Patrick Mahomes had the Kansas City Chiefs rolling for much of Monday night’s contest against the New Orleans Saints. However, an interception in the endzone by defensive tackle Khalen Saunders disrupted their efforts while bringing joy to the NFL broadcasters who got to call it.
The Chiefs led 16-7 with under two minutes left in the 3rd quarter when Mahomes dropped back to pass for an easy touchdown. However, the ball popped out of JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hands and right toward Saunders. The beefy DT then rumbled out of the endzone to the 35-yard line.
We have to start with the call by ESPN’s Monday Night Football announcer Joe Buck, who exuberantly shouted out “BIG KHALEN RUMBLIN’!”
“BIG KHALEN RUMBLIN’!” pic.twitter.com/voNOZWMmep
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 8, 2024
However, all due respect has to go to Kevin Harlan, who was calling the game for Westwood Radio, for the best call of the night. After calling the play, the legendary announcer realized what he’d witnessed and exclaimed “IT WAS A THICC PICK! THAT WAS A THICC PICK!”
“IT WAS A THICC PICK! THAT WAS A THICC PICK!” – Kevin Harlan pic.twitter.com/2nl2fSq9Xg
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 8, 2024
Unfortunately for noted Chiefs fan Paul Rudd, the thicc-pick happened while he was a guest on ESPN2’s ManningCast. The Hollywood actor immediately blamed himself for tempting the football gods with his prediction that Schuster would score.
Khalen Saunders just made Paul Rudd immediately regret all his choices 😂 pic.twitter.com/gyS7Fal4Ag
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 8, 2024
A fun sidenote to all of this is that Saunders’s brother, Kameron Saunders, is a backup dancer for Taylor Swift, the girlfriend of Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce. On the play right before the interception, Khalen put a big hit on Kelce to prevent a score. Guessing all of this will come up before Swift’s next concert performance.
[ESPN, Westwood One]