NFL Films producer shares inside story of making Chiefs’ Super Bowl ‘Wasp’ video
The only people who may have gotten less sleep than the Chiefs in the days following Super Bowl LIV are NFL Films employees.
After the Chiefs’ 31-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers, NFL Films worked furiously to turn out content. The task of producing the “Turning Point” segment for the game fell on producer Greg Smith.
“I basically didn’t stop working or thinking about it for 36 hours,” Smith said in a phone interview. “I think I slept for 3 hours. It was a sprint. A long sprint.”
When his work was completed, a rhetorical question became part of Chiefs lore: “Do we have time to run Wasp?”
The “Turning Point” video aired the Wednesday after the Super Bowl and was shared on social media soon after. Eleven weeks after its debut, the video has been seen more than 2 million times on Twitter with another 2.2 million views on YouTube.
T-shirts were made with that question and a diagram of the play. Actor Eric Stonestreet watched the video four times on the day of its release. And general manager Brett Veach has the play on display at his home:
Here’s how the video came together.
What did he say?
NFL Films had 38 cameras at the Super Bowl with a half-dozen people on the field wearing microphones, including Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Smith knew the Chiefs’ biggest play was the 44-yard completion from Mahomes to receiver Tyreek Hill halfway through the fourth-quarter with the 49ers leading 20-10. But while viewing the conversation between Mahomes and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Smith couldn’t quite make out what Mahomes was saying.
Was he saying Boss? Or maybe Wasp?
Smith searched Wasp and Mahomes on Google and came across Peter King’s column from the day after the Super Bowl. Chiefs coach Andy Reid had shared that the play was called “2-3 Jet Chip Wasp.”
That piece of information gave Smith a rare opportunity.
“We get these guys mic’d up all the time. One of the things we’re almost never allowed to use is play calls that are word for word for that play,” Smith explained. “Rarely do we ever get to actually use that sound because it’s insider access that teams just don’t allow. It’s one of those competitive-advantage things that we’re almost always forbidden from using.”
In years past, Smith would show the turning point play near the beginning of the video. But while the key play in Super Bowl LIV was the pass, Mahomes making the call for “2-3 Jet Chip Wasp” was the most significant.
“I thought the coolest thing was that we had him mic’d-up actually suggesting the call,” Smith said. “And so once we got green-lit to be allowed to use that and the play call, it was like, OK let’s go for it. And then it was a matter of just trying to structure the piece where you get a moment out of Mahomes’ call and then you get a moment out of the play being converted. So I tried to structure the piece with music and pacing to make those the two big moments.”
In the postgame news conference, Mahomes discussed the play in greater detail and mentioned the Chiefs had used the play against the Patriots in the previous season’s AFC Championship Game.
That turned out to be another bit of good fortune for Smith because Chiefs receiver Sammy Watkins was mic’d-up in the loss to New England, allowing NFL Films to hear the play call. Another player wearing a microphone in that game was Patriots safety Devin McCourty, who bit on Hill’s fake and could be heard discussing the play with his teammates on the sideline.
Armed with that video, Smith gave viewers a deeper understanding of how the Chiefs burned the 49ers.
The extended version
With so much film at his disposal, Smith had a treasure trove of details he would have liked to include in the Turning Point video.
“I told my boss,” Smith said, “you could do a good half-hour show just on that play.”
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was mic’d-up, so a camera was isolated on him, which showed how his route impacted the 49ers defense. Then there was Sammy Watkins’ deep route to the first-down marker that deceived San Francisco.
“There are some other examples from earlier in the game of plays where Hill crossed the field, and I almost got into that, too,” Smith said. “There might even have been a play down the field to Watkins earlier, on the left side where the corner kind of followed Hill inside on a deep cross a little bit further than you might want to and then (Mahomes) hit Watkins kind of in front of him almost.”
As he dug into the extensive library at NFL Films, Smith found a time when Reid was wearing a microphone at training camp and discussed plays with Mahomes.
“(Reid) references a sting route and I was going to maybe get into using the wasp off the sting,” Smith said. “I think sting is a corner post and a wasp would be the same terminology but a deep post corner. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I was just starting to go down the rabbit hole.
“There are certain things we weren’t allowed to use on the Niners’ side. And that’s what often happens with the wires (mic’d-up players). Winning teams, they’re way more lax. You’re allowed to use x y and z, but then the Niners lost the Super Bowl, so they’re gonna be extra sensitive to really anything that’s said about it. They don’t want to throw anybody under the bus. So I’m not even really gonna get into what was said on their side. But one day we’ll be able to do a show on that game and really do more on that play from the other side.”
Until that time comes, Chiefs fans will be content to watch and re-watch this Turning Point video.
Smith was proud of his finished product and said it was one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time and you recognize there are certain things that are always going to be good when you’re doing a piece,” Smith said. “The quarterback makes the big play in the game. And then you have the quarterback mic’d-up in the game. Chances are that segment’s gonna be really good.
“Now, he’s not always the guy who’s suggesting the call. Then it’s Patrick Mahomes, all-world super phenomenon like he is. ... No one else can get to that spot on the field as fast as Hill can, and no one can throw it like Mahomes threw it. It’s just a unique thing.”
