And you talk about the jump between your one and your two quarterbacks, and they've done a great job, I think, of surrounding him a talent. So it's going to be very difficult for the Ravens and for any team to get back to the AFC Championship game. I mean, I feel like you and I at least would pencil in the Chiefs because that's just, look, it's been the four for Patrick Ballons over time of the AFC Championship game. So until that doesn't happen, I'm penciling in the Chiefs, but it's going to be tough in that gauntlet for any other team to emerge. And there are a lot of great quarterbacks in the AFC. Lamar Jackson among them. We'll see if he can make it back there and then climb over that mountain and get back to the Super Bowl. For two to a couple years ago, the first time that you are going to the Mar Jackson. Sorry. That's correct. The Chiefs made the very bold move of trading, Tyree Kill, and they've only won every Super Bowl played since then. Last year, it was a collection of passcatchers. Now, Travis Kelsey, key piece, but the receivers, not quite at the level that Patrick Mahomes has been accustomed to. There's optimism in Kansas City that this year they'll get back to being more potent at the receiver position than they've been post Tyree Kill. Here's Travis Kelsey about the current collection of passcatchers on a Kansas City roster. I'd love the receiver group that we've always had. Obviously, we got hit with kind of a stereotype that we couldn't catch the ball on big downs and things like that. But this year, I think, in terms of confidence and where we're different from years past, it just seems like the group is more tight-knit. Everybody's playing off of each other a little bit more than there's more of a discussion in the room. And I'm just excited that the type of athletes that we got and the type of quarterback that we have that we can put it all together. I thought, as he was saying, that we got hit with the stereotype that we couldn't catch the ball in big moments, that we got rid of all those guys. They don't work here anymore. There is Tony's gone. Marquis Valdez-Gantling is gone. The guys that can't catch the ball are gone now. We have guys that can catch the ball. It's a fairly simple requirement of the job. Can you catch the ball? What they also have is speed, Rishi Rice. One of the reasons they support him as fervently as they do, despite the eight felony charges for street racing, he came in, figured out the offense faster than Tyree Kill did when he was a rookie, and had nearly 1,000 yards and got better as the postseason unfolded. They've added Xavier Worthy. Hollywood Brown, at some point, is going to be healthy after having that scary injury that had him hospitalized after one of the preseason games. They've got speed in more than one receiver position. They've got three guys who, if they're out there together, can take everyone deep and then keep the entire underneath wide open for Travis Kelsey to do more of what he does. It's going to be a different passing game if those guys are healthy and on the field together than what we've seen from the Chiefs in the past two years. Well, it is, but you know, and you mentioned the speed, guys, but I think bringing back Juju Smith's juicer as long as he is healthy is something that is going to be able to help the Chiefs as well, because he understands what Patrick Mahomes wants out of, you know, the improvisational, scat drill, scramble drill, all kinds of things like that. He was extraordinarily productive for them, I thought, in that 2022 season when they were able to win the Super Bowl of the Philadelphia Eagles. And so having him back and not just being able to say, okay, yeah, they've got the speed elements, they're going to be able to fire it deep and not just say, okay, well, on the underneath routes, well, you still got to look for Travis Kelsey. No, you've got to look for Juju Smith's juicer as well. And that, I think, is going to be one of these elements that is going to be able to help take the Chiefs back to the kind of top five, top three offense that we're used to seeing when they have Patrick Mahomes behind center, because last year just wasn't that. And you're right, I mean, they got rid of guys like Darius Tony. They got rid of Marquez Valdez Scantling, whoo, you know, got love him. He did have that third down catch in the postseason at the end of the game. He had two big catches, right? Yes. Like, yeah, yeah. He had a big catch against the Bills, too. Yeah. Yes, he sure did. Who we now plays for. So I think that the speed element that's going to be there, especially when Hollywood Brown comes back, you know, but then also the possession element, and it's not just going to be Travis Kelsey. I think that kind of Swiss juicer being back, I think, is really huge. I do. And it's going to take some pressure off of Kelsey a little bit in that way. And I think it just overall is going to probably make them that much more explosive. He had a solid year for them in 2020. I'm looking at the numbers now. 78 catches on 101 targets, 933 yards, average 12 per reception and three total touchdowns. And this has to be, I look at it and I think this has to be a misprint. I'm looking at pro football reference. He has a long reception, according to this, of 97 yards in both 2017 and 2018. Not exactly a speed guy, even when he was young and, you know, had his full tread on the tires. 97 yards each of those two years. If I remembered that, I've forgotten. If I ever knew it, let me try that again. If I ever knew that, I'd forgotten, but he's now a guy who's essentially a tight end. Given the lack of explosion that the Patriots saw, whether it was because of his knee injury, the Patriots decided to move on and they owe him a significant amount of money this year, the Chiefs presumably paying him close to the minimum because the Patriots have to pay the rest. But you're right, if you've got these fast guys stretching the field, you have not only Travis Kelsey, but also Juju Smith-Shuster underneath who can take advantage of the openings. Yeah, exactly. And that, I think, you know, whether you're playing, if you're playing zone coverage against my homes, which, you know, we know that the two high safeties is what a lot of teams have played in order to make sure that those, those, those explosive passes aren't necessarily happening. But they also haven't had guys that can really take the top off the defense anyway. I mean, how many teams do you think play two high safeties against Tyree Kill and Jalen Wattle? And yet, every game it seems like Kevin Harlan is saying, "He's got Hill!" Because, like, it's just Tyree Kill can run past those guys. So if they can have Xavier Worthy do that, and he runs that 4.2140, which we all know about, then that's going to sort of negate that advantage that defenses can have when you have that guy who's just flying by them anyway. So that's going to be interesting. I really am looking forward to seeing that first bomb attempt that we get from a home, because Xavier Worthy and how that thing turns out, because, man, oh man, if they can get that kind of connection with the deep balls, then she's going to be fun to watch this year, baby, they really are. Gary points out, Judas Mishuster is only 27 years old. He does seem like he's been around forever. And at a minimum, he's on the wrong side of 30. But it feels like he's been in the NFL for years and years and years. One of the realities of Tyree Kill when he was with the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes would maybe hold the ball a little too long, infatuated with making the deep throw to Tyree Kill. And once he was gone, they were able to just run the offense. But they didn't have enough of the deep ball. The offense still works. There's a sweet spot there that maybe they can find where you're not overdoing it. You're not addicted to dropping back and running around and waiting for the opportunity to hit one of your guys deep. But you're doing it selectively, surgically and strategically, and it's the perfect blend. You dial them up at the right time. I remember back the year that the Vikings had Randy Moss, Chris Carter, and Jake Reed. It felt like every time they threw it deep, it was deliberate and calculated and strategic. It wasn't just I'm going to make something happen and I just have to get the ball to Randy Moss because I know he's going to be open down there. It was always, this is the moment for it, go do it. Whether it was Flee Flicker, Play Action, whatever, get around the 50, this is the moment, go do it. I feel like now the Chiefs are in a position where they can have that attitude. Instead of pay Patrick, just go make things happen, this is the moment to throw it deep, go do it. Right, and I think the other aspect of that is the maturity with Patrick Mahomes. I don't mean that in like a pejorative way, I just mean gathering more experience. Right, the fact that he is older and he has seen more than he did when the Chiefs got rid of Tyreke Hill, I think is going to make him that much better of a quarterback because he has a better understanding of, okay, this is why things are the way they are in the structure. Right, this is why things work against certain coverages. Oh, I've seen this, I remember when this happened before and I was able to make this throw, but if they're playing this the same way, that means that that throw is going to be open. You know, so all of those things I think can combine and A, make Patrick Mahomes a better quarterback, but B, because the personnel is better, it's going to make the Chiefs a better offense. And again, when you got Andy Reed scheming things up, Matt and Agave, he's a big part of that too. This is going to be an offense that should hum because the personnel again is that much better. Last year, there was talk about Patrick Mahomes having a very strong desire to get to the point where Tom Brady was later in his career where you'll walk up to the line and nothing fools you, nothing tricks you, nothing phases you, and I haven't heard any of that this year. And that means one of two things. Well, three really. One, I just completely missed it, which is possible, but not likely. Two, he still feels that way, but he's not talking about it anymore. Or three, he's gotten to where he wants to be. And that's a scary thought if he's already there after six years as a starter, where he feels that level of confidence that he knows what's coming. Because I remember when Tom Brady said that, he was actually on this show after they won Super Bowl 51, saying that I think it was to me, maybe it was to Peter King, but the idea that there's nothing you can fool me with anymore. I walk up to the line of scrimmage and I've seen it all. Probably didn't say it on this show, but you know, it makes me feel better if I think he did. But the idea that I have seen anything and everything that you can put out there. And that's what happens, and that's where you get into this combination of, I still can play like I've always played, and my brain is a football supercomputer that cannot be hacked, that cannot be frozen, that can't be beaten. That's when you only get better. And to consider what he's accomplished this far, when he gets to that point, if he's already there, or if it's coming, because we know it's coming at some point. If he still can run and throw like he has, that makes it even more likely I'll be sitting here on plenty of Wednesdays and Thursdays of Labor Day Week. Yeah, I agree with you. And you know, that's the thing that makes Patrick Holmes so special too, is that I don't think he's going to stop working. You know, even if he feels like he's seen everything, he's going to still want to wash tape and say, "Wait a minute, what else can I learn?" I think we got that impression at least from that quarterback show that they did last year, you know, where we see behind the scenes of him working on his body, and you know, contorting his body in such a way that, you know, when it happens in a game, it's familiar to the body so that your strength is still there, and you can hopefully avoid injury in that way. And I think what he's done so far in his career certainly is remarkable, but there is still space for him to get better. And you know, Andy Reed has talked about it. That's one of the things that makes Mahomes so great, is that he always wants the challenge of getting better. It challenges you as a coach in order to make sure you can give him something that can make him better. So, you know, when you've got guys like that who chase the greatness and chase the work that produces greatness, that that's why you get to the level where he's at at this point in his career. All right, let's take a look now at the tale of the tape for the major pieces of these two teams as we approach opening night of the season. Let's start with the offense, who's got the better offense between the Ravens and the chief smiles? Well, I mean, yeah, with apologies to the Ravens, the offense I think is very good, but look, we didn't just spend the last 10 minutes praising Patrick Mahomes for no reason. When you've got that guy that makes you the better offense pretty much inherently. You know, I think given the speed element that is now there with Xavier Worthy, with Hollywood Brown when he returns, that really does make things different. Now, the other thing that we've got with the Chiefs is a young left tackle, and that is something that I think you've got to pay attention to, especially going up against a Ravens defense, but by all accounts, he's done such a good job over the course of the offseason program, training camp, especially when you have Patrick Mahomes and his experience, I think that they're going to be all right there. So I would say the Chiefs. Yeah, I agree with you, the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, they've got a sneaky good running game that they don't use as much as maybe they could or arguably should, but do you really need to do it when you've got what essentially is a simulated and effective running game in short passes to Travis Kelsey or anyone else that happens to be open underneath. You've got the speedy receivers now, and it's ultimately Mahomes. It comes back to Mahomes until somebody can knock him off the top of the mountain any time it's Chiefs or that team, Chiefs or this team. I'm going to be inclined to favor the Chiefs, especially on the offensive side of the ball. All right, that part's easy. Defensively, defensively, who's got the better of it between these two teams. This one's tough because the Ravens are great on defense. You know, and I think that there's an expectation that they will continue to be, but it goes back to, you know, what I was saying a little bit earlier in the segment when you have a new defensive coordinator, so I know good. I think he's going to be eventually. I think that there's going to be a bit of an adjustment period there. And so because C. Spagnola has the experience, all right, he's been there for as many years. He's been there. Now they've won championships with him, and that defense for the Chiefs was as good as any last year that they lost to Jerry Esseneed. Yes, but I think when you've got a guy like Trent McDuffie, he was just an absolute dog, man. I mean, you're going to be able to be okay at corner, so I would give the edge a slight edge to the Chiefs. Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, from a personnel standpoint, I think it hurts the Ravens to lose Patrick Queen, especially in the division of the Steelers. He's going to be extra motivated that the Ravens didn't want to keep him around. They've still got some great pieces, but their defense every year gets better over time. And this year, there's reason for it not to be 85 Bears right out of the gates because of the changing coordinator. It's going to take a little time to get to as good as it's going to be. Whereas the Chiefs, I think bringing back your coordinators, think about that year after year, they just keep coming back. None of these guys are serious candidates to be head coaches at this point, so they just keep coming back and having that continuity and stability, having Chris Jones available last year. He was at the game in a suite watching the festivities because he was holding out. I think that it all adds up to the Chiefs having a slightly better defense. All right, special teams. Who do you have? I'm going to take the Ravens here, and it's mostly because Justin Tucker is the greatest kicker of all time, right? And now Harrison Bucker is quite good in his own right, but I think between that and you got Hardy, who is a really good return guy. And this is another one of these elements that we just kind of don't know. Like that opening kickoff might be really interesting, because if it doesn't, if Harrison Bucker dumped Bang the ball out of the end zone, who knows what that thing is going to look like? So that's going to be an interesting element to it. Hardman, also a good return guy for the Chiefs, the fact that he's back. And he also has the speed element, not necessarily known for catching it as well as Hollywood Brown or Xavier Worthy either. So I would give the edge there to the Ravens, mostly because of Justin Tucker. Yeah, and I'll apply this caveat from yesterday, because we played the clip of him talking about the incident from last year prior to the FC Championship when he was out there getting in the pregame workouts of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey and Kelsey through his helmet and through the little tee and through the balls. And as long as he, because he was a little cheeky and a little like, I'm saying what they're expecting me to say, as long as he doesn't stir things up again, I'll go with Justin Tucker. But one of the realities with the kickoff and what I've done, peel back the curtain a little bit, for tomorrow night's pregame show, I'm trying to get a comprehensive understanding of what we can expect with this new kickoff and I've spoken to many coaches, executives, et cetera to try to figure this out. And one of the concerns that was raised to me, along with film clips that I have on my phone, one of which is scary. You better be careful with your kickers because they kick the ball and they've got the ability to run up to where everyone else is and one of those blockers comes free and there's a clip of a Titans kicker getting blown the F up in that play. So that's going to be one of the things to watch. We heard about the possibility of teams using other players like Justin Reed, possibly being the kickoff specialist for the Chiefs because then he can run right up into the fray and be an extra tackler. That hasn't come to fruition in part because I don't think you can trust a non kicker to consistently put the ball between the goal line and the 20 and not have it squirt out of bounds before it gets to the end zone, which puts it on the 40, or we'd hear that someone was doing it. Now maybe somebody's got secret weapon who isn't a kicker that they're saving for week one, but I think they'd at least test that guy out in the preseason in a game setting. You know, some of the things they're going to do, we won't see until regular season. If you're going to have somebody other than your main kicker, I think we would have seen it pre-season, but the bottom line is this, Justin Tucker, Harrison Butker, be careful once you kick off and run down toward where everyone is, because there's going to be somebody looking for you, and I've seen the clips of some kickers getting hit pretty damn hard in the preseason. Well, that's a little bit of a concern. I mean, well, that's part of why, and you know, you've been making the argument that if they really want this to be a thing, they've got to change the touch back from the 30 to the 35. If that's also part of the risk of it, then as a head coach, you know, I'll just take the 30 and like, let's go play. Because all it needs is one to just really pop off and somebody to do something really creative. If you're the dolphins and you've got all these speed guys and you do something really creative and then you see that as a career, I don't want to risk any of that. Especially because usually I think the return average was something about the 28, 28.5 in the preseason. If that's the case, then just give me the 30 and let's just go play defense. If I'm a head coach, I don't know if I want to deal with that. It was the 28.8 for all kick offs and the 28 for all kick offs that were actually returned. The benefit is, and the term that you're going to hear if you watch the pregame show tomorrow night, is risk reward because that's what keeps coming back to me. You know, you're trying to do an analytical formula with no data, but that's the hypothetical that they're looking at. What is, based on the circumstances of the game, what's the risk and what's the reward? And one of the risks that you need to factor in is the possibility of your kicker getting blown up when he runs down the field, eager to try to make a special team's tackle. All right, so I'll say Ravens as well, but it's very close. And I think for both of us, it's very close between Ravens and Chiefs. Better coaching between a couple of future Hall of Famers. I think they both get in at some point. Harbaugh's been around since 2008. Andy Reid has been coaching every year in the NFL since 1999. He's a no-brainer walk right into the upper room Hall of Fame. And may catch Bill Belichick is the greatest coach of all time, especially, you know, if he continues to be joined at the hip with my homes and he keeps going for another five or six years. Who do you have right now as the better coach? And let's go in the entire staff as well. Yeah, I mean, first of all, it kind of comes down to rings, you know, and if that's the case, then it's got to be Andy Reid. But, you know, we've been sort of talking about this too. I mean, the edge between Spagnone or, I mean, just experience wise, got to go to Spags. I mean, Matt Nague versus Todd Monkin. I mean, you also have the experience factor there in terms of just being an NFL coach before. So I would kind of go with Nague there, although I really like what Todd Monkin has done with that offense, with the exception of the way he called it in the AFC Championship game. So I would go with the Chiefs, but I don't, again, any of these, it's kind of like, man, it's not like I'm trying to knock the Ravens here. 'Cause the Ravens are a great staff. They got really talented players. But when we're going against the champs, we're still going against the champs. And the Chiefs right now, they have the two-time defending champs. Yeah, I think across the board, the better coaching staff. Again, this weird dynamic that Steve Spagnolo never gets seriously mentioned as a potential head coaching candidate. He had that very short, disastrous tenure with the Rams, which really wasn't all his fault. I'm not making excuses for the guy, but the Rams were about as dysfunctional as any team has ever been during that period of time that Spagnolo was the head coach. So I don't know whether it's that or, you know, there's a general bias, I think, against defensive head coaches because you want a quarterback guru to be the guy that takes your young quarterback if you get a franchise guy potentially in the draft and you want to go forward. But, yeah, Spagnolo doesn't get mentioned. And Nagy had his stint with the Bears, which wasn't a complete disaster. But those guys were sticking around at one point. Dave Toe, the special teams coordinator, was mentioned as a potential head coaching candidate. Those guys have stayed in place that gives the Chiefs the better overall staff and the edge there. So it looks like we're both going to, what a shock. We're both going to pick the Chiefs to win tomorrow night. Should have learned last year, though. And it was too late to change the pick, but I will say this. Last year, when the Lions came out to take the field, I was just like, they seem upset. It was just something in the air that was like, somebody didn't give them the memo that this is Chief's celebration night and the Lions obviously went on to win the game. All right, let's take a break. One return. This time last year, Jordan Love was preparing for his first week one as a starter. How have things changed for the young quarterback as he gets ready to start his second here in Brazil on Friday night against the Eagles? That's next year on PFTLOT. The $5 meal deal at McDonald's means you get to pick between a McDouble or a McChicken. Then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Get the $5 meal deal today. Prices and participation may vary for a limited time only. Hey Applebee's, congrats on becoming the official grilling bar sponsor of the NFL. How does it feel? I'm glad we'll be able to bring some eggs to heat. Any plans to celebrate? Yeah, we got to serve up America's favorite bowling swings for just 50 cents each to get off the season. Limited time, price participation in this election may vary, tax and gratuity excluded.