9-7-26 Monday Hour 3 of New Day: ft. Bill Maas

0:00football's better in a Ford. Aloha. I'm Kanoa at Shawnee Mission Ford from F-150s Tobacco's and explores we've got your next game day ride waiting. Quit your wish and get your next new Ford at Shawnee Mission. Shop now at Shawnee Mission Ford dot com. New day with SSJ continues. Stevens got the day off its Labor Day. Napier KDN for Stephen. Debes running the show as Jake is off as well. They'll be back tomorrow. It's football week, baby. We're recapping a weekend of college football, but more importantly getting ready because NFL starts in two days. We got a game in Australia on Thursday, which is like a time machine thing because it's actually Friday in Australia when it kicks off, but Thursday in the United States, which has Shanahan all confused as to what day it is. And then of course the chiefs will be kicking off

1:00against the Broncos a week from today and to get ready, get us ready for all of it is the one and only Bill Maus right now. Good morning Bill. How are you? Nate, what's going on? Hey guys, they call that work. I'm not gonna day off. That's what I said, man. This isn't like on Labor Day. This is a labor of love for us, right? Like this, this isn't work. Ask football season man. It's time to go. There's some great college games as best weekend. I've got that one last night. That quarterback, old miss. Wow. Man, and and and and a dramatic finish there. We got we got Michigan. We got the Colorado game. We got the Auburn Baylor game that went down to the very last, you know, the to the goal line. What was your take on the Michigan finish? You know against Western Michigan. So, yeah, I'm sitting there watching it and I'm and I actually had a little

2:01skin in the game and I had turned it off because they weren't gonna cover. My buddy, my buddy, it texts me, he said, hey, we're watching it together. He texted me and he says, hey, they won. They won. Michigan came back and won. That's all the highlights I couldn't believe it, but hey, you know, you're going to analyze it that close and and and give him one more shot. You got to defend it. I mean, that's all there is to it. It's a Hail Mary. I mean, you practice that and practice it and practice it and you know, nine times out of 10. It doesn't work. Defends this took to play off really. I mean, do you think Michigan, this is the kind of moment that Michigan will be like, you know, we'll look back and go, man, they caught a break. They took advantage of it and then they went on a run. Or do you think over all the game itself shows that they got problems right now? It was one of two things, right? It's either Western's really, really good.

3:03And, you know, they're going to show that later on this year or Michigan has problems. You know, my thought was when they were losing the game and there was whenever armors left in it and I was saying, man, this is bad for Michigan. You know, what a bad way to start off your, your inaugural coaching debut is hey, coach there and haven't haven't go that way. Yeah, so let me tell you. Do you, obviously, one of the big debates coming into this, this weekend too, with Lane Kiffin making his comments, trying to bring two guys in that, you know, got drafted into the NFL or tried out for NFL teams didn't make it. That, that's starting to become the question in college football now. He's listening to Reese Davis say, look, we got to get rid of the idea that these guys are amateurs. They're not. They're getting six figures, seven figures. They're getting paid to play. So now we need to just figure out what the parameters are like,

4:04who's allowed to play in college athletics and who's not like the idea of like amateur eligibility is a farce now. What do you think? You think we like, hey, listen, if you can't play in the NFL and you got eligibility, why can't you come back and play? Or do you think there needs to be some sort of hard and fast rule that once you go to try out for the NFL, whatever, your college time is done? Yeah, so yeah, it's. How football's a mess right now? I think everybody understands that. I mean, let's just do away with the term student athlete. These guys are getting paid at all levels. It's a minor league and it's not going to be rectified or fixed. I don't think you can fix this for quite some time. You're talking about realizing that these guys are getting paid, that they are professionals. They're getting a paycheck. You have to address those things. The NCAA has no governing body over the situation anymore.

5:09It's school by school, state by state. And we're seeing how this would be playing out and don't be surprised that there's more changes that come down the line because judges are going to rule differently in different states. We've seen that happen already. Alabama, Louisiana. So yeah, this thing has to be rectified and you have to understand that these players are getting paid to professionals and there has to be, there has to be like a bargaining agreement. And the players have to be unified and the colleges have to stick together as well and come to come to some kind of agreement to make this thing right. But right now, it's just the Wild West. Anything's going. Yeah, you know, and Reese Davis said that, you know, one of the things that they need to do is like, listen, if you play independent league baseball, they'll have rules on, okay, you can have, you can have three players that are over a certain

6:11age and that played in the big leagues. Like any kind of league has like their, their standards on who's eligible to play in it and who's not. And you know, you, you, you could make the case that listen, anybody, anybody, why can't you play? You know, like, let's say you played five years in the NFL and then they decided you're not good enough for the NFL anymore, but you still want to play football and you could help the Kansas J Hawks go win some games and you're, I mean, what was it? Chris Winky was like 30 years old when he was playing, you know, called football or do you think they should, if, let's say they do come up with a collective bargaining agreement someday, which like you said, it's going to be a long, ugly process. Should they try to state the look? No, no, no, no, we're a developmental league. We're for young players that are on their way to the NFL. We don't want to have old, you know, players that are not quite good enough for the NFL. Do you think they should go that route? Or do you think they should allow guys that, you know, anybody that wants to play college, it's good enough to play should play?

7:11Yeah, that's great question. I think there's, you know, unfair advantage to 25, 26, 27 year old young man as opposed to 18 year old freshmen adolescent, right? So, yeah, there's quite advantage there. I think that has to be taken into consideration. I think there's a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration. But, you know, if I know means is because you went to an NFL training camp and picked up a, you know, training camp check, which is not a salary, should that quantify you not to be able to fulfill if you have a, your eligibility left to go back. So, I think there's, you know, you can look at it in so many different ways. I think case by case, there's going to be, you know, you things are going to be viewed differently on what's accessible and what's not. We're visiting with Bill Moss. Let's move on to NFL stuff here. Let's get into the good stuff. This season kicks off on a Wednesday, by the way.

8:14How do you feel about that? This Patriots a Seahawks game. Yeah, it's come weird, right? I mean, but I think we're seeing that with all the different apps that are out there and all the different formats to watch the games. Everybody's vying for their special time to make it, to make it, well, it's capable for them so that this is it. This is one game. It's theirs. And if you're going to watch the NFL, it's going to be on that time and, and everybody's going to be tuned into it. So, it's kind of, it's kind of different having a Wednesday game kickoff. But the same tone, I mean, for me, I'm excited. I get excited every time the season starts. So, I almost get nervous. It's kind of stupid, but I kind of, at this age, you think it'd be way fashion, but when it comes to the chief, you just kind of, the season is here and it's right upon you and that anticipation. And how are we going to be in all the question marks you're looking at and hold not to the edge of your seat. Is he how this thing unfolds?

9:15It's just fun. Dude, I'm so fired up. I mean, I'm so excited for this season. And I do think that this chief season, we'll get to the, I want to ask you a little bit about the 49ers Rams game in Australia, which is on Netflix, by the way. We'll get to that in a minute, but let's dive into the chiefs because this season has so much intrigue to it. And the way they're starting off against the Broncos, the team that ended their run as the dominant team in the, in the AFC West and was that a one year blip and the chiefs are going to be right back or is there like a, a shift in the balance of power in the AFC West. And we get like an early glimpse of it. And then the chiefs, like seemingly remaking their identity on offense with, with Kenneth Walker coming in and the, and the defense, have it all this young talent that we don't really know enough about yet. Um, which it, let's, which one of those stories do you want to start with? Like which one are you most like, I guess, interested in seeing that you don't

10:16really know how it's going to play out yet? Well, I think the unknown, right? We did all the question marks. I mean, Josh Simmons, the health of Patrick Mahomes, the young, the youngsters we saw from the Strathe class that came in and look good through training camp and, and the preseason, how are they going to develop? How are they going to hold up? How are they going to help everybody but the team and everybody around them? A lot of question marks. The new secondary, the linebacker is the depth. Who are these guys going to mean? There's just so many, do we have enough weapons by the outside or our receiver's going to be healthy? All those things. It's just everything has to fall into place and, and you know, to, to, to get those special years, right? So I think each team has their question marks. How are they going to, how's the season going to unfold? How are things going to come together? Are they going to come together the way we hope and anticipate and view or are things going to spiral? I mean, look, look at the Broncos. I, you know, yeah, they, they went to the head of the class of the AFC West,

11:19but is bow next to that guy? I, you know, is, I don't know. I think there's a big question mark around him. We know they've got a great defense, but, you know, you can, he do it again. So what's going to happen out there now that, you know, I mean, Los Angeles Chargers have their, have their offensive lineback? How are they going to be? I mean, that's a talented, talented team, right? Which our ball is going to do out there. I just, all the unknowns with all the teams and how they're coming into this year. That's what's making it so fun. The, the Josh Simmons thing seems to be the biggest unknown for the chiefs right now. And we talked, Pete Swini earlier in the show. He said he doesn't think he's going to play, you know, he offered up. He doesn't know. He wouldn't rule it out, but he doesn't think he's going to play week one. They haven't put them on the injured reserve list. So that would indicate they're at least hopeful that we could see him within the first four weeks. Where do you stand on that? Because I mean, that what we're all of a sudden looking at is the prospect of an undrafted rookie free agent, trialist, starting at one of the tackle spots,

12:24protecting a Patrick Mohm's who's coming back from a tornado. ACL. Yeah. And, you know, we haven't seen Patrick Mohm's play yet. Is he going to play? We did that. The bigger question. Right. Right. Everybody assumes he's going to play. But for Simmons, I mean, that's, it's become the story. It all that takes is one start from him for the whole thing to go away, right? And hopefully, and hopefully that's the case. Nobody wants to be that guy that gives up the the with block on fast protection and gets Patrick smeared on the blind side. So it's going to be interesting to see how that all unfolds. The run game, are they going to just line up and run the ball to help take the load off of Patrick? Are they going to be under center? Are they going to be in the pistol, which he with Patrick likes? All those questions are what my anticipation of I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

13:25Though that's, that's what's really fun about the whole thing. And I think a question for Patrick, you know, no one's really ever, I don't know if everyone's ever asked. But look, there's a baseline on your body for the players, right? And, you know, you measure those metrics against that baseline of what you use. And that's the case to be able to do. And no one's ever talked about the metrics. Where is he at this point? You know, this is only nine months, almost to the date. And where are you on those metrics, right? Is he back to normal? Is he 100%? Is he almost there? What's holding them back from playing in the preseason? All those things. So it'll be only anticipation that goes along with that. That unfolds Monday night is what keeps everybody coming back, right? Yes. I mean, gosh, and the more you list it off, the more unknowns.

14:26I mean, I'm with you too. I think the wide receiver group is still a massive unknown. For that, it's not like there's a bunch of proven guys out there. I mean, worthy as shown flashes. They want to run him across the middle of the field more. I don't know about you. I have serious concerns about his build being able to hold up. If that's the way they want to use him, there's a million questions. I can laugh in jazz, right? Right. I mean, every year, every year or something. Yeah. So I do, I do think that they are going to change very much about like, they're going to be more of a running team. We're going to see a more under center. But it's, but it's still Andy Reed calling the plays. So you, like, how much more? You know what I mean? Like, I feel like that's going to be one of the biggest questions. I think that's a fascinating story. What do you, what's your prediction on what this offense looks like in that regard when the season starts? I, you know, I don't think you're going to see a under center power. Oh, I formation, right? I don't, I don't, I don't.

15:26It's not going to be Marty ball. No, I, I, I don't see that. I, I think there's going to be a lot more. And I think it's going to be in the form of screens and draws. With, with, with Walker. Yeah, they're going to have some runs, but I think you're going to see a lot more of, of the extension of the run as they call it in the screen and draw game. So yeah, and again, that's just my thought and knowing and following and tracking Andy over over the years. But, but it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting to see that's, that's what everybody's looking for comes, come Monday. You know, how, how are they going to use him? Are we going to run the ball more play action? Yada, yada, yada, yada. But I think you're going to see a good mix. And I think you're going to see a lot of the screens and draws. My last one for you, Bill. I know you've got to go. Your expertise, I feel like there's a lot of potential with his defensive line to have depth

16:26and to, to be like dangerous from different spots. Do you think that could be a strength to the team? How optimistic are you about this D line this year? Well, again, that's, that's one of the unknowns too. That's, that's one of the, I think that's one of the question marks, right? I mean, we're, you know, is, is would's going to be the guy we, we anticipate him to be. Is he going to take some of the load off of Chris Jones? And, and then is Felix stepping up? We saw a flash of it in, in preseason. But is he going to continue that step forward? Austin, you're going to be healthy. If he is healthy, when he is healthy, where is he? Where does he fit in? See in every down player? Is he your starting end? Armason Thomas? Where does he fit in? We saw flashes of him. He's going to, he's going to be a good pass rusher. You're going to pick up all the other aspects of, of playing defensive end like the run game and gap control.

17:27So I think there's a lot of questions and, you know, you know, for the best, but we haven't seen it yet. Combined, right? We haven't seen everybody together. We haven't seen woods and, and Chris Jones and, like, a lengthy period of time together and what the, how they're going to play that. How is, what is going to look like? We haven't seen, asked him. We haven't seen enough of Armason Thomas. And we haven't seen enough of, of a good Felix. So yeah, there's a lot of question marks there. And if it all comes to fruition and these guys do and grow as we anticipate, they could be pretty darn good. Questions all over the place in only one week before we start getting some answers. Bill, thanks so much for the time, man. Happy Labor Day. And, you two guys. We talked to you again soon. All right, take care of Nate. All right, that is Bill Moss. And we're going to take a break. This is New Day with SSJ. After the show's over today, I'm heading up to Lawrence Kansas. I'm going to attend Lance Lypole's weekly presser. And then I'm going to be doing a sit down interview for the first edition of the J-Hawker podcast this, this season.

18:35And it's possible I'm going to be interviewing Isaiah Marshall or a defensive end, David Asanteago, who had four tackles. One and a half tackles for loss in the J-Hawks 51 to 6 win over Long Island. So either way, a chance to have a good conversation in advance of this border war battle between Kansas and Missouri on Friday. All right, so I watched a game. Not that anybody cares about the circumstances in which I watched, but I was I was in Cincinnati this weekend. And I had flight scheduled to go and you can't get direct from Kansas City to Cincinnati. So I was going to change planes and Detroit and then get to Cincinnati. And then all of a sudden, I get a notification that my flights delayed an hour and the connection is going to be really dicey in Detroit. So I had another option of taking an earlier flight to Atlanta.

19:38And then I was going to have a four and a half hour layover in Atlanta before I then went on to Cincinnati, which sounds terrible. But the four and a half hour layover was going to happen right during the Kansas football game. And I thought, well, hey, instead of traveling during the game, I can make sure I make my connections and could sit in the Delta Sky Miles lounge and watch the entire KU football game, which they had in the bar there on the television on ESPN you in Atlanta, Georgia, I was surprised. But I was going to just watch it on my iPad anyway. If it if it wasn't and so I was able to actually watch like the entire game. I think the by the fourth quarter, I had to go get to my flight. I wouldn't really that concerned by then. You know, the J Hawks were already cruising at that point. So some takeaways. The first takeaway for me. Yes, scene willis. Now they said, yes. And so I got to find out the actual proper pronunciation when the first time I heard his name, I will confess was listening to New Day and the New Day fast.

20:47The New Day list on Fridays on Fridays. John Kirby to me, the the the goat when it comes to covering KU football, he's been there forever. He knows everything. He brought him up. It was actually and it was it was in response to a question, Stephen asked about you know, one of the big name transfers, which was Dylan Edwards coming to Kansas. And he talked about Dylan Edwards for a little bit. But then he said, you know, the guy that they're going to share that he's going to share carries with. And Kirby said, yes, scene willis. The announcer said, yes, and I'm not sure the right when pronounces first name, I'll try to find out. But either way, Kirby said, look, this is a guy who's transferred in. Who comes from Syracuse where he was there leading Russia and he's big and powerful. And he's going to bring a little bit of that thunder and lightning, you know, with with Edwards being a smaller, quicker running back.

21:50And willis being the more powerful guy. And I immediately thought back to the Kansas football team that had Jake Sharp and Brandon McHanderson. You know, and Sharp was a smaller guy, big play guy and Brandon McHanderson was the was the was the bruiser was the powerful guy. I thought Willis looked like a stud. He looked the part. Now again, you're playing against the, you know, inferior competition. But he looks like a guy that's difficult to tackle. He runs downhill, which is, you know, Sean Payton's favorite phrase. I just thought he was really impressive. He had 72 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. We know that Lance Leipold emphasizes being good in the running game. And when Kansas has been good under him, they've had a good running game. And with Andy Codelnicki back, that's going to be a huge part of the offense. So that to me was the first thing that stood out. The next thing was Nick McMillan.

22:52And you just look at the numbers and you can say, well, yeah, six six catches 130 yards at a touchdown. The dude made a couple catches. There was one in particular over the middle where Marshall threw the ball high. And just, you know, puts his wide receiver in a terrible position, honestly. And he went up and, and, and first of all, just competing for the ball in a situation like that where you're risking physical, your physical well-being. But he had the concentration to hold on to the ball and catch it. He got behind the defense a couple of times. He showed to be a deep threat. A couple of well-timed sideline routes. There seems to be a very good chemistry between Marshall and McMillan. So that to me, Nick McMillan and, yeah, scene Willis transfers that stood out to me right away. McMillan being a transfer from Buffalo. We talk about this all the time now. I mean, you know, that's one of the things that John Kirby said to, said to Stephen was,

23:53you got 30 guys that are transfers on the 2D. We don't know who these guys are. The coaches themselves don't really know what they're going to get from these guys until they get them into live games. And so those two transfers stood out to me massively for Kansas in the game. Obviously, the biggest question is going to be Isaiah Marshall himself, right? The quarterback battle between he and Cole Ballard. And how good is Marshall going to be? You got to have a good quarterback. You just do. To me, when I used to watch some of the footage of Marshall coming out of high school in Michigan, where he was a state champion quarterback, look, you watch highlight videos of any, any, any high school athlete and see what they do at that level. And you can daydream that they're going to be great in college. But I always feel like at Kansas at a place like Kansas, he fits the profile for the kind of quarterback you need to get. You want a quarterback that's mobile that has some moxie.

24:56And honestly, that's a little undersized. If Isaiah Marshall were six foot three, I don't think he's at Kansas. I think he's at a bigger school, you know? But you look at the Todd Reissings and Jalen Daniels. Those are the guys that you got to have at Kansas. First of all, you're probably going to need a guy that can make some things happen with his legs. You're going to need a guy that has some moxie to him that knows how to win. But for some reason, wasn't that blue chip four or five star guy that, you know, he's coming out of big 10 country. That that that you can get to come to Kansas. And he showed all those things. He showed pretty good arm talent. There was one debaunt particular. He threw to McMillan that was like perfectly placed. He had one step on the defender. And he hit him in full stride. And you want to see a guy that's got good accuracy on the deep ball.

25:57He, like I said, he also had to throw down the middle where it was high for McMillan as well. But I thought overall, I came away encouraged with what we saw from Isaiah Marshall. And I thought as the game went on, he got better. He showed a little wiggle a couple of times when he had to break containment and try to run to either keep a drive alive, get a first down or at least make it a fourth and manageable. He was able to make a guy or two miss. So I thought that that was a really good sign as well. So those are some of the things that stood out to me in this Kansas football game. Now, how does this all translate to what they're going to see against the Missouri Tigers on Friday? I don't see how you can tell. I just, I don't know how you can look at these two games that the two teams played and say that gives really any indication. As to how good both of these teams are going to be. You got some idea of players that are to watch. Like that's to me what we got. Like, okay, I know now to watch for Nick McMillan.

26:57I know now that that Willis looks like a, he looks like that thunder and lightning, thunder compliment to Dylan Edwards. And he got more of the carries in the game than Edwards did. So I think that's something to keep an eye on as well. Edwards did have four catches. So yeah, we get some ideas. But man, there's so, so many questions going into this game on Friday. It's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm looking forward to going up to Lawrence today and having some conversations as well. I would take a break. We'll be back to wrap things up on this edition of New Day with SSJ right after this. Well, don't forget. Sports ready wait. 10 WHBs your home for everything that's great as Todd Libot has, has been on record is saying many times. And when it comes to the football season getting kicked off. That is certainly the case because we're going to have it all right here. You got the NFL starting up. Listen to this schedule this week, guys. Okay, so you've got NFL Patriots versus Seahawks Wednesday night.

28:02That's at 720. A television on NBC. Then Thursday 735 49ers Rams from Melbourne, Australia. So that game's actually going to be by local time being played on a Friday afternoon in Australia, which is Thursday night here in Kansas City. So it's like we're in a time machine. And I don't know if you saw, but the 49ers went and got there like days early to get, I guess, you know, acclimated to the body clock and to go around promoting themselves in Australia. I guess I from what I read it's going to be a heavy 49ers crowd because everybody there is connected with them. And feeling like they'll, hey, we know who this team is now because they've been around. The Rams are going like day before the game. I never been to Australia. Talk to people. Have you? It's a trip. It's a long trip. Yeah, it can screw you up a little bit. So I'm sure they're flying in good accommodations and everything on some first class jet,

29:03but it'll be interesting to see which, you know, which of those two if there's a difference. Like would you rather get there, get acclimated for a couple of days, or just get there at the last minute and get through it and then come home before you screw your whole body clock up for a week straight. I don't know. That's going to be an interesting one to watch. And then of course we got the full slated games on Sunday in the NFL. And then Monday, it's Broncos and Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, which is just going to be absolutely epic. Meanwhile, we're also getting you ready for Kansas versus Missouri at the booth as they call it seven o'clock on Friday. I'm going to be out of town. I'm going to be in LA. So I got to find a KU bar to watch the game at, which is going to be crazy. It's a little too bad that the the stadium's not fully complete. They still got to get the upper deck on that east side of the stadium finished. But I expect it to be a great atmosphere and a whole lot of fun.

30:05So think about that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We got two good NFL games on Wednesday and Thursday. You got Kansas, Missouri on Friday right into a full slated games of college on Saturday. And then the Sunday kickoff of the NFL. You're giving them meat potatoes to the football season. Yeah. Wednesday through Monday is just going to be a blast every single day. What's your prediction, Deeb? How you feel about this Kansas Missouri game? I think you KU can maintain possession of the football, not turn the ball over and not commit a ton of penalties. They're in this thing. I mean, they last year they played their ass off in Colombian almost came away with it. So, you know, anything can happen. Throw the records out, rivalry game. Hopefully, K, you can pull it out. Deeb's, it's been awesome working with this on this Labor Day, man. Appreciate you. You got big plans for us today.

31:05We're going to figure it out. Okay, we're figuring it out. I'm going to head up to Lawrence and do some football interviews. So, stay tuned for that. Our thanks to our guests as well. Pete Sweeney, Scottie Carroll, and the great Bill Moss. And of course, Stephen will be back tomorrow. I'll be in for a couple hours tomorrow as well. We'll have some fun as it's rivalry week here on New Day with SSJ on Sports Radio 810, WHB. See you, everybody.