"Voice of the Chiefs" Mitch Holthu
s hosted his weekly **Chiefs Kingdom Radio Show**, which can be locally heard on Sports Radio 810 WHB, on Monday night with special guests Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and linebacker Derrick Johnson.
Here are a few highlights from the show:
THE GRIT MENTALITY
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**The win against the Eagles was important Sunday, but the mental win is more important than most fans would think.
"I thought they did a good job. You've been patted on the back for 10 days being told how good you are and to be able to push through, just ignore that and go out and play good tough football. I thought it was an important step for us as a football team. Every game brings you a new challenge, but I thought the guys, the one thing they did was play hard. They left it all out there." –Andy Reid
"I think we got better that game. If you're worth anything, you got to be able to win in close games. And that showed, against a really good team, we could pull it out in the fourth quarter. We're going to need that down the stretch. At the same time, we're a team that high character guys, very tough minded team under the mind frame of Andy Reid and we showed a lot of grit that fourth quarter. I'm proud of the guys for pulling through. The grit, the mind frame of our team and the fans in that stadium in the fourth quarter, it was pretty electrifying." –Derrick Johnson
And Johnson is a main reason the team was able to show the grit to keep the Eagles grounded in the fourth quarter.
"We have enough senior leadership, like the guy you have on the show. DJ [Derrick Johnson], Justin [Houston] and some of the guys that have been around a while understand that. They make sure they keep everyone level headed and works hard. Nobody comes out and works harder than DJ does. Every day. I joke that he acts like he's 20 when he gets out on that field. He's moving around, and he and the punter are the two oldest guys on the team, but you'd never know by the way he practices. And that carries over. That carries itself so that the young guys are like listen this guy is doing it, so we all need to do it. And he does it every game. So every game is the most important game that week." –Andy Reid
FIRST FORCED FUMBLE CAUSED BY A LONG SNAPPER
People forget. Between airborne Travis Kelce and Daniel Sorensen and the interception by Chris Jones, James Winchester's forced fumble got lost in the shuffle. Winchester is now one of the only two long snappers to have a forced fumble since 2013.
"That's a big play. He's really a good athlete. He was a wide receiver and so he's played other positions besides the long snap. He's put on some weight, so he could kind of hold up in there from his days of being a wide receiver, but that athletic ability is still there. He knows how to play the game and he knows what it's all about. A lot of the time with long snappers is long snapping is all they know how to do, but he could play a couple different positions for you." –Andy Reid
"That was huge, that was huge. I'm just looking and I just knew it was someone else. We have plenty of athletes out there and the snapper just comes over with a huge hit—and that's big time." –Derrick Johnson
NEW PLACE, SAME TEAM
The Chiefs have their first division game Sunday as they go up against the Chargers. Say goodbye to San Diego and hello to Los Angeles. And Reid is calling on all Chiefs fans.
"So we're well into the Chargers. You can tell that they're very well coached. They've lost the last two games here by a field goal—makeable field goals. It got blocked in that first game against Denver and the game yesterday he missed a field goal. But my point is they were there right till the end. Philip Rivers is Philip Rivers. They're throwing the heck out of the football, so that part of the ball hasn't changed. I think their defense is playing better than they were before, and I thought they were pretty good before. We really have a good week of preparation. We need all the red we can get to come into Los Angeles and take over. We always have a good turn out there and we appreciate it, so we expect to see them all there. It's a small venue, small stadium, but it's a great place to play football. I've had the chance to watch a College All-Star game there, so it's a neat venue. Anybody who can get out there, let's go!" –Andy Reid
"Regardless of their record, when you play within the division, it's always hard. We know them, they know us. It's one those games where it's a second half game no matter what. It doesn't matter what our record is. The great thing about us, we always throw the records out. We play the guys that we're playing against and we throw the records out. We execute what the coaches want us to do, try to make plays to win the game and we've been successful two times, so hopefully it'll be three." –Derrick Johnson
MORE THAN SPORTS
Athletes learn more from sports than just the playbook, whether it's adaptability, perseverance, leadership or in Johnson's case, confidence.
"Football teaches you a lot about life –getting knocked down and getting back up. And the best thing I like about football is it's not perfect. It gets you in that ramble of hey you're not going to have a good day every day, you're not going to have a good play every time. But do you have that mindset of next play or that short term memory saying hey when things happen bad, don't get down on yourself or lose your confidence? That's a big deal with young people—losing their confidence when things go bad and believing in yourself and never giving up." –Derrick Johnson
DEFEND THE DREAM FOUNDATION
Education is very important to Johnson's family, which is why his foundation caters to inner-city kids and kids of need. His mom was an educator for over 40 years and that had a big influence in his life leading to his passion for helping kids.
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson handed out backpacks with school supplies to local school children at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday.
First thing first, Johnson helped take care of back-to-school shopping.
* "We're doing backpack giveaways for schools and we had over 500 kids up at the Chiefs facility touring it and giving them everything that they need to be confident for the first day of school,"* Johnson said.
Second, DJ's Discovery Dens. Johnson's foundation remakes unused rooms at Title I schools. These dens are decked out in Chiefs gear, bean bags, couches and over a thousand age-appropriate books. This fall, Johnson will have 14 dens in schools.
"It's one of those things if education is not important to them, they're not going to go very far, so I just want to mentor them in that way," Johnson said.
Derrick Johnson unveiled his 10th Discovery Den at King Elementary. Derrick Johnson's Defend the Dream Foundation transforms an unused classroom into a reading area for students.
And the environment of these dens plays a huge role.
"I've had so many teachers come up to me and say, 'Hey Joey wants to go into this room and read now. He's never wanted to do that.' And that makes me want to do more and more. Kids are being influenced just by making a nice room, putting nice books in there, Chiefing it out and putting my fathead in there—it's a cool atmosphere. It's all about habits and habits form who you are." –Derrick Johnson
Missed out this week? Don't make that mistake again! Head over to the HyVee on E 23rd St. in Independence on Monday September, 25th to catch what Mitch and Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones have to say before the Chiefs take on the Redskins.
Click here to find out which HyVee location Holthus and his special guests will be at rest of the season, or listen live with Sports Radio 810 WHB every Monday 6 p.m.-7 p.m.
