Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns on Monday night against the New England Patriots. All in a good night’s work, yet, the reigning Super Bowl MVP says he could have done better during his postgame presser, following the 26-10 victory.
“I didn’t execute at a high enough level,” Mahomes said to reporters. “When you’re playing against a defense like that, you want to go out there and have success.”
Mahomes got away with several missed throws throughout the game last night, some that very easily could’ve been turnovers; including an overthrown pass intended for Travis Kelce that was almost intercepted by safety Devin McCourty on the third offensive play of the game. Fortunately, the play went as an incomplete pass, and the Chiefs able to continue their drive to the six-yard line.
From there, an incomplete pass meant for Travis Kelce, and a snuffed out run play forced third and goal for Kansas City. Mahomes dropped back and saw Sammy Watkins in the corner of the endzone, but the throw was high and too far out in front for Watkins to make the grab, and the Chiefs had to settle for a field goal.
“When guys were open, it seemed like I wasn’t finding them,” Mahomes recalled. “I could see it on the tablet when we would go to the sideline. We were calling plays that were getting guys open, I just got to be able to be to find them and get it to those guys so they can make plays happen.”
The Chiefs went three and out on the offense’s second possession of the game. After two run plays, by Clyde Edwards-Helaire only gained five yards, Mahomes attempted to convert on 3rd and 5 with a deep pass for Tyreek Hill, but again, the pass was too far in front for Hill to fully get under it, and secure the completion, forcing the Chiefs to punt.
Mahomes finally started to get into a rhythm on his third opportunity with the ball in his hands, as the Chiefs went the distance on the 75-yard drive up the field. After a false start penalty on Mecole Hardman to start the possession, Mahomes connected on three intermediate throws for huge chunks of yardage: a 14-yard pass to Edwards-Helaire, a 21-yard pass to Sammy Watkins, a 24-yard strike to Travis Kelce. Unfortunately, Kansas City went to the ground game the rest of the way, and the drive stalled, setting up Harrison Butker to nail a 39-field goal attempt.
“Early in the game, we were moving the ball the way we wanted to move it,” Mahomes pointed out. “We were doing stuff the right way, but we couldn’t figure out ways to get in the endzone. Then they obviously got some stops there in the middle, but I’m proud of how the guys fought at the end of the game. That game easily could’ve gone the other direction, they had a lot of the momentum, the defense made some stops, and we were able to score whenever it counted.”
Over the course of the game, Kansas City’s defense stepped up, forcing four turnovers and taking an interception to the house, delivering the final blow, and secure the victory. Mahomes took on a tough defensive unit, himself, and understands that it won’t always be pretty on offense.
“When you’re in dog fights with teams like this that are known to win games like this,” Mahomes started. “To be able to find ways, offense, defense, and special teams and today our defense stepped up, made a lot of big-time plays. Whenever you’re trying to go throughout a season and win as many football games as possible to set you up for the playoffs, you’re going to have to win games like this.”
The Chiefs were finally able to start clicking on offense in the second half, after defensive end Taco Charlton made a huge defensive play, collecting the strip-sack on New England quarterback Brian Hoyer, as Ben Niemann was there for the recovery. The Patriots turnover set up the Chiefs with the momentum their offense needed to storm back down the field, as Mahomes finds Tyreek Hill for the go-ahead score.
The following offensive possession for Kansas City ended with another perfect pass to Mecole Harmand for the six-yard score.
“If you kind of hold us down, we can go out there and make plays when they count,” Mahomes emphasized. “That’s big, I mean when you’re in games like that, and you’re going against teams that are really good, when your number’s called, you got to be able to make a play, and I thought guys made plays at the end of the game to give us enough points so that we could go out there and get the win.”
Mahomes finished with a 113.6 pass rating after completing 19-of-29 passes (65.5-percent of his throws), for 236 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. Although these aren’t bad numbers, they weren’t up to Mahomes’ standards, and he clearly wasn’t happy with his overall performance.
“Obviously, I didn’t do enough because we didn’t execute to a high enough level,” Mahomes responded. “I wasn’t able to find the guys, and I didn’t play very good football. I thought I did whatever I could to try, and stay in tune with the game, and hopefully, if this presents itself again, which hopefully it doesn’t, I’ll be able to do better.”
Mahomes will likely use his recent performance as motivation to play up his standards next week when Kansas City travels to Las Vegas to play the Raiders in their brand new stadium.
