What’s Wright - Best Of - Jalen Hurts DISRESPECTED in QB Rankings, Nick ALL IN on Raiders to NFL Playoffs, Chiefs BIG CHANGES?

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Episode: What’s Wright - Best Of - Jalen Hurts DISRESPECTED in QB Rankings, Nick ALL IN on Raiders to NFL Playoffs, Chiefs BIG CHANGES?
Date: August 23, 2025
Host: Nick Wright (A) with Damanze (D)

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Brief Overview

This “Best Of” episode of “What’s Wright with Nick Wright” dives deep into the latest quarterback rankings controversy—specifically, Jalen Hurts being ranked just ninth—followed by Nick’s case for the Las Vegas Raiders as a playoff sleeper, and an in-depth look at the Kansas City Chiefs’ evolving offense and Patrick Mahomes’ push to revive their deep passing attack. The episode is packed with strong, data-driven opinions, story-rich anecdotes, and candid football analysis.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Jalen Hurts: Disrespected in the QB Rankings (02:14–17:50)

• Summary: The episode opens with Nick reacting to the annual QB rankings, spotlighting the disrespect faced by Jalen Hurts, who lands only at ninth despite elite playoff performances.
  • Storytime: Nick shares an awkward but illuminating encounter with Jalen Hurts' mother before the Super Bowl, where she confronted him about criticism of Hurts as the “weak link” of the Eagles’ offense.
    • “She was like, why do you talk so bad about Jalen Hurts?” (04:31, Nick)
  • Nick explains that while he'd previously doubted Hurts’ ability as a passer in a top-heavy offense, Hurts’ big-stage performances during two deep playoff runs forced an honest rethink.
    • "His consistent ability to play his best in the biggest spots, which is the most valuable trait a quarterback can have, made me reevaluate." (06:53, Nick)
• Evolving Rankings: Nick advocates for analysts to update opinions as new evidence emerges and praises Colin Cowherd for exemplifying this.
  • “People far too often get tied and married to their prior opinions. Cowherd’s the best at not doing this…change my mind.” (07:02, Nick)
• Current Hierarchy: Nick’s contemporary QB rankings:
  • 1. Patrick Mahomes
  • 2. Josh Allen
  • 3. Lamar Jackson
  • 4. Joe Burrow or possibly Jalen Hurts
  • 5. Matthew Stafford
  • 6. Jalen Hurts (with reservations), followed by Jaden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, and others.
• Fairness in Evaluation: Nick maintains it’s fair to critique Hurts’ passing consistency, but that shouldn’t overshadow his clutch playoff moments.
  • "I don't think people at this point are fairly evaluating Jalen Hurts based on his ability to play his best in the biggest spots." (09:25, Nick)

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2. Nick’s NFL Playoff Sleeper: The Case for the Raiders (22:04–28:39)

• Summary: Nick makes a passionate, numbers-based pitch for the Las Vegas Raiders as his favorite longshot playoff pick.
  • Key Factors:
    • New head coach Pete Carroll brings experience and competence.
    • Vast improvement at quarterback (now Geno Smith), addition of Brock Bowers and Ashton Gentry.
    • Favorable “last place” schedule.
  • Schedule Analysis: Nick runs through the Raiders’ schedule, arguing they have only three “monster games” (Chiefs, Eagles), five simple ones, and nine toss-ups—enough runway for a nine- or ten-win season.
    • “That team absolutely can get to nine or ten wins and sneak into the playoffs.” (27:34, Nick)
• Odds Watch: Recommends betting Raiders +330 to make the playoffs before odds shorten.
  • “The sixth longest odds of any team to make the playoffs…those odds are going to drop.” (24:50, Nick)

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3. Detroit Lions: Can They Break Through? (28:39–34:33)

• Summary: Discussing hype around the Lions, Nick expresses caution despite their talent, focusing on structural and psychological hurdles:
  • Loss of both coordinators.
  • Deterioration of a previously elite offensive line, with key retirements and free-agent departures.
  • Tough early schedule with no “let-up” games.
  • Psychological toll of repeated playoff heartbreaks, especially after last year’s stinging loss as the number one seed.
  • Cites history: Of four teams in the last decade to lose their first home playoff game as a #1 seed, three missed the playoffs the next season.
  • “Could I see the Lions going from 15–2 and the one-seed to 10–7 and a wild card? Absolutely.” (33:44, Nick)
• Jared Goff Limitation: Nick and Damanze stress that Goff’s struggles against pressure and off-script play could cap Detroit’s postseason ceiling.

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4. Chiefs BIG CHANGES? Mahomes and the Deep Passing Game (38:44–50:02)

• Summary: The hosts address Patrick Mahomes’ public desire to revive the deep-ball threat in Kansas City’s offense.
  • Mahomes’ Statement:
    “In order for our offense to be great, you have to be able to complete those [deep] passes…It opens up everything else.” (38:50, Mahomes clip)
  • Nick’s Chiefs Timeline:
    • Pre-2021: Known for prolific deep passing with Tyreek Hill.
    • Post-Hill: Offense shifts to more short-game, but remains productive.
    • 2023: Issues with injuries, OL struggles, and lack of consistent WR play reduce deep threats. Nonetheless, Mahomes elevates his game in the playoffs.
  • “It was a perfect storm of a boring offense for a 15-and-1 team.” (43:43, Nick)
• Looking Forward: Nick is optimistic—new OL investment, a healthy Hollywood Brown, and Rashid Rice’s return should reignite the big-play threat. Warns that ongoing struggles might signal a coordinator issue, but doubts Mahomes is declining.
  • Accountability Pie: (49:04–50:02)
    • Primary blame for last year’s deep-game woes: Offensive tackles.
    • Secondary: WR injuries.
    • Third: Mahomes’ own inconsistency early in the year.
    • Fourth: The pressure of pursuing a three-peat.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• About Evolving Takes:
  “People far too often get tied and married to their prior opinions. Cowherd’s the best at not doing this…change my mind.” (07:02, Nick)

• On Hurts’ Clutch Performance:
  "You can't point to a single game on those two deep playoff runs where Hurts wasn't good enough for them to win.” (09:10, Nick)

• Humorous Anecdote:
  “May I ask you a question?...Are you Jalen’s mother? And she said yes. And I was like, oh boy, we’re in a trickier spot than I had thought.” (05:37, Nick)

• On Mahomes’ Resilience:
  “He is just tactical with when he chooses to run…not as fast as Lamar, not as bruising as Josh, but tactical.” (16:48, Nick)

• On Shifting Quarterback Rankings:
  “What is the knock on Lamar? At this point, there’s only one left: he does not play his best in the postseason.” (11:22, Nick)

• Regarding Chiefs’ Offense:
  “If the offense is mediocre and boring again, then, yeah, I’d probably sound the alarm...Probably the coordinator.” (46:32, Nick)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:14 – Jalen Hurts in QB Rankings, "weak link" story
• 07:16 – Importance of updating sports opinions
• 09:30 – Hurts’ playoff performance and quarterback values
• 11:10 – Nick’s updated QB hierarchy
• 16:48 – How Mahomes compares as a rushing threat
• 22:04 – Raiders as Nick’s top sleeper playoff pick
• 27:42 – Raiders schedule breakdown and rationale
• 28:39 – Detroit Lions: strengths, concerns, and schedule analysis
• 38:44 – Mahomes wants to revive the Chiefs’ deep passing game
• 43:43 – Chiefs’ recent offensive shifts and playoff performance
• 49:04 – Accountability for Chiefs’ deep-passing struggles

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Tone & Style

The podcast is brimming with Nick Wright's signature mix of well-reasoned analysis, light-hearted self-deprecation, and direct, sports-bar conversational tone. He oscillates seamlessly between deep football nerdery and pop culture allusions, making complex team and player evaluations both digestible and compelling.

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Useful for Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode offers:

• Fresh context for this preseason’s hot debates
• Updated, nuanced quarterback pecking order
• A compelling case for the Raiders as an AFC sleeper
• Real talk about Detroit’s playoff obstacles
• Deep insight into Mahomes’ legacy and the Chiefs’ strategic shifts

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Transcript

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[A]

Welcome to the best of the Week for what's Right with Nick Wright. The best takes and moments from this week on the show. Enjoy.

[D]

So the yearly top tens have come out. First off, we've got the quarterbacks so executive coaches and scouts all vote on this. Patrick Mahomes, your guy was at number one. Weirdly enough, Jalen Hurts was number nine. Nick Sirianni was asked about this and it's Philly carried Jalen Hurts to the Super Bowl. Sirianni called bs. So what is this? Is this disrespectful? Obviously. Hertz has two Super bowl appearances in the last three years, 3710 in the last three seasons. What's. What's going on with that Justin Hertz.

[A]

So I do think it's. Yeah, so I do think it's disrespectful and I think that people have to be willing to move their opinion based on things that happen after you have formed your opinion. Like it is totally fine. And this is maybe self serving of me to say because I'm going to describe kind of my opinion evolution on Jalen Hurts. I think it is totally fine to be like, listen, there have. There were times last season that I thought the weak link of the Philadelphia Eagles offense was their quarterback. That and that can be. That was actually the exact. That exact opinion of mine. It was the subject of the animated more than a little awkward conversation I had the night before the super bowl with or two nights for the Super Bowl. One of them with Jalen's mother when she confronted probably too strong approached me and I at first didn't. If you guys didn't hear the story we were at a Super bowl party. I'm standing there, a woman walks up and she's like may I ask you a question? I said, yeah. And she was like, why do you talk so bad about Jalen Hurts? And then I'm like, well I don't know that I talk bad about him. And we. And she's like, no, you do. And then, you know, I give my defense of my take. She comes back and then about six, seven minutes into it, I say, Ms. May I may I ask you a question? She said yes. I said, are you Jalen's mother? And she said yes. And I was like, oh boy, we're in a. We're in a trickier spot than I had thought. And one of the things that I said to her, I was like, listen, I just, I want you to know the things I have said and the things I haven't said, right. For good or for bad. I was like, and something I have said that I'm sure you would think is totally unfair as I did call him the weak link of the Philly offense. I was like now contextually you should know. I did say that within the framework of they have a top three offensive line, a top three receiving core and a top one but top three running back. So it's if he just simply is not a top three quarterback in that framework he would be the weak link because everyone else is. But it so it wasn't that was calling the weak link of a bad team. However I was saying last year that I thought they were going to get in a spot demons a when they had to throw the football and they weren't going to be able to throw the football like those that was. And so that, and I would have last year had Jalen Hurts pretty firmly outside of my quarterback top 10, I absolutely would have. I don't think it is at all contradictory to then say, but then I watched the NFC championship game and the super bowl and his performance in those two games by itself made me totally reevaluate. And his consistent ability to play his best in the biggest spots, which is the most valuable trait a quarterback can have, made me reevaluate. Like. And so I think people far too often get tied and married to their prior opinions. Coward's the best at not doing this and, you know, shamelessly is the wrong word. But almost like he, he, he will have a adamant, strong, vociferous opinion and a week later be like, change my mind.

[D]

Like. And so new information, right?

[A]

And that's what he says. He's like, I got new information. And so, and I think that. So again, we've got to be careful about what we've said and whether. So if I said, and I did not, but if someone has said, I'm telling you this player will never be a top five quarterback, then it is a little tougher. You can still come back and be like, I was wrong, you know, but it's a, it's a little tougher. I don't think people at this point are fairly evaluating Jalen Hurts based on his ability to play his best in the biggest spots. And I think that that should whatever credit that people want to take away from him, I think fairly because he is not a guy that over the course of a season, if you built the offense around Jalen Hurts passing game, I don't think you'd have an elite offense. I think, and I do think that's fair to ding him for. I don't think that the negative credit he gets for that, what I believe is a fact, should outweigh the positive credit for the fact that we've seen him now on two deep playoff runs and you can't point to a single game or on those two deep playoff runs where you're like, ah, Herz wasn't good enough for them to win. Herz didn't do enough. Like, you just can't. And he had to go two years ago toe to toe with Patrick in a Super Bowl. He had the one fumble, which is why I thought Patrick outplayed him. But still, he played an A minus level game. The offense scored 35 points. He accounted for four touchdowns. And then last year he had to go toe to toe with Jaden Daniels in a playoff game when Daniels was the hottest quarterback in the league. Phillies offense scores 55 points. And then in the super bowl he has the fourth and five pass down the sideline. He wait, I think it was the NFC championship game. He had the 4th and 5 pass down the sideline. The super bowl was the kill shot start of the second half. He was great. And so go ahead, pal.

[D]

So where would you have him? Like you. Because you said you had him outside of the top 10 last year. With the information that you have now, where would you have him?

[A]

So I have a. I've developed a new opinion on how we have to rank the quarterbacks. I don't think that it is fair anymore to say it's a big four. And then we can debate after that that because so here's to me where I'm at going into and it can obviously change when a new season comes. Like the the new season has to matter. I believe the top three has to be in this order. Patrick, Josh, Lamar. I think that is the only. Because what is the knock on Lamar? And at this point there's only one left. He does not play his best in the postseason. And I'm not going to harp on that. I think that is, you know, two years ago folks were mad at me. I was making too big of a deal of it. Last year folks were annoyed with me. I was making too big of a deal with it. Going into this year, folks begrudgingly, without saying, it's like, okay, yeah, Nick clocked this the whole time that it was. And he showed some different.

[D]

I was just about to say Lamar didn't play badly, though. Lamar played pretty well. You might have had a rough first.

[A]

Half, but yeah, rough first half, the cost of the game. But it was still, I mean you're right, it wasn't. It wasn't as bad as some of the other. But again, I this is what I'm, what I'm about to say here is actually a defensive Lamar. My. The point I'm making is this Demons A. I do not think it is fair to penalize Lamar so much for bad playoff performances that he drops beneath the player who has not been in the playoffs the last two years in Joe Burrow. Like for all we know, Joe Cool had his emperor has no clothes moment with the playoff loss to Patrick Mahomes. And from now on in the playoffs, Burrow's just going to be a shaking shell of himself. But we haven't seen it because he hasn't been in the playoffs since then. Now to be clear, I think the odds of that are almost 0% that burrow all of a sudden is going to freak out in the playoffs. My point is you can't say Lamar playing poorly in the playoffs is worse than a guy not even getting to the playoffs. You just can't. And one of the other reasons that two years ago I had burrow ahead of Lamar firmly was Lamar's injury risk. Lamar the last two years, aside from his annual bout with the flu, Lamar's been incredibly durable and Joe's missed time and been banged up. So I think it has to and the I don't think I need to defend Mahomes being number one. But the argument against him is he hasn't had the go the last two years gaudy regular season numbers. The problem is anyone you want to put up against him he then has played in the playoffs and thoroughly outplayed and beaten them. So it's not just his team is one he has played better than Josh in both the playoff games the last two years he has played better than Lamar. He. He is so it's just not it's Mahomes has to be one I think Josh right now do you deand you're the Lamar guy. Do you think it's fair to have Josh too?

[D]

Yeah, yeah I do.

[A]

I think it's fair like I think.

[D]

It'S I think it's pretty close but yeah and then Lamar after it's and.

[A]

Then Lamar 3 just be beat him in the playoffs so it's right and last you know Josh won mvp. Lamar could have Jo you know the so I that's where so here's my point and the reason I said all of that. I think it is fair if somebody says Joe Burrow's four by the way I probably agree with him for the record but if somebody says to Monze Jalen hurts is four and what you're losing in the prolific stats Joe Burrow gives you you're adding in toughness, availability, the tush push and huge playoff moments. And Joe's biggest accomplishment ever is being one and one against Patrick in AFC championship games and Jalen's one and one against Patrick in Super Bowls. So my the point I'm trying to make is when you say it's a big four, you're saying you can't argue anyone outside of that top four is better than anyone in it. And I don't think you could make a credible argument even with all the flowers I've given to Jalen hurts right now that Jalen's better than Lamar, Josh or Patrick. I do think you can make an argument over Joe and I love Joe, but he's. He starts here slowly. He does have now Jalen has this as well, obviously. Embarrassment of riches on the outside catching the ball. And I do think that there is a He probably has us. The fact that Josh, Patrick and Lamar are three of the most dynamic and successful rushing threats the position has ever seen has to count. And people might say Nick Patrick's not in that class. Not in the regular season. But if you look at quarterback, career yards per carry, playoff yard rushing yards, playoff rushing touchdowns. If you remove kneel downs, Patrick's right there and he's had iconic, you know, so that he's kind of more tactical with it choosing. Yeah, say it again.

[D]

He's more tactical with when he chooses.

[A]

To run well and I just don't. He's not as fast as Lamar and he's not as bruising and big as Josh, so he has to be more so if you're here is what my rankings would look like if I were doing it. I would go 1 Patrick 2, Josh 3, Lamar 4, Joe 5, Stafford 6. Jalen hurts 7 with an asterisk of. It's probably too early, but I give it to him. Jaden Daniels 8, Baker. And then it gets trickier.

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NFL is a month away, so it's time to talk futures. Is there anything that you see on the horizons that you like? Division, super bowl winner, yards?

[A]

Listen, we're gonna do our full blown gambling show, you know, late August and it really went. If you're new to the pod this year, you know, in the last few months, football's when we really cook. We got our gambling shows. We got a lot. The Monze is dialed where I am still. By the way, Connor and Paul out are friends with the volume and with DraftKings. If we could send DraftKings this official on the record plea. I do not. We by the way, I'm putting this out there. This is, this is what we would call a value add. I don't want a single extra dollar in our wonderful partnership with DraftKings. Not what I'm looking for. But if we could, in addition to in football season when you know, I'll give you my five plays of the week, if we could also have a bonus thing and maybe even create a cool little graphic like we have for mine. One teaser a week. We have to come up with a snappy name for it. But if you don't know Damanze last year I think hit like seven in a row. He's turned into a bit of a teaser expert. If we could have somewhere. I don't care if it's buried. I don't care if you have to click 17 different links to get to it somewhere on there. Damanze's NFL teaser of the week. It would really be a special moment for this podcast. So all that's coming. Go ahead.

[D]

I mean that'd be like one of my, one of my greatest achievements outside of hidden 73s in a row that one time.

[A]

Oh yeah, we did. That's a sidebar. We can get to that in a minute. But it would be great and it would also be awesome for some of Damanze's high school and college buddies who are regular DraftKings users for them to be scrolling and to see the Dean teaser. It would really, it would, it would be awesome. And so we're pulling over the moon in. In the meantime, there is one bet that I think the odds are going to shift because I think this team is going to become a popular sleeper pick and I have no loyalty if you will when it comes to gambling now. I obviously will. There are certain things I won't do, like I won't bet against the Chiefs, but it doesn't mean I bet on the Chiefs every time. A couple years ago I told you guys one of my favorite preseason win totals was the Broncos over five and a half wins. I can't stand the Broncos and by the way, I think they're one of the most overrated teams in the league this year. It actually kind of plays into why I like this bet. But I thought that they were great value over five and a half wins. They ended up winning I think eight games. The sixth longest odds of any team to make the playoffs. Far worse odds than the Panthers. Better odds than only the Titans, the Jets, the Giants, the Saints and the Browns are a team that I believe is going to make the playoffs and I believe these odds are going to between now and the start of the year drop from plus 330 to like plus two 90. And that is the Las Vegas Raiders. The Las Vegas Raiders going from a head coach in Antonio Pierce that was just out of his depth to Pete Carroll going from maybe the worst quarterback situation in the league to Geno Smith with Brock Bowers in year two and Ashton Genty in year one and Carol coaching up that secondary and a last place schedule that includes games against. This is not just all strength of schedule games but on the Raiders schedule are the Patriots, the Titans, the Browns, the Giants, the. I skipped over a couple. Oh well, ones that I won't necessarily think are easy but you guys might. The Bears, the Jags, Colts, I, the, the Texans late in the year, a team that I worry about a bit. Four games against maybe the slightly overrated Chargers and the considerably overrated Broncos. Did I mention the Colts game in there? They have on their entire schedule aside from the Chiefs. Oh, I, they play the Cowboys. Like here's the Raiders schedule. Patriots, Chargers, Commanders, Bears, Colts, Titans, Chiefs, Jags, Broncos, Cowboys, Browns, Chargers, Broncos, Eagles, Texans, Giants, Chiefs. They have three monster games, Chiefs and Eagles. Five simple games in my opinion and then nine we'll see games that team absolutely can get to nine or 10 wins and sneak into the playoffs.

[D]

And, and if the Chiefs are in good, in a good state at that year, at that time of the year, it could be a free game for them.

[A]

Well that's the other thing. If you are in the AFC west you always hope that one of your two Chiefs games is that week 17 Chiefs game because about half the time the Chiefs are resting people that week. Half the time they got to go for it. Like it could be bad that where oh man the Chiefs need this game for you know, playoff positioning. But about half the time they have everything locked.

[D]

The Raiders play the Chiefs pretty well anyways too. I feel like previously they have they hang around sometimes.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah and they beat them on Christmas two years ago. So the Raiders plus 3:30 to make the playoffs. That is my early first NFL season.

[D]

Long bet Lions are confident that this is the year that they get over the hump with David Montgomery calling it their year of reckoning. How do you see this season going for Detroit?

[A]

I'd be a little nervous to Monze so here's so listen I don't think I think they have too much talent to be bad but here are the to me ominous signs so to speak. First one is one that always matters. Lost both coordinators like that is one that during a season when a team is struggling we're like oh change coordinators but we don't do a good enough job in the off season of you know what I mean reminding folks lost Aaron Glenn, lost Ben Johnson. So that to me is first concern. Second concern their center retired. They lost their best guard in free agency. So it looks like they're going to slide their worst offensive lineman who was their right guard last year whatever guard Zeitler wasn't over to center and then be starting a second year sixth round pick and probably a rookie second round pick at their two guard spots. So they where offensive line has been maybe their single biggest position of strength as of you know in this Jared Goff Dan Campbell era. Now that interior of the offensive line might be the biggest weakness of the team and that can nothing makes Jared Goff go from man. Jared Goff has been really good to pumpkin mode like up the middle pressure because he just doesn't have the athleticism to escape or be creative. It's if it's on time and it's what it's supposed to see. He's really good but if you can get pressure on him up the middle it can be really deadly for him. And so that's a concern. The tougher division this year to me is a and I shouldn't say tougher because last year it Was really good. The Vikings were excellent, packers were good. But again another tough division. That's concerning. And here's the other piece to Monze for a team last year that was 15 and 2. Here's their opening seven games which is before their buy at the packers, home for the Bears. Ben Johnson at the Ravens, home for the Browns, layup at Cincy at the Chiefs, home for the Bucks. Man that and by the way, it's just a schedule that you never can take a breath like there's their first seven, then a bye week, then home for Tampa, home for the Vikings at the Commanders, at the Eagles, home for the Giants. Okay. Home for the packers, home for the Cowboys at the Rams, home for the Steelers. Okay. At the Vikings, at the Bears. And so could I see the lions going from 15 and two and the one seed to 10 and seven in a wild card? Absolutely. And so I, I, I think they're good, I think they're talented. Gibbs is a star. Having Hutchinson back will be great. But I don't look, I think the Lions losing both coordinators, the loss of the offensive lineman that they've had, I still feel like they, I'm not as big on Jameson Williams as maybe others are. I, I, I wonder how that horrific playoff game has sat with golf all off season. I wonder how back to back years of just gut punch postseason losses, you know, has sat with them. All of that is concerning to me and in that loss last year was we had a graphic on the TV show yesterday of number one seeds the last decade to lose their first home playoff game. And it was the, the Cowboys Dax rookie year. The Ravens Lamar's first year as a full time starter. The Titans with Tannehill and the packers with Aaron Rodgers in that his second to last year there in the, the crazy like 13 to 10 game or whatever in the snow against San Francisco. So by the way, three of those teams the next year missed the playoffs. The Ravens made the playoffs and lost in the divisional round like so you have a 17 point lead in the conference championship game. You blow it, you come back the next year, you're even better, you're the one seed and a rookie quarterback comes to your stadium and waxes you and your quarterback plays his worst game in a couple years. That's all ominous if you ask me for the Lions. Do you think that's fair? I know you think you thought I'm a little too low on the Lions historically.

[D]

Oh well no, I do think that. I mean you said they lost their, their interior lineman but just just Jared Goff as well. Like I thought it's like a, I don't want to say ominous, but a limitation to winning the Super Bowl. That's what it sounds like they're talking about. And like you need to see him, you know, win that playoff game or do like that was a rookie that you got that done too by. But, but yeah.

[A]

And it was. And it, I mean Washington just, they were flowing blast them that game. Yeah. I mean and that was the Lion. Now the Lions defense was banged devastated by injury and we know that. But I, I also am a little worried what version of Aiden Hutchinson we're going to see at least at the beginning of the year. So I think all that's fair. Hey guys, talk to you about my friends at Boost Mobile ever signed up for a phone plan thinking, wow, great price. And then a few months later, it's like, surprise, bill's even higher. With Boost mobile, you pay $25 a month forever. That's unlimited talk, text and data starting at just $25 a month. No price hikes, no contract forever. Plus, Boost Mobile is now a legit nationwide 5G network. They've invested billions building 5G towers across the country. Visit boost mobile.com or head to your local Boost store today and get unlimited talk, text and data for $25 a month, free forever. 5G speeds not available in all areas. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slow, slower speeds. Customers will pay 25amonth as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.

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Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Dan, he's Ty. Hello. And we're the Solid Verbal College Football Podcast.

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[D]

So Mahomes has come out and said that he wants Kansas City to get back to that deep passing game. Here's what he had to say.

[C]

I think for me, I got to be better at throwing the ball down the field. I mean, obviously that we weren't good enough there. We've had success in prior years, but these last few years we haven't done that. And in order for our offense to be great, you have to be able to complete those passes. It opens up everything else. And so the teams are going to challenge us at the line of scratch. If teams are going to challenge us throw the ball deep, we have to show that we can do that. And if we can do that first starts with me and giving guys chances. But if we can do that, I think it's going to really open up the offense and make us a better team in general.

[D]

So the combination of him saying that and Xavier were these comments from a little bit ago. If they can't do it this year, is it time to sound the alarm? Is a little bit of a problem because it's clear that they want to do it.

[A]

Yeah, I think that's fair that if they can't. So it's. It's very interesting. So let me kind of go through the timeline of the Mahomes, what we on first things first call light show and the Mahomes eras. Right. So obviously 2018-2019-2020-2021. Um, it's just laser show throwing deep, you know, all this stuff. 2021 ends with overtime against the Bengals. Mahomes throws deep to Tyreek Hill, hits Tyreek in the hands on third and long and Tyreek pops it in the air. Bengals pick it off. Bengals go to the Super Bowl. Then tyreek gets traded 2022 with a juju Smith led receiving core along with obviously Travis Kelsey Patrick. Mahomes throws for more yards in a single season than any player in the history of the league. Is the first player to win league MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same season since Kurt Warner. And the Chiefs win their second Super bowl, scoring 38 points against the league's number one defense in the Super Bowl. Okay, that year they were a prolific offense, but it was a lot of short stuff. It wasn't so much bombs because they didn't have the personnel, but the yardage and touchdowns and scoring was, was crazy. So nobody really paid attention to it. 2023 there is, and obviously, I don't know if I said this part, they trade Tyree Kill, you know, after 2021. And so the offense changes in that regard. 2023, the Chiefs have, you know, their first bad two months of the Mahomes year. They lose five out of eight, I think it was. They have to play on the road. The receivers, you know, set records for drops. And then despite that, Mahomes plays a perfect postseason culminating in and back to back drives in the super bowl at the end of regulation and then in overtime that are just surgical dink and dunk short passes up the field resulting in the walk off touchdown. Right. Then last year happens and last year's a little bit of everything. Beginning of the year, Demons A Mahomes was just off. If you remember, it was like five games in a Row where he threw a pick. But, but they were, they weren't unlucky picks. They weren't, they weren't. Oh like he was trying to do too much. It was like where were you throwing it? Like, what did you see that? You know, it was, it was very un. Mahomes like. But they won all the games anyway. They. Then they, they went into last year saying we're going to have, you know, a legitimate receiving cor again. They sign Hollywood Brown. They really liked what Rasheed Rice was doing. At the end of the year, they draft Xavier Worthy and then by week four, Hollywood Brown's been out, hasn't played for him yet. Rashid blows out his knee and Xavier Worthy, God love him. But at that time of the year, if you remember, couldn't figure out where the out of bounds line was on the field. They, when they did go deep, Mahomes throw it, he would catch it and then he'd have a foot out of bounds or not, you know, not get his feet in whatever it is on. So you add Mahomes struggling for the first time in his career of his own doing. You had the most injured receiving core in football where they have to bring juju back after he gets cut from the Patriots. You also have a rotation at your left tackle position and the Chiefs worst tackle play of the Mahomes era. And then you also have on top of all of it, this quest for a three peat and this odd season where the defense kept as long as the offense didn't kill him. And even when the offense did kill him, the defense kept him in every game. And then Mahomes was Mahomes late and it seemed like he was just like, you know what? I don't want to. I can't trust the offensive line. All my receivers are hurt. Kelsey's getting older. Yeah, all of this and I'm just going to dink and dunk and I'm not going to take any. All of that. So it was a perfect storm of a boring offense for a 15 and one team. And that seemed by the way to change immediately come the playoffs right when they put up big numbers against Houston and Buffalo. And then it all fell apart in the super rule. So all of those things to me had to happen. The pressure of going for the three peat, the rotation at left tackle, the wide receiver, injuries, Mahomes and again fairs fair. I would imagine of Mahomes entire career, the off season where he was maybe if we were to rank him from most dialed in to least I would imagine the off Season after the back to back championships, nobody, you know, the. We, we, everybody thought we were drawing dead, couldn't win on the road, and then I clipped everyone. And by the way, my best friend is now dating the world's most famous woman and we're all partying together, you know what I mean? And maybe there was a little feeling of nothing could go worse than last year in 2023 for us and we won the super bowl anyway, you know, so all of that to me led to the offense that we saw. So I would think, and I would hope that none of these things apply this year. So how dialed in will Mahomes be? Well, how dialed in has he been in the few seasons that haven't ended in massive success?

[D]

Cut his hair.

[A]

20 cut his hair, but also 2018, lost in the playoffs the next year, came back one league MVP, 2020, got the crap kicked out of him in the super bowl. Came back and was awesome and then had, you know, that bad half against Cincinnati and at the end of the AFC Championship game and came back in 2022 and had one of the greatest seasons any quarterbacks ever had. So I think Mahomes will be dialed. I think the Chiefs getting Josh Simmons at pick 32 as a potential franchise left tackle is as big of an off season move as any team made. Xavier Worthy came into his own at the end of the year. Hollywood Brown is now healthy, they will at some point have Rashid back. And it feels like Kelsey should be a little spryer than last year. All of the. And I didn't even mention last year the Chiefs were down to their fourth string running back so quickly they had to bring back Kareem Hunt. So, you know, barring a spade of injuries or me being wrong about Simmons, I say all that to say, yeah, if the offense is mediocre and boring again, then yeah, I probably. Where would I sound the alarm? Probably the coordinator. Because I don't think anyone's gonna think like, oh, my home's not good anymore. And so. But I don't think that's gonna happen. And I think that there was. And it was such a weird thing to Monze last year because it was. It would have been the offense was not playing great, Mahomes was not playing his best. They had all these issues, but they had the best record in the league every single week of the season. So it would have kind of felt weird to be like, let's change it up significantly, you know what I mean? What they were doing was working and they were peaking at the end of the year. And then it all came crashing down.

[D]

Big debate last year.

[A]

Say it again.

[D]

That was a big debate. Like them playing all those close games. It was like, what's going on? Um, but I mean that. Because you said that you would put it on the coordinators if you had to make an accountability pie on who was responsible, like if the. On the deep game.

[A]

Yeah. So I mean, no, I. To be clear, I'm saying if it happens again, I would put it maybe on the coordinator because so last year, to me, the single biggest culprit was actually the tackle play. So that's. I attack because Mahomes just didn't. Because people would say the receivers got hurt. And that's true. But I've seen Mahomes, when he has time, throwing bombs to Justin Watson and DeMarcus Robinson. So I would say the biggest slice goes to the tackle play, which is why they made a big investment in that. And their biggest off season signing was Jalen Moore and they drafted Josh Simmons in the first round. The second biggest reason would be the Rasheed Rice injury and the other receiver injuries. The third biggest to me would be Mahomes not being as sharp as he wanted at the beginning of the year and the fourth biggest would be just kind of the building pressure of the three people.

[B]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to deals time where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Lindor, Oreo Lays, Celsius, Cottonelle and Snapple. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pickup or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

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This is an iHeart podcast.