Mahomes gets Brady pointers
FOXBORO — Patrick Mahomes has only played in five games this season, but it’s pretty clear his quarterback style bears little resemblance to Tom Brady.
Still, the young Chiefs quarterback has taken a pointer or two from one of the all-time greats.
Mahomes’ arm strength is second to none, and his ability to throw on the run has been impressive. But while neither of those attributes could be confused with Brady’s strengths, Mahomes has applied lessons he’s learned from Brady’s play in the pocket.
While at Texas Tech, Mahomes’ coach was Kliff Kingsbury, who spent his rookie season with the Patriots in 2003. There, Mahomes said, he watched a “good amount” of film of Brady.
“(Kingsbury) showed me things that he liked with Tom and his pocket movements and stuff he did within the pocket that I’ve tried to put in my game a little bit,” Mahomes said. “And, he’s someone that’s had a ton of success in this league and is someone that you do take stuff from.”
Most of Mahomes’ highlight-reel plays early this season have come while he’s out of the pocket, but his presence there is growing, too. The 23-year-old has a long way to go, but he’s still trying to learn from Brady.
“Just the way he can move within the pocket and still find lanes to throw the ball is something that I find is truly special,” Mahomes said. “I mean, I try to do that, but I mean, you have to keep working on that. He’s done that his whole entire career, and it’s something that bought him a lot of extra time in the pocket to make a lot of great throws.”
Mahomes has certainly found his own unique ways to find more time to make great throws, as he’s lit up the league through five weeks. The second-year quarterback broke the NFL record for most touchdown passes through the first three games of a season, and his six touchdowns in a Week 2 thrashing of the Steelers made him the youngest quarterback to ever do that.
But while he’s taken the league by storm as his undefeated Chiefs come to Foxboro for a Sunday night showdown with the Patriots, there’s plenty of room for him to grow. His coach, at least, is trying not to give his quarterback a big head.
“Listen, I can’t pick one thing, but he’s smart, he’s a great kid and he’s willing to work,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “But he hasn’t done it but for a few games here. He’s going through an NFL season, his first one, and there are all kind of challenges that come with that, and no bigger one than this week. So, you get so caught up in it as coaches and players just going through the process of getting ready for a game, you don’t think much about all that other stuff.”
It sounds like Reid is keeping Mahomes grounded, and it’s likely because he knows nothing has really been done yet. The Chiefs started last season 5-0, too, which included an opening-week blowout of the Patriots, but were 5-6 the rest of the way and oneand-done in the playoffs.
The difference this season is obviously the emergence of Mahomes, but while the first five weeks have revealed he might be the second coming, he hasn’t hit any adversity yet. That likely will happen, and to his credit, he’s not getting too high on himself after a record-breaking start.
“Coach Reid motivates me every single day,” Mahomes said. “I mean, he wants me to keep working on my fundamentals, keep working on just getting better as a quarterback in general. I mean, when you play teams like the Patriots and like we’ve played this year, I mean, you have to play better every single week in order to keep getting wins.”