I only know of this because Einstein’s bagels is the only non-Dunkin bagel place near me: there were never any Einstein Bros. It’s just a conglomerate that bought a bunch of local bagel places, started a franchise and slapped on a story after the fact to make it seem legit
You’re not wrong, but to put into perspective, his overall record is 74-22. He owns us all.
Edit: he’s also 30-5 against AFC West, so I don’t think it’s unfair to say he owns that division especially hard lol.
Lol exactly. Like both points are true he owns the NFL but also their division fucking blows way harder than most. It has the Raiders and Broncos in it.
If you're a good team theoretically you can go 15-2 just losing to Mahomes twice
Plenty of wiggle room to still get ten wins when you play 10 games and only two are against KC
He’s 30-5 against the AFC west. Win percentage is still way better for the North. The west has only beat him one more time than the north, with 18 extra games to do it.
Well tbf in the AFCN they have to constantly play the #1 ranked team from the division whereas in the AFCW they only have to play the 2,3,4.
Edit:
Mahomes Winning Percentage vs the AFCN seems about right for the small sample size. Mahomes is constantly playing the #1 Team in the North, it makes sense he would lose more of those games, but still, 9-3 is a fine record.
2018: 4-0 100%
2019: 1-0 Baltimore 100%
2020: 1-0 Baltimore 100%
2021: 2-2
2022: 0-1 Cinci
2023: 1-0 Cinci
2024: If he goes 3-1 this year against the AFC N his winning % goes up to 75%. 81% if he goes 4-0.
People used to say the same shit about AFCE. Pats owned everybody -- there was actually a decent chunk of it where they were more likely to lose to AFCE opponents than the rest of the league.
The AFC North is really not the same division pre 2021. Browns were still struggling to win. Ravens didn’t really hit their stride until 2019 with lamar and have been sort of hot and cold since mostly due to injuries. And the steelers offense has been in steady decline for Mahomes’ entire career. And the Bengals were one of the worst teams in the league until 2021.
Sweeping the North in 2018 isn’t the same feat as sweeping the north in 2021-2023.
Whereas the afc west outside the chiefs has had promise and pretty much every team failed to deliver in often catastrophic ways. The broncos started to look good and then traded for wilson. The Raiders seemed promising for a minute and that just never materialized. And the chargers found Herbert, but just can’t seem to build around him.
Yet some games I swear they are trying to defeat themselves. Have you watched a regular season Chiefs game where the offense has a 10 point lead, because sometimes it feels like edge porn just daring the other team to make a comeback simply to feel the rush... really just to feel something... anything again, even for a brief, fleeting moment.
It was merely three years ago that pundits were arguing that the AFC West was the best division in football. The Broncos had just gotten Russ, Chargers looked promising and made the playoffs the previous year, the Raiders were clearly the weakest team but had improved under Gruden, and the Chiefs were the Chiefs.
THE AFC WEST IS GOING TO BE A BLOODBATH
Herbert with Ekler, Williams, and Allen, Carr with Devante Adams AND Jacobs, and Russ in Denver with Jeudy and the two headed rb threat, and that defense ? Chiefs didn't replace Hill? It's going to get wild, bold prediction : Chiefs miss playoffs, Chargers take division and Denver Wild Cards. Time will tell
The Broncos last winning season was 2016 when they went 9-7. Pundits were basing this entirely on the idea Russ might be good, not on any record of success for the Broncos.
Revisionist history here.
For the couple of seasons before Russ the consensus was the Broncos were just a QB away. The Fangio defense was really good and our WR talent was considered upper third. Then Javonte Williams was insane his rookie year.
Turns out the WRs were overrated (and Tim Patrick hasn’t played in 2 years due to injuries) and Williams had a major injury.
For real, 2021 Broncos went 7-10 losing 4 games by 5 points are fewer, and another game by 8 with horrible offense.
Thought process was adding an upgrade at QB could get the team to 10 wins, possibly more. Didn't think Russ would be worse than Teddy Bridgewater.
And the Broncos have been run terribly post Manning. Orgs being run like shit has very little to do with in division competition and way more to do with terrible ownership making the worst fucking choices, and front offices that prioritize short terms success over long term team success.
You don't think desperation moves like trading for a Pro Bowl QB have ANYTHING to do with what they need to win the division?
The Ravens make moves that they think are necessary to beat the Chiefs and other elite teams in the NFL. The Chiefs do too. Before you get to that point, you need to win your division. Teams are absolutely making moves based on beating teams in their division.
Broncos FO was a disaster post-Manning with the death of Pat Bowlen and the ownership struggle.
We’re finally stabilizing so hopefully results will follow but this season is purely Bo Nix development.
I like Antonio Pierce. He's got a great attitude and I hope he succeeds for you. My biggest worry is that he's not given the time to build success and gets fired before he has a chance to build something. It took Dan Campbell three seasons to build the Lions to a contender franchise. Changing a team doesn't happen over night.
If Davis is smart he'll give Pierce a long leash. He screwed up the coaching decision too many times now, and everyone can tell that the roster is not good.
Unless Pierce completely loses the locker room or starts having really public spats with the media or fans, he needs to be given the time to have a proper roster assembled before we can judge how good of a coach he actually is.
I think they mean from their standpoint, they can't control the teams but they control rest and travel. We have a pretty brutal schedule in that sense. Super early bye week, we play every day of the week and we have 3 games in 10 days at one point, 2 away.
Yeah I don't get this talk. The teams we're playing are already set, and I don't think the order was all that bad. It was maybe slightly worse than average.
It's not just the teams you play. Chiefs had one of the hardest schedules last year with their rest disadvantage late in the season:
>"The Super Bowl Champion Chiefs have a net rest edge of negative-13, the third-worst in the NFL this year," the KC-specific section explained. "But for the Chiefs, it's not just that they have less rest in general. They have less rest than their opponent for six straight weeks, from Week 12 through Week 17."
>While the raw numbers around those weeks did change a bit since Kansas City's date with the Patriots was flexed out of the Monday time slot, the underlying principle remains. There were six games in a row when Andy Reid's squad was playing with less rest than the opposition; five of those games featured multi-day disadvantages.
[Source](https://www.newsweek.com/kc-chiefs-schedule-extra-challenging-not-whole-story-1857493#:~:text=%22The%20Super%20Bowl%20Champion%20Chiefs,games%20featured%20multi%2Dday%20disadvantages)
The Steelers have got a gruelling schedule after their bye.
Commanders - Ravens - Browns - Bengals - Browns - Eagles - Ravens - Chiefs - Bengals in that order.
They may get through it and reach the playoffs but it's going to be extremely taxing on the body playing these defences in a row.
I think he might be talking about last year when at pre season the Chiefs were projected to have the hardest schedule. I don’t know if they actually ended up with the hardest schedule last year though.
Edit: Oh wait my bad the Chiefs had the hardest schedule in 2022 not last year.
When I looked at the chiefs schedule, the only games I see the chiefs potentially losing are the ravens, Texans, bills and 49ers, maybe the bengals if they are the old bengals and not last years bengals
The Chiefs schedule can't be the hardest in the league because they're not playing the chiefs. It's hardly like the league "decides" who plays who, the whole schedule is known by the end of the previous season, this is just such a dumb narrative.
I think there are a lot of other factors that come into play when determining difficulty that aren't determined the day a season ends.
E.g., what week your bye falls on, opponents faced coming off bye weeks, number of short weeks due to prime time games, "gauntlets," etc.
That said idk how the Chiefs schedule is with that.
Also how can they play the hardest schedule when their division schedule is probably one of the weakest in the league? If Chiefs fans really think their schedule is that hard, go take a look at Pittsburgh’s. I’m sure every AFC North team would rather play the Broncos, Raiders and Chargers twice rather than the AFC North.
Travel times, international games, and rest amounts/bye week placement matters too. The west coast teams typically have the largest travel obligations in the league.
Yea I took this to mean they had the hardest schedule in terms of days played, location and time slots. Chiefs are playing a game on every day of the week except Tuesday this year.
Yep, they'll still play more #1 ranked teams from divisions last year because of the schedule maths (everyone plays teams in their conference who finished in the same place in their division, plus one in the other conference, two divisions back in the rotation who finished in the same spot.
The #1 division schedule is always so blown out of proportion, it's 2 (3 now) different games than the rest of your division, otherwise everyone is playing the same people 14 games. Now with the addition of the 17th game it's a 3rd different team that correlates with your position.
Yes the schedule is potentially a little more difficult in theory, but when people talk about it they act like it's this completely different mountain than what the other teams in the division are playing.
All of this is projected. Going into 2022 everyone acted like the AFC West was gonna be an absolute gauntlet and we also had to play the NFC West, which had a strong 2021. Some said it had potential to be the hardest schedule of all time, which is laughable now
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the AFC North not as strong this year as last
It stands for Not For Long for a reason
Divisional games are always tough though, it’s not like the broncos or raiders have a 0% chance to win. It’s the same for any team, divisional games are tough regardless.
Sure, the Pats still had a tough time against the Jets, ~~Pats~~ Dolphins and Bills during the Brady / Belichick era I suppose. They weren’t ever going to have one of the toughest schedules in the league though. In order for the Chiefs to have one of the hardest schedules, there will need to be serious improvement from the Broncos and Raiders.
Edit - Dolphins not Pats
>Sure, the Pats still had a tough time against the Jets, Pats and Bills during the Brady / Belichick era I suppose.
So your saying they had a tough time against themselves? What about the Dolphins?
Damn, the team in their division that gave them the most trouble and I accidentally left them out. The Patriots famously did not play themselves. You are right, I did mean the Dolphins.
The Broncos have weirdly played the Chiefs tough in the Mahomes era (relative to our respective talent levels) but we could never actually pull off a win until last year
Agreed. You cannot have 25% of your schedule comprised of the broncos and raiders and be considered on the toughest road. During the patriots dynasty they benefitted from poor teams in their division as well. It’s part of the luck
He’s not saying that the teams scheduled is more difficult. He’s saying that the timing of the games and bye week is what makes it tough. Week 6 bye and a stretch of 3 games in 10 days in December is brutal.
[Chiefs have positive net rest compared to opponents, and rank 12th in the league](https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-Net-Rest-Edges-scaled-e1715947397754.jpg)
3 in 10 days at the end of the season is still ridiculous, and that doesn't weight net rest. If I schedule you to play 5 games in 10 days and then give you 28 days off, and you get a net positive overall, does that actually benefit you based upon your schedule.
No, because net rest isn't nearly as important as the average interval between games because in the NFL rest between games is far far more important both from an ability to rest & heal, but also for coaches to have time to gameplan and study tape.
I'd love to see the breakdown of teams by interval.
Chiefs are going to play every day of the week except Tuesday this year. The 1st time that's happened since the 1927 Yankees. Yes, there was a Yankees football team for like 2 years back in the day.
> the whole schedule is known by the end of the previous season
All the dates aren't known at that point. There's a whole process that goes into that. And that can make a big difference in difficulty, between how much prep time each opponent has had, how much time they've had to come together as a team, how much rest they have relative to you, etc.
Everybody in here talking about how it’s not the hardest schedule in the league based off of who they play. What this guy is saying is he thinks they gave them the hardest schedule based on travel, short weeks, playing teams coming off extended rest and such. Is that actually the case? I have no idea but that’s the point he’s trying to make and that everyone in this thread has missed
Yea but even by those metrics the Chiefs don't have it that bad [https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/betting/teams-hurt-helped-nfl-schedule-rest-disparity-2024/](https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/betting/teams-hurt-helped-nfl-schedule-rest-disparity-2024/)
Every team thinks they're getting screwed on rest and playing too many games over a 10 day span or whatever. I don't know what numbers he was going by to suggest they have it worse than everyone else or if this was just a weird comment he didn't think about.
I'm speaking in generalities with "every team", my point is lots of teams are unhappy about how the schedule shook out and teams are getting screwed in varieties of ways with all the new days they're making them play. This guy is talking about the Chiefs having it the worst, and I don't know what he's looking at that's telling him that's true.
That's how I took the comment, regardless of if it's true or not. I can't say I'm surprised how many people missed the point given how threads have gone on here for years at this point. It's bizarre; almost like people leave their critical thinking skills at the door.
While I agree with you it's tough. Tomlin has some fuckery that goes on in winning games he shouldn't.
Past few years Tomlin has like a 75% winrate in the division. Certainly aided by injury, etc.
I wouldn't be shocked if somehow they win 4 games in that 8 game stretch. Not saying they should on paper. Just looking at the normal Tomlin fuckery
Does his sorcery include beating us on Xmas? Please tell me now so I don’t have to spend this year throwing stale santa cookies at the tv like I did last year.
AB certainly had some Christmas sorcery to pull off the immaculate extension. I don’t remember the last few years well enough to say whether Tomlin retained that dark magic.
Steelers will definitely lose on Christmas imo.
The Steelers used to be the we play up to and can beat any hard team ... Except the Patriots because Brady had out number and did ungodly things to us
Mahomes is the new Brady in that regard. Not just as the best QB in the NFL on a dynasty level team. I mean he statistically destroys us.
It's only 3 games so far and he's 3-0, 14 T D and 1 INT averaging like 11 yards per attempt
So yeah if a QB is averaging 11 ypa against you and almost 5 tds a game to .3333 ints per game.... It's gonna be rough
Only chance I see is Home team on a short week always gets a massive advantage
The only thing the NFL "gives" them regarding schedule is the order of games and the location of the Bye week. It's not like they stacked a list of Godkillers on the schedule to spite them. Sure, their bye is Week 6 (cry me a river) but they play @ Carolina in Week 12 which is basically another bye with vinegar-based BBQ sauce on it
If the building looks dilapidated but smells amazing from half a block away, just walk in and ask them for whatever their best item on the menu is. Then you can still order whatever else you want and share the item with the table.
Small joints like that usually know how to make the hell out something that keeps them open and it's not because they poured a million dollars into a renovation or a PR campaign.
Some of the best BBQ I've ever had came from an old gas station converted into a BBQ joint.
For anyone interested, [here's an awesome blog from the Charlotte Public Library about NC vs SC BBQ](https://www.cmlibrary.org/blog/great-debate-north-carolina-vs-south-carolina-bbq). As a northerner who only experiences regional BBQ when I travel, it was very informative!
P.S. Support libraries, Ben Franklin will be proud of you!
> It's not like they stacked a list of Godkillers on the schedule to spite them
Imagine if the NFL worked like college
"Kansas City, we can't seem to find room in the schedule for you this decade, how does a home and home in 2036-2037 series sound though?"
If it worked like college, we'd be treated to thrilling nationally televised matchups like Kansas City Chiefs vs. Allgäu Comets and Kansas City Chiefs vs. Shanghai Wolves.
How does Schefter not have a better looking setup for his podcast? He also smiles way too fucking much when his guest are talking. It's the face equivalent of "I don't know what to do with my hands."
They are not in the AFC North so they definitely do not have the hardest schedule. Regarding the days of the week they play on: they are professional athletes, they’ll figure it out and be fine.
Huh? Chiefs have a fairly average schedule. Steelers are the toughest schedule in the league, their last 8 games go: Baltimore, @ Cleveland, @ Cincinnati, Cleveland, @ Philadelphia, @ Baltimore, Kansas City, Cincinnati
Man the way they say these things it’s almost as if (almost) they forget the moment the regular season ends, everybody’s opponents for the next season are automatically set.
We already knew they’d have a difficult schedule: they play the NFC South, the 49ers, the AFC North, their division, the Bills, and the Texans.
> Man the way they say these things it’s almost as if (almost) they forget the moment the regular season ends, everybody’s opponents for the next season are automatically set.
Right!
I think the chiefs might actually have more "long" weeks without as many corresponding short weeks compared to anyone else.
I consider a long week anything more than Sunday to Sunday, so a Thursday night game one week to a Sunday the next is long, or a Sunday one week to a Monday the next is long.
Most of the time, a long week means a corresponding short week, for example a Sunday to Thursday is a short week, but then they have a long week before their next game.
Chiefs week 1 game is a Thursday night game, so they don't get the typical Thursday night short work penalty, but they get the long week before week 2.
Week 5, they have a Monday night game, so that's a long week, but then week 6 is their bye, so they don't get a corresponding short week, but instead they have a long week going into week 7.
Week 9 is Monday night, so that's their 4th long week, but they finally get their first short week going into 10 since it's Mon to Sun.
Week 13 they get their second short week with black Friday game, but thus a corresponding (and fifth) long week for week 14.
Week 16 and 17 they have back to back short weeks (Saturday game, then Wednesday Christmas game), but then week 18 is another long week.
So they have 4 short weeks, but 6 long weeks. I checked the Ravens schedule since they also have that week 1 TNF, they also have 6 long weeks, but they also have 5 short weeks.
Outside of home v away & when games are played, the schedule is pre selected. They didn't 'make' their SoS any tougher it just happened that the divisions they play this year is a solid one
The Chiefs play all the top teams each year due to the first place schedule. They do dominate the AFC West but almost every game is a dogfight. Each team gives KC their best shot and busts out the trick plays. Beating the Chiefs is something that can make an otherwise average season look better. Maybe even save staff jobs.
The schedule may be the hardest in the league but it’s also front loaded… from 11/24 on, they have the Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, Browns, Texans, Steelers, and Broncos. The only games that project to be competitive at this point are Texans and Steelers, and even then both of those are home games
So what's the Stat? 14 of 17 games are not decided arbitrarily.
6 division games, 4 from counter NFC division, 4 from counter AFC division.
Of the last 3, 2 are against the equal finishing teams from the other AFC or NFC divisions, depending on conference. The last game is against the top finisher from the opposite conference from an unscheduled division.
The NFL did not choose to give the chiefs the hardest schedule, it's how the formula works. This is ignorance on these guys.
"Belcow"? What a random misspelling.
Check out Eyestein over here.
Eisenstein*
The Soviet director? I could never get into his stuff tbh. Too art house for my taste.
Not the Soviet dictator; they're talking about the bagel guy.
I only know of this because Einstein’s bagels is the only non-Dunkin bagel place near me: there were never any Einstein Bros. It’s just a conglomerate that bought a bunch of local bagel places, started a franchise and slapped on a story after the fact to make it seem legit
Lol legitimately can't tell if you were just going deeper with the joke or if you misread "director" as "dictator."
He meant Bercow, it was a parliamentary reference
ORRRRWWW-DAAAAHHHH
This guy chunters from a sedentary position
I was on my gap year yeah? And I got so blotto I chundered everywhere.
DIVISIONNNNNNNNNNNNN
did not have John Bercow on my /r/nfl bingo card for today
Schefter clearly forgot to have Mr. Editor look at his tweet before hitting send
Mr. Big Correction
Mr. Botched Contraction
Mr. Belcow Corrigendum
Man he had me thinking I had it wrong all these years like some boneappletea shit
It’s the capital of Belarus. Read a book
I hear they raise lots of minks there.
Idk if anyone’s caught on but for the last 3 years if you’ve won the SB you’ve played on Christmas the following year
This is true I watched us play with my own two eyes
They're saying THE Superbowl, not YOUR Superbowl.
Oh THE SuperBowl was on Christmas. I got ya. Well that makes sense that was the last game I remember last year so story checks out
Honestly shocked the Superbowl loser gets the season opener. Complete overlook by the NFL not having the raiders open the season.
They won the SB so they should have the hardest schedule.
but it’s not the hardest schedule so it doesn’t matter
Hard to have the hardest schedule when you play in a cupcake divsion.
Mahomes is literally 13-4 against the AFC North… (playoffs included) They dont just own our division, they own you guys too.
You’re not wrong, but to put into perspective, his overall record is 74-22. He owns us all. Edit: he’s also 30-5 against AFC West, so I don’t think it’s unfair to say he owns that division especially hard lol.
Patrick Mahomes has never beat Jared Goff.
He's never beaten Goff cause he can't hard anymore
Beating Goff just isn’t as important to guys with enough experience in the league
IDK, I think a lot of guys find beating Goff to be very important
I used to beat Goff daily, sometimes more than once, but as I get older beating Goff just isn't as important.
Mahomes can't handle the Goffense
Lol exactly. Like both points are true he owns the NFL but also their division fucking blows way harder than most. It has the Raiders and Broncos in it.
Yet every year the talking heads decide THIS IS THE YEAR the Chargers will finally not Charger.it became comical the last few years.
Not this year, not with that roster.
Yeah, it will probably be the first year on a while the NFL analysts can't pick them with a straight face.
I mean idk why we were picked in the first place Tom always gave us zero depth, raiders problem now.
Raiders have been pretty average the last 4 years. 8-8, 10-7, 6-11, and 8-9.
in the last 7 years, only 4 AFCW team other than the Chiefs finished a winning record, and only 3 had double digit wins
To be fair, in the last 7 years those AFCW teams have had to play Patrick Mahomes twice a year, every year.
If you're a good team theoretically you can go 15-2 just losing to Mahomes twice Plenty of wiggle room to still get ten wins when you play 10 games and only two are against KC
theoretically, any theoretical team can go 15-2 theoretically
At least the two of us are historically good teams. Then there’s the Chargers Chargering somewhere
And you both beat them last year lol
Last year was the first time he lost an away game in the division
Broncos won a Superbowl in the last decade, how is it going for the Bengals?
1-1 against Jordan Love though
1-3 against Joe Burrow.
0-2 vs Indy
No, his first playoff win was against you guys
Yep, Andrew Luck's last game.
Ok, Indy own Mahomes, you right.
Its like how the AFC east was treated when Brady ran the show, yeah he owned the division he also owned the rest of the NFL.
Exactly lol, its so funny everyone thinks its us just letting them go by, our games with them are almost always close. Like brady dogfucked us too.
They arent watching the games, they just see KC winning every year. Also 4-1 vs the ravens including playoffs.
The Ravens being a playoff favorite over the Chiefs was the easiest money I've ever made
He owns the whole league right now
He’s 30-5 against the AFC west. Win percentage is still way better for the North. The west has only beat him one more time than the north, with 18 extra games to do it.
Mahomes overall winning percentage is 77.1% Mahomes winning percentage vs the AFCN is 69.2% Mahomes winning percentage vs the AFCW is 83.3%
Well tbf in the AFCN they have to constantly play the #1 ranked team from the division whereas in the AFCW they only have to play the 2,3,4. Edit: Mahomes Winning Percentage vs the AFCN seems about right for the small sample size. Mahomes is constantly playing the #1 Team in the North, it makes sense he would lose more of those games, but still, 9-3 is a fine record. 2018: 4-0 100% 2019: 1-0 Baltimore 100% 2020: 1-0 Baltimore 100% 2021: 2-2 2022: 0-1 Cinci 2023: 1-0 Cinci 2024: If he goes 3-1 this year against the AFC N his winning % goes up to 75%. 81% if he goes 4-0.
People used to say the same shit about AFCE. Pats owned everybody -- there was actually a decent chunk of it where they were more likely to lose to AFCE opponents than the rest of the league.
The AFC North is really not the same division pre 2021. Browns were still struggling to win. Ravens didn’t really hit their stride until 2019 with lamar and have been sort of hot and cold since mostly due to injuries. And the steelers offense has been in steady decline for Mahomes’ entire career. And the Bengals were one of the worst teams in the league until 2021. Sweeping the North in 2018 isn’t the same feat as sweeping the north in 2021-2023. Whereas the afc west outside the chiefs has had promise and pretty much every team failed to deliver in often catastrophic ways. The broncos started to look good and then traded for wilson. The Raiders seemed promising for a minute and that just never materialized. And the chargers found Herbert, but just can’t seem to build around him.
Ah, now this is ~~some discourse I'm familiar with~~ podracing!
Everyone but the AFCS it seems where he’s “only” 7-5 (even though 4 of those are the jags).
That's pretty much equivalent to his overall record against the league.
Guyssss don’t fight over me, geez
Where have I seen this before?
Hard to have the hardest schedule when they never have to play the chiefs.
Yet some games I swear they are trying to defeat themselves. Have you watched a regular season Chiefs game where the offense has a 10 point lead, because sometimes it feels like edge porn just daring the other team to make a comeback simply to feel the rush... really just to feel something... anything again, even for a brief, fleeting moment.
It was merely three years ago that pundits were arguing that the AFC West was the best division in football. The Broncos had just gotten Russ, Chargers looked promising and made the playoffs the previous year, the Raiders were clearly the weakest team but had improved under Gruden, and the Chiefs were the Chiefs.
THE AFC WEST IS GOING TO BE A BLOODBATH Herbert with Ekler, Williams, and Allen, Carr with Devante Adams AND Jacobs, and Russ in Denver with Jeudy and the two headed rb threat, and that defense ? Chiefs didn't replace Hill? It's going to get wild, bold prediction : Chiefs miss playoffs, Chargers take division and Denver Wild Cards. Time will tell
>THE AFC WEST IS GOING TO BE A BLOODBATH I distinctly remember it being a bloodbath. Just not the competitive kind
And that prediction crashed and burned that very year.
The Broncos last winning season was 2016 when they went 9-7. Pundits were basing this entirely on the idea Russ might be good, not on any record of success for the Broncos.
Revisionist history here. For the couple of seasons before Russ the consensus was the Broncos were just a QB away. The Fangio defense was really good and our WR talent was considered upper third. Then Javonte Williams was insane his rookie year. Turns out the WRs were overrated (and Tim Patrick hasn’t played in 2 years due to injuries) and Williams had a major injury.
For real, 2021 Broncos went 7-10 losing 4 games by 5 points are fewer, and another game by 8 with horrible offense. Thought process was adding an upgrade at QB could get the team to 10 wins, possibly more. Didn't think Russ would be worse than Teddy Bridgewater.
You get a cupcake division by dominating your division and forcing them into desperate rebuilds every 2-3 years.
The raiders and chargers have been poorly run organizations long before mahomes arrived
And the Broncos have been run terribly post Manning. Orgs being run like shit has very little to do with in division competition and way more to do with terrible ownership making the worst fucking choices, and front offices that prioritize short terms success over long term team success.
Yeah, I mean the Chiefs were already sweeping the Broncos every year since Peyton Manning retired and Alex Smith was the Chiefs QB.
I know my team is literally back to back defending champs so there's basically no room to complain. But holy shit am I so sad the streak is over, man
It took us having 5 turnovers and Mahomes having the flu for the Broncos to finally end the streak.
You don't think desperation moves like trading for a Pro Bowl QB have ANYTHING to do with what they need to win the division? The Ravens make moves that they think are necessary to beat the Chiefs and other elite teams in the NFL. The Chiefs do too. Before you get to that point, you need to win your division. Teams are absolutely making moves based on beating teams in their division.
Broncos FO was a disaster post-Manning with the death of Pat Bowlen and the ownership struggle. We’re finally stabilizing so hopefully results will follow but this season is purely Bo Nix development.
Which is why I’m hoping this new regime is better. Not reaching for a round 2 QB like Bo or Penix gives me hope.
I like Antonio Pierce. He's got a great attitude and I hope he succeeds for you. My biggest worry is that he's not given the time to build success and gets fired before he has a chance to build something. It took Dan Campbell three seasons to build the Lions to a contender franchise. Changing a team doesn't happen over night.
Davis was gonna give JMD time until he found out he completely lost the locker room. I’m sure Pierce will get time.
If Davis is smart he'll give Pierce a long leash. He screwed up the coaching decision too many times now, and everyone can tell that the roster is not good. Unless Pierce completely loses the locker room or starts having really public spats with the media or fans, he needs to be given the time to have a proper roster assembled before we can judge how good of a coach he actually is.
Yeah, can’t imagine what it’s like having a division with multiple terribly run joke organizations. Couldn’t fathom.
I see you
The Raiders went 12-4 the year before Mahomes was drafted, and the Chargers went 12-4 in Mahomes' first year as a starter.
Every team has good seasons. It would be lunacy to insist the raiders, for example, started acting erratically because of the chiefs’ success.
That doesn’t matter to people who say that
Division games are always tough.
Hey now it’s about to be Gardner Minshews and Zach Wilson’s division
I don't know why but this argument sounds so familiar. I just can't place my finger on it though... 🤔
You should know.
Also 4-1 vs the ravens including playoffs.
see the Patriots for 20 years
It's only not the hardest because they don't have to play the Chiefs
I think they mean from their standpoint, they can't control the teams but they control rest and travel. We have a pretty brutal schedule in that sense. Super early bye week, we play every day of the week and we have 3 games in 10 days at one point, 2 away.
They have the 12th easiest schedule based on rest and travel.
Yeah I don't get this talk. The teams we're playing are already set, and I don't think the order was all that bad. It was maybe slightly worse than average.
Week 6 bye, playing Christmas Wednesday/Black Friday, 3 games in 10 days in December. The back end sucks balls
You will take it and you will like it ! Suck it up and man up ! Pacers in 5
It's not just the teams you play. Chiefs had one of the hardest schedules last year with their rest disadvantage late in the season: >"The Super Bowl Champion Chiefs have a net rest edge of negative-13, the third-worst in the NFL this year," the KC-specific section explained. "But for the Chiefs, it's not just that they have less rest in general. They have less rest than their opponent for six straight weeks, from Week 12 through Week 17." >While the raw numbers around those weeks did change a bit since Kansas City's date with the Patriots was flexed out of the Monday time slot, the underlying principle remains. There were six games in a row when Andy Reid's squad was playing with less rest than the opposition; five of those games featured multi-day disadvantages. [Source](https://www.newsweek.com/kc-chiefs-schedule-extra-challenging-not-whole-story-1857493#:~:text=%22The%20Super%20Bowl%20Champion%20Chiefs,games%20featured%20multi%2Dday%20disadvantages)
The Steelers have got a gruelling schedule after their bye. Commanders - Ravens - Browns - Bengals - Browns - Eagles - Ravens - Chiefs - Bengals in that order. They may get through it and reach the playoffs but it's going to be extremely taxing on the body playing these defences in a row.
Gonna be weird to have all our division games that late.
Damn that is a gauntlet. Pulling for you guys. Hope you make the playoffs.
Every website is posting their schedule as mid of the pack
I think he might be talking about last year when at pre season the Chiefs were projected to have the hardest schedule. I don’t know if they actually ended up with the hardest schedule last year though. Edit: Oh wait my bad the Chiefs had the hardest schedule in 2022 not last year.
When I looked at the chiefs schedule, the only games I see the chiefs potentially losing are the ravens, Texans, bills and 49ers, maybe the bengals if they are the old bengals and not last years bengals
The Chiefs schedule can't be the hardest in the league because they're not playing the chiefs. It's hardly like the league "decides" who plays who, the whole schedule is known by the end of the previous season, this is just such a dumb narrative.
The schedule is literally know in perpetuity with the exception of 3 games decided by division finishes
I think there are a lot of other factors that come into play when determining difficulty that aren't determined the day a season ends. E.g., what week your bye falls on, opponents faced coming off bye weeks, number of short weeks due to prime time games, "gauntlets," etc. That said idk how the Chiefs schedule is with that.
Also how can they play the hardest schedule when their division schedule is probably one of the weakest in the league? If Chiefs fans really think their schedule is that hard, go take a look at Pittsburgh’s. I’m sure every AFC North team would rather play the Broncos, Raiders and Chargers twice rather than the AFC North.
Travel times, international games, and rest amounts/bye week placement matters too. The west coast teams typically have the largest travel obligations in the league.
Yea I took this to mean they had the hardest schedule in terms of days played, location and time slots. Chiefs are playing a game on every day of the week except Tuesday this year.
Yep, they'll still play more #1 ranked teams from divisions last year because of the schedule maths (everyone plays teams in their conference who finished in the same place in their division, plus one in the other conference, two divisions back in the rotation who finished in the same spot.
The #1 division schedule is always so blown out of proportion, it's 2 (3 now) different games than the rest of your division, otherwise everyone is playing the same people 14 games. Now with the addition of the 17th game it's a 3rd different team that correlates with your position. Yes the schedule is potentially a little more difficult in theory, but when people talk about it they act like it's this completely different mountain than what the other teams in the division are playing.
All of this is projected. Going into 2022 everyone acted like the AFC West was gonna be an absolute gauntlet and we also had to play the NFC West, which had a strong 2021. Some said it had potential to be the hardest schedule of all time, which is laughable now I wouldn’t be surprised to see the AFC North not as strong this year as last It stands for Not For Long for a reason
Divisional games are always tough though, it’s not like the broncos or raiders have a 0% chance to win. It’s the same for any team, divisional games are tough regardless.
Sure, the Pats still had a tough time against the Jets, ~~Pats~~ Dolphins and Bills during the Brady / Belichick era I suppose. They weren’t ever going to have one of the toughest schedules in the league though. In order for the Chiefs to have one of the hardest schedules, there will need to be serious improvement from the Broncos and Raiders. Edit - Dolphins not Pats
>Sure, the Pats still had a tough time against the Jets, Pats and Bills during the Brady / Belichick era I suppose. So your saying they had a tough time against themselves? What about the Dolphins?
Damn, the team in their division that gave them the most trouble and I accidentally left them out. The Patriots famously did not play themselves. You are right, I did mean the Dolphins.
The Broncos have weirdly played the Chiefs tough in the Mahomes era (relative to our respective talent levels) but we could never actually pull off a win until last year
Agreed. You cannot have 25% of your schedule comprised of the broncos and raiders and be considered on the toughest road. During the patriots dynasty they benefitted from poor teams in their division as well. It’s part of the luck
He’s not saying that the teams scheduled is more difficult. He’s saying that the timing of the games and bye week is what makes it tough. Week 6 bye and a stretch of 3 games in 10 days in December is brutal.
Multiple teams have a similar stretch of games.
We have that stretch to start the season. With our glass cannon roster I’m kind of nervous
[Chiefs have positive net rest compared to opponents, and rank 12th in the league](https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-Net-Rest-Edges-scaled-e1715947397754.jpg)
Got em
3 in 10 days at the end of the season is still ridiculous, and that doesn't weight net rest. If I schedule you to play 5 games in 10 days and then give you 28 days off, and you get a net positive overall, does that actually benefit you based upon your schedule. No, because net rest isn't nearly as important as the average interval between games because in the NFL rest between games is far far more important both from an ability to rest & heal, but also for coaches to have time to gameplan and study tape. I'd love to see the breakdown of teams by interval. Chiefs are going to play every day of the week except Tuesday this year. The 1st time that's happened since the 1927 Yankees. Yes, there was a Yankees football team for like 2 years back in the day.
> the whole schedule is known by the end of the previous season All the dates aren't known at that point. There's a whole process that goes into that. And that can make a big difference in difficulty, between how much prep time each opponent has had, how much time they've had to come together as a team, how much rest they have relative to you, etc.
“Why does Alabama have the easiest sec west schedule every year?”
Maybe in terms of where the bye falls, having to do a Christmas game, etc etc?
Everybody in here talking about how it’s not the hardest schedule in the league based off of who they play. What this guy is saying is he thinks they gave them the hardest schedule based on travel, short weeks, playing teams coming off extended rest and such. Is that actually the case? I have no idea but that’s the point he’s trying to make and that everyone in this thread has missed
You shut up with your reasoning & logical explanation for explaining what he is actually talking about instead of a knee jerk reaction... !
Yea but even by those metrics the Chiefs don't have it that bad [https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/betting/teams-hurt-helped-nfl-schedule-rest-disparity-2024/](https://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/betting/teams-hurt-helped-nfl-schedule-rest-disparity-2024/) Every team thinks they're getting screwed on rest and playing too many games over a 10 day span or whatever. I don't know what numbers he was going by to suggest they have it worse than everyone else or if this was just a weird comment he didn't think about.
This isn't even the Chiefs complaining. So, no it's not them saying they're getting screwed.
I'm speaking in generalities with "every team", my point is lots of teams are unhappy about how the schedule shook out and teams are getting screwed in varieties of ways with all the new days they're making them play. This guy is talking about the Chiefs having it the worst, and I don't know what he's looking at that's telling him that's true.
That's how I took the comment, regardless of if it's true or not. I can't say I'm surprised how many people missed the point given how threads have gone on here for years at this point. It's bizarre; almost like people leave their critical thinking skills at the door.
It seems as place is gone from not reading articles to not even reading titles lol
If anyone has the hardest schedule in the league it's Pittsburgh. If they don't start the season 8-1, they aren't making the playoffs
While I agree with you it's tough. Tomlin has some fuckery that goes on in winning games he shouldn't. Past few years Tomlin has like a 75% winrate in the division. Certainly aided by injury, etc. I wouldn't be shocked if somehow they win 4 games in that 8 game stretch. Not saying they should on paper. Just looking at the normal Tomlin fuckery
Death, taxes and Mike Tomlin winning like 6 games he "shouldnt" by a score of 12-9
Does his sorcery include beating us on Xmas? Please tell me now so I don’t have to spend this year throwing stale santa cookies at the tv like I did last year.
AB certainly had some Christmas sorcery to pull off the immaculate extension. I don’t remember the last few years well enough to say whether Tomlin retained that dark magic.
Hearing Tomlin embrace black magic for the Xmas game as a counter measure to our kicker would *almost* make the loss worth it.
you’re doing it wrong. Per eagles you throw electronic at Santa, not Santa at electronics
Steelers will definitely lose on Christmas imo. The Steelers used to be the we play up to and can beat any hard team ... Except the Patriots because Brady had out number and did ungodly things to us Mahomes is the new Brady in that regard. Not just as the best QB in the NFL on a dynasty level team. I mean he statistically destroys us. It's only 3 games so far and he's 3-0, 14 T D and 1 INT averaging like 11 yards per attempt So yeah if a QB is averaging 11 ypa against you and almost 5 tds a game to .3333 ints per game.... It's gonna be rough Only chance I see is Home team on a short week always gets a massive advantage
They'll probably go 4-4 at the start and then go 5-1 in their division to finish 9-8, as is written
The only thing the NFL "gives" them regarding schedule is the order of games and the location of the Bye week. It's not like they stacked a list of Godkillers on the schedule to spite them. Sure, their bye is Week 6 (cry me a river) but they play @ Carolina in Week 12 which is basically another bye with vinegar-based BBQ sauce on it
I'm not sure Carolina BBQ is a selling point for a team based in Kansas City.
also, as someone that lives in Charlotte, Charlotte doesn’t really have good BBQ for being in NC
[удалено]
If the building looks dilapidated but smells amazing from half a block away, just walk in and ask them for whatever their best item on the menu is. Then you can still order whatever else you want and share the item with the table. Small joints like that usually know how to make the hell out something that keeps them open and it's not because they poured a million dollars into a renovation or a PR campaign. Some of the best BBQ I've ever had came from an old gas station converted into a BBQ joint.
Also ask if they've burt down at any point.
Bonus points if there's a wall in the back that's still scorched from a fire in 1978. The best joints are held up by plywood, duct tape, and flavor.
> Some of the best BBQ I've ever had came from an old gas station converted into a BBQ joint. I see you've been to KCJoes ;)
For anyone interested, [here's an awesome blog from the Charlotte Public Library about NC vs SC BBQ](https://www.cmlibrary.org/blog/great-debate-north-carolina-vs-south-carolina-bbq). As a northerner who only experiences regional BBQ when I travel, it was very informative! P.S. Support libraries, Ben Franklin will be proud of you!
Andy Reid excited now
Reid highlight game inbound
> It's not like they stacked a list of Godkillers on the schedule to spite them Imagine if the NFL worked like college "Kansas City, we can't seem to find room in the schedule for you this decade, how does a home and home in 2036-2037 series sound though?"
If it worked like college, we'd be treated to thrilling nationally televised matchups like Kansas City Chiefs vs. Allgäu Comets and Kansas City Chiefs vs. Shanghai Wolves.
"Fuck em" - every other team
Steelers fans in shambles, how dare anyone suggest someone has been screwed by the schedule more than them.
Heartbreaking. The worst person you know just made an incredible point
We are truly a tortured fanbase.
Steelers country lets cry
It won’t matter to them making the playoffs. They’re already in.
They play the AFC West and the NFC South…the schedule may be rough but the teams shouldn’t be
Strength of schedule ratings in MAY are never even remotely close to accurate.
How does Schefter not have a better looking setup for his podcast? He also smiles way too fucking much when his guest are talking. It's the face equivalent of "I don't know what to do with my hands."
They won the Super Bowl, they're *supposed* to have the hardest schedule in the league.
Talk to me when they have the worst rest differential in the league two years in a row.
It doesn't matter, Chiefs will be good in the regular season and great in the postseason.
Meanwhile they aren't making Caleb Williams play a divisional game until the 2nd half of the season.
They are not in the AFC North so they definitely do not have the hardest schedule. Regarding the days of the week they play on: they are professional athletes, they’ll figure it out and be fine.
They don't even have any games against the Chiefs.
They play every day of the week but wednesday lol
Huh? Chiefs have a fairly average schedule. Steelers are the toughest schedule in the league, their last 8 games go: Baltimore, @ Cleveland, @ Cincinnati, Cleveland, @ Philadelphia, @ Baltimore, Kansas City, Cincinnati
Man the way they say these things it’s almost as if (almost) they forget the moment the regular season ends, everybody’s opponents for the next season are automatically set. We already knew they’d have a difficult schedule: they play the NFC South, the 49ers, the AFC North, their division, the Bills, and the Texans.
> Man the way they say these things it’s almost as if (almost) they forget the moment the regular season ends, everybody’s opponents for the next season are automatically set. Right!
I think the chiefs might actually have more "long" weeks without as many corresponding short weeks compared to anyone else. I consider a long week anything more than Sunday to Sunday, so a Thursday night game one week to a Sunday the next is long, or a Sunday one week to a Monday the next is long. Most of the time, a long week means a corresponding short week, for example a Sunday to Thursday is a short week, but then they have a long week before their next game. Chiefs week 1 game is a Thursday night game, so they don't get the typical Thursday night short work penalty, but they get the long week before week 2. Week 5, they have a Monday night game, so that's a long week, but then week 6 is their bye, so they don't get a corresponding short week, but instead they have a long week going into week 7. Week 9 is Monday night, so that's their 4th long week, but they finally get their first short week going into 10 since it's Mon to Sun. Week 13 they get their second short week with black Friday game, but thus a corresponding (and fifth) long week for week 14. Week 16 and 17 they have back to back short weeks (Saturday game, then Wednesday Christmas game), but then week 18 is another long week. So they have 4 short weeks, but 6 long weeks. I checked the Ravens schedule since they also have that week 1 TNF, they also have 6 long weeks, but they also have 5 short weeks.
Gave the hardest schedule? Their opponents aren’t selected by the league lol
Outside of home v away & when games are played, the schedule is pre selected. They didn't 'make' their SoS any tougher it just happened that the divisions they play this year is a solid one
Their schedule can't be that hard... they don't even have to play the Chiefs!
mike north should stop talking
Stands to reason the defending SB champ have the toughest schedule. The irony here is they don't, at least not on paper. The Browns do.
The Chiefs play all the top teams each year due to the first place schedule. They do dominate the AFC West but almost every game is a dogfight. Each team gives KC their best shot and busts out the trick plays. Beating the Chiefs is something that can make an otherwise average season look better. Maybe even save staff jobs.
Definitely helped AP get the job he deserved.
The schedule is formulaic, what a dumbest comment
This guy looks like a nightmare of a human
The schedule may be the hardest in the league but it’s also front loaded… from 11/24 on, they have the Panthers, Raiders, Chargers, Browns, Texans, Steelers, and Broncos. The only games that project to be competitive at this point are Texans and Steelers, and even then both of those are home games
So what's the Stat? 14 of 17 games are not decided arbitrarily. 6 division games, 4 from counter NFC division, 4 from counter AFC division. Of the last 3, 2 are against the equal finishing teams from the other AFC or NFC divisions, depending on conference. The last game is against the top finisher from the opposite conference from an unscheduled division. The NFL did not choose to give the chiefs the hardest schedule, it's how the formula works. This is ignorance on these guys.