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00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to Know Your Foe, an in-depth look at the upcoming matchup. Here are your hosts, Casey Vallier and Colts Ring of Honor wide receiver Bill Brooks.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Well, it is time for Know Your Foe, where we dive into the upcoming Colts opponent. I'm your host, Casey Vallier, joined as always by Colts Ring of Honor wide receiver Bill Brooks. And this week, the Colts, they play on the road in primetime on Sunday Night Football. They travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs and to help get us up to date on everything involving the Kansas City Chiefs. We are joined by Jesse Newell, who covers the Chiefs for The Athletic. Jesse, I want to start right at the top, which it seems like every time you talk about the Kansas City Chiefs, the first guy you talk about is Patrick Mahomes. And he's coming off the ACL injury. So before what we saw on Monday, how has that progression been of him kind of getting back up to speed with that knee injury into the regular season with Patrick Mahomes?
00:00:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, he just attacked this thing. Basically, I think nobody else has attacked it. When he gets surgery in mid-December, the day after he suffered the ACL injury, which allowed him to recover a little bit quicker, I talked to Zach Ertz, the tight end who's looking for an NFL team still, who had surgery for his ACL the very same day as Patrick Mahomes. They were texting each other back and forth, and he was just telling me, oh my gosh, Patrick attacked this thing. They were coming up with competitions with each other. see who could bend their knee first, how the doctors were, you know, what they were saying to them, all that stuff. So everything turned into like a day-by-day game to Patrick Mahomes, and it was pretty crazy when in OTAs, you know, five months later, he was out there. You know, he wasn't doing full drills, full team drills, but, you know, that's pretty quick, five months after surgery to be out there. But a big test came for him right before training camp. He went back down to Dr. Dan Cooper in Dallas and had him do a stress test on his knee. Patrick has been doing those exercises, but to get cleared for full practices, he had to pass this. He ended up passing it. And so he took every first-team rep in training camp, and so he sat off of preseason games. But this has been mostly Patrick Mahomes ever since he came back. So it's been pretty amazing to watch, and the people in the building have been amazed by it as well. But he basically gave up his whole summer training-wise to be able to get back for his teammates and for the Kansas City Chiefs. And sure enough, he was back week one, and the Chiefs were able to get a victory.
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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, that doesn't really surprise you when you're talking about a guy who's arguably the greatest quarterback to ever do it. He's competing at the highest level. It doesn't shock me that he came back pretty quick and made sure every day was kind of a competition. Now, sticking with what we saw on Monday night, it looked like maybe a little bit different approach. Maybe it was how the game kind of dictated everything, but do you anticipate the offense looking a little different now with Mahomes as he's kind of working his way back? We saw Kenneth Walker have a heavy dose in the run game.
00:02:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a few-pronged thing there. So the Chiefs were what you wouldn't expect, which is run first, I talk with Kingley Sumati in the locker room afterwards, left guard, and he said, that's Chief football, that's bully ball, that's smash mouth ball. And I'm going, that's not Chief football. That's not what we normally know. But I will say, they love Kenneth Walker, and Kenneth Walker was mostly a two-down back for Seattle, splitting time with Zach Charbonnet, but the Chiefs see him as a three-down back. So they want to utilize him. They've been really impressed by what he did in training camp and how he can catch screen passes, pass protect, and obviously break tackles like no Chief running back could a year ago. But part of that was trying to take pressure off of two guys. One of those guys was Mahomes, who we talked about, who had not been out on the field for nine months ever since his ACL injury. So you sort of want to ease him back into things. And I do think at times he looks pretty unsure of himself out there and unsure of his protection. But that's because of item number two, which is the Chiefs left tackle situation. And the Chiefs started Khalil Benson at left tackle. And it's just an amazing story, guys. It's amazing, but not an amazing story you want if you're the Chiefs, which is It was the first undrafted rookie to start under Andy Reid in his 14 years with the Chiefs. He starts at left tackle. He played right tackle at Indiana. He played zero college snaps at left tackle and ends up starting week one in the NFL as an undrafted rookie at left tackle.
00:04:01
Speaker 4: For the Chiefs.
00:04:02
Speaker 3: So I do think Mahomes had a little bit of happy feedback there. He was wondering where the pressure was coming from and didn't really trust those guys enough. I think he's hoping for better in Week 2, but that run game really did take a lot of load off of the Chiefs' offense that did not look very good in the passing game in Week 1 because of all the things I described and that sort of operation not really coming together as they'd hoped.
00:04:22
Speaker 4: Now you just talked about the running game for the Kansas City Chiefs and Walker and how he played on Monday night. What stood out to you about how they used Walker? And looking ahead, what does a player like that add to the offense that maybe changes how defenses have to approach KC?
00:04:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, again, if we're going back to Andy Reid's schematic things that we know about him, we know he loves to throw the football, but we also know he's been a shotgun guy for a long time. The Chiefs went under center a
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ton last week, and this is not something they have done in recent years, but it's because it plays to Kenneth Walker's strengths. You can run both left and right with that. You can have more variation in the running game. I also looked this up through Sumer Sports, and the Chiefs had 17 gap-type runs. And for people out there listening, gap-type runs is when you get downhill. You're pushing guys down the line of scrimmage. You know, your power-type plays. They had 17 of those last game, week one, against the Broncos. The high for last season was 13, and it was like four or five higher than any other game that season. So the Chiefs almost doubled up their highest run total when you come to downhill sorts of runs last week against the Broncos. So they really have... changed up their offense to cater this thing around not only Kenneth Walker, but also their interior three in their offensive line who are great at mashing downhill. I talked about Kingsley Salatia at left guard. You talk about Creed Humphrey and all pro at center and Trey Smith, one of the richest right guards out there. So they really have revolutionized themselves in that way. And you'll see a lot more under center, a lot more downhill run type game from the Chiefs. But again, for this thing to look like they want it to, you still have to have Patrick Mahomes. You still have to have the passing game. And so That's got to be better against the Colts, even if the Chiefs, you know, want to come away with a victory because some things fell their way against the Broncos in terms of game flow where they didn't have to drop back and pass. They didn't have to put a bunch of pressure, you know, on their tackles. But I'd assume that's going to have to happen here in this week, too, in that you get a little bit of a different game flow. Some of these things you're going to have to show you can do. And the Chiefs are going to have to show they can throw the football if they want to beat the Colts coming up on Sunday.
00:06:18
Speaker 4: Now, you talk about the pass game now. A long time of rhetoric in on the candidacy chiefs travis kelsey is no longer young play they once was when cancel you was uh... in the heyday now we can see the absolute needs a play with his third down a late in the fourth quarter is kelsey still mahomes first look or have we seen that responsibility spread elsewhere in the offense.
00:06:39
Speaker 3: Yet early to know uh... again that he's if you back in with was back in denver i mean we really didn't see much at all uh... but the longest had she did have on a crucial third downplay was Travis Kelsey, who beat his man, broke a tackle, and got 59 yards downfield before getting tackled right before the end zone. So I think your answer there is it's too early to know. He obviously is a reliable third down target, and those guys kind of have a mind meld from working with each other for so long that you like that. But for this Chiefs offense to be the best version of itself,
I think eventually you have to move away from that. You want somebody else to be able to win against man coverage on third down to be that reliable option, and you don't want Travis Kelty will be 37 in a month to have to be the savior for you, and you can see it out there. He's lost a step, and that's going to happen with any tight end at age 36, 37, compared to the peers that are around them. So, yeah, whether it's Cyrus Allen, I think he only got one snap. He's a fifth-round pick for the Chiefs, but kind of a man-coverage-beating specialist out there. Or Rasheed Rice, he didn't separate much, but he had a touchdown after he broke a couple tackles against the Broncos. I think finding one of those other guys would be beneficial for the Chiefs, but... Until somebody else takes that role from Travis Kelsey, Mahomes is going to look Kelsey's way, and he definitely looked Kelsey's way in Week 1 against the Broncos, and a big play came because of that.
00:07:55
Speaker 2: We're talking with Jesse Newell, covers the Chiefs for the Athletic. Now, looking over at the defensive side of the ball, Spaggs is one of the most brilliant defensive minds in the league and has been that way for a long time. And I know we're going to kind of dive into personnel right after this question, but it doesn't really matter to me, seemingly, who plays on his squad. He seemingly has a plan. for all of these guys to work individually within the scheme and gets the most out of them, what makes him so good at being able to adapt to whatever personnel he has defensively?
00:08:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, he's done it for so long. He's probably, hopefully, I think for people around here, he's going to end up in the Hall of Fame as a coordinator, which is not something that's really happened before. But he's also unpredictable. You know, you go back and look at the very first snap of the Broncos game, the Chiefs send a double corner blitz and get a sack out of it. Week one, game one, he's starting like three or four rookies out there, guys. He doesn't know if he can trust yet, and they're just sending the house. No big deal, guys. Just go out there and get them. But I think that his players really reflect that aggressive mindset. He's not afraid to call something in a moment, even in a big moment. I've looked in the past. He's gone cover zero, which is bringing everybody no safety help more than other teams in the past, more than other defenses. So I think he just really does. He's unpredictable. He they'll have Chris Jones dropping coverage. He'll have, I think that very first snap when I talked about the double corner blitz, Kyra's talking to the chiefs, he's no tackle dropping coverage. So he's not afraid to have these guys ask them to do different things so that they can mix up their looks and be unpredictable for, for quarterbacks. So I think the way that he caters himself to his people and that the strength that they have obviously has been a strength of his over time, but
It's also something a little bit different. I mean, the Chiefs' defense, we're not talking enough about it. They really dominated this game against the Broncos, and I think a lot of that goes back to some of the personnel they brought in and some of the draft picks they have. Those guys hit right away and really flashed towards a potential ceiling the Chiefs did not have a season ago on that side of the football.
00:09:55
Speaker 4: Now, Jesse, a player Coach Spaggs wants to get the most out of is rookie R.
00:09:59
Speaker 1: May.
00:10:00
Speaker 4: Thomas, who was another pass rusher on the outside across from George Karloffis. How important is he going to be to this pass rush this season?
00:10:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, real quick lesson for you, for everyone out there, for why it's his name really, R. Mason Thomas, R space Mason Thomas. It is His mom, the family always had boy names that started with R, but she liked the name Mason, so decided R, space, Mason Thomas. So that's how you have the name, and then that's the history lesson you need for everybody wondering at the cookout why this guy's name is R. Mason Thomas. But, no, he's the guy that the Chiefs have just not had, this speed rusher, this blur around the edge, and he had this amazing sacking at the Broncos week one where he kind of spun back into Bo Nix, and it's the type of ability we just haven't seen from the Chiefs We talk about Spagnuolo has preferences. Usually his preference for defensive ends has been the Carlosas type, the guy you can stay on the field for rundowns, you know, really stout there, strong guys, will kind of collapse the pocket slowly and can stay on the field for 80% of snaps. This is really different for them to have an R. Mason Thomas type where mostly you bring him on for passing downs, mostly can be a blur around the edge, but the Chiefs were so, so bad on third downs a year ago and it really cost them so many games in the season where they went one and nine in one score games, they needed this sort of juice off the edge. So, yeah, our Mason Thomas will be one to watch, especially in those passing downs, because it's crazy kind of following his rise, because he went to Oklahoma, he has these sort of pass rushing skills, and he's also super close friends with Nick Benito of the Denver Broncos. And so I think if you see flashes of him on the outside, that's a person he models his game after and is very close with. And so it was very interesting to see him go against Benito in week one and show some of those flashes, because if the Chiefs get that type of player to add to their already star-filled or at least very good player-filled lineup with guys like Carl Loftus and Chris Jones, then I think you're getting somewhere. And obviously, that sort of specialist type on third down is something they haven't had and that really flashed in that first game against the Broncos.
00:11:55
Speaker 4: Now, Jesse, last question for me. Another rookie, Montsour Delane, who was taking six overall, I expect to be a top-end corner for the Chiefs. But with the injury to his shoulder, how much did that change what the Chiefs want to do defensively?
00:12:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the the fact of the matter is the chiefs had their first top 10 pick in a decade with the number nine pick. And then they traded up to go get Montreux to lane at number six and gave up additional wrap drop resources. So they love this kid. They love his competitiveness. They love his, you'll see him. If he gets out there, it's sort of an alpha dog type mentality where he's screaming after plays and getting after guys and a good teammate. So they love everything about him, but yeah, he battled the shoulder injury. throughout training camp and was slow to get back. And then, yeah, after that interception, he injured it again. So, you know, I'd be very surprised if he played against the Colts here. But next man up for the Chiefs, and they put in Christian Fulton, and I think he worked out just fine. He's a guy that's played with the Chargers before. He's been an NFL starter. But I think this goes back to your Spag talk earlier, which is for him to have so many corners that he can go to, we know this is Spag's specialty is the defensive back and be able to coach those guys up. And for a guy like Christian Fulton to step right in and for the Chiefs to not really see much down dip when he was able to go in there, I'd anticipate that's how they roll against the Colts on Sunday. And if that happens, I just don't anticipate a huge step back just because of the way they teach up their corners and the way those guys are able to perform if it is next man up.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: There you go. Jesse Newell covers the Chiefs for the Athletic. Jesse, I'm literally looking forward to this game on Sunday. It's always fun for the Colts to play in primetime games. I know for you that seems to be the norm, but here in Indianapolis we don't get too many of those. So looking forward to Sunday. Thank you so much for the time.
00:13:34
Speaker 3: All right, appreciate it.