
Chiefs Patrick Mahomes ACL Comeback BEGINS as Bo Nix Ignites Denver Broncos HYPE?
About this episode
Broncos and Chiefs ignite the NFL season with high-stakes clash as Bo Nix and Patrick Mahomes make their highly anticipated returns. Can Denver rebound from last year’s heartbreak, or will Kansas City’s revamped offense and Eric Bieniemy’s play-calling restore former glory at Arrowhead?
Chris Clark and Sayre Bedinger break down the pivotal matchups—will the Broncos’ relentless pass rush overwhelm a Chiefs line anchored by rookie Khalil Benson, and can Kenneth Walker transform Kansas City’s ground game? Key topics include injury comebacks, the chess match between top-tier defenses and new-look offenses, and which team can control the trenches on first down. Don’t miss expert analysis on projected schemes, breakout players, and the season-defining questions hovering over this Monday Night Football showdown.
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Locked On Chiefs - Daily Podcast On The Kansas City Chiefs — Chiefs Patrick Mahomes ACL Comeback BEGINS as Bo Nix Ignites Denver Broncos HYPE?. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.
This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Broncos Chiefs in Arrowhead on Monday night, what a way to kick off the season. You are locked on NFL crossover, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. 14 every day. The NFL season is here. I'm Chris Clark from Chiefs quarter. That is a Betinger from predominantly orange and from the Lockdown Broncos podcast. We're going to be doing it crossover episode looking at this tremendous Monday night game. I absolutely cannot wait. This is a fantastic way to start the season. A little later in the show, we're going to talk about how running the ball could be the key, regardless of the quarterbacks that are on the field. One of the biggest matchups and we're going to talk about this in the next segment.
Benson versus Benito could decide at all, but we're going to start where we need to start. The home's next return by far, I would say those are the biggest storylines headed into this game. Based on how their seasons into last season, I'll let you go and start it there. I can't wait. I've been so excited to see Bonix play his next game. I thought that we were going to see him play in the AFC championship game. I was so excited after the divisional round win against Buffalo. I'm thinking, all right, then the next time I see Bonix play, he's going to be starting quarterback in the AFC title game against New England Patriots and willing to hold. I thought it was all fake news, Chris. And I know I don't know if anybody else in Chiefs kingdom can agree with me. But when I saw all these reports coming in, I'm getting text left and right. I'm thinking, well, this somebody is certainly impersonating Ian Rappapier. And Adam Schefter and telling me that Bonix is out for the rest of the playoffs. And it was surreal and it sucked. And I know that that's just the reality.
But now it's kind of like when you've got that close, I know that Chiefs have built a little dynasty here in recent years. So you've been to the mountaintop more recently than I have. But it certainly was like, okay, we were finally like back. You know, and now we got to wait and do it all over again. And I know that that's one of the most difficult things to do is to just even get back to that point. So what we have here is an opportunity to see these two quarterbacks that, okay, these are two stars in the league right now. I believe Bonix is a star player in this league. I believe that he's proven he can go toe to toe with anybody. Now he's got his first opportunity after getting all the way to the AFC championship game to kind of begin that journey back. And I think he's going to be really motivated. I think he's going to have a chip on his shoulder after having that kind of stolen from him at the end of last season. Well, and you look at that and that's the crazy thing. Like you go back and you think about the fact and I don't want to really have the past too much. But Kansas City was in the AFC championship game for years.
And like you, you look at how that's played out. And then they don't even make the they don't even make the playoffs last year. The Broncos go to the playoffs. I agree with you. I think that the Broncos were going to beat the Patriots. I thought they're going to be in the Super Bowl. So I guess my question to you on that regard is when you look at that is losing Bonix and losing that AFC championship game. Almost the same as potentially losing the Super Bowl. I would think that the Broncos could add a chance to win it. But you look at the Super Bowl let down, which usually happens to the teams that lose every year. Do you think that that's similar? I think that honestly, like there's part of you that's kind of like, well, you, you can only let yourself go down that path of, you know, the hypothetical what if so far, right? Because there's a there's a little PTSD in Broncos country from playing in Super bowls against the Seattle Seahawks specifically. So you saw the way they dismantled the New England Patriots and you kind of think, OK, well, was this team ready for a game like that, even though the Seahawks also, you know, a lot of new pieces,
like the young players as well. But you kind of feel like, man, that this might have been like their year of, you know, destiny for lack of better way of putting it. And they just they just had that opportunity stolen from them. But I think as opposed to being a hangover this year, I think there is going to be like I said that kind of chip on the shoulder, not just for Bonix. But for really this entire team to feel and believe like they could get to that point, they kind of tasted in, you know, first year of Bonix's career in 2024. They got blown out by the bills in the playoffs. Then you go and you beat Buffalo in the playoffs, which seems to be a, you know, AFC West pastime at this point is to beat up Josh Allen to playoffs. But you get to that point and you sort of like, OK, we've been to this. We've been there. We've been so close. Like now we know we can get there. It's just a matter of, hey, we got a every chapter of the story has to be written up to this point. You can't just simulate the season like you cannot madden and get today, if you championship game, you've got to put in the work weeks one through 18. And that's why I think this team is ready for. And that's why I'm excited to see start in week one against Kansas City.
And Kansas City is going to have a chance full. I'm not looking forward to playing this different Broncos team. I, you know, there's a lot of different ways you can look at this. I'm excited for the fact that they change their offense. I do think that their scheme has changed. We'll get into talking about matchups and how running the ball could be key a little bit later. But when you look at this, you bring back, you know, Eric, the enemy is your offensive coordinator. And the reason you did that is because you have not been the same offense since the left. You go back and you, you're getting Patrick, my home's back from a torn ACL. And the timeline is crazy to me. He didn't play a single snap in the preseason at all. And now you're expecting him to go out there and his first infill action in almost, you know, nine, 10 months is going to be against the Denver Broncos who have one of the best defenses in the NFL or at least have the past couple of years. We'll see how it shakes out this year. I would assume it's going to be the same. But, you know, I think changed year to year. So we'll see. It's just not a great scenario for from a home's coming back from an ACL injury.
And to the thought that he is playing week one after Terry is ACL in December is just crazy to me to put him to think that he's going to be out there. And I think that's where everybody in Broncos country is wondering what is the chief's fans perspective on this because from our seat, it's easy to sit here and be like, okay, well, definitely expecting the same old Patrick, my homes right we're definitely expecting him to be the guy that's out there avoiding pressure and, you know, getting away, we know what do we know Patrick, my homes as in Broncos country. Well, we know him as not just a thorn on our side, but the guy who's running away from Von Miller and making left handed throws on Monday night football or whatever that was and he'll do literally anything to make a play to win a game and situationally he's not gone anywhere, even if he hasn't been as good in recent years at, you know, X Y or Z whatever it might be his stats haven't been as good is downfield throwing whatever you want to say. Like we still understand Patrick my homes to be Patrick my homes and I think that's where kind of everyone maybe outside I don't and you tell me what your perspective is, but kind of what I'm gleaning from what you're saying is okay there's a little bit of concern here my question, I guess to add on to the other questions that I have is are you expecting.
You expecting like Tom Brady level return from ACL injury or for me a bulls fan are you expecting like Derek Rose type of return like what is are you skeptical are you worried are you nervous long term are you believing it's going to be the same guy like where is everyone in chief's kingdom at right now. And that's the big question long term it's it's up in the air for me Patrick my homes I will say this I have learned over the years I mean go back and watch the Super Bowl that he won against you know the Eagles a couple years ago where he goes into it with a high ankle sprain re-injures it mid you know during the game and comes back in and still is able to gut it out get it done he is built differently. And I will say it that way so am I worried about it long term no i'm not worried about a long term i'm worried about it short term. Because one of the things right and I talked about a ton on you know in the prep for this game is he needs to change the way plays especially early in the season. Because you can't have him going out there and running 50 yards a snap trying to make sure he has time to throw the ball like you just you don't want that to happen you want him to be.
A little bit different and be more of a guy like and I hate saying it like this but more of like an Alex Smith type where he's getting the ball he knows where he's going with it and he gets the ball out quick. I'm not saying he can't go back to being Patrick my homes from you know in a couple of games or you know one or two snaps a game even against the Broncos but it's the consistent time of being in the pocket and taking five or six or seven seconds to throw the ball. You can't do that against this Broncos defense and think that you're going to survive one of the biggest reasons that that could be is because you have a potential of starting a. Undrafted free agent left tackle in Khalil Benson versus Nick Benito we're going to talk about that in other matchups going into this game that's coming up right after this. Football is finally back and that means Sundays are about to get a whole lot more interesting every week brings new matchups break out players. Big performances and plenty of store lines to follow and if you like getting even more engaged with the players and stats you're watching there's a new way to make the game day more exciting price picks is bringing out its best offer yet for kick off new users who sign up can get $150 in line up if they win their first $5 line up.
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Colleblins and struggles with with a huge. Huge use of speed rush how are you looking at that specific matchup and how do you think the Broncos are going to try to exploit in week one. Honestly and i'll give my own filtered answer to this like i don't understand why they would throw Patrick my homes out there for this game and and i know that honestly. Like that is that's like okay well you can't just say your best player can't play because you're offensive your backup offensive tackle has to play. But to me the context is obviously the knee injury the recovery process a very fast recovery process coming back very quickly going up against a past rush. That has set franchise records and back to back seasons in sacks and i know that we're going to talk about these teams running the ball. But in the event that even one mistake happens or one bad rep leads to nick bonito or Zach Allen or whoever it may be. coming screaming off the edge and getting to my homes I understand that you can't plan and prepare scared all year and things like that you got to throw some.
Kind of told these guys to the fire at some point but that's kind of my perspective from if I pull off the orange glasses for a second if I pull off my Broncos hat for a second. And i would say hey if i'm running the chiefs Patrick my homes ain't going to be out there for a game where I have a rookie undrafted free agent tackle starting against a team that has led the NFL and sacks back to back seasons. yeah and i think that's i mean if you can watch the tape and he so. In preseason game number three here that I think three past rush snaps and did fine and he was at left tackle and i understand the thought process of well he looked okay in those snaps. it's three snaps i'm not going to take too much from that go back and watch his snaps against the right when he was a right tackle in preseason game number two. And you see a much different player a guy that basically went viral because of all because he went up against Ruben Bay and Ruben Bay and just chucked him. Like like he wasn't even there and that's really the problem that you're running into in my mind with this situation is you're putting my homes out there with Benito.
As the defense event that's going to be coming from his blindside and you're expecting him to play against a Broncos unit like as you said. That has led the NFL or has continued to be a sack leader in the NFL. The past couple of seasons and you're getting ready to start an undrafted free agent left tackle rookie I just I cannot fathom that thought process. And it's it's really been bothering me since we heard it now obviously we're recording this a couple days before the game the chiefs have not had practice so. We will see if something changes and maybe Josh Simmons is able to go in this game, but this to me is a matchup that could decide everything just because if you're not able to get out there and you're not able to get my homes time to throw the ball that's going to be a big problem, but it could decide the season if they're if they're not careful that's my bigger issue. No that's 100% I mean and that's kind of the fear for either side right it's like there's still some trepidation I would say from Broncos country with bone nicks in the ankle I know that he's proven like he was out there all throughout training camp with no limits he went out there for his preseason game that he played and.
Showed no ill effects is running around moving around doing all the things he says is stronger than ever, but there's still that trepidation of like. When you go into a game like this and one hit can change your entire season so you kind of have that lingering in the back of your mind anyway, but then you change the circumstances around and say well it's not just a backup tackle it's our rookie you know free agent playing left tackle. So it's it's an opportunity for him honestly to rise to the occasion, but it's also going to force the chiefs when they do it when they're throwing they're going to have to bring help to that side and what does that do to create opportunities for the other past rushers or for vans Joseph schematically how is he going to attack with the bullets how many times we're going to see defensive back coming from the other side or how many times is Justin's turn ad going to come up the a gap. There's going to be a lot of different ways that the chiefs they try to make up for that by adding help to that side of the field and then the Broncos kind of you know countering that punch by saying oh we're going to send this guy from this side and we know history tells us they don't blitz Patrick my homes.
But it might be different in a game in which you're having to keep extra help over on one quiet of the line in order to kind of mask the rookie in his sort of exposed situation. For sure what is another match up that you're really looking forward to watching in this game. Well, one thing I've been really excited to talk to you about because we've talked about it locked on Broncos this off season as we kind of assess division rivals is all of the change defensively for Kansas City. Unsurpassing personnel is different from what we've come to know over the last two years then tire secondary I know the Jerry seat is back. But I mean the entire secondary for all intents and purposes is is different than what we've come to know and expect I mean it's first round pick here. You know a lot of draft picks that they believe in what's yours you know read on how the defense is acclimating now as opposed to when Steve Spagnolo's had all those veterans on that. Side of the ball are the young guys going to be ready for the opener like going against this Denver wide receiver group that's I say boil it down to a match up wide receivers for Denver versus the DBs of the Kansas City Chiefs because I know that's where a lot of the moving parts of this off season work.
Yeah, and that's a great question and I would say when I look at this you go watch Manthor Delane in preseason game number two and a little bit in preseason game number three and I think that you can see that I think he's ready to play in NFL. I'm not going to say that he's not going to have rookie mistakes because he's a rookie he's going to get beat he's going to have issues that pop up he's going to you know he's going to be in a situation where he hasn't seen something and he's probably going to make a mistake. Now the question isn't necessarily or is he going to make a mistake it's a question of how does he react to that mistake. Same thing with no Williams no Williams showed that I think he can play in the NFL last year I think he'll be better this year but I expect that the Broncos are going to come out and try to test the lane early. To see what he looks like and how the secondary is going to work be working and then you start talking about the the safety group. Chamari Conor it sounds like probably isn't going to go in this game so who's the second safety next to a lowe Gilman is it going to be a Jaden Hicks or is it going to be Christian role in Wallace there's lots of different ways that they could go. With this defense but it's a completely different.
Defensive units and it has been in the past in the in the defensive backfield and it is going to be a big there are going to be big questions and there's going to be a lot of answers to come Monday night. How do you guys feel about that because I know that over the last couple of years and the offense has still been great situationally for the chiefs but they've taken I mean I've been what 15th and 16th or something like that and scoring the last two seasons. I know it hasn't been the same like you know Patrick my home through 50 touchdowns and you're that's not that's not the offense that we've seen from Kansas City I know you said Eric the enemies back this off season I feel like that means and it screams to what we're going to talk about coming up like we are going to run the ball this year and Kenneth walkers going to help us break this you know this streak I guess of you know not being able to create explosives on the ground. But I guess on the defensive side how confident are you that they're going to be able to carry on and still be that that thing that keeps the chiefs floor you know so to speak high for this upcoming season.
The big question is going to be can they figure out the past rush can they find a way to get pressure and it's not just on bonix it'll be all season long can they find a way to get pressure can they get you know something more from just Chris from more than just Chris Jones and George curl off this can. Ashton Jaladi is he going to play in this game we're not sure on that when you as do you have you know armace and Thomas out there and being able to contribute and getting past Russian getting sacks that's going to be the big key for me if they can do that. Some of the rest of it will take care of itself because if you can get pressure on the quarterback your corners don't have to cover near as long. And that could be a huge that could be a huge key going forward we're going to talk about how this chiefs offenses changed and one of the biggest keys in this week for both teams could be running the ball that's coming up right after this. Today's show is brought to you by Fandwell welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandwell how rewarding are we talking well. More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring more rewarding than an 18 point comeback maybe even more rewarding than an oliamon catching a touchdown this season.
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O do is one platform to manage grow and scale your business the best organizations know that success isn't just about talent it's about having everyone working toward the same goal and that's true in sports just like it is in business the Broncos didn't add much in the 2026 off season but they did make a big blockbuster trade for Jalen Wattel and you could tell that this wasn't a reactionary move the organization had a vision they felt like maybe wild could be that missing piece and with that vision they stuck to it and now we're about to see the results of that because everyone was working from the same playbook great organizations they win because operations matter and that's why you should get O do O do is one platform to manage grow and scale your business try for free today at O do dot com slash locked on that's O do dot com slash mocked on now this is going to be a fun segment because this is something that I don't think that we could talk about in the past several years at least for the chiefs perspective is having a running game but they went out and they invested in the running game Kenneth Walker is a huge signing $15 million a year Superbowl MVP we will see how that's going to turn out in Kansas City and it starts this week and he's going to have a huge
huge impact I think in this game because the chiefs need to come out and run the ball we talked about my homes and nicks earlier about protecting Patrick my home specifically and even in the last segment talking about Clil Benson Clil Benson did really well in the running game when you go back and watch preseason game number two and game number three he can block in the running game just fine it's more of the past blocking that you have concerns to it so when you look at that and you look at what they brought in at running back with 10th Walker and also going out and drafting the game. And in the end of Johnson this running game should be something that Kansas City is going to need to focus on in this game to try to help tech Patrick my homes and get to a point where maybe they're even in a situation where play action becomes something that they can use because that hasn't been something that they have been able to use in the past. And I know this is something the Broncos are expecting Alex Singleton met with the media early in the week and he talked about kind of their preparation for this game that they're expecting the chiefs to try to emphasize the run early on and I think that that makes sense right I mean you got you get a guy like Kenneth Walker not so that he can just be out there past protecting for Patrick my homes, but you want to be able to hand him the ball and this is where I think the game will be won or lost first down that's what Vance Joseph talked about it earlier in the offseason.
He's like how do we make sure we win first down all throughout the course of a season because if you can't win first down, then you can't get into these third and long situations that play into the Broncos biggest strength, which is rushing the passer and playing past defense. So they want to emphasize how do we stop these running plays on first down to be able to get into those third and long situations and that's going to be the toughest thing going up against the guy like Kenneth Walker. I know it was two years ago, but when the Broncos took on the Seahawks in week one of 2024 Kenneth Walker might still live in their nightmares after that game I mean he was he ran all over him in that game and so. He's one of the running backs that has had a lot of success against this defense and that the Broncos just had to be able to figure out are they going to be struggling with tackling are they going to be struggling with filling gaps are they going to be struggling to. Replace John Franklin Myers on the defensive line they're only real starter that they're replacing on either side of the ball so that's those are the questions can you win first down because if you can win first down then.
I'll be enough it sounds blasphemous to even say Chris but you want to force the ball into Patrick Mahomes hands in this game and that's a tough that's a tough thing to even say but it's true you don't want Kenneth Walker being the reason why you lose this game if you're the Broncos. Well and I will take it a step further it's not just Kenneth Walker like I said image Johnson I mean you have a change of pace back in image on some of the guy that can step in and I think the chief truly like is a second. Running back the bigger issue if you go back and look at the past several seasons Kansas City hasn't had a thousand yard rusher since cream hunt which was in 2018. And I'm not saying that I expect I think kids Walker could be a thousand yard rusher this season but it's bigger than that for me because when you start looking at the yards per carry last year was like three point. Two or three point three for Pacheco and cream hunt if Walker averages for four and a half. For the ski that changes everything on on offense that changes everything that then you're looking at defenses that have to start bringing safety down on the box to.
Stop the running game which I'll be very curious to watch how the Broncos start lining up in this game because to me that's going to be the big question. Do they bring a safety down to try to stop Walker early in the game and force the ball into Patrick Mahomes hands into throw. And I think they will I mean that's what tell a no who fungus best at and so we're going to see him attacking the line of scrimmage whether or not it happens. Super consistently i'll be interested to find out as well but they're definitely going to be emphasizing that that first down they want to be aggressive and stopping the run. And even on offense like that's the emphasis and you and I talked about this before we even recorded. You know talking about what is the key to each team winning this game. I think for the Broncos it's kind of the same thing honestly the top segment is Mahomes and nicks return but you and I kind of joke like and it might be the running game for both of these teams that ends up dictating the outcome of this match up because the Broncos. They were terrible when it comes to running the ball on the second half of last season after jk Dobbins went down with an injury they couldn't figure it out no matter if it was rj harvey the little McLaughlin who's no longer with the team Tyler but a.
They couldn't figure it out so what do they do they bring back jk Dobbins who's fully healthy right now and they're expecting him to be fully healthy he's bowed to play all 17 games will see what happens. rj harvey progressing in his role Jonah Coleman the rookie coming in there excited about him as well so I know web now calling the place for the first time he's going to want to run the ball he's going to want to do a lot out of. You know under center which bonix has been very good at when he's able to play from under center and work from play action and do all the same things that you talked about so winning first down which of these two defenses is going to be able. To keep each offense in second and long third and long situations in which running game is going to emerge that's going to be I think the number one key in this whole game is staying in front of the the sticks on first down. And the biggest thing when I sit here and I look at this obviously I can't even compare the chief's defense at least as it sits right now to the Broncos defense so Broncos have an advantage when it comes to their defense against this chief team playing against an offense but the biggest key in something that i'll be very intrigued by is watching to see how much air be enemy and going out getting a guy like can walk or changes this offense because the other thing they.
They are looking at is there also going to be looking at a scenario of probably running under center a lot more than they ever have because my homes has generally been in shotgun how much does that change because it'll change dynamics of angles in throwing lanes to. But it could dictate a lot of different changes when you start looking at running the ball. Yeah I really could and that's I think that's what you're kind of preparing for in terms of okay what what are we what can we prepare for based on what we know about the chiefs and what can we prepare for based on what we think they're going to become this season because the identity shifting right I mean when you bring back the enemy and you bring in Kenneth Walker. You're no longer expecting this offense to be one dimensional they are going to try to make this happen come hell or high water being a two dimensional offense because that does take a ton of pressure. off of my homes you just can't you can't just pin your ears back on first down expecting they're going to throw the ball every time they i mean you know 70% of the time or whatever it is. And that's where I think the explosives in the run game can help Kansas City this season as well because what did they have the fewest.
carries of 10 plus yards last season I think they know that bringing in Kenneth Walker that can give you those explosives back and it can flip the field and that also helps in a game like this where you're trying to play. You know feel position if you want to flip the field and you keep the ball away from the Broncos who are they've been clutch they've been they've been one of those teams that. doesn't matter how down they seem to be they can. Figure it out but you can't make those mistakes and give the offense extra possession so. taking care of the football running it well creating explosives on the ground showing these new identities offensively that's that's going to be a really fun storyline to follow. cannot wait the game is Monday night we're going to have you covered obviously we will have an extra show this week to. preview the game on Friday plus the additional preview of the game for Monday night say or thank you so much really do appreciate it let us. let's get ready for a Monday night game that is going to kick off the season absolutely cannot wait much more to come on locked on chiefs and locked on Broncos thank you all for listening today and we will talk to you tomorrow.
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