The KC CALL

Monday Niters Carefully Predict A Chiefs’ Victory, Sprained Ankle Or Not

Tina Turner, now 83, once sang a song that simply asked the question…” what’s love got to do with it”. Though Tina had a rough ride with life, she didn’t let that stop her one bit. And essentially, that’s what the Monday Niters thought about Pat Mahomes’ ankle, getting in the way of a Chiefs’ victory. As everyone knows, the Chiefs will be playing the Cincinnati Bengals, out at Arrowhead, this Sunday evening, at 5:30. Of course, Mahomes’ ankle has become “the” topic of conversation at our weekly zoom call, this past Monday night. And for once in the past twelve weeks, we didn’t even mention the community Alzheimer’s education project…except for to say that we would continue to work on the technology-access problem. To no one’s surprise, this week’s game may well be the main topic, for everybody in the entire country, forthe entire year. Getting psychologically ready for a possibility that Kansas City might just get “beat” is something that we’ve never had to seriously face. But that is “real”, especially since our magical star quarterback, is injured and may not play at full strength. So, the Alzheimer’s community education project is on-hold, especially when everybody nationwide will be focused on the Chiefs-Bengals, game…Sunday, right here at Arrowhead.

Regressing to the zoom call issue, one might recall that only about 15 people were able to get on last week’s zoom call…mainly because of our limited capacity only allowed so many to get on. So that snafu allowed talking about the AFC Championship game, between our Kansas City Chiefs and the red-hot Cincinnati Bengals. Not surprisingly, the subject even caused a little riff between us. We’ll tell you about that….just after we share our thoughts about Mahomes’ ankle, which he severely sprained, in last week’s game, against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Everybody, everywhere is talking about this boy’s ankle.

So, the one-issue meeting started off with Dr. Charles Allen, telling everybody…that Mahomes is “simply the best” (quoting Tina Turner). Of course, the well-respected Dr. Allen qualified his statement by saying that Mahomes, himself, may be affected by the “turned ankle”, indicating that a sprained ankle was not gonna “stop this magical quarterback. Period. Then, Ed West entered the conversation, with the same confidence…saying that the Chiefs’ training staff will be working real hard, to get Mahomes ready for these Cincinnati Bengals. Though neither Dr, Allen nor Ed West didn’t say it, everyone else knew that the Chiefs have lost three consecutive times, to these doggone Bengals. But, it was the ever-solid, Dr. John Martin, that summed the conversation up best. Solid-John said that Mahomes will be playing Sunday, “come hell or high water”. We all chuckled a bit…but deep-down, we all agreed with John. But what about Cincinnati? What would make “that” Harry Sypert and other un-named friends pick the Bengals over our Chiefs? Is it only because the Bengals have beaten the Chiefs, three times before…in a row? Or maybe some think they the Bengals will whip our Chiefs because they are “that” good. Maybe.

Nonetheless, Solid John continued by saying that the Chiefs “have to” score more points in the fourth quarter. Always exact, John stated that the Chiefs had only scored six points in the fourth quarter, in those last three games. I thought about “Proud Mary”. The Chiefs’ “big wheels” have to keep on turning….including replacing Mahomes if it comes down to that. And Ed West further dampened our spirits by adding that the Bengals’ quarterback, Joe Burrow, will eat the Chiefs’ weak-ass secondary alive.

And of course, that statement aroused “that” Harry Sypert. Obviously, ol’ Harry had been laying back in the cut, to say something negative, about the Chiefs (as always). Quickly, he started criticizing the Chiefs’ passing game, saying that their young defensive backs are totally “inadequate”. Clearly, he was saying that the Chiefs’ young defensive backs can’t “stay together”, enough to slow the Cincinnati passing game down. Obviously, both he and Ed told the “truth” for the game Sunday, will likely be a hard-fought, low-scoring game. In simple language, it’s revenge time, going back to last year, when the Bengals beat our Chiefs, out at Arrowhead, in the AFC championship game. And as fate would have it, it’s the same scenario, coming up this Sunday at 5:30. And although the subject was depressing, it still caused some light anger, among us devout Chiefs’ fans. Thus, it even caused some friction between “that” Harry Sypert and Coach Jerry Price.

Of course, we all knew that Coach Price and Sypert have known each other, for more than sixty years. Harry says they met on the Langston University campus, way back in 1963. Later in 1970, they got even closer, when Harry became the Athletic Director at Lincoln High School, where Coach Price was setting scoring records. So to hear them disagree, at all, got my attention. These two didn’t have to say that Joe Burrow, Cincinnati’s star quarterback “could wreck” the Chiefs’ dream to get back to the Super Bowl on February 12. Tina Turner would have considered Joe Burrow as her “private dancer” because this boy can sure throw a football. All in all, everyone eventually agreed that the game will boil down to how well the “youngins” in the Chiefs’ secondary can contain Cincinnati’s quarterback, and his array of receivers. So even with some mild disagreements, we all know this game could go either way. Sprained ankle or not.

And the doubting prevailed. Even Carl Clark suggested that to win, the Chiefs play a manto-man defense, rather than this zone coverage thing. Now, that was exactly what started the riff, between Coach Price and “that” Harry Sypert, in the first place But when the zoom-hour was over, we all vowed “to stay together” and pull for the home team. Except “that” Harry Sypert. The rest of us predicted a close and scary game, and believed that the Chiefs would prevail and get their ticket to the Super Bowl, in Glendale, Arizona, just outside Phoenix. So finally with a lot of careful reservation, here’s what the Monday Niters think about the fourth meeting, between these two teams. As expected the Monday Niters were all asking “what’s a sprained ankle got to do with it”. Nothing. Go Chiefs!

Dr. Charles Allen, KC will be taking charge . . . Chiefs by 10

Carl Clark Sr., KC must improve 4th quarter play . . . Chiefs by 7

Ollie Hubbard, Mahomes will be all right . . . Chiefs by 7

Dr. John Martin , KC gotta score in the 4th quarter . . . Chiefs by 7

Coach Jerry Price, Mahomes & Kelce is gonna do it . . . Chiefs by 14

“That” Harry Sypert, Turn out the lights (Don Meredith) . . . Bengals by 10

Easy Ed West, KC will turn the Bengals into pussycats . . . Chiefs by 7

Bev Allen, KC’s too tough . . . Chiefs by 7

Mary Martin, Pacheco’s running is methodical . . . Chiefs by 7

Nana Nunnelly, 77,000 red-clad fans say so . . . Chiefs by 7.5

Louis Palmer, no comment . . . Chiefs by 6 Don Williams, up at Bob’s . . . Bengals by 3

Sie Silas, up at Bob’s . . . Chiefs by 9.5

Me, Jim Nunnelly, Tina Turner says KC is simply the best . . . Chiefs by 3

Eric L. Wesson Sr., It’ll be a game about special teams and turnovers. The last two Bengals wins were decided by turnovers. Kelce fumble and Mahomes’ interception . . . Chiefs by 1

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2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://kccallnews.pressreader.com/article/281642489305768

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