Patrick Mahomes Confident in KC Chiefs’ Offense Despite Rough Game vs. Denver Broncos
The Kansas City Chiefs' offense averaged 4.8 yards per play on Sunday afternoon, which was over a full yard more on average than their opponent. Despite that, the Denver Broncos ended up winning by 15 points.
What gives? A large chunk of the blame can be chalked up to careless mistakes by the visitors.
Five turnovers were committed by the Chiefs, with multiple coming in each half of play. In the first two frames, quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw an interception and fumbled the ball. Wideout Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a fumble of his own. In the fourth quarter, receiver Mecole Hardman lost a punt return opportunity and Mahomes tossed another pick on a fourth-and-27. It was far and away the ugliest of Kansas City's eight games thus far, which Mahomes acknowledged.
"We just didn't play good enough," Mahomes said. "Not enough energy for the offense. We didn't hit our shots when they were there and then when they were there, we didn't execute it there. It was just a bad day for us, but all props to them. They played their tail off, and they deserved a win today."
One of the themes from Sunday's game was the wide receiver unit struggling. Struggling with consistency, struggling with high-impact plays, struggling to convert on easy opportunities... just struggling. Skyy Moore and Rashee Rice, in particular, each had a second-half drop. According to Mahomes, though, he isn't going to go away from the sophomore and rookie. He'll keep throwing to them in hopes that everyone can get on track for the stretch of the season that matters the most.
"Yeah, I mean, they're going to know that I'm going to keep firing it to them," Mahomes said. "That's just who I am. I'm going to keep firing it to the open guy and letting them make plays, and I trust in those guys. It's just [that] we've got to continue getting better and better because as the season goes on and we continue to play good teams — even better teams, probably — as the season ends. Some of our main rivals, I guess you could say. So we've got to be better because those little things, not just drops, but just little things add up. The Broncos did a great job of making us be patient and like I said, they had a great game plan and executed it, and we didn't execute or score any points."
Kansas City's 16-game winning streak against the Broncos was snapped in Week 8, as was the club's six-game streak this season following a loss in the season opener against the Detroit Lions. It was also Mahomes's first road loss against an AFC West opponent. In his postgame availability, he didn't seem to care all that much about it. Saying it was "probably going to happen at some point," the 28-year-old took the approach of someone who was focused on something else. That something else was righting the ship.
In two games versus Denver this year, the Chiefs went 1-for-8 in the red zone. Quarterback play and play-calling, like the receiver performance, were issues that needed to be addressed from Week 6's matchup to Week 8's. That didn't end up happening, something head coach Andy Reid took responsibility for on Sunday evening. Mahomes himself hinted at the Broncos instituting a similar game plan twice in the same month, adding even more fuel to the fire. With a big-time contest against the Miami Dolphins on the horizon, No. 15 was asked whether this could start a trend for the offense.
"It won't be."
