Patrick Mahomes' Quiet Dominance Over Texans Shows Patience and Progress
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ ability to carve up an opponent’s defense took another step in a 34-20 win over the Houston Texans last Thursday.
Mahomes didn't get the opportunity to showcase his highlight-reel arm much against the Texans and did not complete a single pass over 20 yards for just the second time in his NFL career.
Mahomes' longest completion of 19 yards went to wide receiver Sammy Watkins. Mahomes averaged 6.59 yards per attempt, the third-lowest of his career.
“I think it was just more reading the feel of the game,” Mahomes told reporters in a virtual press conference Wednesday. “The defense was doing a great job of getting stops. We had kind of gotten up on them early and instead of trying to force that deep shot maybe, I just used the guys underneath and moved the ball down the field.”
When the Chiefs weren’t testing the legs of rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Mahomes focused on finding the most efficient way to gain yardage. His strategy didn't necessarily mean hitting the deepest target.
Mahomes threw seven passes for over 10 yards — four to Watkins. He recalls other missed opportunities to the hands of wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce, but said he has no regrets about relying on the check-downs against the Texans.
“It was funny, Chad (Henne) and Matt (Moore) both said it was one of my best games I’ve played,” Mahomes said. “They said I actually took the check-downs and didn’t just try to force it down the field when it wasn’t there. It’s something that I’ve learned from those veteran guys. I’ve learned from Coach Reid. All of us want to go for the big shot, all of us want to go for the touchdown pass every single time, but if defenses are going to play us back and play us in coverage, I’m going to take the stuff underneath and let the guys make plays, find ways to score and find ways to win football games.”
The quarterback now shifts his focus to preparation for the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers allowed six of the Cincinnati Bengals’ receivers to record a catch of over 10 yards in their 16-13 Week 1 win. Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow threw 11 passes that fell into that category.
Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward had 12 solo tackles and directly defended two passes, helping him earn AFC West Division Player of the Week honors in Week 1.
Mahomes didn’t go into detail of whether the Chiefs’ offensive strategy from their win over the Texans will carry over to Week 2, but noted it’ll ultimately depend on how the Chargers’ defense looks when the game begins on Sunday.
“We always go into the game plan with a varied array of plays and different personnel groups,” Mahomes said. “In the Houston game, we found stuff that worked early, and they were changing coverages, changing personnel groups a lot and we wanted to make sure that we could play fast. We stayed with what was working and we were able to go out there and win a football game. I know Coach is always going to have plays and always going to have stuff to attack the defense, so we’ll try to find those best plays that we can run and go out there and score points.”
