New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas shouted out Kansas City Chiefs DB Tyrann Mathieu for his AFC title game win and shot at Super Bowl 54.
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Game recognizes game, and Michael Thomas is here to celebrate that fact. The first-team All-Pro wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints took some time out of his Sunday to congratulate Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu for his team’s victory in the AFC Championship Game against the Tennessee Titans, which will propel them to Super Bowl LIV. All that stands between Mathieu and the Lombardi Trophy is the red-hot San Francisco 49ers.
Mathieu has come a long way from his impressive play with the LSU Tigers to a parting with the team due to off-field issues, then being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. He spent a year with the Houston Texans before landing a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chiefs, and so far, he’s earned every penny. Thomas shouted out Mathieu, who also joined him on the AP All-Pro first team, from his official Twitter account. Mathieu replied with words of admiration; you can view the exchange where it’s been embedded below, or at this link. It’s crystal-clear who Thomas will be pulling for when the Chiefs and 49ers kick off in Miami on Feb. 2, and it should be an easy decision for Saints fans to follow his lead.
LOVE YOU GANGSTA. The work was put in,in the dark. Glad the lights on. https://t.co/MkGYSsVStu
With just four teams remaining, here’s one thing each of these teams must do if they want to make it to Super Bowl LIV.
Losing in any elimination game gives you the entire offseason to think about the things you should have done. For the Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, and Green Bay Packers, there’s still that one last hope for the Super Bowl that no other team still has this season. The AFC and NFC Championship game entrants have faced off in the regular season already.
In Week 10, the Titans came back from a 10-0 Chiefs lead, and Patrick Mahomes’ three-touchdown performance, to beat Kansas City 35-32. Ryan Tannehill, still in his first few games as Marcus Mariota’s replacement, threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to receiver Adam Humphries with 29 seconds left in regulation, and Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker missed a potential game-tying 52-yard field goal at the end of regulation. At least the Chiefs can say they were in that game.
The Packers, not so much. In Week 12, the 49ers beat the daylights out of Green Bay, 37-8. Aaron Rodgers averaged 3.15 yards per completion when he was able to throw the ball, the Packers went 1-for-15 on third down, and a defense that had been relatively on point allowed Jimmy Garoppolo to look like Joe Montana.
Still, the good news for both losing teams in this instance is that neither the Chiefs nor the Packers have lost a single game since those particular defeats. Mahomes seems to have recovered from his in-season injuries, Green Bay’s passing offense is more explosive, Kansas City’s defense is far better than it used to be, and the Packers’ coverage units seem to have recovered from what 49ers head coach and play-designer Kyle Shanahan did to them.
So, if we take the conference title games as new entities (as we should) while attempting to learn from the past, here’s one thing each of the remaining teams should do if they want to make it to Super Bowl LIV.
Going up against the Kansas City defense will present a new challenge for a Titans offense that has kept finding a way to come out on top.
Few signal-callers have made quite the transformation Ryan Tannehill has in less than one season.
Tannehill wasn’t seen as nearly the force he is now in Tennessee back when he was in Miami, so often hindered by his own inconsistency.
Different systems fit different quarterbacks, and it seems that Tannehill has certainly found his place now.
After finishing out the 2019 regular season with the highest passer rating in the NFL (117.5) of the year. That’s good for the fourth-best in NFL history, behind just Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in 2011 (122.5), Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in 2004 (121.1), and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles in 2013 (119.2).
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Now, he’ll be at the helm of the offense as the Titans prepare to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in a battle for the AFC Championship title this week.
And Tennessee will be laying it all out on the line as the team looks to make its first Super Bowl appearance since 2000.
“We’re going to take some risks,” Tannehill said when he met with the media on Wednesday. “With no risk comes no reward.”
Going up against the Kansas City defense will present a new challenge for a Titans offense that has kept finding a way to come out on top.
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“They’ve done a really good job, especially since we played them,” Tannehill said. “They really play hard, they play physical. They play fast up front coming off the football. They’ve got good guys on the back side to cover. You know (Tyrann) Mathieu is all over the place making plays on the football… they really have the whole package on defense.”
Football is a contact sport, but not every play warrants a violent hit. Tyrann Mathieu realized that on Sunday.
As the Chiefs rallied from a 24-point deficit to rout the Texans, 51-31, in the AFC Divisional round, some fans noticed that Mathieu had a clear opportunity to hit Deshaun Watson on Houston’s final drive.
The blitzing safety, though, elected to pull up on the play and let Watson get off his pass unscathed — a 14-yard connection with Taiwan Jones. When The Athletic’s Mike Sando called out Mathieu’s decision, the Chiefs safety explained why he chose against laying the hit on Watson.
The game was over. Yeah that’s my boy , but I’m not fake tough, I don’t have to hit you to make me feel like imma big beast. This is football, but every act isn’t violent. https://t.co/KmNl7zDEhF
Mathieu previously played for the Texans, and he’s still close with plenty of their players, including Watson. At that point in the game, the Chiefs knew they were going to win. The last thing Mathieu wanted to do was lay a hard hit on Watson and cause an injury — or even face a potential fine if the hit ended up being illegal.
By allowing Watson to get the pass off, Mathieu let the game wind down to the eventual Chiefs win without any drama. Otherwise the hit would have just been violence for the sake of violence.
The Houston Texans take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional. The Chiefs Wire helps take a look at what to expect at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs get ready for a Week 6 rematch in the AFC divisional playoffs. What has changed since Oct. 13? What has stayed the same? Charles Goldman, managing editor of the Chiefs Wire, returns to help preview the playoff matchup.
Texans Wire: How relieved are the Chiefs that they got that bye?
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Charles Goldman: They were elated. Andy Reid, of course, has a tremendous record with extra time to prepare for an opponent. On top of that, this team has faced significant injury-related adversity throughout the entire season. Just having that extra time to rest and heal for this matchup will pay dividends.
When the Chiefs signed defensive back Tyrann Mathieu in the offseason, they hoped Mathieu would help the defense. He’s done more than that.
Through the first half of the 2019 season, it looked like the Chiefs were going to have to take the same trip to the postseason they had in 2018 — riding Patrick Mahomes all the way, and hoping their defense didn’t blow it all up. The last straw for Andy Reid and the Chiefs’ front office for ex-defensive coordiantor Bob Sutton was Kansas City’s loss to the Patriots in the 2018 AFC Championship game, when the Chiefs never got the ball in overtime, and New England marched down the field on a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Sutton’s defense was helpless to stop it, and things had to change.
To replace Sutton, the Chiefs hired Steve Spagnuolo, the architect of the 2007 Giants defense that stunned the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Spagnuolo’s multiple fronts and aggressive coverages provided a different template than Sutton’s far more passive approach, and though it took a while for everything to gel, the Chiefs now have a championship-caliber defense at exactly the right time.
Through the season’s first nine weeks, Kansas City allowed 14 touchdowns and had just six interceptions, though their seven dropped interceptions (tied with Cincinnati for the league lead) was a precursor of better things to come. Kansas City allowed 7.02 yards per attempt, and an opposing QBR of 90.50. Not the worst in the league in any of these departments, but hardly the kind of defense Spagnuolo or Reid wanted. Their opponent completion rate of 62.96% ranked 11th-best in the league.
Rex Burkhead’s game-winning touchdown run in the 2019 AFC Championship game spelled the end of Bob Sutton’s tenure. (Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports)
But from Weeks 10-17, the change has been remarkable. The Chiefs are tied with the Ravens for the fewest passing touchdowns allowed with seven, and have picked off 10 passes — tied with the Falcons, Browns, Colts, Saints, and Dolphins for the most in that span. They also have seven dropped picks in the second half of the season Only the Steelers, Packers, and Ravens have allowed a lower completion percentage than Kansas City’s 57.36%.
The Chiefs have allowed 6.22 yards per attempt — only the Ravens, 49ers, and Steelers have been better, and only the Steelers have allowed a lower QBR than Kansas City’s 68.72. The Chiefs’ defensive Positive Play Rate (the percentage of plays in which an opposing offense has Expected Points Added over zero) has dropped from 46% to 42%.
Perhaps most importantly for their playoff prospects, the Chiefs have become the kind of team that can beat other postseason entrants without a superhuman effort from Mahomes — or even with Mahomes in the game. Playing through injuries as he has, Mahomes saw a drastic dip in production from his 2018 MVP season, but the Chiefs beat the Vikings, 26-23 in Week 9 with Mahomes on the bench and Matt Moore throwing for 275 yards and a touchdown. They lost a close one, 31-24, to the Packers the week before with Moore as their quarterback. They beat the Patriots, 23-16 in Week 14, with Mahomes challenged by New England’s top pass defense, managing 283 yards and a touchdown. And now, they have a revenge match on Sunday in the divisional round against the Texans, who beat them 31-24 in Week 6, back when this defense wasn’t what it would become.
Players such as cornerback Charvarius Ward and defensive back Tyrann Mathieu have thrived this season under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The unquestionable key to this turnaround, besides everyone getting on the same page with Spagnuolo’s more aggressive man and match concepts, has been defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, the former Cardinals and Texans star who signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chiefs in March. As has been the case through his career, Mathieu is a game-changer from every possible position. This season, he’s played 1,080 snaps — 82 at the defensive line, 315 as a box safety or nickel/dime linebacker, 483 as a slot cornerback, 27 as an outside cornerback, and 173 as a free safety.
“He wears a lot of hats,” defensive backs coach Sam Madison recently said, via ESPN’s Adam Teicher. “Early in the year, we just wanted to put guys in situations to be comfortable. He understands the defense. … Since he’s been at LSU, he’s played all over the place. It was just a natural fit for him. He’s taken to it very well. I talked to him a few weeks ago, telling him just to be patient and try not to go out there and find the plays [but] let them come to him. That’s what he’s been doing.”
Mathieu’s transformation in Spagnuolo’s schemes mirrors the overall defensive improvement.
“He’s the glue,” Spagnuolo has said of Mathieu. “He’s the guy that can get in the huddle in practice and say, ‘Hey, we need to step it up.’ You need guys like that. That stuff, I value as a coordinator. It makes my job a lot easier.”
As a slot defender through the first half of the season, he allowed 16 receptions on 21 targets for 132 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 107.6. From Week 10 on, he increased his efficiency with 17 catches allowed on 27 slot targets for 110 yards, no touchdowns, and an opponent passer rating of 40.2.
As a safety, his coverage improvement has been similarly transformative. In the first half of the season as a box or deep safety, he allowed 23 catches on 34 targets for 221 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 92.9. In the second half of the season, he allowed 28 completions on 42 targets for 193 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 47.0.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid knows his safeties — he had Eric Berry from 2013 through 2018 in Kansas City, and Hall-of-Famer Brian Dawkins in Philadelphia from 1999 through 2008. As far as Reid is concerned, Mathieu belongs in that discussion.
“This organization was blessed to have Eric Berry… a great leader, tough, all those things. Before that I was with Brian Dawkins. I’ve been lucky to be around some really good safeties. They’re all different in their own way but they’re all great football players with great instincts and good leaders. They lead a different way. This kid here, he’s a special kid. He’s not the biggest guy. You’re not looking at one of those huge safeties but, man, is he a good football player. He just gets it.”
Leadership is one thing. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Mathieu also brings top-tier athleticism, field awareness, and the ability to read a play and snuff it right out — from anywhere on the field.
Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien says that safety Tyrann Mathieu has been a big part of the Kansas City Chiefs’ success on defense.
The Houston Texans will be taking on a familiar face when they play the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional playoffs Sunday at 2:05 p.m. CT at Arrowhead Stadium.
A really familiar face.
All-Pro safety Tyrann Mathieu used to be a part of the Texans’ secondary in 2018. After signing a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chiefs, Mathieu produced 75 tackles, 2.0 sacks, four interceptions, and 12 pass breakups in 16 starts for Kansas City.
“He’s a big part of it,” O’Brien told reporters Monday. “He’s playing really well. Line him up in different spots, plays nickel, plays safety. They do a good job. They mix it up on you, they spin the dial from one snap to the next, you really don’t know what you’re going to get. So, you’re going to have to be very, very alert, you’re going to have to have a great week of communication.”
In the wild-card round against the Buffalo Bills, part of what helped the Texans prevail 22-19 in overtime was quarterback Deshaun Watson being careful with the football. The two-time Pro Bowl signal caller went 20-of-25 for 247 yards and a touchdown, though he did take seven sacks on the afternoon.
“You’re going to have to have a great week of preparation, because [defensive coordinator] (Steve) Spagnuolo does a great job,” O’Brien said.
Mathieu is a known quantity for the Texans as he spent the 2018 season with the Texans after playing the first five seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals. While he didn’t get to stay in Houston, Mathieu used the “prove-it” aspect of his one-year contract with the AFC South club to audition for suitors who would be willing to pay retail for Mathieu’s services.
In the Week 6 encounter between Houston and Kansas City, Mathieu had 10 tackles and a pass deflection in 89 snaps. If the “Honey Badger” can add more production, it could help the Chiefs defend their home-field advantage in the rematch.
Are there problems in the Cardinals locker room that make Johnson want to leave?
It has been a tough season for Arizona Cardinal running back David Johnson. He began the season having a bit of a down year, especially as a runner. Then he got hurt. Then he lost his starting job and playing time.
Now he is a backup to Kenyan Drake and his role in the future seems in question, even though he has a long-term deal with the team.
A common theme for Johnson on social media this year has been proving people wrong or staying strong despite having a number of doubters.
He had another such post Tuesday.
“Surrounded by enemies, I know they praying for my down fall. They really want to see the end of me, know I won’t fold imma stand tall!” pic.twitter.com/alcPFUKGEV
What makes this post interesting is not the post itself but one of the replies.
Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu, a former Cardinals teammate, replies, telling him to go to Kansas City, presumably telling him to join him on the Chiefs.
Johnson is still under contract with the team after this season so the only way for him to join the Chiefs would be via trade or if the Cardinals cut him in the offseason and then he signed with them. However, cutting him would create more than $16 million in dead money.
Mathieu left the Cardinals after the team cut him. He has hard feelings because of how things went down.
Many have speculated that Johnson’s post is related to what is happening within the Cardinals organization and how there are those perhaps among the coaches or in the front office that no longer believe in him. Others believe it is in reference to the fans who have turned on him since his production declined.
If it is something related to the team, it should raise concerns. But as much as Mathieu might want Johnson on the Chiefs, it isn’t likely to happen. Of course, if the Cardinals managed to trade Johnson and get something in exchange, it is something they probably should consider, especially if Kliff Kingsbury doesn’t believe he is good enough to be a featured back in his offense.
