Tag: chiefs

Willie Roaf: Chiefs can build a dynasty with Mahomes

Categories NFL

For the Kansas City Chiefs, the 2018 season did not end the way they expected. They had home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, they had the highest scoring offense in football, and they had the best player in 2018 in QB Patrick Mahomes, but their defense could not hold up, and Tom Brady and the Patriots would defeat the Chiefs 37-31 in OT in the AFC title game.

While losing this game hurts for Kansas City, the Chiefs can be excited about the future. Mahomes has proven that he has the goods, WR Tyreek Hill is explosive, and Travis Kelce is an elite tight end. All this talent has Hall of Famer Willie Roaf, who played for the Chiefs from 2002-05, very excited about the future.

“They got Mahomes, who is a different quarterback than anybody,” Roaf recently said on the Go4it podcast. “The offense has a bunch of guys and the best tight end in the league…

“I will tell you this; the Chiefs will be back, a lot coming up in the future. If they add pieces to their defense and get more running backs… Mostly draft defense. The Chiefs will be knocking on the door, and with that young quarterback, Mahomes, they will be building some type of dynasty. So, this is this kid’s first year starting, and he is just now figuring things out, so when you put more weapons around him, and Sammy Watkins was out most of the year. And then, they lost (Kareem)Hunt going into the playoffs, and he(Mahomes) was still able to go up and down the field.

“So, you give me some more weapons, and you keep that young group intact… They got a chance to win a couple of rings with that young boy in Kansas City.”

Last week, the Chiefs fired defensive coordinator Bob Sutton and hired former Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo to lead their defense. Spagnuolo was in charge of the Giants’ defense that beat Tom Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Chiefs fans should be excited about the future, but in the NFL, they’re no guarantees, so we’ll see if the Chiefs can improve their defense, and continue to build a great offense in 2019.

Listen below as Roaf talks the future of the Chiefs at the 07:10 mark:

 

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How Dee Ford reacted to going offsides against Patriots(VIDEO)

Categories NFL

In the NFL, one play does not lose a game, but for Chiefs LB Dee Ford, there is one play he would love to have back. With the Chiefs leading New England 28-24 late in the fourth quarter, Kansas City’s Charvarius Ward picked off an errant Tom Brady pass that would have sent the Chiefs to Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta. Unfortunately, LB Dee Ford was offsides.

The Patriots would eventually score on that drive and would eventually win in OT 37-31 to advance to Super Bowl 53.

Here is how Ford reacted after the play:

 

 

Vermeil on Andy Reid: ‘If he sticks with it long enough, he’s gonna win it(Super Bowl)’

Categories NFL

Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs had another disappointing playoff loss on Sunday when they lost to the Patriots 37-31 in overtime at Arrowhead. With the loss, Reid falls to 1-5 in conference championship games.

It was a tough loss for the Chiefs as they had a game-clinching interception wiped away in regulation when LB Dee Ford was called for offsides.

For Former Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil, this loss really stings.

“Kansas City, I’m just sick. I woke up three times during the night thinking about that ballgame,” Vermeil told TMZ Sports.  “I was so disappointed because I’m so respectful and admire Andy Reid for the job he’s done; how consistently he’s coached great football teams and produced great assistant coaches that became good head coaches. And to lose that one at home like that, it’s just sick. Now, he has to wait a whole year to get back and try again.”

Naturally, after this loss, people are going to talk about whether Reid is the right guy to bring a championship to Kansas City, but according to Vermeil, Reid is one of the better coaches in the league.

“He’s better than ninety-nine percent of them. (coaches in the NFL) Believe me,” Vermeil said. “He’s as fine of a coach that has ever coached a game.”

Ultimately, Vermeil believes Reid and the Chiefs will eventually win a Super Bowl.

“There’s no question in mind they will get there, and there’s no question in mind. if he(Reid) sticks with it long enough, he’s gonna win it,” Vermeil said.

The Chiefs have their quarterback for many years to come in Patrick Mahomes. Obviously, they have to fix their defense. It let them down on Sunday and has let them down this whole season. That could mean they go in a different direction with defensive coordinator Bob Sutton(Fired on Tuesday). It’s tough to get this far and lose, but the future is still very bright in Kansas City.

 

NFL announces matchups for the five international regular-season games in 2019

Categories NFL

The National Football League today announced the matchups for its five 2019 international regular-season games – four in the UK and one in Mexico.

The quality of the 2019 international offering is apparent in three division games and five playoff participants, including the NFC Champion Los Angeles Rams.  Two of the four London Games will feature teams playing in the UK for the first time, while Mexico City will host a meeting of long-time AFC West division rivals.

​​The 2019 international games:

​Country Visiting Team Home Team
Mexico Kansas City Chiefs Los Angeles Chargers
UK Carolina Panthers Tampa Bay Buccaneers
UK Chicago Bears Oakland Raiders
UK Cincinnati Bengals Los Angeles Rams
UK Houston Texans Jacksonville Jaguars​​

Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium will host a matchup between the AFC West rival Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers. Both teams, who finished the 2018 regular season with identical 12-4 records, will be playing in Mexico City for the first time.

The AFC South champion Houston Texans – who face the division-rival Jacksonville Jaguars – and the Carolina Panthers – who face their NFC South foes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – will both make their London debuts. It will bring the total number of NFL teams to have played in the UK to 31 in 28 regular-season games by the end of the 2019 season. The Jaguars will be playing a home game in London for the seventh consecutive season.

The Rams, who will face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, will host a London game for the fourth time when they take on the Cincinnati Bengals, while the Oakland Raiders will return to London for the second straight year, facing the NFC North division champion Chicago Bears.

The NFL will play two games at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium, with two at Wembley Stadium.

Dates, kickoff times and venues for all international games will be announced in conjunction with the release of the full NFL schedule this spring.

HOF Willie Roaf thinks the Chiefs could rout the Pats in AFC title game

Categories NFL

The AFC title game is a matchup of old versus new. The old legend in Tom Brady against maybe a new legend in Patrick Mahomes. In the regular season, Brady and the Patriots outlasted Mahomes and the Chiefs 43-40 at Foxboro back in October. This time around Mahomes and the Chiefs will have home-field advantage as Kansas City battles the Patriots on Sunday(6:40 PMET) at Arrowhead with a chance to go to Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta.

Brady and Bill Belichick are arguably the greatest duos in NFL history, and history has shown us that it is hard to bet against this combination, but according to former Chiefs OT and Hall of Famer Willie Roaf, Kansas City will get it done on Sunday, and he is pretty confident about it.

‘This kid (Patrick) Mahomes is special, Roaf told the Go4it podcast hosted by Paul Gant. “For his first-year starting, he is doing some amazing things, so I’m looking forward to it, but it’s going to be a tall task for Tom Brady and those guys to beat the Kansas City Chiefs at home. I would be surprised. It’s tough to play in Arrowhead.”

The Chiefs are 8-1 at home, including their blowout victory over the Colts last weekend in the divisional round; conversely, the Patriots have struggled away from Foxboro, and are 3-5 on the road.

You would think if the Patriots had any advantage it would be coaching as the Patriots have possibly the greatest coach of all-time in Bill Belichick, but according to Roaf, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who is 1-4 in championship games, will have a lot to prove, which Roaf believes will help the Chiefs on Sunday.

“I think Andy Reid has something to prove,” Roaf said. “I think he knows he has a special player in Mahomes, more special than (Donovan) McNabb was. And the ability this kid has and the maturity he is showing right now, I don’t think I’m too concerned. I just think they need to score points, play Chiefs’ football, control the clock, and I think the Chiefs make it to the Super Bowl.”

Roaf is so confident in the Chiefs that he thinks it might be a rout.

“I think the game against the Patriots could be a blowout,” Roaf said.

Listen below as Roaf talks championship weekend in the NFL. Also, make sure to support Roaf’s “Frame Your Game” at frameyourgame.com.

 

Listen to Go4it! Guest: Hall of Famer Willie Roaf

Categories Go4it/Paul Gant

We will be talking sports and having fun doing it! We will be joined by Hall of Famer Willie Roaf, who will discuss the AFC & NFC Championship Games and more! Who will win? Roaf will let you know. Should be an exciting weekend for Roaf since he played for both the Saints and Chiefs.

Show starts today at 2-pmest

 

 

Roaf on Chiefs: ‘I think not having Hunt back there is going to hurt them moving forward’

Categories NFL

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West title, clinched a bye, and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs in the AFC after beating the Raiders 35-3 at Arrowhead. The Chiefs will have two weeks to rest up before they play in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

As they go into the playoffs, you wonder how the Chiefs will perform, especially without star RB Kareem Hunt, who was released from the team in November after a video surfaced of Hunt and a woman being involved in a physical altercation back in February.

Not having Hunt could hurt this team come playoff time. The hope is that Spencer Ware, who is battling hamstring and shoulder injuries, and Damien Williams, who had over a hundred yards in Week 16 against the Seahawks, can carry the load for this team come playoff time. Not bad options, but none as good as Hunt.

While the Chiefs still have many weapons on the offensive of the ball, Hall of Famer Willie Roaf, who played for Chiefs from 2002-2005, thinks Kansas City is going to miss what Hunt brings to the table come playoff time.

“I think the loss of Hunt is going to hurt them more than it has shown,” Roaf recently told the Go4it podcast hosted by Paul Gant. “I mean Hunt could get out the backfield, and he took the pressure off of them because he can run and catch it out the backfield. And he was so versatile, and he really helped spread that offense open for those other guys, so I think not having Hunt back there is going to hurt them moving forward. Can they get past that? We’ll see. I don’t know how far they can go now that Hunt is gone. He’s a Pro-Bowl, All-Pro type of running back, so I don’t care, when you lose somebody like that, it’s going to hurt.”

Patrick Mahomes and that Chiefs’ defense have to step up their play in the absence of Hunt if the Chiefs want to get to Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta. The AFC is wide open, and by the having home-field throughout the playoffs, the Chiefs have the advantage.

Listen to the complete interview with Hall of Famer Willie Roaf below:

NFL announces Wild Card and Divisional Playoff Schedule

Categories NFL
The NFL announced tonight the schedule of sites, dates and times for the National Football League Wild Card Playoffs on January 5-6 and Divisional Playoffs on January 12-13.

 

NFL WILD CARD PLAYOFFS

Saturday, January 5
AFC:    4:35 PM (ET)  Tennessee-Indianapolis winner at Houston (ESPN, with simulcast on ABC)
NFC:    8:15 PM (ET)  Seattle at Dallas (FOX)

Sunday, January 6
AFC:    1:05 PM (ET)  Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore (CBS)
NFC:    4:40 PM (ET)  Philadelphia at Chicago (NBC)​

NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS

Saturday, January 12
AFC:    4:35 PM (ET) Baltimore/Los Angeles Chargers/Indianapolis or Tennessee at Kansas City (NBC)
NFC:    8:15 PM (ET) Chicago/Dallas/Seattle at Los Angeles Rams (FOX)

Sunday, January 13
AFC:    1:05 PM (ET) Houston/Baltimore/Los Angeles Chargers at New England (CBS)
NFC:    4:40 PM (ET) Dallas/Seattle/Philadelphia at New Orleans (FOX)

In the Divisional Playoffs, the division champion with the best record in each conference will host the lowest seeded Wild Card survivor.  Once teams are seeded for the playoffs, positions do not change:

American Football Conference

National Football Conference
  1. Kansas City (12-4), AFC West champion
  1. New Orleans (13-3), NFC South champion
  1. New England (11-5), AFC East champion
  1. Los Angeles Rams (13-3), NFC West champion
  1. Houston (11-5), AFC South champion
  1. Chicago (12-4), NFC North champion
  1. Baltimore (10-6), AFC North champion
  1. Dallas (10-6), NFC East champion
  1. Los Angeles Chargers (12-4)
  1. Seattle (10-6)
  1. Indianapolis/Tennessee (10-6)*
  1. Philadelphia (9-7)

The NFC (FOX, 3:05 PM ET) and AFC (CBS, 6:40 PM ET) Championship Games will be played on Sunday, January 20.

The 2019 Pro Bowl (ESPN, with simulcast on ABC, 3:00 PM ET) will be played on Sunday, January 27 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida and Super Bowl LIII will take place on Sunday, February 3 (CBS, 6:30 PM ET), at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

*NOTE: Should the Indianapolis-Tennessee game end in a tie, Pittsburgh will be the AFC No. 6 seed and play at Houston in the Wild Card playoffs.​

Chargers-Chiefs is 2nd most-watched Thursday Night Football Game this season

Categories NFLLeave a Comment on Chargers-Chiefs is 2nd most-watched Thursday Night Football Game this season

Capped off by the Los Angeles Chargers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 29-28 last night, the 2018 Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light season delivered an average audience of 14.9 million viewers, including FOX, NFL Network, FOX Deportes, NFL digital, FOX Sports digital, Amazon and Yahoo Sports, up +4% versus the 2017 10-game Thursday Night Football average (vs. 14.2 million).

The Nielsen-measured audience averaged 14.3 million viewers (8.7 HH RTG), up +3% versus the 2017 10-game Thursday Night Football average (vs. 13.8 million viewers; 8.4 HH RTG).

Across all digital platforms (FOX Sports app, NFL.com, NFL app, Amazon Prime, Twitch, Verizon, Yahoo!) through eleven games this season, Thursday Night Football produced an average minute audience of 728K, up +66% over last year’s 10-game Thursday Night Football average (vs. 439K). Through eleven games this season, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch delivered an average minute audience of 499Kviewers, up 52% versus the 2017 10-game Thursday Night Football average (vs. 328K).

The 2018 finale matchup on Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light on Thursday, December 13 was seen by an average audience of 18.1 million viewers across all platforms, including FOX, NFL Network, FOX Deportes, NFL digital, FOX Sports digital, Amazon and Yahoo! Sports, making it the second most-watched Thursday Night Football game this season. Last night’s 18.1 million viewers is up +67% versus last year’s comparable Week 15 matchup (vs. Denver @ Indianapolis; 10.9 million viewers).

The Nielsen-measured audience for last night’s game was 17.4 million viewers (10.5 HH RTG) – up +64% versus the 2017 Week 15 Thursday Night Football game (vs. 10.6 million viewers; 6.5 HH RTG).

Digital streaming across Amazon Prime Video, Twitch, NFL digital platforms, FOX Sports digital platforms and Yahoo Sports for last night’s game produced an average minute audience of 897K – an increase of +104% versus the 2017 10-game Thursday Night Football average (vs. 439K) and up +209% versus last year’s Week 15 Thursday Night Football matchup (vs. 290K).

Amazon Prime Video and Twitch reached a total of 2.4 million combined viewers worldwide for the FOX NFL Thursday pregame show and the Chargers-Chiefs game. For the Chargers-Chiefs game alone, 2.2 million worldwide viewers initiated a stream on Prime Video or Twitch. The average worldwide audience watching Thursday Night Football for at least 30 seconds on Prime Video or Twitch was 622K.