Run-first Chiefs?! + Biggest Week 1 surprises, disappointments

Patrick Daugherty (0:21)

Hello, everybody, welcome to the Rotoworld Football Show. It's Tuesday, September 15th, 2026 I'm Patrick Daugherty, joined by Denny Carter and joined by actual data, Denny. We don't have to talk about 2025 anymore. Now we can overanalyze 2026 And not just 2026, only one game in 2026 That includes the Chiefs demolishing the Denver Broncos, 31-10, a Monday Night Football, Kenneth Walker III showing out, Jaylen Waddle not having a good Denver debut, the Broncos' backfield remaining unsettled. Then we'll look at some of the news of the week. That includes Ladd McConkey's injury, Zay Flower's injury. Then we'll look ahead to not only week two, honestly, maybe the biggest game of week two, the Detroit Lions at the Bills as they open their new stadium in Buffalo. All that and more when we come right back after this.

Denny, we're now back.

Will Davis Webb be back as Broncos play caller in week two? Many are already asking. We knew Sean Payton would maybe be twitching over there. The second things went wrong. They went very wrong in week one against the Chiefs. We'll talk about that in just a second. You noticed a comment after the game on Bo Nix talking about the Broncos playbook under Davis Webb is too small. He's actually saying it's too small. And Sean Payton's was famously large, his playbook, Denny. And so they're going with the too small playbook approach. The Chiefs, it sounds like, are taking the complete opposite approach. What do you have on this? A fascinating tidbit coming out of Monday evening.

Denny Carter (1:50)

Yeah, we've talked many times. It's one of my favorite things to talk about is that, is how bored Andy Reid is as a play caller. You know, he's seen it all, he's done it all. Back when the Chiefs were really potent, he used to do the stupidest things inside the 10-yard line you've ever seen.

Patrick Daugherty (2:06)

And just the stupidest things in general, the huddle thing where they would spin.

Denny Carter (2:10)

Right. Yes, they did a ring around the rosy thing and then snapped it. And for some reason, for years and years, Nicole Hardman became the most important player for the Chiefs inside the 10-yard line. He was the only guy who ever touched it. Anyway, so we got a little bit of that on Monday night when they had a lead. And Andy was like, I want to have some fun. Again, he's a bored guy.

So he says after the game that he got this play from none other than Chris Berman.

Patrick Daugherty (2:40)

Surely it's a different Chris Berman.

Denny Carter (2:43)

I think it's the Chris Berman.

Patrick Daugherty (2:45)

Just a funny, duplicated name.

Denny Carter (2:47)

And yeah, right. Chris Berman, yeah, right. The pass game coordinator. I mean, the Chris Berman apparently suggested this play from the 1930s, I believe, where Justin Fields lined up next to Patrick Mahomes in the backfield with his hand in the dirt.

And then Kenneth Walker lined up basically as a tight end and then came around and got a shovel pass and easily walked into the end zone, right? It was a really well-designed play. And he said that they ran it beautifully. They ran it better in the game than they did in training camp.

Patrick Daugherty (3:22)

Wow.

Denny Carter (3:22)

But I just, I can never get over, Pat, how weird this guy gets in, not in the red zone, inside the five or inside the 10 yard line. He did it again on Monday.

Patrick Daugherty (3:33)

He usually kind of waits till later in the year too. And they're kind of just muddling through the end of the regular season. Like, we got to go easily win the Super Bowl again.

So let's do some crazy stuff. It's odd times between Christmas and New Year's, kind of like the Twilight Zone of the NFL schedule and no, week one. And he's doing it, yeah, and he's embarrassing people with it.

Denny Carter (3:51)

Yeah. I mean, he used to do direct snaps to Travis Kelsey, who would throw it to the fifth string tight end, the special team or tight end. Like, we're going to get more of that apparently this year.

Patrick Daugherty (4:01)

We're going to get more of that and we're going to get Scott Van Pelt giving plays to the Broncos. Like, we need, the Broncos need something. Like, SVP was just on YouTube one night and the algorithm served them. I'll be asking something from the 1942 Akron Yellow Jackets. And well, they need something. Too few plays per your guy, Bo Nix, Denny.

Denny Carter (4:22)

Yeah. And this, by the way, this coincides with Pro Football Reference posting stats recently from the 1930s and 1940s.