Derek Carr, Oklahoma State HC Eric Morris, The Chiefs Are Back, CFB Recap + Listener Submitted Takes

Dan Katz (Big Cat) (0:00)

Hey, Pardon My Take listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

On today's Pardon My Take, presented by DraftKings, we've got a twofer, we've got Derek Carr on the show. Recurring guest, Derek Carr, talks some week one football, what he saw out of the quarterback play in the NFL, some college football, great catching up with him. We also have Oklahoma State head coach, Eric Morris, off the big victory against the Oregon Ducks on Saturday. We're gonna do some college football talk. We're also gonna hit Monday Night Football. The Chiefs look like they are back. Hot seat, cool throne, and Pardon Your Take. A little cleanup from Sunday. It's all brought to you by our friends at Chevy. Football season is here, and whether you're going, grinding through the week or gearing up for kickoff, there's one ride that's always game ready. It's the Chevy Silverado. There's a reason Chevy's called the heartbeat of America, and Silverado keeps that heartbeat strong. Whether you're towing, hauling or tailgating, Silverado lets you show up strong and tackle any task with best in class standard torque, the most functional bed and the advanced tech that's football guy approved. Check out current offers on the 2026 Silverado at chevy.com. Okay, let's go.

Welcome to Pardon My Take presented by Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Today is Wednesday, September 16th, and the Kansas City Chiefs are back. Because Monday Night Football, that was a showing in brutality by the Kansas City Chiefs in the way they ran the ball down the Broncos' throat. Broncos, one of the worst tackling performances, I think, ever.

PFT Commenter (2:18)

It was definitely the worst of week one.

Dan Katz (Big Cat) (2:20)

It looked like, PFT, it looked like a college football game in that there were two times, and there might have been more, but two times it stuck out in my head. The Kenneth Walker touchdown run from midfield, where there wasn't a Bronco in sight, it looked like they went field goal block on that play and he bounced it outside. And then the Travis Kelce catch and run, where there wasn't a Bronco in frame, it was, it looked like a college football game. We were like, wait, there's supposed to be a safety there. What's happening?

PFT Commenter (2:49)

So I know the popular take today is, why did we forget about the Chiefs? And I kind of agree with that a little bit. I actually don't think that the Chiefs are near close to what they're going to be at the end of the season.

Dan Katz (Big Cat) (3:00)

Definitely not.

PFT Commenter (3:00)

I think they're going to get a lot better from this point on. I don't know that they're a great team right now. I think the Broncos might be kind of broken.

Dan Katz (Big Cat) (3:07)

So the scariest thing, and I want to talk about the Broncos, scariest thing about last night, if you are someone who's scared of the Chiefs, or like, oh man, the Chiefs, like maybe they've reached their downturn, is the fact that that run game, we have not seen a run game from the Chiefs like that since maybe, what, first year of Kareem Hunt? Like, it's been a long time. People were saying, Jamal Charles, like, it has been a long time. And Patrick Mahomes was not, he's clearly still coming back from injury.

But him not having to be Superman and having a run game like that essentially gives him the perfect on-ramp to get back into the flow and be playing his best football at the end of the season where he doesn't have to do everything because that has been for, you know, the first chiefs, the first couple of chiefs like runs, you know, they had the outside weapons, Tyree Kale, they were able to do dynamic things. Travis Kelsey was younger. The last couple of years of the chiefs, it was a lot of Patrick Mahomes being Superman and figuring out a way to make plays with no run game with not the most explosive wide receivers and him just putting the whole team on his back. Now he can just hand the ball off to Kenneth Walker and they could just run it down your throat and he doesn't have to worry about making like constant plays to get the Chiefs out of holes.

PFT Commenter (4:24)

I think he will and he'll get back to that. I think that right now what they're doing is like that was, it was a great game plan they had in place. Kenneth Walker is a really, really good running back and I've always thought like they had him and Charbeday splitting carries in Seattle, which can be a really good thing, keep both guys fresh. But I think that it's really tough on a running back to get into a real rhythm if they have to come off every series, let the other guy step on the field.