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Birds Weekly: Ray Didinger, Derrick Gunn Preview Week 2 "Super Bowl Rematch" Between Eagles, Chiefs · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome the Birds Weekly, presented by the Inside
• 0:13
  the Birds Network. That man, right, there's Hall of Famer.
• 0:15
  Raid didn't drum, Derek Gunn?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: All right?
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  Speaker 1: Eagles are putting the Dallas Cowboys behind them. They are
• 0:19
  now looking ahead to their next opponent, the Super Bowl
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  runner up, the Kansas City Chiefs. And oh my goodness,
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  the Chiefs have something to prove because they are licking
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  their wounds after losing their season opener to the Los
• 0:32
  Angeles Chargers twenty seven to twenty one. Ray, I watched
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  that game. I'm assuming you watch some of it, if
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  not all of it. Were you a little bit shot
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  the way that game turned itself out? Because basically Kansas
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  City hadn't beaten, had not lost to the Chargers since
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  what twenty twenty one, something like that.
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  Speaker 2: New day, New era, I guess in the AFC West.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the Chiefs just owned Chargers, and I don't know,
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  I guess just you just I just assumed that was
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  gonna happen again, you know, I mean, I forget the
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  points spread.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, the Chiefs always beat the Chargers, and.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it doesn't matter if they're playing them in
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  Kansas City, Arrowhead, if they're playing them in La, if
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  you're playing them in San Diego, or if they're playing
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  them in Brazil. I didn't, you know, I don't think
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  it's going to matter. It's the Chiefs, if the Chargers,
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  the Chiefs are going to find a way to win.
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  The way the game went down, yeah, I was surprised.
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  I was surprised. Now, obviously the Chiefs are a little
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  short handed offensively. You know, Rice is suspended for six games.
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  He's their best and you know, and Worthy is their
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  best receiver probably, and he goes out with an injury,
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  early shoulder injury. Yeah, and so that now, all of
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  a sudden, you still got Patrick Mahomes. But who's he
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  throwing the ball to other than Kelsey. So the game
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  was a little different in that respect. And honestly, in
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  the second half it looked to me like the Chiefs
• 2:01
  are coming on, and I thought, you know, they're going
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  to find a way to win this thing. But at
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  the end, you know, the Chargers put together that last
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  drive where they just took the ball and they just
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  kept it away and put the game away.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, that's that's about as good a game as.
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  Speaker 3: I've seen Herbert play. I thought Herbert was really really good,
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  and the way the Chargers attacked the Chiefs, I think
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  it sort of gives the Eagles a lot to study
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  going into that game next week, because what you saw
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  was Herbert with all of those quick throws, short throws,
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  you know, get the ball out of their hands in
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  a hurry. I mean, the Chiefs just couldn't deal with that.
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  I mean their secondary was not good, their safety play
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  was terrible, and the quick throw ban bing bing bang
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  looked like you could do that against them all day.
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  Speaker 4: And it seems to me that that's if the Eagles
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  have that.
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  Speaker 3: It looked like the Chiefs that the Chargers kind of
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  laid that blueprint out there for the Eagles, and I
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  expect the Eagles to come into them and and have
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  that kind of a game. I think that that I
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  think I could see Hurts spreading the ball around, you know,
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  getting a J. Brown involved like early and often, and
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  Smith too, and having a pretty big game throwing the ball.
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  Because the chief secondary. We talk a lot about the
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  Eagles secondary having some problems. I think what you saw
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  that what you saw on Friday night was the chief
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  secondary's got their issues too.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: I think what what Justin Herbert did, was he mahomes
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  the Kansas City defense that last defining play where he
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  took off and ran for the first down to seal
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  the win. I think that's a maturation process in him
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  as well. His decision making number one, he was pinpoint
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  accurate throughout the course of the game. You're right, lightning
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  quick release the way Mahomes usually has a lightning quick release,
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  and his ability to scramble to by time or to
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  run if he had to. And I don't know if
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  the Kansas City defense was ready for that version of
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  Justin Herbert.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I don't think they were. And you know,
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  Steve Spagnola, the defensive corner in Kansas City, is really
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  one of the best in terms of adjusting within the
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  game to what's happening within the game, and Herbert.
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  Speaker 4: Managed to stay one step ahead of him all the way.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, right down to that last possession that really
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  put the game away, and then of course that out
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  of the pocket scramble get that last first down where
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  they could just run out the clock. Was you know,
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  that was a big, big step forward game for Herbert.
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  You know, I mean he's been in a league a
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  while now, he's put up some numbers. Everybody loves his talent.
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  I do too. I mean, he's a tremendously talented kid,
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  but he needs to have that kind of game. He
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  needs to have that kind of season to step up
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  among the elite guys because I think he has that
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  kind of talent and that was a very impressive performance
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  for him. And to win that game against a team
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  that they have had no luck with for years is
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  a great way for the Chargers to start this season.
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  I mean, going into the season, Gunner, I don't know
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  what you think one of the Chargers. I didn't have
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  particularly high hopes for them. I neither, you know. I thought,
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  you know, I could they win ten games, yeah, maybe
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  get to the playoffs. Yeah, but there's is there a
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  feeling there that you know, they could play with the Baltimore's,
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  the Buffalo's, the Chiefs like in a big game. I
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  wasn't feeling it. You know. After what we saw on
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  Friday night, maybe we got to start thinking about that.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: I look at that that that Chargers defense. They are fast,
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  and man do they laid a lumber when they hit.
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  You know, Derwin James is the Kamakaze pilot you know,
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  and and you know, one of the hardest hitting guys
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  on the back end of a defense, and they just
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  flew to the ball. And boy did they attack Patrick Mahomes.
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  It was similar almost to what the Eagles did to
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  him in the Super Bowl. They kept coming, kept coming,
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  forcing them off his spot, making him throw the ball
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  early when he wanted to. And if I'm the Eagles,
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  I'm looking at this blueprint. Hey, Kansas Basically the Chargers
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  did what we did, we do the same.
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  Speaker 2: Because you know, Kansas City is still built.
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  Speaker 1: They have one of the better offensive lines in the
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  National Football League. I don't think it really showed in
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  this game because one of the things that really stuck
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  out raised Kansas City couldn't run the football outside of
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  a home scrambling. They could not run the football.
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  Speaker 4: No, No, they couldn't.
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  Speaker 3: They couldn't. And you know we saw I mean, this
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  is funny to talk about this for a team that
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  was fifteen to two last year, but they were even
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  going into the Super Bowl, I had real questions about
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  how good their offensive line was, you know, And I
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  thought that that, to me, was why I thought the
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  Eagles had a real chance to win that game. Was
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  I thought the Eagles front was going to be way
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  better than Kansas City's ability to.
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  Speaker 4: Block it, and that was how it turned out.
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  Speaker 3: And in the off season when he saw the moves
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  that the Chiefs made, a lot of them were addressing
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  the offensive line, and you know, Andy felt like, I
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  got to get better up there to let my homes
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  and my playmakers do their thing. And they brought some
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  new guys in, they implemented some new things in the system,
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  and there was a lot of talk this offseason, isn't
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  it Oh yeah, the offensive line, Yeah, we had some issues,
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  but we got it shoring up. Now. I don't know,
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  after seeing what we saw on Friday night, I think
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  they still have issues on the offensive line. And there's
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  one thing, if there's one truism in pro football, I mean,
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  you can have a great quarterback and there is no question.
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  Nobody got any question off had the Patrick Mahomes a
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  great player, great quarterback. But you saw what you saw
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  what happened in the Super Bowl, and to some degree,
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  you just kind of saw what happened on Friday night
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  that if he if the rest of the offense doesn't
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  function around him, it's very hard for him to be
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  the quarterback that we've all known him to be.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I know it's only a one game sample,
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  and I don't I don't like to make too much
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  of a season opening game, you know, I always we
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  always try to make definitive decisions after teams have played
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  three four games, you give, that's when you get a
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  true feel for what this team is going to be
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  and what it isn't isn't going to be. But I
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  go back to the super Bowl against the Eagles and
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  looking at what the Chargers duplicated in a lot of
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  ways defensively at Kansas City's offense. Do you think teams
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  are finally catching up to what Kansas City does?
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  Speaker 4: Possibly?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, possibly, I think that it's more basic than that.
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  I think it really is the quality of their offensive line.
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  I think they have, Like I think I think Created
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  Humphrey is a really good player. I think I think
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  Create Humphrey their center, maybe the best center of the
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  league if if I had to, if I had to
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  rate them, If he's not number one, he's right there.
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  I mean, he's that good. The other guys, I'm not
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  so sure. And you see and you see that you
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  certainly saw it in the Super Bowl and they saw
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  it again on Friday night to an alarming degree. If
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  you're a Chiefs fan, they've got the other players, and
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  they've certainly got the quarterback. But if you don't win
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  that battle at the line of scrimmage, if you don't
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  win tackle to tackle, it's hard to win.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 3: That's one thing that the Eagles, if that's one fundamental
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  aspect of their philosophy, their organizational philosophy is building the trenches,
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  win at the line of scrimmage. I mean, that's what
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  they've been about, and that's one of the reasons why
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  they've won so much. And the Chiefs right now, they've
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  got Andy, they've got the system, they've got the quarterback,
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  but right now they're not winning that battle at the
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  line of scrimmage. And if that's the case, you know,
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  I don't know if they're going to get back there.
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  I mean, when I know, you looked as I looked,
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  and over the last week for all of everybody's predictions,
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  you know, in all media, TV, newspapers, print online, everybody's
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  predicting who's going to go to the Super Bowl, and
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  we all know where those predictions generally wind up.
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  Speaker 4: But they kind of give you an idea of.
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  Speaker 3: Where everybody stands in Week one, and I'll tell you
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  I looked at all of them. There weren't a whole
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  lot of people picking the Chiefs to go back this year.
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  I mean the predominant teams in the AFC. Everybody people
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  were picking Baltimore, where they were picking Buffalo, and a
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  couple of teams here, a couple of people win Cincinnati,
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  but not much with the Chiefs.
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  Speaker 4: The feeling that was out there kind of was, you know,
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  their time may have passed a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: And they're gonna have to retool and come back, but
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  right now they're not.
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  Speaker 4: That team anymore. And we'll see.
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  Speaker 3: I think that this week's game with the Eagles is
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  going to tell us a lot. You know that if
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  the Chiefs can still be the Chiefs, they're gonna show
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  you next Sunday, because they sure as heck don't want
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  to lose to the Eagles again. They sure as heck
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  don't want to lose it Arrowhead again, and they sure
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  as heck don't want to start the season oh and two.
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  So whatever they are, whatever they can be, you're going
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  to get their best shot next Sunday. And I think
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  they'll tell you a lot about We all say it's
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  gonna tell us a lot about the Eagles. It's gonna
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  tell us a lot about the Chiefs too.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 1: I look at I look at the Eagles against Kansas
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  City in recent years, and the Eagles have owned Kansas
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  City and the regular season, and of course they beat
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  the brakes off them in the Super Bowl.
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  Speaker 2: And I think there's some.
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  Speaker 1: Psychological war going on here as well, because the Eagles
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  are not afraid to go in and play at Arrowhead.
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  That's one of the loudest stadiums in the National Football League,
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  and the Eagles have gone and in and had the measure
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  of success. They beat them on a neutral ground as well.
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  They're not in fear Patrick Mahomes that I fully expect
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  Vic Fangio to come after Patrick Mahomes, especially now we
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  don't know the status.
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  Speaker 2: Stuffs they have.
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  Speaker 1: You're Worthy, and of course they're already down two receivers
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  before Worthy went down. Now he's down with his shoulder injury.
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  As we talked about. Right now, they can't run the football.
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  So what is it going to be just Patrick Mahomes
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  playing one on eleven at this point?
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  Speaker 2: You know? So, I think the Eagles are in a
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  good spot.
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  Speaker 1: They're riding the high, beating the Dallas Cowboys at home
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  and a season opener, and they're going into an environment,
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  a very hostile environment that basically they don't fear because
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  of the success they've had there in recent past years.
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  Speaker 4: They shouldn't. And you're quite right about Arrowhead.
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  Speaker 3: If anybody I know you've been the Arrowhead, Yeh, I've
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  been the Arrowhead many times. I mean I went to
• 12:00
  Arrowhead when Lenn Dawson was still playing, So I've been.
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  I've been to Arrowhead many times. And you're right. It
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  is a tough place to play. It is loud, the
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  crowd is rough. They generate a tremendous amount of noise
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  in that building. Uh.
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  Speaker 4: And it's a tough place to play. But the Eagles
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  have proven that they can go in there play well.
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  Speaker 3: And and you know, I think the Eagles have an
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  advantage here in that you know that they're gonna have
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  a little bit of rest. They played Thursday, they get
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  a couple extra days. Uh. And the Chiefs are they
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  they just flew to Brazil and just flew back and
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  that takes a toll on you. I mean, last year
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  the Eagles made that trip, they came home and lost
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  a home game to a very average Atlanta team exactly.
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  So I think, you know, I think that that's Ah,
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  that wasn't that big a deal.
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  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, ten.
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  Speaker 3: Hours each way, No, I think it is, And I
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  think so will that sap the Chiefs a little bit,
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  Like I know, they have all the motivation in the
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  world because again they're owing one, and they sure as
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  held a want to be owing too. But I think
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  that back and forth that's a problem. You know, I
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  think that could be a problem. And the Eagles walk
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  in the Arrowhead really with no fear because they've won
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  there before. But I think it's going to be a
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  real important game for both of these teams because it's
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  it's a game where the Eagles can kind of make
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  a statement about what happened in February was in an accident.
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  We're going to come into your stadium and do it
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  to you again. And the Chiefs feat need to prove
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  to all the people have kind of starting to count
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  them out a little bit that no, you know, we
• 13:30
  can still play with these guys and don't write us
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  off just yet. So that's going to be a I mean,
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  that's going to be a game that everybody's going to
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  be watching, and I think it's a game that's going
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  to tell us a lot well where both of these
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  teams are headed.
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  Speaker 2: All right, rad a moment of truth. Who you picking.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Chiefs or Eagles in Week number two of the National
• 13:48
  Football League.
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to take the Eagles, partly for the reasons
• 13:52
  that we've just talked about. The Eagles tend to play
• 13:54
  well in Kansas City. I think it's going to be
• 13:56
  a little tough for the Chiefs coming off of this
• 13:58
  to Brazil trip, and based on what I saw with
• 14:02
  the Chiefs in the game against the Chargers. We talked
• 14:06
  about the Eagles having issues in their secondary I think
• 14:08
  the Chiefs have them too. And you know, I think
• 14:11
  the Eagles are gonna win this game. I think it'll
• 14:12
  be close, but i'd say something like along the lines
• 14:15
  of a twenty seven to twenty four kind of game.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I agree.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be another nail binder. But because
• 14:21
  of the Eagles success and that's the psychological advantage they
• 14:24
  have right now over Kansas City, I think they're going
• 14:27
  to go in there. Even though the Eagles have some
• 14:28
  question marks on the back end of the defense.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: I do think.
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  Speaker 1: I thought the Eagles linebacking corps played very well against Dallas.
• 14:34
  The front played well against Dallas. I think the Eagles
• 14:38
  going there and get off to a two and zero start,
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  and you said twenty seven to twenty four, I'm gonna
• 14:44
  go twenty four to twenty Eagles get the all important road.
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  Speaker 2: W From my colleague, my friend Ray Dinger, I'm Derek Gunn.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: This has been Birds Weekly, presented by the Inside the
• 14:55
  Birds Network. We'll talk to you next week after the
• 14:58
  Eagles take down the Kansas City Chiefs. So long, everybody,