Another good read here, in case if this wasn't posted. If it has, bite me.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la...mpression=true
Originally Posted by :
Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes has thrown the NFL for a loop with a record 10 touchdown passes in two games
By Sam Farmer
Sep 20, 2018 | 3:25 PM
Talk about escapability. Patrick Mahomes was the one who got away.
The Arizona Cardinals had their heart set on taking the Texas Tech quarterback with the 13th pick in the 2017 draft, but the Kansas City Chiefs were fixated on the same player, trading up to leapfrog the Cardinals and select him 10th.
With Mahomes off to a record-setting start this season, former Cardinals coach Bruce Arians still feels the sting.
“We were going to draft him; he was our guy,” said Arians, now a CBS analyst. “[Former Kansas City general manager] John Dorsey knew it and snuck ahead of us and got him.”
That was a masterstroke. Mahomes, in his first year as a starter, has been phenomenal for the 2-0 Chiefs. He followed his four-touchdown performance in an opening victory against the Chargers with six more touchdown passes at Pittsburgh last Sunday. The 10 scoring passes through Week 2 are the most by any NFL quarterback through his team’s first two games.
If Mahomes were to throw for three or more scores against San Francisco on Sunday, he would eclipse Peyton Manning’s league record of 12 in his first three games of 2013.
What’s more, in that win over the Steelers, Mahomes became the youngest quarterback to throw at least six touchdowns in a game, doing so a day before his 23rd birthday.
“You could look at the first game and say, ‘All right, he got off to a good start. Let’s see what he can do on the road in Week 2 against [Ben] Roethlisberger and the Steelers,’ ” said Rich Gannon, a onetime Chiefs quarterback and NFL most valuable player. “He just literally put on a performance. It was a freak show.”
Not everyone was blown away. In his three seasons as Texas Tech’s starter, Mahomes saw his touchdown numbers increase every year, from 16 to 36 to 41. He threw for a record 734 yards in a game against Oklahoma in 2016, breaking another record with his 819 all-purpose yards in that game.
“I’m not an expert, don’t get me wrong, but I know football pretty much,” his mother, Randi Mahomes, told The Times this week. “My boss was talking to me about it, saying, ‘Gosh, this is so exciting. You know, in the NFL, they don’t just throw six touchdowns in a game.’ And I was like, ‘But Patrick’s always done that.’ ”
Just another ho-hum outing for a guy who is carving his way into the hearts of Kansas City faithful.
“With this guy, you never feel like, ‘Well, we’ve fallen behind and we can’t make up ground,’” Gannon said. “You could fall behind by a couple, three scores and not panic with a guy like this.”
It helps immeasurably that the Chiefs are so loaded with offensive playmakers such as running back Kareem Hunt, who led the league in rushing as a rookie last season, catch-everything tight end Travis Kelce, former Rams wideout Sammy Watkins, and — the player who haunts the dreams of defensive coordinators — the blistering-fast Tyreek Hill.
As he showed almost 20 years ago with Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia, Chiefs coach Andy Reid specializes in patiently preparing young quarterbacks to step into the fray, and then draws up plays that fit their skill set.
“There’s always plays that coach Reid just draws up every single week,” Mahomes said. “I always say that they always work. He just gets on the board in his room and just starts drawing plays. The possibilities are endless.”
It was Mahomes’ expertise on the dry-erase board that had bowled over the Cardinals coaches.
“I loved his mental makeup more than anything,” Arians said. “He’s top four on the board I’ve ever had, up there with Peyton and Andrew [Luck]. Amazing recall.”
Mahomes, a marketing major, wasn’t just an Academic All-American, but Big 12 scholar athlete of the year in 2016, the first Red Raider athlete to earn that honor.
In the run-up to the 2017 draft, Arians put Mahomes to the test on the board, drawing up five or six plays and two or three protections. They watched some video on safety blitzes, and Arians gave him a few audibles that would enable him to change the protections at the line of scrimmage.
“So probably two hours later, we’re out on the field and he’s throwing,” the coach recalled. “I walked up and said, ‘Man protection. Weak safety’s blitzing,’ and he said, ‘Rightie! Rightie!’ I was like, ‘Holy cow, he’s right!’
“Maybe 10 throws later, I walk up and I’m the strong safety in slide protection and he says, ‘Rip! Rip!’ He was right again.
“I’ve had a couple starters that it took two years to fix those protections. This guy did it in one meeting.”
Even non-experts notice the arm. Mahomes has a howitzer, the ability to get the ball virtually anywhere, whether he’s dropping back, rolling out, or making the most of a broken play. No part of the field is safe.
Coach-turned-broadcaster Rick Neuheisel had Kliff Kingsbury on his Sirius radio show recently, and the Texas Tech coach talked about something that made him rub his eyes in disbelief.
“It happened in practice in college,” Neuheisel said, recounting the story. “Patrick threw the ball, after scrambling out of the pocket, 83 yards in the air to a receiver that was coming from the other side, then caught it in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Eighty-three yards in the air.
“Just planted and whipped it. The only thing missing was Babe the Ox,” he said, referring to Paul Bunyan folklore.
Agent Leigh Steinberg, who represents Mahomes, has heard all the stories. He has tried to dial down the excitement so Mahomes can play without all the pressure on his shoulders. The mantra Steinberg uses, and texts Mahomes after games, is, “Trust the process.”
“I spent the entire offseason trying to lower expectations,” Steinberg said. “So many times, a young quarterback goes out and throws an incompletion, throws a couple of interceptions, and people call him a bust.”
Then there’s the guy who goes out and throws 10 touchdowns with no interceptions.
“Well, guess what,” Steinberg said. “The secret’s out.”
[Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Here's the funny thing - I actually think Mayfield was the safe choice. Darnold and even Rosen were the risks, IMO.
His style of play is more reckless, to be sure, but in this era it will also work to put up 24 points with relative ease if you have enough weapons for him to work with. He's not going to turtle up and put too much pressure on your defense. He's also not going to just say "eh, fuck it - football ain't my thing" and start jaking matters.
Mayfields floor kinda looked to me like Jay Cutler with less raw arm strength. And Cutler is polarizing, but Cutler could produce. Give Cutler better body language and he wouldn't be seen as nearly the buttfuck he is today.
Darnold's floor, OTOH, is absolutely Matt Cassel. He's a programmed quarterback and if the programming doesn't come together, he's nothing. Josh Rosen's floor is Jay Schroeder.
To me, Mayfield was the safest of the early QBs and I think Darnold has the highest ceiling. Time will tell.
I think Mayfield at 1.1 is better than Darnold because Mayfield was a gamer in Oklahoma. While the Cutler comparison (minus the arm, as noted but Baker's has better wheels than Cutler) is pretty much spot on, you're correct on the body language. I think of him as Cutler with the better body language and attitude.
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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.
I think we know what option he takes. :-)
The offense breaks the huddle and sets up - Mahomes in shotgun with Ware and Hunt flanking him, Kelce and Watkins are out wide with Tyreek in the slot. That Tampa 2 is about to get skullfucked six ways to Sunday.
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.
If you want to pressure up the middle, you better hope your ends/OLBers get pressure and keep him in the pocket to deal with the blitz. Mahomes looks like he could be legit lethal rolling out, especially to his right.
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