“With these two teams, these two guys, Josh (Allen) and Patty (Mahomes), man, instant classic. These are the moments you miss in the off-season. It’s why you play the game.”– Chiefs TE Travis Kelce on Kansas City’s 27-24 win over Buffalo
“It’s just one mountain after another. They said we couldn’t win two playoff games in a row. Now we’re going to keep climbing that mountain.” – Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson on their playoff success
“If (49ers GM) John Lynch hadn’t traded for (Christian) McCaffrey 15 months ago, the Niners would be out of the playoffs this morning.” – King on San Francisco depending on their star running back
STAMFORD, Conn. – Jan. 22, 2024 – Peter King speaks with Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid after the team’s Divisional Round win over the Buffalo Bills, to advance to their sixth straight AFC Championship Game, in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses Lamar Jackson’s Super Bowl aspirations, the 49ers holding off the Packers, and more.
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The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
CHIEFS
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce on Kansas City’s 27-24 win over Buffalo: “With these two teams, these two guys, Josh (Allen) and Patty (Mahomes), man, instant classic. These are the moments you miss in the off-season. It’s why you play the game.”
King on the growing Mahomes-Jackson rivalry: “The game loves quarterback rivalries like this one. It’s odd. Thirty years ago, it was (John) Elway-(Dan) Marino. Fifteen years ago, (Tom) Brady-(Peyton) Manning. Now, most of these rivalries feature two mobile quarterbacks. Times change but the players, and the game, are still great.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid on the playoff atmosphere in Buffalo: “The environment, this environment, is football. It’s NFL football. Like Arrowhead. NFL football at its best. That’s what we felt out there for three hours, for all of three hours.”
King on the beauty of games like Chiefs-Bills: “As always, the sudden, awful finality of a season’s end for one contender, the thrill of victory for the other. It’s agonizing. It’s exhilarating. It’s sports, at the highest level.”
RAVENS
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on their season long motivation: “It’s just the idea that everything that we do, everything that (Lamar Jackson) does, every game up until this point was to put us in position for this. This is when it begins.”
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson on his mentality and goals throughout the season: “I’ve thought, finish 13-4, get the one seed, first-round bye, then it’s only two games at home to get to the Super Bowl. That’s got to be our goal.”
King on Jackson’s ability to take over a game: “Jackson’s never going to have the biggest stats, but this game, particularly the second half, was a perfect illustration of who he is as a player. He knows how to control a football game.”
King on Jackson’s versatility: “Jackson was football’s Mookie Betts here, a five-tool player you might hold down for a few series but eventually he’s going to kill you with his arm and legs, and he doesn’t care which extremities he uses.”
DIVISIONAL ROUND
Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson on their playoff success: “It’s just one mountain after another. They said we couldn’t win two playoff games in a row. Now we’re going to keep climbing that mountain.”
King on San Francisco depending on their star running back, Christian McCaffrey: “If (49ers GM) John Lynch hadn’t traded for (Christian) McCaffrey 15 months ago, the Niners would be out of the playoffs this morning.”
King on the 49ers and QB Brock Purdy needing to play better: “There’s something both impressive and worrisome about the Niners now. Brock Purdy was terrific on the game-winning late drive, with or without (Deebo) Samuel this weekend against Detroit, the 49ers need Purdy to be better for four quarters.”
King on the Packers exceeding expectations with the youngest team in the league: “You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, and a heck of a lot to be proud of. Such as all those new receivers.”
KING’S DIVISIONAL AWARDS
Offensive Players of the Week: Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco, Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit, Lamar Jackson, Baltimore, Mike Evans, Tampa Bay, & Travis Kelce, Kansas City
King on Gibbs’ 31-yard go-ahead touchdown run in the fourth quarter: “It’s like he picked out a point near the left pylon and sprinted for it, and made it, and made sure Detroit advanced to its first NFC title game in a million years.”
King on Kelce: “Five catches for 75 yards in one of the biggest wins in recent times for Kansas City. That’s more like it.”
Defensive Players of the Week: Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit, Dre Greenlaw, San Francisco, & Christian Harris, Houston
King on Hutchinson: “How must GM Brad Holmes be feeling today, for many reasons? But the biggest reason for joy, I believe, is the fact that on draft day 2022, the Jacksonville Jaguars picked Travon Walker instead of Hutchinson with the first pick in the draft.”
King on Harris: “In the last three weeks, as the Texans have exploded onto the scene of football that matters, Harris has been the most vital defensive piece.”
Special Teams Players of the Week: Eric Wilson, Green Bay, & Steven Sims, Houston
King on Sims’ punt-return for a touchdown: “The touchdown, capped by Sims striding a la Deion Sanders to the end zone, kept the Texans in the game at halftime, 10-10.”
Coach of the Week: Todd Monken, offensive coordinator, Baltimore
King on Monken after his adjustments to the gameplan at halftime: “The word I heard about Monken around the Ravens post-game: ‘collaborative.’”
Goats of the Week: Tyler Bass, Buffalo, & Anders Carlson, Green Bay
King on Carlson: “In the middle of the fourth quarter of a playoff-elimination game, nursing a four-point lead that you’re trying to expand to seven, you simply can’t hook a 41-yard kick wide left. You can’t.”
Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.
The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:
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- com continues to provide the latest news and updates.
- NBC Sports EDGE’s Rotoworld Football Show continues the NFL discussion and Bet The Edge Podcast provides daily betting insights.
- The NFL on NBC YouTube channel offers daily football content for free, with exclusive videos from Peter King – including his interviews with players and coaches at training camps – Mike Florio, Chris Simms, and more. To access all of these videos and more, click here to subscribe
A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May 2019 that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.
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