The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Dan Israel Joins Matt With a Kansas City Perspective of Texans v Chiefs

Episode Date: January 8, 2020

Dan Israel of Chiefs Radio Network joins Matt to talk Texans v Chiefs with a Kansas City view of the Divisional Round matchup

is the Matt Thomas Show. As we promised, we are going to get you to Kansas City not only today, but tomorrow to get you ready for this matchup between the Texans and the Chiefs. This is the second hour of the Matt Thomas Show here from Atlanta, where tonight the Rockets and the Hawks will get after it. Start of a two-game road trip will have coverage for you beginning at 5.30. I'll have to call it 6.30 from the State Farm Arena. Right now, Dan Israel works for the Chiefs Radio Network,

one of their hosts, executive producer, and a man who can be found on Twitter if you're looking for a Casey perspective on the game coming up at Dan Israel Casey. Dan, a first time visitor to the show this afternoon. Dan, first of all, thanks for joining us. Give me the thought as Kansas City fans, media players, were watching Buffalo Houston. How many ways did you turn and spin as you were thinking about the potential opponent for the Chiefs in the second round, especially with Tennessee and the New England game following that? Well, let me tell you, I know I couldn't take a hit like Deshaun Watson do it. The fact that he didn't even get knocked off balance was simply amazing to me.

I think the one thing, Matt, that's really apparent out of that game is that the Houston Texans are going to play all 60 minutes. If the Chiefs think they're going to put this away in the first and second quarter, they're going to be mistaken because it was very apparent that Deshaun Watson is going to play to the very end, and he's not going to stop trying until he's on top of this thing. So I think it's going to be a tough game. Chiefs were rather human this season in Kansas City, meaning I think Kansas City is a tough place to play. Seattle lost some games this year on their home field, Green Bay. But Indianapolis and Houston came in to get regular season victory. So forgetting about the Chiefs game, the Colts game,

but give me a thought or two about what you remember about the Texans matchup, and how much of that has been conversation in that KC locker room this week? You know, that Week 6 matchup was the start of three consecutive losses at Arrowhead. So to your point, we're not used to that, man. There's one place that the Chiefs tend to play very well, and it's a very difficult place to beat Kansas City. It's in Kansas City at Arrowhead. It's just a fierce, loud stadium.

And so Chiefs fans were not at all prepared to lose not only one game, but two games, then three. And it's kind of a strange season for us with statistics. We kind of didn't have home field advantage. There were games we won, but completely got blown. away in time of possession. You know, you tend to, in our business, you tend to look at a handful of statistics, and you can kind of get a feel or a perspective for how a game goes. That just hasn't happened this season. It's been a little bit upside down with that.

But despite kind of the crooked path that we took, we finally arrived in December at the preseason expectations, which is a team that could possibly, in my opinion, make a deep run in the playoffs. So I think the week six matchup is a little bit of a different game than what you're going to see here. You guys Houston finally got JJ Watt back into the mix. I didn't expect him, frankly, to be as good as he was last week against

Buffalo. You know, it takes sometimes when guys come back from injury, they've got to get their feet under him again. That was not the case with him. He was dominating, just like you would expect him to be without an injury. And so I think on our side of the ball for Kansas City, you got Sammy Watkins healthy, you have the offensive

line, healthy again, and most of all, you have a fully mobile Patrick Mahomes who was still battling an ankle injury. So I think it's going to be two different teams that meet here in the postseason versus that week six matchup. In your heart, did Pat take the appropriate time off? Was there any rushing to it? And regardless of how fast he came back and how quick he should have come back,

do you feel like he's 100% going into the game on Sunday? He is definitely 100% now. I think, you know, probably in week six, he did come back. earlier than he was not 100%. However, if you've been around this kid at all, I mean, he wanted to play back. When we took him off the field in Denver after his injury, he wanted to come back out of the locker room, go back out on the field right then and there. And he's just that kind of guy.

He is so competitive. He wants to be out there with his teammates. You can see how much fun he has playing. So week six, no, he was not 100%. But week 19, he is. He's ready to play. I think you're going to see a fresh. leg at Patrick Mahomes. I think it's going to be tough for the Texans because even if you get

pursuit on this guy and he starts to scramble, one of the things that he's kind of sneaky fast, and he can extend those plays, he can get out on the edge, and we've all seen he can make a throw anywhere on the field from to anywhere on the field. And I think that's going to be something new for the Texans to experience versus that first half of the season matchup. Dan Israel from the Chiefs Radio Network, one of their game day hosts with us here on the Matt Thomas show from Atlanta. Dan, and again, we don't follow the cheaps every single week, and that's why we trust your opinion on these types of things.

Everyone's like, well, can you find an Achilles heel with Kansas City? And the thing that keeps being brought up over and over and over again, and I want to get your, because you've seen them last play, it feels like that the Texans that they get some sort of ground game going could really have some fun this week and surprise some folks. Assess what has been determined by some, not all, to be the weak part of the Kansas City team, and that is at run defense.

As they came off the 2018 season, just a penalty away from the Super Bowl, the decision was made by Coach Reed to completely rebuild the Chief's defense. And, you know, I'll give them credit for that because, you know, when you're that close, most coaches tweak something here or there to try to get you that extra little bit that gets you where you want to be. They completely, I mean, they changed the coordinator from Bob Sutton to Steve Spagnolo. They changed almost all but one positional coach, and they changed seven. of the 11 starters on defense.

Gone were Eric Berry and Justin Houston, and were Tyron Matthew from the Texans, and Frank Clark from the Seattle Seahawks. So they did a tremendous amount of change. The problem with that was it took half a season for these guys to really get on the same page. So you have a real tale of two stories here between the Chief's defense during the first eight games

and the Chief's defense now. The last six wins, these guys have let opponents score just 11 and a half points. That's a tremendous effort. If there is an Achilles heel, and to your question, in the four losses that the Chiefs had in the regular season, they were beat in every one of those losses by a dominant running back, Derek Henry, for instance. And I think Carlos Hyde, you know, with what he spent time with us in camp, then went to the Texans, running very well. So if he has a big day, I think if there's any weakness, it's going to be the run defense for the Chiefs.

even though it's much improved, I still think a dominating back could be very difficult for them to handle. Likewise, if Deshaun Watson is going to beat the Chiefs, I doubt it'll be through the air, believe it or not. It's probably going to be with his legs. So the combination of the mobility of Watson combined with some real straight-ahead, bruising, running of height, obviously is a scary, scary thing for Chiefs fans. I want to stand the defensive side a little bit here, if you don't mind, Dan. Obviously, DeAndre Hopkins, you know, all pro for a reason, year after year after year. If Will Fuller does play, tell me who covers whom in the secondary

if those two guys for the Texans are on the field at the same time. Well, it's tricky in the way the Chiefs mix it up so much, but I think one of the things that they're so effective doing, and I'd say maybe an Achilles' heel for the Texans is the offensive line. They have been able, the Chief's defense has been able to get pressure on a quarterback with just three and four guys. If they're able to do that and drop seven guys, you're going to find they have enough coverage to get both of those guys to cover both Hopkins and Fuller. And if they can do that, I think that makes it really difficult for Deshawn Watson

because sometimes they're in that dime package, they're moving guys. You might have a safety covering a wide receiver instead of a cornerback covering or a nickelback covering. It's just they mix it up so much. Combine all of that with this blitz package that Steve Spagnolo has been bringing, they're getting an awful lot of pressure on the quarterback. That takes a lot of pressure off the back end of the defense. Those defensive backs can get a lot more done against really good receivers, which those two are. I've got a lot of folks here in town were disappointed that the Honey Badger decided to, and then a question decided he got a really good contract from Kansas City. And it's obviously just one year in the mix, but I'm going to presume that

Money was well spent in Kansas City bringing him there? I'll tell you, I think this guy deserves defensive player of the year for the AFC. I really do. He has been a model player, a model, just a role model in the community. I mean, he has been a really, really big asset for us this year. He got to camp. He was a very quiet leader. He started to play in the regular season, started to produce on the field,

the more he dominated on the field, the more he was able to lead in the rock locker room. And you got to credit, Juan Thorne Hills out with an injury now. But I'll tell you, this rookie had the kind of season for us that he did because he was next to Tyron Matthew. And I really feel like Matthew has been everything you could dream of. The situation as it ended with Eric Berry last year where he just could not get back on the field. Some say he chose not to get back on the field, whatever it was. Barry was that kind of guy when he was the dominating player years prior. Matthew really was a beautiful acquisition for us because we needed that.

And it's a time in that rebuilding mode. He and the tenacity of Frank Clark really have come together to short both the front and back of that defense. Dan, final question for you. The Texans have been a notable slow-starting team all season long. No touchdowns in the first quarter except for week 17 when Deshaun wasn't even on the football field. Is there a sign beyond the Texans scoring early that Houston fans, as they watch this game Sunday in Kansas City, by what something the chiefs do, would give some Texans, some optimism that this could be a game close in the fourth quarter? Is there anything

that has hurt them early that has allowed teams, as you mentioned, the losing street, the losing games at Arrowhead, that has allowed opposing teams, whether it be a home or road, to think they can beat the Kansas City Chiefs? Well, I definitely think they could beat the Chiefs. I don't think there's one thing I would say, hey, if you see this, it's going to be a good day for you. But I would also offer that our defense, it just seems to have that kind of slow start. So if they can get out to a fast start, it definitely helps them.

You do not want to fall behind against Patrick Mahomes because if the Chiefs can start running the football again, which is something that the last six games they've been able to do, it would be a long day for the Texans. They need to keep pace. If they can keep pace with the Chiefs and make this a close game heading into the fourth quarter, I would be extremely excited if I were a Houston Texans fans, because I think at that point it's a last bot guy that has the ball, and it's anybody's game. Dan Israel Casey is his Twitter handle.

Follow him for everything about the Chiefs going into Sunday's game. Dan, thank you for the time. And I'm assuming whether it will not be a major issue on Sunday. Is that what you've heard? You know, Matt, it's a little up in the air, no pun intended. They're saying if we get snow on Saturday, that things are going to be good. If we don't, we might see snow on Sunday. But I can tell you, watching these guys play against the Raiders that day in the snow,

if it snows, look out Texans, man, for whatever reason. Patrick Mahomes, a Texas boy, Patrick Mahomes loves the snow. So I don't think weather's going to be a factor, to be honest with you, but it could be a little bit of snow. Dan, thank you for the time, my friend. really appreciate it. You bet back. Good to talk to you.

Nice talking with you. Dan Israel from the Chiefs Radio Network with us from Kansas City. We'll go to Kansas City tomorrow to get a few more different thoughts. I want to hear about the stadium. I want to hear about what Coach Reed is like, how much pressure if they don't win the AFC. Because I think they got, you know, obviously they got super, super close last year before losing to New England in overtime.

So more on the Cheaps as we get closer to the Sunday kickoff. And again, we'll have as much as we can in terms of. player reaction. In matter of fact, bottom of the hour, what you're talking about Bob is? Well, here, not Bob. Bill. It is, Bob. Actually, it is Bob. It's Bill O'Brien. But what are you talking about? A special Wednesday edition coming up in just a couple of minutes. 713-212-5-7-90. That's how you reach our show today. 7-13-212-5-7-90. If you want to reach out via Twitter, you can do that as well. At SportsMT, at SportsRV, and at Pro-Nick-Loe.

luck, the commissioner of the XFL, to join us as well at 2.30. It's Matt here from Atlanta, Nick and Ross, back in Houston, and we appreciate you listening to Sports Talk 790.