You buy time by hanging in the pocket and moving inside it though. Going backwards is a death shot to the tackle. He did it to Schwartz and Fisher at times before. He gets away with it some because of his ungodly talent, but sometimes it doesnt.
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I think he got in the habit of doing this in years past because the o-line was so bad. When he's getting pressured snap after snap he starts to drift back in the pocket because it buys him an extra second before the pressure gets to him. Remember WASP?
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I just think Patrick’s head wasn’t there on 4th down, guys. He lost his composure after the offsides and hadn’t bounced back from that play. Not the first time this has happened, we saw it go down after Tyreek was stopped at the 1 against the Bengals.

Last season he did a tremendous job shedding things like this and reframing his mindset from play to play. But, for all intents and purposes, the game was lost the moment the offensive offsides was called. Mentally Patrick wasn’t there after that — and that’s unfortunate, because overall his timing seemed to tick up a bit against Buffalo compared to where he was in weeks past. He just hasn’t been able to capture a full game of MVP level play like he did so consistently in 2022. A tough bar to clear for sure, but he’s been a couple notches below it thus far.
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I agree. I noted that I was shocked to hear that Pat actually dropped 13 yards from the LoS.

Now I’ve turned my attention to the interior, because you can see even Thuney is pushed back 10 yards behind the LoS. When you combine that with the fact that Trey got beat so bad his man is basically a free rusher, I don’t think this is a good example of a strong rep from the OL.
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is Texas Tech Mahomes back?
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Nobody said it was a perfect rep by the OL - but it was 4th and long. They know we're passing and they're pinning their ears back.

Mahomes had room to step up and deliver. He had a full stride and really 2 if he angles a little to his left (since Thuney routed his guy inside to Creed where he got stopped dead).

There was room. And Buffalo isn't going to do anything to make it easy - they didn't here. But there was a way to get the play made and it was the QB who could've done it. His OL did enough to create a pocket for him to move within and deliver a throw. He just didn't do it. He was unwilling to step up, stand in and take pressure in his face to deliver the throw.

He's gotta be willing to do that in a situation like that. That's how those big plays on 4th down get made.
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I'd like to see a gif of the play where Mahomes drops it in to CEH down the left sideline but CEH doesn't catch it. It looked like an incredible throw to me.
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He kinda summed it up here.

It's 4th and 15.

And if the QB needs all this to happen....well boys we're not getting what we're paying for.
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:-)
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Yeah, I guess he doesn't trust the interior OL or the TE there. Need to replace those.
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It's a number of things. Having to tell veteran WR's where to line up, penalties racking up, guys not being on the same page running routes even though Andy simplified the playbook and a lack of talent.

That shit is acceptable for Rice bc he's a rookie. It's not acceptable for the veterans.

No surprise that Tom Brady played his worst season in over a decade in his last year in NE when they put him in a similar situation that Patrick is currently in and then Tom goes to Tampa and tears it up with talented WR's the next year.
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Yeah - if he's gotten to "I don't trust the best interior line in football because it doesn't bat 1.000" then that's a him problem.

There's not a more 'trustworthy' unit in football than the Chiefs interior line. When Trey Smith is your worst player, you're in REALLY good shape out there.

That's just making excuses for the guy at this point. He's gotta stop drifting back. Step up - your interior line is friggen outstanding.
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You literally did, though:

I also learned that we have very different definitions of “stopped dead” because Oliver makes contact with Thuney at the 43 and his momentum isn’t slowed in the least until Thuney is standing on the hash at the 36 yard line (where you think Mahomes should have been standing).

Even if Mahomes steps up and to the left like you suggest, I’m not certain Oliver isn’t simply able to split Thuney and Creed to disrupt the play himself. At that point he’s the stuffing in a reverse Oreo and neither of our guys would be able to stop him without holding.

Saying Mahomes should have thrown it sooner doesn’t work either with #43 lurking in the middle. Kelce’s just jogging because he’s waiting on MVS and Watson to pull him out of the middle of the field.
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It is on Mahomes. The OL did their job - they gave him the time and space to make the throw. He had nearly 4 seconds; that's an eternity in that situation. And he had a full stride to get the ball out if he moves up instead of back.

It's on him. The quarterback has to be able to play in a maelstrom and again, that wasn't a bad pocket at all.

An OL not being able to stonewall a line that knows they're passing in a 4th and long situation doesn't mean that OL failed - they gave him plenty of time under extremely difficult circumstances.

He simply didn't use it like he could've. If it's your position that the OL should've held it for 5 seconds - well that's just unreasonable. Or that Kelce needed to be more open or the WRs needed to draw more attention - none of those things are true.

He had time, he had space, he had a target with plenty of space.

He's the one that failed.
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if alex smith had pulled that shit i'd have spent 3 days tearing him down

fortunately we know mahomes gets his shit right in the postseason
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