The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - SportsRadio 810 WHB’s Soren Petro Talks Texans vs Chiefs Match Up

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

SportsRadio 810 WHB’s Soren Petro Talks Texans vs Chiefs Match Up

1101 on 790. Manon Ross with you here on Anything Goes Friday. We'll be saying our sorries coming up at a half an hour from right now. Right now we say hello to Soren Petro. He hosts, I mean, look, there are some original names for sports radio shows, Sorin Petro, but yours is just the program. That's all you call your show, The Program? That's right, the program, you know?

You know what you are? It speaks for itself. You know why it is because you're a legacy host in Kansas City. When you had that kind of cash show, you can call yourself The Program. I love it. I was just called old in the nicest way possible. Thank you. I appreciate that.

No chance. Sports Radio 810 WHB is the show that Sorin Petro, and I think Ross and I have both been on a fair number of times over the last couple of years. I've been replaced. That's okay, though. No, they just called me because you were unavailable. That's how it is. Sorry to have your producer call Ross.

He's feeling negligent. I'm good. He's feeling neglected over here. Well, you know what? I think it is like when we change producers and then like whatever the last number that was called as long as somebody keeps saying yes, he just keeps calling that person, right? So I think, you know, that's where he's gotten out of the rhythm of calling Ross. So basically, I should just avoid your producer sending me text and just say,

a new phone who this is what you're trying to tell the audience. Yes, that worked great. Forgetting about this game, let's get to the more macro version of Kansas City Chief Football this year at 6 and 6. what has gone right, what has gone wrong, and have your fan base, and not necessarily the locker room, they would publicly ever tell you this, but is this the eventual downplay, downfall regression of the most dominant team in the AFC the last five or six years? I would say potentially yes. You know, they have always talked, in fact, their owner, Clarkon has always talked about, you know,

never wanting to go all in on one year because they've got Patrick Holmes and they want to make sure that they're a contender. every single season. That's what he said. But in reality, the chance to win three in a row had them making some decisions that maybe they shouldn't have made, right? Like giving Chris Jones a contract into his 30s. He's not a bad player. He's still very good. He's still the first guy you got to account for on defense. But he's not what he was a couple of years ago. And he's a massive number on the cap. Going to be $48 million against the cap next year. They didn't want to look around anywhere. So they re-signed Creed Humphrey, gave a center the biggest contract of football. Then they added on with Trey Smith getting the biggest guard contract in football.

Those aren't premium positions. Nick Bolton, their middle lineback, and they gave $15 million, too. So, you know, they had all these players that have been a part of the run. They wanted to keep the band back together. And because they've been trading up a lot in the draft, you know, the draft is in an exact science. Everybody has misses. I know every fan base thinks every pick should be a gem.

But, you know, it's a 50, 50, 60, 40 proposition. And then when you give away those picks, be it for, you know, veteran players or to move up and rounds, you get fewer and fewer young, talented, cheap players, and the chiefs have a very top-heavy roster right now with some of the guys getting old, and that's created a problem for them this year. Offensive line, you described my visit on your show, tell the audience, it feels like as you were rattling it off with me, it has been a hot mess, not only just coming into this week's game, but it's been all season, correct? Yeah, it has. And I mentioned, you know, the expensive interior guys, Juan Taylor carries a huge number at right-tackle.

as well. They're the second most expensive offensive line of football, and they have not played to that degree. Now, when Josh Simmons was healthy and was playing, they looked like they found a gym if he's going to play. He left the team for unspecified reasons for like five games, so that'll be an issue until it's not. But now he's got an injured wrist and he's out. Well, they double down at left tackle because it was so bad, ultimately moving all pro guard Joe Tuny out to left tackle in the Super Bowl, which, you know, the Eagles exposed and blew them up in that game. And that's why they spent so much in the off season on getting a guy like Jalen Moore. You know, two years 30 million for a guy who started 11 games in San Francisco,

but they wanted to make sure that they had options at left tackle. Well, now Juan Taylor's banged up and Jalen Moore may have to go at right tackle, which brings them right back to the guy, Juania Morris, who was so bad last year, they ended up moving their all pro guard from left guard to left tackle and just a desperation move. So Wanya Morris to left tackle, everyone in Kansas City is hoping, that's the chief's just sending a smoke screen. out there and that Joanne Taylor is going to be able to go at right tackle, and Jalen Moore

will be solid okay at left tackle. That gives him a pretty good chance to attack. But Trace Smith, the guy that gave all the money to it, right guard, he's been hurt pretty much all year, hasn't been as good as he was last year. And if they have Juania Morris at left tackle, I mean, go ahead and get the pain out, because you can put a couple of stripes right from the left tackle spot straight to Patrick Mahomes, because Juania Morris, I don't think could block me. I don't know why he's on the roster. We didn't make a big deal out of it in St. Joe at training camp when they kept him because you thought you had redundancy. You had two different guys, Josh Simmons and Jalen Moore, that would have to go down before you got back to Juanio Morris.

Well, now here it is against the worst possible team. You may send out the worst left tackle in football. And that brings me to the running game, which just seems like it's been non-existent. What do you make of what's been happening with Isaiah Pacheco? And then we know Kareem Hunt's kind of, to me, just a guy. How much is that is the offensive liner? Or how much is that they need to improve at that position? A little bit of everything.

You know, I think the line is a part of it. You know, Joanne Taylor is a pass blocker, not a run blocker. You know, so they've got some guys like they want to throw the ball. They also, like Andy Reid is a passing coach at a heart. And listen, all the analytics will tell you, you should throw the ball. It's more efficient. But the running does help set up the passing. And that's pretty much what the running game's been is the setup to the passing game.

but now more and more teams are not doing what they used to. Andy Reid had a lot of success in this league because teams would talk about like, yeah, yeah, we're going to establish the run, we're going to pass, and defenses would set up to stop the run, and then Andy Reid would just keep throwing over it. Well, now defense is set up to stop the pass. They play nickel. The Chiefs faced the most light boxes. To get teams out of that, to get the safeties moving up,

to get some freedom in that passing game, you have to run the ball. They just haven't been able to do it. They're running numbers aren't that bad, you, when you dig deeper, you're right to talk about the running backs because it's Patrick Mahomes running on scrambles and smart teams, and I think the Texans will be one of them, have started to put a spy on him. He's not Lamar Jackson like he's going to beat you, but he consistently runs for first downs, backbreaking first downs that allows Andy Reid to get deeper into the play sheet and be effective that way. Well, you know, teams are saying, ah, that's not going to happen. We're going to spy Patrick Holmes. You're going to have to beat us with the pass and they haven't been willing to pound the running game. enough. And they don't have the personal. They don't even have a fullback on the roster to

really play a heavy personnel. All their tight ends are past catchers first. So they don't really have the personnel to play the style of football that teams like the Rams are doing. And then they just don't seem to want to get under center and give the running back a moving start at being effective. So many of their runs are RPOs, our draws with the running back standing still when he first gets the football as opposed to getting ahead of steam and headed towards a hole. So, you know, maybe they'll turn over a new league. Maybe they'll do something completely different here against the Texans, but I think they'll show the run. And Kareem Hunt has been, you're right, he's a jag, but he's at least a pile mover.

He's great in short yardage. And he does, you know, put some thump and can wear down a defense because he is a physical back. But there is no threat of anybody in the run game, unless it's some kind of wide receiver reverse of getting any kind of 10, 15 yard run. It's just not existent with his team. Soren Petro, Kansas City's Sports Radio 810, WHB with us here on Sports Talk 790. You mentioned Andy Reid, and there's been a lot of talk here in Houston about one-score games, games management of D'Amico Ryans, and a lot of one-score talk in Kansas City as well. How do you think Andy Reid is as a game manager with challenges and tie-in, timeouts, and those types of things?

You know, he's been fantastic. That was one of the big knocks on him when he came to Kansas City, and it persisted in Kansas City because he had Alex Smith. I mean, I will tell anyone who knocks a coach on their clock management and their. running out there, guys that are good or bad at quarterback. That's the problem. You want good clock management, get a great quarterback. Suddenly Andy Reid's a genius with Patrick Mahomes taking 20-yard chunks. You know, when Alex Smith would have a minute, 10 and one time out,

and he'd check down to a wide receiver in the middle of the field, and he'd get tackled, you'd look up and you had 15 seconds and you'd gone 25 yards and burned your time out because Alex Smith just wouldn't push the ball down the field. Andy Reid has looked like a genius with Patrick Mahomes in that spot because Patrick Mahomes will take those chunks. He understands that we got to go. We got to get the ball down the field. So 13 seconds against the Buffalo Bills in a playoff game, that's plenty of time to get down the field and get a field goal. So, you know, he has the ultimate weapon there if they provide time for Patrick Mahomes. I think in the hurry up where defenses can't change their personnel and they

start to wear down, Patrick Mahomes becomes even more effective. They do have talent at wide receiver. They don't have a Nico Collins. Roshy Rice is pretty close. It's pretty good. Travis Kelsey still finds holes in defense. defenses. Xavier Worthy's fast, but literally a breeze will knock him off his route because he's so slightly built. You know, Juju Smith-Schuster is actually pretty effective still for them when they need it. Hollywood Brown is kind of Hollywood Brown. He's there. Every now and then he makes a play and a few people in town get excited, but he's not consistently a threat. But there are guys that can beat you. And so, you know, he does a pretty good job of managing the clock. Last year, they won all those

close games. Some of them with block field goals and miraculous endings. but other ones just making plays. They are still dangerous, even though they're one and six in one score games, but they just have not been able to find the rhythm and they've not been able to get the big plays when they need them. And really, penalties have crushed them all year long. At the worst times, they're a heavily penalized team. They talk about it every week.

Nothing gets better, and that's been crippling them this year. So it hasn't been what they've normally been, where if you get to 50 seconds and give the Chiefs the ball, you're going to lose. that hasn't been the case this year. All right. Soren, so obviously confidence here in Houston is very high. This is the great defense against a as mid of a Kansas City franchise we've seen in a long period of time. So let's flip at the script a little bit. Texans don't go to Kansas City and win very often. Playoff games, regular season games, night games, day games. If the Chiefs pull this off, it keeps the Chief season alive in terms of being a robust playoff contender. How do they do it? If there is a scenario where Kansas City pulls off the victory in a game, and Vegas believes that they're still a three and a half point favorite for a reason. Explain that to the Houston audience. I think the reason is just the stubbornness of the betters, right? Like the point spread is not a prediction.

It's based upon trying to bring money in. Sometimes it's weighted a little bit based upon a sharp player putting something. But for the most part, they're trying to balance it out. And I think the public, when the Chiefs were still the favorite to win the Super Bowl like two weeks ago, right? I mean, you know, it's just that like fans were continuing to put money down because they'd just seen it time and time again. Most fans don't want to see it, but Patrick Mahomes is going to get it done. They're going to turn the corner. Two years ago is carrying a lot of weight in this town.

Everybody wants to point to remember how awful they looked against the Raiders on that Christmas Day game. And from that point on, they really took off. And so everybody in this town, a lot of people are expecting that corner to be turned. And I think that's what Vegas is expecting. I think a lot of football fans on the outside are expecting that because they've always done it. But what changed in that season was they quit playing Cadarius Tony. They quit playing Sky Moore. They quit playing the guys who suck.

They're already playing the good players, right? There's no one to bench now in this situation, right? There's no one to turn to. They started focusing on getting the football to Rashi Rice and Travis Kelsey two years ago. Well, they're already doing that. And so I don't see this magic bullet that they seem to have two years ago, which really got that offense going, was when they eliminated all the stuff they were trying to do for guys

that simply were not good football players. So that makes it harder. If they get it done in this game, there's going to be a lot of misdirection and they're going to try to get those edge rushers go in the wrong direction. They're not going to be afraid to punt. I mean, I think they are aware they can look in the mirror and know who they are. They are a good defense. They can't pressure the quarterback with just four.

In fact, they haven't had a sack in two weeks for the first time in four years. So C.J. Stroud is going to have more time than he normally does, even though the Texas offensive lines a problem. The Chiefs will have some success because Chris Jones is still a player, but George Kolofis has got a hurt hand that's affecting his pass rush somewhat. So I think they'll be happy to tear this into a rock fight. turn it into a rock fight and play in the mud and try to find one or two big plays. I think that's what they'll be looking for.

If the chiefs get there, they'll stay on the field with the Texans, but they're going to need to find a couple of big plays somewhere where they get that Texans defense going the wrong direction and have a gotcha moment because they're not going to just grind it out down the field. So on great conversation, as always. Thank you very much for the time and stay warm of this holiday season. And we appreciate you visiting our show this morning. Thanks again for the time.

Yeah, thanks so much for having. me. Matt, we'll lose your number. Ross, get ready to get a call. I'm busy. Call Ross a lot.