Chiefs Must Keep Foot on the Gas as Mahomes Returns to Texas
The Kansas City Chiefs will travel to quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s home state this weekend to take on the Houston Texans. The Chiefs are heavy two-touchdown favorites over a Texans team that has only won one game so far this season. Despite the bad record, though, the Chiefs shouldn’t be overlooking any team at this point.
Last week, Kansas City went into Denver as a heavy favorite and built a 27-point lead before stumbling in the middle of the game and surviving with a six-point win. This wasn’t a case of overlooking an opponent, but rather losing focus during the game.
Turnovers continue to be a problem for this team, and Mahomes knows he needs to clean things up going forward. Three interceptions will give any team in the league a chance, even bad ones like the Broncos. If the Chiefs give the ball away three times when playing the Texans, they could be in trouble there as well.
If they hadn’t built such a big lead against the Broncos, the result could have been different. This is why the Chiefs need to continue to put their foot on the gas from start to finish of each game, starting this week against the Texans. This doesn’t mean head coach Andy Reid needs to abandon the run game and continue having Mahomes sling darts all over the field on every play. With that said, it also doesn’t mean taking the ball out of Mahomes's hands and running for the entire second half of a game.
Finding a balance and mixing the two perfectly together is the desired outcome that seems to elude Reid so often. A lack of balance is what Reid has been criticized for most often in his career, with time management coming in a close second place. Now that the Chiefs have a running back that looks like he can be a closer in Isiah Pacheco, they should learn to lean on him a bit more in the second half of games. He’s earned the right to get more than a couple of second-half touches, even if fellow running back Jerrick McKinnon is having an incredible game for the most part.
Having one of the best quarterbacks in the game, it makes sense to lean on his ability and trust in his decision-making. Dialing up play calls that put Mahomes in a spot where mistakes can be limited makes sense. As we saw last week, Mahomes is the master of improvising, so he will need to continue to evolve when it’s time to really go out and put the hammer down vs. playing a bit more conservatively.
When the Chiefs get a three-score lead, trying to squeeze in passes to tight windows doesn’t have to be the play, even if Mahomes has the ability to do so. It won’t always work out in the Chiefs' favor. It’s understandable to let Mahomes be Mahomes. He has earned that, but it’s okay to give him constructive criticism when it is due.
After the three-interception game last week, Mahomes will be ready to turn the page and get back on track. I’m expecting a big game from him. The Chiefs won the game, but Mahomes feels he let the team down with his play in that game. Typically, we see a big performance from the superstar quarterback after a down game, and playing against a beat-up Texans squad could be the perfect storm for a huge game for Mahomes.
There is some additional motivation for Mahomes this week, as he returns to his home state of Texas to start in a game for the first time in his NFL career. He was on the team in 2017 when the Chiefs played the Cowboys in Dallas, but he didn’t see the field that day.
“Yeah, I have a couple extra people coming, but it’s the first time playing in state of Texas (in the NFL)," Mahomes said earlier this week. "I went to the Cowboys stadium my first year when we played down there and didn’t get to play but to get down to Houston it’s like a three-hour trip – three-and-a-half-hour trip from Tyler, Texas. I’m sure there will be more people that I know that are coming down to watch the game. It’ll be cool to kind of see some people and they’ll get to see me play in my home state, for sure.”
The last time Mahomes started a game in the state of Texas, he threw for 586 yards and six touchdowns in a 54-25 win over a ranked Baylor team back in his college days. That was Nov. 25, 2016.
Six years later, Mahomes returns to Texas as a Super Bowl Champion, league MVP, and current leader in passing yards and touchdowns in the NFL. The rise of Mahomes was fast and furious, yet there is still so much career ahead of him. In a game that isn’t getting a lot of national attention this week, look for Mahomes to put on a show this Sunday against the Texans.
