Mahomes’ hand ‘OK’ after huge Chiefs win
Kansas City’s triumph on Sunday also showcased New England’s offensive line woes
There are so many newsworthy angles worthy of followup from Kansas City’s 23-16 win Sunday at New England, we don’t have space to dive into them all. We’ll tackle the biggest. First, regarding Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ hand. It’s “OK,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Monday, although he stopped short of promising Mahomes will play Sunday at home against the Denver Broncos.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Reid said. “Right now I’d tell you that, most likely, yes. But let’s see how he does here in the next couple of days.”
You might not have known, if you weren’t watching the late-afternoon game closely, that the defending NFL MVP hurt his right throwing hand in the first half.
“I just kind of hit the ground weird when I was trying to throw that ball away and got hit, threw it away and got tackled right as I threw it away,” Mahomes said. “I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know for sure. Then I tried to fire that next pass and it didn’t look too pretty so I kind of just let the trainers look at it.
“They gave me the good to go and so I went out there, battled, figured out ways to throw the ball across the middle and maybe not shoot those long shots that I usually throw but enough to get them back and still score touchdowns.”
Did Mahomes consider pulling himself from the game?
“No, no, never,” the 24-yearold said. “For me, I’m playing until they take me out.”
Reid said of Mahomes’ injured hand after the game:
“We think it’s OK. We will see how it goes. It was hard for him to grip the ball and do the things that he needed to do there … He kept messing with that hand. And I could tell he wasn’t gripping all that well. You know, he never says anything, so he doesn’t make a big stink out of anything.”
On Monday, Reid said an X-ray on the hand was negative.
“It’s bruised up pretty good, but there’s no break,” he said, via Chiefs.com.
The next most pressing question emanating from Sunday is, what in the world is wrong with Tom Brady and the New England offence?
If you’ve been watching the defending Super Bowl champions this season, you surely have noticed they’re putting a fright into exactly nobody this season. The Pats offence is as tame — and at too many times, lame — as we have seen since Brady’s first year or two as starter early last decade, when the team won big primarily because of defence.
More evidence of this year’s deep offensive struggles were on display against the Chiefs. The Pats defence was good enough — holding Mahomes and Co. to their lowest output in three games against New England over the past two seasons.
But the New England offence — as we have come to know it over the past 11 consecutive seasons of 10-plus win seasons, division titles, annual playoff berths and five Super Bowl appearances — is broken. Brady seems more skittish in the pocket than ever. He was hit six times and sacked thrice. Plus, his receiving corps seems more untalented than ever, with only Julian Edelman reliably getting open. And the rushing attack seems too often incapable of gaining even a couple yards when necessary.
My take? It’s primarily the line’s fault. It starts there. Brady has less time to throw and is losing his composure in the pocket accordingly. And running backs aren’t getting enough holes to run through, which also stacks the pressure on Brady and the aerial attack to perform at a level of which it does not seem capable.
This year’s Patriots O-line starters are left tackle Isaiah Wynn, left guard Joe Thuney, centre Ted Karras, right guard Shaq Mason and right tackle Marcus Cannon. It seems this O-line can’t protect Brady well. The 42-year-old leads the league in last-second sack-avoiding throwaways, which lowers his exposure to hits. Even so, Brady has been sacked 24 times, three more times than in all of last season, with three games to play.