Josh Klingler | Kansas City Chiefs Sideline Reporter

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Download the Odyssey app today. We're so pleased to welcome to the show chief sideline reporter, Josh Klingler, who's there on the radio network along with Mitch, as well as Dana Hughes, and the atmosphere inside the stadium. Josh, a wild emotional swing. I can only imagine what was it like at this game that really transformed and took on multiple personalities from the fourth quarter into overtime. Yeah, it was, you know, there were some nervous moments in the stadium tonight.

There's no doubt about it because it got kind of quiet for a while, and everybody's kind of figure out what is going on here. The offense wasn't doing much. The Titans were playing Titans like football. I mean, that was a, that was a Titans like pace and everything that they wanted to have happen. That's how they have won games. That is their recipe for, for victories and then certainly they had the, the cheese probably right where they wanted them in that, in that vein.

So yeah, the stadium was a little bit nervous for a while. I think a couple of big sacks kind of late got them going again, and then I don't have to harken back too far to remember a coin flip that with the Chiefs direction. So I think people are pretty confident when they, when the coin flipped in that direction, but they had to put the defense out one more time. The story was really the defense in this game for the, for the Chiefs as much as anything. I mean, they, they are, they're the ones that kind of fueled the comebacks always go to the home's ledger, but more often than not, it's because the defense has done something to kind of put its foot in the ground and allow the offense to, to make those comebacks. And that was, again, the story tonight defensively.

Right. No points in the fourth quarter or over time for the Titans and only a field goal in the third quarter. So really those two Derek Henry touchdown drives were their offensive explosion. Just out of curiosity, were you surprised to see him on the bench so much toward the end of the game?

Yeah, you kind of wonder what the toll it's taking. But yeah, I think once they got in the way to pass, it's hard to say passing situations with Malika Willis because it didn't look like they want to do a whole lot of that. But when that was the case, it looked like they were lining him up a little bit more to, to have the passing back Hilliard in the mix. But yeah, you expect to see 22 on the field at any and all times. But I mean, at some point in time, they got to, they got to have a pitch count for the poor guy, right? I mean, they're asking an awful lot of Derek Henry in these games right now, especially with, with Ryan Tannehill not available just yet.

But yeah, a little bit of surprise that he's out a little bit late. And then, boy, I think the Chiefs kind of probably took advantage of a young quarterback too late in the game, especially in overtime. I think Malika Willis probably got some, some learning lessons and getting rid of the football. But credit homes and his feet as much as anything tonight, the 58, 58 attempts is probably a lot. No one wants to see him throw that much. But I thought his ability to run the football, that's where he has decimated the Titans on a couple of occasions now. But he really kind of takes the dagger to you when he's not only throwing it with his arm, but he's using his feet and he used his feet pretty well tonight. So nearly 450 yards passing, as you say, a career high in attempts.

And that also has a half dozen carries where he's scrambling for his life. But let's talk about first, the third and 17, where he converts by juking all over the field. And then, of course, the touchdown.

What was your perspective as the sideline reporter, Josh? Yeah, is it bad or I'm going, yeah, it's 450 yards passing, big deal. It was the 20 yard run and the two point conversion for the run.

That really impressed me. That's the kinds of things Patrick Mahomes does to us on a weekly basis, where you kind of see some of the superlatives and you kind of roll your eyes because, yeah, I expect him to throw for 450. It's when he's running all over the field. I mean, there were times where he had to the front of the Titans that I was outstanding tonight.

Their their front getting after the Chiefs offensive line didn't give him a lot of time to throw the football. And he's just really, really smart when he takes off and runs and finds those situations. He'll extend the play with his feet, certainly. But when he sees those avenues to go and run, those are those devastating plays. And he did that on a couple of occasions tonight. Certainly the 20 yard run and then the third attempt at a two point conversion, which he finally ran it into the end zone, just kind of showcases how special he is.

You just kind of shake your head at all the stuff he can do, not only with the arm, but just just the football smarts in general. Josh Klingler is the sideline reporter for the Chiefs Radio Network. He works with Mitch Holtz, Dana Hughes, who've both been on the show before. We're happy to have him after Sunday Night Football.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. He obviously tries to spread the ball around, but it's been a bit of a revolving door of receivers. Not only were there the departures in the offseason, but a couple of new additions as well. What have you seen with the receiving corps trying to all come together and find that rhythm? Yeah, I'm trying to look was an 11 different pass catcher tonight. It's just unbelievable. And it's almost like there's a checklist at times like going to do this. Going to do that.

Try to get this guy involved. Tonight, it was try to get Kidarius Tony involved, especially early in the game, their new acquisition. Noah Gray has a big catch, the second and sometimes third tight end. It's been a little bit by committee. Travis Kelsey is going to get his, and he did again tonight, and he does a lot of the dirty work.

Juju Smith-Shristy is the one that's really come on, Amy. I think he's been really the key to this the last few weeks, his ability to find the middle of the field. He just looks more and more that you see him in this offense.

Like, boy, it makes sense. He fits really, really well in this offense. He's only here under a one-year deal, and we know the wide receiver market's gotten kind of crazy. So without getting too forward thinking, he's a guy I'd love to see back in a Chiefs uniform.

I don't think I'd be able to afford it, but he fits so well in this offense. And then Patrick Mahomes just, yeah, he's just going to spread the football around. Like whoever's available, whoever's there, second and third options, they have stuff going to the right side. Well, that's bottled up.

I'll try to throw it to the left. He just does a really good job of kind of spreading the football around. They didn't run much at all tonight, obviously, but, you know, finding the backs out of the backfield has been something that's kind of been an evolving part of this offense, too. I don't even think they've hit their ceiling offensively this year in a game.

San Francisco may have been the prettiest one. Tonight had big numbers. It wasn't always the prettiest offense, but these are penthouse problems for most NFL teams. As you say, they run for 77 yards collectively, but Patrick Mahomes has 63 of those. So really, he does a lot of the dirty work on broken plays where he's able to find some seams.

You mentioned Travis Kelsey. He's obviously the go to the security blanket, but certainly he draws a lot of attention. I'm always so impressed with how he knows what's going on with Mahomes and knows where to go.

He's tough and he's physical and he's so hard to keep track of. Yeah, he looked beaten tonight. I mean, the last drive where they scored the field goal in overtime, he came over near me on the sidelines, just went down on one knee and just let out a big sigh. He was dirty from head to toe.

His uniform was ripped. He just given everything. He could have asked him to probably go out for one more possession, but no, he's just willing to do kind of anything and everything. He actually had a couple drops tonight, which are kind of surprising as well. So I mean, he's Mr. Available, he's got the best obviously kind of ESP relationship with Patrick Mahomes.

So if there's trouble, he's often looking for 87 and then his ability to continue to make mismatches. I mean, we were spoiled here with Tony Gonzalez for a lot of years, right? And I really thought it'd be tough to supplant Tony in the tight end department. And Travis Kelsey has done that. He is just an unbelievable, I say past catcher as much as anything. He's their number one threat. And when everybody was worried about who would be the number one guy, well, there's Travis Kelsey. He just doesn't happen to have a WR by his roster, but he's indeed the number one target and was again tonight, I think tied Rob Gronkowski for a hundred yard games tonight as well. So yeah, he's Mr.

Available whenever you need him. He definitely got angry at himself when that ball went through his fingers and got intercepted in the first half. Yeah, he tossed his helmet, I think on the sidelines too. There was some frustration offensively tonight, no doubt about it, because they look like coming out of the chute, they had the ball for eight minutes or something right from the jump and didn't get a touchdown. And that's not exactly the... They don't operate in getting threes with this offense, they get a little bit greedy. And then they kind of stalled quite a few times from there. And so yeah, there was some frustration offensively for a while. And again, I'll credit the defense for keeping this team in this game so that the offense could finally get clicking late. Josh Klingler is with us from Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs eke out an overtime win against the Titans, two of the best teams in the AFC doing battle, and it certainly was a battle.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. How would you evaluate the offensive line to this point in the season? Well, I think that that has been at times a little bit of a problem. It's a really... I feel like they played great defensive ends about every week.

And so there's just no letdown, there's no time to breathe. But Orlando Brown, who's under the franchise tag, was a guy that wanted to get top end left tackle money. I can't say that that looks like that that's been the case thus far this season. The two tackles have been picked on quite a bit. Andrew Wiley had some moments tonight and they tried to scheme some things as well to help out the tackles.

And again, it's probably... I feel like the Chiefs live in the high rent district again in terms of what their problems are compared to a lot of other teams. But yeah, it's been the focus of some concern among Chiefs fans for sure that can the tackles hold up and protect the quarterback?

Because obviously you want to do everything you can to keep 15 upright and healthy. So probably not the greatest overall grade. They've responded in certain moments, but that's a spot that they can stand to get better, especially at the tackles. But even on the inside tonight, that Titans defensive line was really, really good and really, really physical. And they made a long night for the Chiefs guys up front.

Officially, four sacks and another eight QB hits of Mahomes by that Titans defense. All right, Josh, then what is going on with Harrison Butker? Because it seems like he is all out of sorts right now. Is he still hurt?

Well, no, it's just, I don't know. It almost feels like the extra points are like a mental, like the yips or something because you feel pretty good about him from distance. And he had, you know, a 60 plus yard field goal a few weeks ago. And then when he was hurt, he had that kind of a one step golf club swing. He knocked a 50 something yard.

You feel great about him from like 50 on out. It's the extra point to get everybody like freaked out. And it's almost like that there's, there's something going on mentally, um, the battled it again tonight and you're just not exactly sure. Um, you know, there's not a lot of kickers. I don't think that you feel like, okay, uh, I trust them from 50 yards or more. I just get nervous when it's extra point distance or, uh, or a little bit further out, but yeah, you can't leave those points out there. Those are game-winning points. You can't have happened. They trust him. They believe in him. Certainly when they had the injury and they had a couple of kind of rent the kickers in for a couple of weeks.

It was not good. Uh, so, but he's got to be more consistent, certainly from the extra point perspective. All right, Josh, before I let you go, what's your impression of this supposed new look AFC West through the first half? Not as, uh, as top, uh, heavy as we thought, certainly. And uh, you know, the chargers are finding a way. So they're still very much in the mix, uh, despite the fact that they haven't been all that impressive. I don't think they played the cheese really well in their head to head meeting, but, uh, I think they've become the kind of the escape artists that have done a really good job of finding their way out of games. They dealt with a lot of injuries thus far, uh, and they're still in the rear view mirror for sure.

The other two are not, um, you know, Denver looks to be a complete mess. Uh, the Raiders not any better either. So the Raiders have always played the cheese stuff and then had problems with everybody else. And that seems to be the MO again for them this year that they get up for the, uh, the cheese games for sure. And always make it a contest with the cheese, but having problems with everybody else, uh, chargers still right there.

And they certainly can say that they haven't played their best football yet. I think there's quite a bit more distance than we thought was going to be the case when the season started. You can find Josh on Twitter at Josh Clingler, K L I N G L E R. Not only is he the sideline reporter on the chief's radio network, but you can also catch him six to 10 central time on six 10 sports radio in Kansas city, Josh, great to catch up with you. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes after Sunday night football at any time, Amy. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand, best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience, follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called your weirdest fears. You send me your fear.

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