Oh, the Places the Playoffs Will Go

Like any other Kansas City Chiefs fan at ArrowheadOne, I dream dreams about the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl and throwing a parade and Travis Kelce singing some rock song that fits the occasion. In the meantime… we have the playoffs to contend with and although we have the best quarterback in the game — Patrick Mahomes — who gives us a chance at parading down Grand Boulevard every season for at least the next decade, maybe two, the reality is, the Pittsburgh Steelers are coming to town this Sunday evening and they’ll not be giving away any victories easily. So, let’s take a look at what the playoffs bring to us this year.

The San Francisco 49ers played their way into the playoffs last week by beating their NFC foe, the Los Angeles Rams. Afterwords, TE George Kittle had the best quote so far this postseason:

From here on out, all playoff games are, “Body Bag Games,” so be forewarned.

That also raises the question, what body (player) whose team missed out on the playoffs will we NFL fans be missing most? I’ve heard it suggested the most missed team will be the Chargers which means, someone’s missing QB Justin Herbert already. I was surprised to find out that this is QB Derek Carr’s very first playoff game. My least missed is Big Ben plus that guy down in Tampa is disturbing too. Who will you miss seeing?

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NFL Coaching changes look like this so far:

Brian Flores, Dolphins – AFC

Vic Fangio, Broncos – AFC

Urban Meyer, Jaguars – AFC

Jon Gruden, Raiders (resigned)

AFC Matt Nagy, Bears – NFC

Mike Zimmer, Vikings – NFC

Now, you can add the New York Giants Joe Judge to that ever growing list. That makes seven coaches who have moved on or 21.9% of the teams in the NFL now needing new on the field leadership. Both the Giants and the Vikings are also needing to replace their General Managers.

The Chiefs OC, Eric Bieniemy, has been mentioned as a possible replacement in several of these teams, most notably the Denver Broncos. Bieniemy was a RB and went to the University of Colorado in Boulder many moons ago, so his name being mentioned in connection with them is no surprise. Give Bieniemy a good QB in Denver and they could be one heck of a formidable foe in 2022.

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We all know what’s next for the Los Angeles Chargers… their destined to be named the 2022 favorites to win the AFC West and the Super Bowl as well. No… I’m really wondering about the Houston Texans or the Cleveland Browns.

The Texans have been rumored to be moving QB Deshaun Watson for nearly a year now (because of off field issues and most of those have been resolved now) and could probably have had the number one pick in the 2021 draft … maybe not… but close to it. Watson has been one of the best QBs in the league since he came in the same year as Patrick Mahomes. No, he didn’t have the luxury of sitting behind a very good QB and learning for a year… Watson was injured instead. However, once he came back from his injury, he was outstanding and if he had the right team to play with, he’d be one of the favorites to go all the way each year too. Watson’s stat line from 2020 looks like this: 70.2 completion percentage, 4,823 passing yards, 33 TDs with 7 INTs and a 112.4 Passer Rating. I’m sure you’re wondering what Patrick Mahomes did in 202, so here’s his stat line: 66.3 completion percentage, 4,740 passing yards, 38 TDs with 6 INTs and a 108.2 Passer Rating. Here they are side by side:

Watson: 70.2 completion percentage, 4,823 passing yards, 33 TDs with 7 INTs and a 112.4 Passer Rating.

Mahomes: 66.3 completion percentage, 4,740 passing yards, 38 TDs with 6 INTs and a 108.2 Passer Rating.

It should also be pointed out that Watson was playing with far less talent around him. Give the Broncos Bieniemy and Watson and Denver will once again be dangerous.

The other player I’m interested in what happens to is Baker Mayfield. I’m so tired of his commercial and if the Browns decide to move on from him, we may see a lot fewer of said commercials. The Brown have one of the better overall rosters in the NFL and yet, her we are in the playoffs without the Browns. Why? I think that’s mostly due to Mayfield.

Who will you be missing from the playoffs this year? And don’t say Joe Montana.

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The Chiefs have elevated 4th round pick, Joshua Kaindoh, from the IR list to the active roster for this game against the Steelers.

Kaindoh played in 3 games earlier this season and has 46 total defensive snaps to show for it. He had 8.0 sacks while at Florida State and was presumably drafted solely based on potential. The Chiefs have also signed seven players to futures deals including:

Those seven players signed to Reserve/Futures contracts include:

WRs: Omar Bayless, Gary Jennings and Mathew Sexton

DTs: Darius Stills and Lorenzo Neal Jr.

TE: Jordan Franks and,

RB: Brenden Knox.

Andy Reid and the Chiefs coaches are focused on the now, but GM Brett Veach is clearly focused on the future.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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