“I don’t know how you could watch Super Bowl LVIII and not know for sure that the game has its certain heir to Thomas Edward Brady. What Brady was to the first 20 years of this century, (Patrick) Mahomes has every chance to be in the next 20.” – King on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
“A sports team is always its best when the best players are the best leaders. Derek Jeter with the Yankees, for instance. Michael Jordan with the Bulls. Tom Brady with the Patriots. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce with Kansas City.” – King on the Chiefs’ teammates among sport’s all-time greats
“(Travis Kelce)’s wound up so tight. He says, ‘Don’t count me out! I’m good! I can do this!’ I love that intensity. It radiates.” – Chiefs head coach Andy Reid on his sideline interaction with TE Travis Kelce
“He makes the difficult look easy at the highest possible level in the whole world. There’s only 32 in the whole world, and he’s the special of the special.” – Reid on Mahomes
STAMFORD, Conn. – Feb. 12, 2024 – Peter King speaks with Kansas City head coach Andy Reid after the team became the first in nearly 20 years to win back-to-back Super Bowls after defeating the San Francisco 49ers, 25-22, in overtime in Super Bowl LVIII in this week’s edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com. King also discusses the 49ers’ Super Bowl performance, this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, and more.
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The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
CHIEFS
King on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes: “I don’t know how you could watch Super Bowl LVIII and not know for sure that the game has its certain heir to Thomas Edward Brady. What Brady was to the first 20 years of this century, (Patrick) Mahomes has every chance to be in the next 20.”
King on the Chiefs: “A sports team is always its best when the best players are the best leaders. Derek Jeter with the Yankees, for instance. Michael Jordan with the Bulls. Tom Brady with the Patriots. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce with Kansas City.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid on his sideline interaction with TE Travis Kelce: “(Travis Kelce)’s wound up so tight. He says, ‘Don’t count me out! I’m good! I can do this!’ I love that intensity. It radiates.”
Reid on Mahomes: “He makes the difficult look easy at the highest possible level in the whole world. There’s only 32 in the whole world, and he’s the special of the special. I watched Tom Brady turn the keys over to him which was cool. Tom said, ‘Hey, this is your league now, man.’”
Reid on the Tom Brady/Mahomes connection: “I watched Tom Brady turn the keys over to him which was cool. Tom said, ‘Hey, this is your league now, man.’”
Reid on his team’s adjustments from the first half to the second quarter: “If you’re the veteran that’s dropping the ball or you’re the veteran getting the penalties, you better figure it out. Figure it out quick. This season’s going to go down.”
King on the Chiefs’ playoff run to winning their second consecutive Super Bowl: “Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid took the worst offensive team of the six Mahomes has piloted, and they beat the 6, 2 and 1 seeds in the AFC and the 1 seed in the NFL, to win a third world title. This is officially a team for the ages.”
Reid on what he texted Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce before the Super Bowl: “I just said, Hey, beautiful facility, first of all. And I appreciate you kicking our tail (on Christmas Day) because you taught us a lesson.”
49ERS
King on 49ers QB Brock Purdy: “Call (Brock) Purdy a game manager, a game warden, I don’t care. He went toe-to-toe with the great Mahomes for five quarters, didn’t turn it over (Mahomes threw a pick and fumbled twice) and acquitted himself very, very well.”
King on his Super Bowl MVP pick as the 49ers led in the second half: “I struggled with my MVP vote through the second half, going from Nick Bosa if the Niners won, to maybe Jauan Jennings with his receiving and passing TDs, to the redeemed Christian McCaffrey or the steady Purdy…and as for Kansas City, I was totally up in the air until the final drive of the game. As the confetti started falling, I texted “Mahomes” to the keeper of the ballots.”
HALL OF FAME
King on a few of the modern inductees: “(Julius) Peppers and (Dwight) Freeney were superior edge players at the time the position came of age. I was surprised (Devin) Hester didn’t make it last year. Nobody’s had a two-year period of dominance in the return game that Hester had in his first two seasons with the Bears.”
King on WR Andre Johnson: “I always looked at (Andre) Johnson playing, and watched his speed and physicality and thought, If he keeps going, he’ll make it to Canton. Glad he did.”
King on tight end Antonio Gates not being selected on this year’s ballot: “Making the Hall is hard, and only five of 15 can make it in a given year. My feeling is (Antonio) Gates didn’t knock down the door, but I’m one voter, and others might disagree. I bet he makes it in 2025.”
King on former NFL head coach Buddy Parker: “I was unhappy with (Buddy) Parker not making it. He improved the Steelers when he went there, and he was most responsible for developing the nickel defense in pro football.”
KING’S SUPER BOWL LVIII AWARDS
Offensive Players of the Week: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City & Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco
King on Mahomes: “His third Super Bowl win in six starting seasons puts him in ridiculously rare air. Watching him early, you’d never have thought he’d finish 34 of 46 for 333 yards, but he did. A virtuoso performance.”
Defensive Players of the Week: Trent McDuffie, Kansas City, & Nick Bosa, San Francisco
King on Bosa: “Played one of his best games ever, with 10 pressures, consistently getting Patrick Mahomes off his preferred throwing spot. Shined brightest when the game was the biggest.”
Special Teams Players of the Week: Mitch Wishnowsky, San Francisco, & Chris Conley, San Francisco
King on Conley downing a third quarter punt at the two-yard line: “(Chris) Conley was in such a perfect spot to down it that you’d have thought he could read the future. Conley downed the perfect punt at the KC two-yard line.”
Coach of the Week: Andy Reid, head coach, Kansas City
King on Reid: “Reid’s third Super Bowl victory was an example of the patience he shows with his team. First nine drives: five punts, six points. With Patrick Mahomes, he knows it’s never over, and he called the game aggressively till the end of overtime.”
Read the full FMIA column here and catch the weekly Peter King Podcast here.
The following are additional highlights of NBC Sports’ NFL coverage:
- PFT Live with NBC Sports’ Mike Florio (Mondays) and Florio and Chris Simms (Tuesday-Thursday) streams on Peacock from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. ET on weekdays & is available on-demand. The Dan Patrick Show streams at 9 a.m. ET, Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry at Noon ET, Brother From Another at 3 p.m. ET, PFT PM at 5 p.m. ET. At 6 p.m. ET, Chris Simms Unbuttoned streams Tuesday-Friday.
- 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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