Because of all the interest in this thread, I've place all of the video content of Patrick Mahomes II's college career, and draft day goodness into a single post that can be found here. Enjoy! [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
Wow look at this. Field general.
So the original formation was single back 3 wide and they changed to 5 wide.
You can see how confused the Steelers are.
You have to believe that essentially became a 1 man route at that point, right?
Like if Kelce doesn't break open, it's a scramble drill and if we're lucky he throws it away.
It's impressive as hell that he's sitting there re-aligning guys and making protection calls on the fly, but if the Steelers defense was confused, you gotta figure half the skill positions players were a little iffy about what they were up to as well... [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
So when I read something like that, I think I start to realize why DC's make the same mistakes so often.
"Well the safety took the wrong read and Mahomes burned them. That's okay - I'll coach my guy not to make the wrong read and we'll pick that off..."
M'kay buddy - whatever you say. I think too many coaches fail to give enough credit to their opposite numbers (as fans, we're always guilty of this) and I think they especially fail to accept the fact that their players are not robots and they ARE going to make mistakes (and as fans we're definitely guilty of this...)
It's the old baseball axiom at work - good pitching beats good hitting. And it usually does. But pitchers never execute 100% of the time. The difference between mediocre hitters and great hitters is that A) great hitters won't defeat a perfect pitch, but they may spoil a few until the mistake gets there and B) they don't miss the mistake.
So what separates a mediocre QB from a great QB is that the great QB will have plays where the other side executes. And when that happens, he won't make the major screwup and create a sack/turnover that botches the drive. He'll foul the pitch off, so to speak, and live to play another down. Then when the mistake does come - he doesn't miss it. He sees that seam and hits it.
If I'm a DC - I simply do not play single high against him apart from some odd circumstances and maybe an occasional change of pace to keep the reads from getting too repetitive. I certainly don't play it as often as Pitt and SD did. But watch - a slew of DCs will look at that tape and say "yeah, but if I just make sure my safety doesn't bite, he'll be okay" or even with the Cover 2 looks when they try to send some extra pressure "Well if I just make sure my safeties get the proper width - we'll be in good shape"
They won't. Not every time. When they do, you'll probably come away with an imcomplete pass. You may even string a few of those together and force a punt. But by God, they're gonna make a mistake and when they do, Mahomes is gonna gut 'em. Probably best to just accept that and work on mitigating the damage.
Perfect example of that is the missed TD to DAT with Derwin James in coverage. James is a freak and that's the ONLY reason that wasn't a TD. You run that play another 10 times......and it goes for a TD 9 out of those 10. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
You have to believe that essentially became a 1 man route at that point, right?
Like if Kelce doesn't break open, it's a scramble drill and if we're lucky he throws it away.
It's impressive as hell that he's sitting there re-aligning guys and making protection calls on the fly, but if the Steelers defense was confused, you gotta figure half the skill positions players were a little iffy about what they were up to as well...
Mahomes is pretty damn good in the scramble drill. If you’re lucky it could be a TD and not incompletion. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
If I'm a DC - I simply do not play single high against him apart from some odd circumstances and maybe an occasional change of pace to keep the reads from getting too repetitive. .
I think you're going to see Tampa 2 become en vogue against this offense going forward, to choke off the deep middle.
So Pat is going to have to start hitting that checkdown in the middle of the field, or you know, just chucking lasers into the window down the sideline between the safety and corner, which Tyreek will then take and shimmy around the closing safety for a 50-yard TD.
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
I think you're going to see Tampa 2 become en vogue against this offense going forward, to choke off the deep middle.
So Pat is going to have to start hitting that checkdown in the middle of the field, or you know, just chucking lasers into the window down the sideline between the safety and corner, which Tyreek will then take and shimmy around the closing safety for a 50-yard TD.
You have any concept of how badly Mahomes/Hill/Watkins/Kelce will butt-fuck a Tampa 2?
I mean shit, simple angle routes, flag routes or deep outs will be open for days. Those safeties can't keep inside position on a guy with Hill's quickness, especially not as his route running has developed and if they cheat he can go over top of them. Meanwhile Watkins presents many of the same problems on the other side but is arguably a better pure route runner. Meanwhile if they do anything at all to try to shade out that wide, Kelce absolutely massacres them.
I think a Tampa 2 gets absolutely murdered. Like I said - 2 deep man is the best anyone can hope for against this offense, IMO. Keep them underneath, make your tackles and pray that Mahomes gets impatient and makes a mistake a couple times a game when he gets tired of having to lead drives 13 plays and 5 yards at a time. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
That also speaks to Kelce's intelligence. Which you know...has been in question on a weekly basis to this point.
But that looked so natural and without panic that I thought it was part of the play design, like an old Vermeil shift.
We are dealing with a football savant.
Hell, we might have 4 of them.
Reid isn't in question and Mahomes...lord man, kid just amazes me with every clip.
Kelce's a damn smart player. A knucklehead, but when you look at how he plays the game - damn he's clever. It's what makes him such a nuanced route runner and it's how he's become such a devastating blocker. Dude knows the angles and knows the game inside and out.
And y'know what - Tyreek Hill's been a remarkable revelation as a football player to me since about mid-season 2 years ago. Not because of his athleticism, but because of the little 'recievery' things he does. It was that Broncos Monday nighter where Santos put it in off the upright that really amazed me. He just knew how to use foot fires and shoulder fakes; knew how to use his hands to get a release and knew when/how to set down in zones. The dude knows how to play WR. He's not quite perfect yet but for a converted RB to have all this come so naturally to him so quickly...just blows my mind. Especially in a system this complicated.
Then you look at Watkins out there running routes as the X, Y and Z and seemingly doing so effortlessly. The big deal with Maclin was how he'd come into this system and hit the ground running because it takes guys WRs at least a year or 2 to fully grasp the Reid system of option routes, etc... Well damn if Watkins doesn't appear to have it figured out in 8 weeks.
I mean there are some guys on the offensive side of the ball that just know how to play the game. The Anti-Murray's so to speak. Because for as well as some of the offensive players seem to grasp the little things, we sure seem to have some dudes on defense that...uh...don't. [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
Fun long read with some film breakdown as well. Sort of a draft perspective and comparison of some of his college plays with what they are doing now on offense and how Reid has made it a smooth transition.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Hell, we might have 4 of them.
Reid isn't in question and Mahomes...lord man, kid just amazes me with every clip.
Kelce's a damn smart player. A knucklehead, but when you look at how he plays the game - damn he's clever. It's what makes him such a nuanced route runner and it's how he's become such a devastating blocker. Dude knows the angles and knows the game inside and out.
And y'know what - Tyreek Hill's been a remarkable revelation as a football player to me since about mid-season 2 years ago. Not because of his athleticism, but because of the little 'recievery' things he does. It was that Broncos Monday nighter where Santos put it in off the upright that really amazed me. He just knew how to use foot fires and shoulder fakes; knew how to use his hands to get a release and knew when/how to set down in zones. The dude knows how to play WR. He's not quite perfect yet but for a converted RB to have all this come so naturally to him so quickly...just blows my mind. Especially in a system this complicated.
Then you look at Watkins out there running routes as the X, Y and Z and seemingly doing so effortlessly. The big deal with Maclin was how he'd come into this system and hit the ground running because it takes guys WRs at least a year or 2 to fully grasp the Reid system of option routes, etc... Well damn if Watkins doesn't appear to have it figured out in 8 weeks.
I mean there are some guys on the offensive side of the ball that just know how to play the game. The Anti-Murray's so to speak. Because for as well as some of the offensive players seem to grasp the little things, we sure seem to have some dudes on defense that...uh...don't.
I remember the conversation you had about some things he did in that game. Sliding into the soft spot in a zone and that kinda stuff [Reply]
Best way to stop this offense is to get pressure right up the middle consistently and have 2 good corners on the outside. Mahomes got sacked once in preseason and once last weekend bc he stepped up too far and the C was being pushed back.
Even then you can only hope to do that for so long. Can’t get pressure there every play. Jags could only do that for one half in the AFCCG.
Man that Jags game is going to be the litmus test. Broncos, Bengals and Browns defense will be a nice test as well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Best way to stop this offense is to get pressure right up the middle consistently and have 2 good corners on the outside. Mahomes got sacked once in preseason and once last weekend bc he stepped up too far and the C was being pushed back.
Even then you can only hope to do that for so long. Can’t get pressure there every play. Jags could only do that for one half in the AFCCG.
Man that Jags game is going to be the litmus test. Broncos, Bengals and Browns defense will be a nice test as well.
I'd like to see the majority of the Jags game played from shotgun, give Mahomes that extra half second to read the field before they come crashing through [Reply]
