NFLRT 2/9/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) When you compare the first six seasons of Brady and Mahomes’ careers, the Chiefs QB has the edge in wins (regular season and postseason), AFC Championship titles, passer rating and TD-INT ratio. The only spot where Brady currently has the edge over that stretch is a 3-2 lead in Super Bowl titles, which Mahomes can tie with a win over the 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII. 

Naturally, all that pushes the discussion to whether or not he can catch Brady’s post season records which include 48 games as the starting QB, 35 wins, 10 Super Bowl appearances, 7 Super Bowl wins and 5 Super Bowl MVPs.

In your opinion will Mahomes either seriously challenge or break any of Brady’s post-season records? Why or why not?

And if Mahomes does surpass any of Brady’s records which ones do you see him most likely to break? Why?

I think that Patrick Mahomes will definitely challenge Tom Brady’s postseason records. He’s made it to yet another Super Bowl this year when the offense was looking completely different than in previous seasons. Travis Kelce looked like he was getting old and injuries were slowing him down in the regular season. Then the postseason hit, and he went back to his usual self, absolutely torching defenses.

In the regular season Mahomes didn’t even look the same struggling with an option of weapons and problems at the wide receiver position. Not only did they have to jump hurdles of dropped passes, but also stupid penalties costing them games, especially the one that everyone is aware of in Toney being lined up offsides on their incredible, what would be, game-winning touchdown pitch and run. The Chiefs have put all that behind them when it has come to the playoffs, including putting Mahomes on the road for the first time in his NFL career in the playoffs, and still made it to the Super Bowl. So I have complete confidence that Mahomes has the ability to lead any team to the playoffs consistently. And it definitely leads to him competing for games and wins. And I really think that he’s going to compete for Super Bowl appearances as well, especially with how surgical and automatic Patrick Mahomes is when it comes playoff time. You can’t bet against him, even if all the odds aren’t in their favor. 

In his career Tom Brady started 48 playoff games and went 35-13 (.729 win percentage) and appeared in 10 Super Bowls winning 7 of those games.

In the playoffs Brady threw for 13,400 passing yards (279.2 yds./gm) with 88 touchdown passes and 40 interceptions.

In his 10 Super Bowl appearances, Brady threw for 3,039 yards (303.9 yds./gm) with 21 touchdown passes and just six interceptions. He was named Super Bowl MVP a record five times.

In Brady’s first six seasons as the starter he led the Patriots to 3 Super Bowl appearances, winning all three, and was named the Super Bowl MVP twice.

In his NFL career Mahomes has started 17 playoff games and has gone 14-3 (.824 win percentage) in those appearances and been in 3 Super Bowls with 2 Super Bowl wins.

In his postseason career Mahomes has thrown for 4,802 yards (282.5 yds./gm) with 39 touchdown passes and 7 interceptions.

In his three Super Bowl appearances, Mahomes has thrown for 738 yards (246.0 yds./gm) with 5 touchdown passes and 4 interceptions. He was named Super Bowl MVP in both of the Chiefs’ wins.

Now in his sixth season as the Chiefs starter (2018-2023), Mahomes is making his fourth Super Bowl appearance this year and is looking for his third Super Bowl win. As mentioned above he has two Super Bowl MVPs.

Taking these numbers at their face value so far in his 6-year career Mahomes has the statistical edge on Brady except for the fact Brady in his first 6 years appeared in 3 Super Bowls and won all 3.

Now here is the real trick to whether Mahomes can overtake Brady’s career playoffs stats including those 10 Super Bowl appearances and the ever impressive 7 Super Bowl wins… can Mahomes play long enough and be relatively injury free through that time and can the Chiefs maintain being a winning franchise who can give Mahomes the opportunity to continue performing in the playoffs and more importantly make it to the Super Bowl often enough, so he has a shot at winning it 5 more times.

If you believe the Chiefs can do that and that Mahomes can keep playing at the level he currently is playing then the answer becomes… Yes, Mahomes will eventually and inevitably either equal or surpass Tom Brady’s playoff/Super Bowl records and at the minimum Mahomes and Brady will share equal billing as NFL’s GOATs.  

2) In the last few years the NFL has been tinkering around with changing the rules for kickoffs in NFL games supposedly to limit injuries that occur during these plays including concussions which had gone up over the years.

In 2011, the NFL moved the kickoff spot from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line in an effort to get more touchbacks with the hope that it would lead to fewer collisions. In 2016, the NFL once again encouraged more touchbacks by giving the receiving team the ball at the 25-yard line instead of the 20-yard line if they took a knee in the end zone. 

Last season, the NFL enhanced that rule by allowing teams go call for a fair catch on kickoffs. Any kickoff that was fielded inside the 25-yard line would be moved out to the 25-yard line as a fair catch was called. 

Now the NFL is considering the kickoff rule from the XFL which could be implemented for next season. During XFL kickoffs the kicker stands by himself at the 30-yard while his other 10 teammates stand at the opponents’ 35-yard line. The receiving team has to put 10 players at their own 30-yard line — just five yards away from the kicking team’s players — and then one player is lined up deep to receive the kick. No one is allowed to move until the returner has fielded the kick.  

And… if the XFL rule does get implemented, the NFL will have to make a second rule change, and that’s because the XFL rule eliminates onside kicks. In the XFL, the kicking team is penalized if they don’t kick it past the opponent’s 20-yard line, which effectively makes onside kicks impossible. The XFL solved this problem by giving the teams the option of attempting a fourth-and-15 play from their own 25 to keep possession. 

What are thoughts regarding the possible implementation of the XFL’s version of kickoffs? Why? Should the NFL just leave well enough alone and leave the rules involving kickoffs the way they presently are? Why or why not?  

The NFL should leave kickoffs alone.

The fair-catch rule is even stupid. It takes away the game how it’s always been played. It takes away big plays from the kickoffs. A kickoff is extremely important in establishing good or bad starting field position for offenses. If you have a bad return, you’re stuck with a long field in order to score. If you have a good return, you have a short field to score, sometimes already starting in field goal range.

The number of concussions, or serious head injuries, that happens on kickoffs is around 1% of kickoffs. That’s such a miniscule number to really make these changes even matter or be important.

Leave kickoffs alone. All the changes aren’t necessary. 

Let me be really simple here…

Leave the damn rules involving the kickoffs in the NFL alone. In fact lets drop all the shenanigans that the NFL has done to the kickoffs and return things back to the way they done before the BS by the NFL took place.

End of story.

3) The Chicago Bears currently own the overall number one pick in the upcoming NFL draft. 

What should the Bears do with this pick… trade it for additional draft capital including a lower number one pick in this year’s draft as wells picks in future drafts or use it? Why? 

And if the Bears use the pick the prevailing assumption is that they will take USC’s Caleb Williams, who is widely considered to be one of the top quarterback prospects in recent memory. Do you agree with that assumption? And would it be the right choice for the Bears if they ultimately do decide to use the pick? Why or why not? 

The Bears should trade away Justin Fields.

They can get a nice return package of a couple draft picks for him. He clearly isn’t the option that Chicago wants at quarterback. He isn’t their answer. He has a lot of talent and a lot of potential and a lot of ability. When he’s comfortable in the pocket, he can make big-time throws. He also can get out of guarantee-sack situations and make big plays with his legs. But the Bears haven’t been the right spot for him. The offense has continuously let him down in his proper development. And it’s time for them to move on and take Caleb Williams with the top pick in the draft. And that’s going to be the right choice.

And what they can do with the number nine pick is draft pieces to help Caleb Williams’ development for the future. Keep adding pieces and improving their offense. And they should be able to get a second and third round pick, maybe more, for Justin Fields. Use those to bolster the offense. They traded for a big defensive difference-maker in Montez Sweat, then immediately signed him to a long-term extension. Keep working to build the team up for success. DJ Moore is their number one receiver. They need more weapons, and proper development for Caleb Williams. Reset the timeframe they have to spend on a quarterback and build up the rest of the roster with the available money they aren’t spending on a franchise quarterback.

The Bears are in a great position. They can’t afford to screw this up. 

It seems obvious that as much as Fields appears to be on a track of refining and improving his QB play in the NFL that the Bears, for whatever rationale, are not happy with him as their QB of the future and are keeping their overall number one pick in this year’s draft and will most likely use it to select Caleb Williams as their pick.  

Therefore they need to trade Fields for as many picks as they can get. I don’t think they should sell short on Fields just take any old offer but at least hold out for something decent. They probably won’t get any team offering up a number 1 but hey should be able to get maybe a two and a three or a four and if they hit the jackpot a couple of twos.

And then use those picks along with the capital they already have in the draft to fortify the team around Williams to afford him the best possible shot at succeeding for the Bears and staring off his career better than the shot the Bears gave to Fields.

4) Which team’s defense would you rather have in this year’s Super Bowl? Why? 

The defense that I want in this Super Bowl are the Kansas City Chiefs. They have been the big drivers for their team this season in the success that they’ve had all year. They were the big difference maker in the AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens in not requiring Patrick Mahomes to have to put up big numbers in order to secure the win. They forced multiple turnovers of the Ravens’ high-powered offense. They forced bad throws from Lamar Jackson. They forced a fumble on a for-sure touchdown from Zay Flowers. They had Baltimore rattled to the point that they ran the ball almost 20 times less than their season average on the year. They were completely shut down and decided to pass way too much and didn’t end up with the results they wanted. They were one of the best defensive units all season with pass rush, pass stop and run stop as well.

The 49ers have been allowing big points in the postseason and have fielded two large deficits in back-to-back playoff games and had to overcome them to get to where they’re at. Give me the Kansas City defense. 

Give me the Chiefs defense.

Their relatively no-name defensive squad beat a high powered Dolphin offense to just 7 points in the Wild Card game and then held the Bills and Ravens, two of the more explosive offenses in the NFL, to a combined 34 points.

I expect to see more of this dominance in the Super Bowl versus the 49ers.

5) Which team’s offense would you rather have in this year’s Super Bowl? Why?

The offense I want is hands-down the San Francisco 49ers’ offense. They have an insane crop of playmakers from Christian McCaffrey, who contributed over 2000 yards of offense both on the ground and receiving. They have Deebo Samuel, who’s an absolute monster of a player who is a big YAC playmaker and can make a difference running the ball as well as almost a true running back or have him on end-arounds. They have weapons Kittle at tight end and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk who are both able to make plays to ensure they’re open for Brock Purdy as well as being other big YAC players. The main weapons, plus a strong offensive line lead by anchor Trent Williams, gives me the farther edge on offense.

They’ve put up huge points on good defenses this season, including their match-up against the Dallas Cowboys where they hung over 40 points against. Their offense powered their way through the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers in back-to-back playoff weeks after having deficits given to them, including a major half-time deficit to the Lions and a fourth-quarter deficit to the Packers. The 49ers offense is dangerous and can kill you in more ways than one with multiple players. They even had to do their comeback against the Packers without Deebo Samuel for most of the game after suffering an injury early in the game. And they acted as if his absence didn’t faze them. And that’s dangerous and scary for opponents. 

With all their weapons on the offensive side of the ball… they got the Offensive Player of the Year in McCaffrey, receivers who know how to hold onto the ball when they catch it and QB Purdy who has been sort of on fire in these playoffs bring ing the 49ers from behind and winning games to advance to the Super Bowl… I should be taking the 49ers offense.

But you know what… I’m taking the Chiefs offense.

Suddenly their receivers seem to have remembered that when they get their hands on the ball they are supposed to hold on to it and then run towards the end zone. And they have stopped with the dumbass penalties that plagued them all seson long. And Pacheco is healthy and should be the running back who can control a game and keep a defense off the blitzing the QB that he is supposed to be.  And then there is the one thing that the 49ers don’t have that the chiefs do have and that is Patrick Mahomes factor and that somehow regardless of the circumstance in the playoffs he take over games late and wins it against all comers.

 Give me the Chiefs with the ball in Mahomes’ hands.