Sam McDowell - Kansas City Star

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Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. The JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We know we got a busy Sunday coming our way. The NFC Championship Game as well as the AFC Championship Game. And this is familiar territory for the Kansas City Chiefs, having accomplished this goal for six consecutive years.

At this point in time, it feels like a birthright. They're going up into Baltimore. This is going to be their first time on the road trying to get this done. So to talk about what's up with this team, some of their injuries, how confident they might be, and additional insights. It's time to have a conversation with Sam McDowell, who covers all things Kansas City Chiefs for the Kansas City Star. Thank you, Sam, for taking the time to hop on. Hey, man.

Yeah, thanks for having me. No doubt about it. I guess as an overall, I know that there there might be some injury concerns with the Kansas City Chiefs playing up in Baltimore. Where do we stand when it comes down to the offensive line and some of those additional pieces? Yeah, I mean, Joe Tooney is an all pro for a reason. I mean, he's as good as they have across the offensive line. The Chiefs ever since really that day in Tampa Bay and that Super Bowl that everyone remembers how poor the offensive line was, built a lot of their team around the interior of the offensive line.

And Joe Tooney is the biggest piece of it. So absolutely, he's an absence. And, you know, they'll go to Nick Allegretti at that left guard spot. He has started about a dozen games over his Chiefs career. It's not a complete newcomer. It's not throwing a rookie in there.

But anytime you're missing an all pro, you know, it's certainly a storyline. Sam McDowell is here with us to share our sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. Some of the additional names that I've seen kind of pop up on the injury report that happened to be in the wide receiver room. I think he might have butterfingers, you know, what is the status of Mr. Drop-A-Lot-Of-Balls? Well, unfortunately, you're going to have to be more specific when you're talking about the Chiefs wide receiver room because they've had so many drops this year.

But I think you're probably referring to Kedarius Tooney. And look, I mean, Tony's Tony's missed about a month and a half now, ever since his last drop against the Patriots resulted in an interception in New England. And I think, you know, even if Tony does find his way onto the field, it would be a pretty limited part of the game plan anyway. And really, since the Chiefs offense has gotten moving over the past like three starts with Patrick Mahomes, it's been at least in part a result of shortening that wide receiver rotation anyway. This team unusually kept seven wide receivers at a training camp. You saw a lack of chemistry with Patrick Mahomes.

I constantly thought part of that lack of chemistry was that just revolving door about sending three and four substitutions with every play. And so the injury situation, a wide receiver, while sure, you'd like to be fully healthy there, it's given the Chiefs the benefit of shortening a rotation that frankly needed to be shortened anyway. Well, Sam, Patrick Mahomes has been very complimentary over the past few days when it comes down to Lamar Jackson has pretty much said, yes, he's going to be the MVP. He's talked about his talent out there on the field.

He's bigged up their offense and their defense. You know, what's the overall vibe, I would say, for the city, you know, playing in an AFC championship game, but knowing it's going to come on the road against a team that's been dominant all year? Yeah, I mean, I think the first part of it doesn't really intimidate the team as far as playing on the road. And I know I mean, you said it in the opening, it's the first time in order to get the Super Bowl that requires winning road games. And they won one last week in Buffalo. I think the way Patrick Mahomes mentality works is he was excited for a different challenge, because when a challenge has not confronted him before, there's doubt about whether or not he's going to get through it. And he feeds off of that stuff.

The second part, though, is absolutely a factor. This will be the toughest team that used to play all year, because for every team that's played the Ravens, it's the most difficult team they faced all year. I mean, the Ravens defense is good in all aspects, short pass, deep pass, intermediate pass, left, right, middle of the field.

They defend everything well. So that challenge is real and it doesn't matter where they played the game. It's going to be a tough challenge with the Ravens. I mean, look, it's the biggest underdog Patrick Mahomes has ever been.

But there's a reason for it's the opponent more than where the Chiefs are right now. Sam McDowell is joining us from the Kansas City Star. You know, we all know about the big names. There's no bigger name than Patrick Mahomes. You can obviously look at at someone who's elevated his Q rating and Travis Kelcey as well. Who are some additional key players that that we may not hear about all the time, but may have an impact on this game? You know about Chris Jones on the defense.

Who are some other folks who might have a direct impact? Yeah, that's a good question. You know, defensively, I really look at the guys that are going to be most responsible for covering the middle of the field because it's where Baltimore likes to go. So then you're looking at at the safeties. You talk about that injury report. I mean, Mike Edwards is potentially out. He's questionable for the game. He came out of last week's game against Buffalo with a concussion. If he does not play, that throws a fourth round rookie into the mix with Shamari Conner. And Shamari Conner is a guy with a bright future.

But the Chiefs mostly expected the bulk of that future to come over the next three years, not so immediately. So I think if he's on the field, particularly with Mark Andrews coming back this week, the Ravens would try and isolate him, I think, as much as they could. Justin Reid covers the middle of the field. Nick Bolton covers the middle of the field. Drew Tranquil.

So defensively versus that, this potent Ravens offense, especially Ravens offense that could move the ball in a variety of ways, I think you mostly should look at those guys that are responsible for the where the Ravens like to attack. Well, Sam, you mentioned the return of Mark Andrews. We got the word officially that he's going to participate.

John Harbaugh says there are no restrictions, but reality says, yeah, the man is coming back from ankle surgery. This is his first game back. You know, do you believe he is going to be more of a decoy?

Is he actually going to be fresher than everybody else? How do you think his standing will be in the game knowing that he hasn't played in a while? Yeah, that's definitely one of the questions I have myself, too, is like how big of a factor can he be in a game?

How big of a factor is even is even in the game planning leading up to the game itself? One of the things that's come out of his injury is that likely he's played really well. And so I thought when Mark Andrews went down in that game against the Bengals that it was going to be a really, really significant loss. It's a credit to the offensive coordinator, the whole offensive staff, to Lamar Jackson, to just their whole operation. The fact that the Ravens offense has not taken a step back since they lost a guy that is a Pro Bowl caliber tight end. And so you think about adding a guy like that back to the mix. If he's healthy, it's a really significant piece.

But I'm with you. I'm hesitant to say that they're getting the full Mark Andrews back this week on Sunday. Sam McDowell here with us representing the Kansas City Stars, the J.R. Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio.

This this has been bandied about a lot thinking about Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and MVP Award winners and Super Bowls, hopefully maybe somewhere down the line for Lamar as soon as maybe next month. But when you think about the coaches here, there's also a battle of the minds between Harbaugh and Reid. Is there any such thing as a coaching edge when you think about the success that they both had?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think most games these guys walk into, they have the coach. They're two of the best to do it. You know, Andy Reid told a good story here in Kansas City this week that he actually met John Harbaugh and John and Jim Harbaugh's father first. And he had, I think, some sort of like internship type thing where they ended up at a hospital for a charity event meeting for the first time. He said it was one of the smartest people had ever been around. And so when John Harbaugh first asked about being on Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia, he said, if you're half as smart as your father is, you've got a spot here. And he's just been impressed with them ever since. I mean, it says something about how many different facets of the game over his career John Harbaugh has been in charge of and had his hands on, you know, the secondary special teams. Now he's a head coach. So, yeah, I think most games he he's got the edge and sort of the analytical side of the game.

You know, he's hired a full analytical staff there. But when Andy Reid has a lot of time to prepare for teams and the Chiefs basically spent week 18 as a bi-week to look ahead. At potential postseason opponents, that stuff favors the Chiefs.

There's a reason he his success after buys is really good. And so, yeah, I think there's always some stuff that Andy Reid holds back for the playoffs or spends the regular season setting up to work better in the playoffs. And let me look, the Chiefs had their best offensive week of the season last week in Buffalo.

And I don't think that's a coincidence. Sam, final question for you here, and this is going to be a big one. We know that this game is likely going to come down to a play at the end of the game, who has the ball last, a turnover. This this might be a very close game. Who do you favor to walk away with the AFC championship and a berth in the Super Bowl?

Yeah, I've kind of gone back and forth this week. I totally agree with you on the turnover aspect, and I think the Ravens are plus 12, Chiefs are minus 11. It's going to be hard, I think, for the Chiefs to win a game if they're negative in the turnover differential. It's kind of hard to predict those some of those plays that can be a little bit more on the fluke side. But look, in this type of situation, Patrick Mahomes has only lost three games of eleven when he's been an underdog.

I think he feeds off of these situations. It's hard to pick against them when he's an underdog and therefore I'm just going to go with the better quarterback. And I think right now that's Patrick Mahomes.

Yeah, that's that's easy cut and dry. Hey, Sam, thank you so much for taking time with us to share your insight, especially from all of your knowledge. With Kansas City, where can people follow you and your work with the Kansas City Star?

Yeah, the Kansas City Star website is Kansas City dot com, and we've got all sorts of great coverage. We've got a lot of people going to the game in Baltimore, so we'll have plenty of it. I appreciate it. Well, Sam, are you ready to potentially go to Vegas?

It's it's it's been a little bit enjoyable having a week and these Super Bowl coverages, and I would be bummed if the if the year the Chiefs did not make it was the Vegas year. I understand, Sam. Fingers crossed for you. OK, good luck. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Sam McDowell, for joining us here at the JR Sport Show on CBS Sports Radio. A peanut butter M&M's production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring.

But the runners up get nothing. One retired cop returned. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter.

But you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl. OK, picture this.

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