Mahomes shows his patient side
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Patrick Mahomes was fuming.
Kansas City’s offense stumbled out of the gates of their playoff opener against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers. They punted on three of their first four possessions, and a tipped pass led to an interception on the other.
The ineptitude prompted a desperation call by Chiefs’ coaches who dialed up a gimmick Wildcat play, which backfired as a fumbled handoff from wide receiver Mecole Hardman to running back Darrel Williams led to a 26-yard touchdown return by the Steelers’ T.J. Watt, placing the Chiefs in a secondquarter deficit. Not at all how the Chiefs had drawn things up.
“We were all pissed off at ourselves,” Mahomes explained. “We felt we weren’t playing with enough energy, enough urgency.”
The quarterback used the anger as fuel, however, and delivered a blistering second- and third-quarter eruption that carried the Chiefs to a 42-21 wild card victory.
With five touchdown passes and 404 passing yards, Mahomes electrified his Chiefs, who now advance to next week’s AFC divisional round of the NFL playoffs, where they will host the Buffalo Bills.
As he did, the quarterback restored the Chiefs’ standing as one of the most dangerous squads in the postseason while affirming that despite a less dazzling regular season, he remains one of the most dangerous players and the league and Kansas City’s greatest hope for Super Bowl glory.
“He’s a tremendous leader,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of his quarterback. “There is a calm to him. When somebody’s hanging their head or moping around, that’s never a positive thing, especially in a leadership position and he never goes that way.”
The 2021 regular season – Mahomes’ fifth, and his fourth as a starter – represented a year of growing pains for the quarterback and his offense.
Growing pains for a player already regarded as one of the best at his position, and whose mantle already includes a Super Bowl trophy and MVP award before his 27th birthday? Indeed.
You see, although Mahomes for his first three seasons as a starter seemingly held the cheat code, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl 55 showed the blueprint for humanizing the young star. They took away his home run threat by playing their safeties deep and sending waves of pass-rushers. Mahomes and the Chiefs failed to adapt and lost in their repeat bid.
Other defensive coordinators took note, and this season attacked Mahomes similarly. They forced the ultraaggressive passer to play a different brand of football. A more patient and disciplined brand.
Initially, this proved easier said than done, because although Mahomes spoke early this season of his need to “take what the defense gives me,” he racked up nine interceptions in the first seven games of 2021 after having thrown only 11 in his two previous seasons combined.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, opened the year with a 3-4 record – unheard of in Reid’s nine seasons as coach.
As the season continued to unfold, and as Kansas City found itself in the unfamiliar position of trailing in the AFC West, Mahomes gradually grasped the messages preached to him by Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who cautioned that check-down throws that moved the offensive along at a more methodical pace were much better than the high-reward/high-risk downfield throws that the quarterback was forcing – while too often having intercepted.
Little by little, Mahomes began understanding how to chip away at defenses. His yards per attempt dropped from his career average of 8.3 from the four previous seasons to 7.4 in 2021. But Chiefs’ offense began operating with greater efficiency as their season turned around to the tune of a 9-1 finish, another divisional title and the second seed in the AFC.
So, when the Steelers again challenged Mahomes to beat them methodically, the quarterback accepted.