Toby Kerr: North American Correspondent on the Superbowl play-offs one month out from the competition

Anticipation is brewing one month out from the Superbowl. 

American football giants are down to the wire as they begin play-offs this weekend, with a total of 14 teams remaining - 7 in each bracket. 

The Kansas City Chiefs are already through as the top qualifier and are attempting to become the first team to ever win three straight Superbowl's. 

North American Correspondent Toby Kerr chats to Adam Cooper about what to look out for as the competition heats up. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldegrave from News Talk ZEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's the All Sport Breakfast here on News Talk ZEDB.
Twenty away from seven. Well, NFL, we're a month out
from Super Bowl February nine, it is, so playoffs are
getting in an American football this weekend. Let's find out
exactly what's going on. We'll head over to Vancouver now
across the pacifica art correspondent there with Toby Kerr. Morning
to you, Toby, Happy New.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Year, Happy New Year. Out of good morning to you.
I think I say this a lot, but this is
like my favorite sports time of year. It's probably a
lie because the spring is also my favorite sports time
of year. But it's hard to beat NFL playoffs along
with basketball and hockey too. It's all good stuff here
at North American Sports right now?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, great, all right, Well, let's talk NFL because their
playoffs get underwagh this weekend. Obviously, we're down to seven
teams from each bracket, so fourteen in total. We've got
obviously Kansas already through as the top qualifier to the
semi finals in the AFC and the NFC Detroit is
through this is that sort of as expected? Those names
of come up various times, have chatted through the season

(01:07):
so far.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Certainly they I think that as the season sort of
shaped up and down the stretch, those would probably be
the two teams that most people would have picked. But
the views on the two of them are pretty different.
I mean, Kansas City is of course trying to become
the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls
here in the modern era, and they are, you know,
a team that people don't actually like watching all that
much because even though they have Patrick Mahomes, they're kind

(01:32):
of a slow, plotting, methodical offense a smothering defense. So
you know, the real football heads are going to, you know,
appreciate the nuances of Casey, but you know, to the casuals,
is it that fun to watch? No, they just win
these close, low scoring games. But they're wildly successful at
it and only lost two games all year, including the
last one when they didn't play any of their starters,

(01:52):
so really only one true loss. And they're the two
time defending champions, so hard to pick against them. On
the other side, you've got the Detroit Lions, one of
the most bereft franchises as far as success over the
course of the Lions distance, They've never won a Super Bowl.
They haven't come particularly close for a very, very long time.
I've almost never made the playoffs in my lifetime, and

(02:14):
now suddenly they're the number one team in the NFC.
And Dan Campbell, their head coach, is one of the
most charismatic, likable coaches. He's a massive dude who is
the most hyper masculine man in the world and yet
will cry out of happiness and sadness in postgame press conferences.
He's just a wonderful enigma of a man who everyone
just seems to love, myself included. And the Lions earns

(02:36):
the number one seed with a dramatic win over the
Minnesota Vikings in the last game of the entire regular season.
So it's a strange NFL year, and frankly, some of
the playoff teams are not very compelling and I think
are just fodder for the top ones. It's not a
super deep playoffs, But the Lions are the story, I think,
and I think everyone who's not rooting for Detroit is
their number one team. They're everyone's second favorite team, and

(02:57):
I hope that they make a deep run.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Okay, and well, so the likelihoods that was with, you know,
Kansas City and Detroit, it's only needing two wins to
make Super Bowl. What is the lo likelihood that it
could be these two teams in the big guff finale
in about it three weeks time.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
It's really a huge advantage Adham. You know, there's the
old sports trope about rest versus rest when you have
time off, but in the NFL such a physically grueling sport,
and I think we talked about how Kansas City during
the year played six of the seven different days of
the week they played games. The NFL used to only
play on Sundays, North American Time Mondays for you, and

(03:33):
now they're spreading their games out everywhere. So suddenly players
don't have the same rest routine that they used to,
they don't have the same consistent recovery time. So I
think Kansas City in particular a victim of their own
success schedule wise, because the NFL wanted them everywhere this year,
and so here are a team that needed the week
off and the fact that they got it really botes
well for them. Detroit, on the other hand, They're coming

(03:55):
off quite a high to finish the year. I wonder
if a loss of momentum might be a little tough
for them. The Lions, they don't have the same superstar
quarterback their quarterback year at GoF He's good, he's very competent,
but he certainly isn't a superstar. The rest of their team,
though their offensive weapons are phenomenal. Jimior Gibbs is a
running back, i'mon Rossney and Brown is a great receiver.

(04:16):
So you just got to hope that the sort of
cohesiveness of the offense and the explosiveness we saw most
of the season, but particularly down the stretch, you know,
continues for them. I think Kansas City is much less
likely to make the Super Bowl than Detroit in some
ways the AFC, where Kansas City is a bit easier,
but there are two other Titanic teams there, whereas in
the NFC a lot of good teams. But I think

(04:38):
Detroit can put itself clearly as the number one in
the NFC.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
All right, and across the two leagues, we've got well
twelve teams now playing off for the remaining six spots
in the league semi finals. So all these gumes scattered
across the next few days to any particular game will
start with that, the IFA, the American Conference, any particular
games in that really took to your fancy starting tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Okay, I don't want to be a bummer. The AFC
first round matchups kind of suck. They're not very good.
There's some teams in there, the Houston Texans, the Pittsburgh Steelers,
who really limpsed to the finish line looking like they
have no business being in the playoffs. We had a
very scrappy Kansas City, or rather Cincinnati Bengals team who
everyone was very scared of and excited by because their

(05:24):
quarterback Joe Burrow is a borderline MVP candidate. They have
Jamar Chase, who was the best receiver in the league
this year. They're going to have the defensive player of
the Year Trey Hendrickson, and they just missed the playoffs
because they started so badly. Instead, we've got a bunch
of so so teams. But the matchup that I do
want to see, probably the most really for the history
of it, is the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

(05:46):
Because I just talked about how Pittsburgh has really ended
the year on a bit of a weak note, but
they are known to step up and especially defensively in
the biggest games. Mike Tomlin, their coach, one of the
best coaches in the modern era as well. But they're
taking on a Ravens team and the intrigue of the Ravens.
Here by the advance numbers, they are the best team

(06:07):
in the league. If you go to the stat heads
of the Nerds, they'll they'll point to Baltimore. But they
also have a habit of falling apart in playoff games.
It's happened multiple times. Lamar Jackson, their quarterback, a two
time MVP, probably going to be a three time MVP.
I think he's gonna win it this year, and yet
he's really never had any playoff success. So it's one
of those where all the expectations are on the Ravens.

(06:29):
It's a it's an old rivalry. But if there's any
team that's going to pull out a win out of
absolutely nowhere, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. So I think the
Ravens are favored by nine and a half, but I
bet it's a lot closer than that, and things could
get weird in that game, so I'm looking forward to
seeing it.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
All right great, And then across to the NFC. Obviously,
on paper, the Minnesota Vikings La Rams fixture would be
the tightest. But and sort of and practicalities is that
you know what you'll you see could be the most
exciting game in this one that is.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Certainly the one to have my eye on. I think
that basically all three of the NFC games are more
sort of veggings, and all three of the AFC games
Washington and Tampa Bay. Whoever wins that one, the fan
base will be delighted. Those are two teams exceeding expectations already.
And I think that the Green Bay and Philadelphia game
might be the biggest offensive shootout and the most exciting

(07:20):
for pure points scoring. But I'm with you on focusing
in on LA and Minnesota. Minnesota was one game away
from being the number one seed with Detroit they were
in the same division. It came down to the last
game of the season, as I mentioned, and in that
game Minnesota was horrible. Suddenly all the doubts, all the
skepticism around the Vikings really kind of came together in

(07:42):
one game and it's the last time we've seen them,
so this team that won fourteen games suddenly doesn't look
like as sure of a bet anymore. They played the
Rams in October and the Rams got the best of
them then. So even though the Vikings are favored, they're
ending on a bit of a weak note, and they're
playing a team that's done quite well against them already
this year. I think the Rams are exceptionally well coached.

(08:05):
I think both of these which are some of the
tops in the league, so sometimes it's a ton of
fun just seeing the two schemes go head to head
in the strategies here. I think this is a really
close one, but I actually think the Rams are going
to pull off the upset.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
All right, we'll notute that down. Thanks Toby. Great to
catch up as always, Toby Kirk previewing the NFL playoffs underway.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
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