KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Due to the Chiefs’ success in recent years, they have played a very atypical NFL schedule. Last year, the team played on every day of the week except Tuesday, so Friday’s game down in Brazil kind of feels like old hat for this experienced group.
“The blessing that we’ve had over these last few years is we’ve had a lot of crazy schedules,” said quarterback Patrick Mahomes. “You just kind of go with the flow, you trust in the decisions that our operations and our coaches plan for us throughout the offseason, and then we just try to execute that at a high level so that when we get to the football field, we can just play our best football.”
The Chiefs don’t get to open the NFL season, but they do get to play in front of a worldwide audience on Friday. Their game against the Chargers will be broadcast for free on YouTube all over the world – bringing more fans to Chiefs Kingdom.
The Chiefs and NFL hope the game in Sao Paolo brings not only new fans to the sport, but potentially new players, to help make America’s grid iron classic a global phenomenon.(Mark Poulose)
“Should be a heck of a football game. Looking forward to going to Brazil,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told reporters on Sunday. “You don’t get invited unless you’ve done alright in the past, so we feel honored to have the opportunity to go down there.”
The Chiefs are 3-0 in international games under Andy Reid, so they feel confident in how they prepare for these unique contests.
“I think it’s just about managing the plane ride and keeping yourself moving whenever you have opportunities to and getting your body right,” said Mahomes. “The trainers and coaches have really done the research and they understand what we need to do. Now, it’s just going down there and playing football.”
The Chiefs and NFL hope the game in Sao Paolo brings not only new fans to the sport, but potentially new players, to help make America’s grid iron classic a global phenomenon.
“I think it’s great for the organization to expand American football across the world, especially in Brazil, just because expanding the sport for other kids and giving them the opportunity to know if you love football and enjoy football, hopefully, one day, we can have football across the countries,” said wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The Chiefs don’t get to open the NFL season, but they do get to play in front of a worldwide audience on Friday.(Mark Poulose)
For many players, it will be their first time going to Brazil. Cornerback Trent McDuffie is excited for the journey but make no mistake about it – this is a business trip for the team.
“I don’t even know what it’s going to be like being 11 hours on the airplane. That’s foreign to me,” said McDuffie. “Going into this, it’s really just control what you can control. There’s going to be things that happen that we unfortunately cannot see or predict, so just going in there, making sure we have all the game plan in and making sure that the football is right, so when you go out there it’s not trying to do two things at once.”
Kickoff on Friday in Sao Paolo is set for 7 p.m. central time. Oddsmakers say the Chiefs are 3.5 point favorites against the Chargers.
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