Athletes find ways to motivate themselves during the season as a means to maintain a high level of intensity. For Cincinnati Bengals rookie safety Daijahn Anthony, he’s using Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce as motivation for the rest of the season.
“I honestly can’t wait to see them. I’ve got [Mahomes and Kelce] as one of my lock screens right now so I can see it every day… because I can’t wait to see them again,” Anthony said, via Mike Petraglia of CLNS Sports on September 19.
In the 26-25 win for Kansas City, Mahomes had multiple turnovers and Kelce had one catch on three targets for five yards. That’s why, despite both players having Hall of Fame resumes, Anthony didn’t take much away from his first matchup against the Chiefs’ star offensive playmakers.
“They’re both two good players… It’s just normal, honestly…I don’t know how to answer that one. It’s nothing too special,” Anthony said when asked what he learned after facing Mahomes and Kelce for the first time.
Daijahn Anthony Had Costly Penalty Against Chiefs
Anthony was the Bengals defender who was flagged for defensive pass interference when covering Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice on a 4th-and-16 play on Kansas City’s final offensive drive of the game. The penalty set the Chiefs offense up with a 1st-and-10 from Cincinnati’s 36-yard line with 38 seconds left in the game. Kansas City ran the clock down from that point and set up kicker Harrison Butker for the game-winning 51-yard field goal as time expired.
On Wednesday, Anthony told reporters that he re-watched that 4th-and-16 play “probably 1,000 times” since Sunday, per Petraglia.
That costly late-game penalty will likely haunt Anthony until the Bengals and Chiefs square off again.
Falcons Not Holding Back on Praise of Chiefs
Despite a lackluster Week 2 effort, the Atlanta Falcons, namely head coach Raheem Morris, had no shortage of praise for Mahomes ahead of the Chiefs-Falcons Sunday Night Football matchup on September 22.
“He’s the best. You don’t want to ever argue with history, but when you talk about in the game right now, being a two-time Super Bowl champion the last two years, going to multiple Super Bowls, being one of the best players that’s played our game,” Morris said during his press conference on September 18.
“But he’s definitely going to go down in that argument with the best of the best when you get into those arguments when they happen. He’s certainly a problem no matter what, and he’s one of the best that we’ve seen just in whatever generation you want to talk about.”
Morris also went into detail about what makes Mahomes so great.
“He’s smart. He’s unique. He can move around. He can buy time,” Morris explained. “He can play within the framework of the system. He knows what you’re doing on defense. … He’s just one of the best. He’s an alien, he’s those guys. I should consider putting him in that alien-type light, he’s one of the best out there.”
The Chiefs-Falcons Week 3 game will kick off at 7:25 p.m. Central Time on Sunday and will be available to watch on NBC and Peacock.
