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 O.city:
Rice isn't doing that stuff because Pat isn't targeting him. JuJu didn't do anything in those that Rice can't do.
Juju’s route tree was more advanced and it’s likely his timing was considerably more consistent than where Rice is at the moment.
I’m a big Rice guy, I think he’ll get there, I don’t think he’s there yet.
DJ disagrees with my take on this, but our O had the second highest 3rd down conversion rate last year and Juju was responsible for converting nearly 20% of all of our O’s third downs (despite only starting 14 games). While that doesn’t seem like a super high number, to me that’s the difference between 1 of our drives per game stalling at midfield or settling for 3 (as we’ve done a lot this year), and a grind it out, 15 play drive that ends in 6.
FWIW, I think Patrick has taken a step back, too. However I don’t think we can waive off Juju’s absence by saying Rice is better or even that he’s already at the level Juju was last season. [Reply]
The reason Rice saw the field so much week 1 despite being a rookie WR in Reid's offense is his ability to do just that.
Yeah he's not really doing that. He gets schemed open more than anything. He's done SOME settling in against zones but not at the level JuJu was, and not downfield like he was.
Additionally he played a total of 32 snaps in the first two weeks. Come on, man.
Yes, we miss JuJu. No, Rice hasn't fully replaced him. [Reply]
The majority of Rice's big plays were schemed. He's been excellent as a rookie but Juju had experience and knew how to get open in zone better. Rice isn't bad at that, he's just young. Even still they need to get him more involved.
We don't have a guy at WR that can sell routes really well on a consistent basis and it's hurting us. Rice, Hardman and Toney are all running designed plays.
Justin Watson might be our best route runner at WR this year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hammock Parties:
Yeah he's not really doing that. He gets schemed open more than anything. He's done SOME settling in against zones but not at the level JuJu was, and not downfield like he was.
Additionally he played a total of 32 snaps in the first two weeks. Come on, man.
Yes, we miss JuJu. No, Rice hasn't fully replaced him.
Not to beat a dead horse, but this situation is where the Skyy Moore whiff really hurts. If Moore, or even Toney, could've been a consistent chain mover, I think we'd be having an entirely different conversation about the offense right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bl00dyBizkitz:
Not to beat a dead horse, but this situation is where the Skyy Moore whiff really hurts. If Moore, or even Toney, could've been a consistent chain mover, I think we'd be having an entirely different conversation about the offense right now.
100% agree
you see both of them do things JuJu was doing sporadically, like that great catch skyy made down the sideline against Miami
but it happens so infrequently Patrick isn't sure who he can trust
it's pretty apparent at this point he had a HIGH level of trust that JuJu was going to be where he needed to be
those RPO slants are almost dead in this offense too, and JuJu was nails on those
he almost took one for a TD against Buffalo [Reply]
Rice is getting open but Mahomes isn't throwing it to him.
It's not blasphemy to admit that Patrick isn't playing up to the absurdly high bar he has set for himself. I'm 100% sure he'll get it figured out before the end of the season and wbf. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
We have a TON of evidence this year that this simply isn't the case.
He's looking right at guys as they're coming out of a route and simply not triggering. He's playing tentative.
I agree, and it's so weird. We don't know what it's like to be an NFL QB, but I would think at this point Mahomes would be beyond any tentativeness or self-doubt. He has to know he's King Shit of Fuck Mountain. If it wasn't Mahomes, I would think he's either got a nagging injury, or some personal shit going on behind the scenes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by crayzkirk:
Perhaps some of it is another year of coaches studying the tendencies of the Chiefs; other people are paid to stop teams and this year, there are some really good defenses in the league. It also appears that the league is letting them 'play'; looks like DBs are not getting as many illegal contact and holding penalties.
Something does look off; I will say from experience that recovery from a high ankle sprain takes time. It hasn't even been a year for him. Injury and pain are something humans tend to avoid. I'm sorry to soil the thread with a CEH reference however he has not been the same since the Saints game where he was injured.
Kelce is banged up, there's a new OL, a new OC and a WR corps that he doesn't trust.
I think this is a big part of our issues right now. Defenses have adjusted and figured some things out; now, it's going to be our turn to do the same. Throughout the league, defenses are better and that reality of breaking in TWO new OTs, a new OC, and new receivers is making our adjustments that much more complex.
I think we have the players and coaches to get there, but it almost always takes time. That's life in the NFL. [Reply]