'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The 2018 season
After blowing a 21-3 lead to the Titans in the Wildcard Round, it was time for the Chiefs organization to make a change and they decided to trade Alex Smith to Washington, immediately handing the reigns to their second-year man Patrick Mahomes. He now had a full offseason to get reps with the ones and with the addition of Sammy Watkins, they already looked loaded on paper. However, through this year’s preseason, the starting offense struggled, putting up a combined 20 points on 11 possession while throwing an interception and turning it over on downs once. A lot of that was overshadowed by that one 70-yard bomb to Tyreek Hill. Once the regular season rolled around and Andy Reid started drawing up his clever play-designs instead of the vanilla plays of the preseason, Kansas City started rolling.
Week one:
In the season-opener versus the Chargers, Tyreek Hill returned the first punt of the game 91 yards for a touchdown, but Philip Rivers got his team into field goal range and Mahomes went to work with a score of 7-3. After simple zone run, quick hitch to the single receiver and scramble for first down out of an empty set, a completed stick route to a detached Travis Kelce out of trips set them up with 2nd & 4. Andy Reid drew up an RPO with Hill motioning out wide from a stack with the Kelce and Anthony Sherman in-line to the opposite side. Hill ran a shortened post route and broke the tackle by the free safety to take it to the house. When you watch the play more closely, you can see that he has Sammy Watkins wide open on an easy flat-route out of a short split because the Chargers are in cover-three and that run fake freezes rookie Derwin James, who is responsible for the flats. Yet Mahomes sees that middle linebacker Denzel Perryman is moving with the zone run and can’t get depth into his drop, so he trusts Hill to flatten his route to go underneath the free safety and 58 yards later he has his first passing touchdown. While that play was perfectly drawn up and executed by the QB and receiver, it should still not have worked because there was some miscommunication who would pick up Brandon Mebane as the center expected the right guard to slide with him, but Mahomes was able to side-arm that throw while getting hit regardless.
When the Chiefs got the ball back, they ran an almost identical concept, only with the single-receiver to the short side this time. The ball was right on target, but Sammy Watkins just dropped it. After another incompletion and surprise run call they are forced to punt. When they get the ball back, Mahomes fires it to Hill out of the slot on a double-post concept as he sees the high safety backing up with the wideout. The next play describes the second-year QB perfectly. The Chiefs come out in a two-by-two set with a tight-end and wing-man to the left. They go play-action once again and have Anthony Sherman is wide open sliding underneath the formation. Mahomes sees him, but immediately shift his eyes to the skinny post by De’Anthony Thomas motioned out wide, because he sees the corner peaking to Sammy Watkins on the deep out and he trusts his receiver to burn Derwin James in the deep middle in cover-three. If it wasn’t for the rookie stretching every last inch to get his hand on the ball, this would have been a touchdown. While I would have liked to see him take the easy completion for a solid gain, it shows the type of mentality he brings to the table – he always wants to go for the kill-shot. Oh by the way, he tossed that one 50 yards off his backfoot.
Kansas City now comes out in empty set and Mahomes makes correct read on the quick-out, but rookie Kyzir White responsible for the flats covers it perfectly and Mahomes fires it high to avoid a negative play. However, I guarantee you that 3&10 would have ended up in another touchdown if the pocket stayed intact for just a little longer. They go bunch right, Kelce occupies the corner as the single receiver on the left side running an out-route and the middle safety is sweating already again, because the furthest receiver out of that bunch takes the corner with him on a deep out, now forcing that safety now to decide between one of the seam routes. Unfortunately there’s a miscommunication on the left side of the protection and Derwin James comes unblocked off the left edge to take down Mahomes from behind, who is stepping up. Did the protection hold up for three seconds (and they had the numbers to block it), this would have been another 45-yard touchdown to Chris Conley.
The Chiefs start their next drive with that set of Kelce and Sherman lined up tight to one side and two receivers to the opposite one. Tyreek Hill comes across the formation on a jet motion, but instead of finishing it, he changes directions and fakes the end-around back to where it originally came from, to occupy the defense and open up the inside for the zone-split with Kareem Hunt. The very next play, the Chiefs O gives the exact same look, only this time Mahomes is lined up in the gun and runs the triple option for a first down. What I want you to pay attention to is how the QB fools the unblocked defender. First the D-end takes away the dive, so Mahomes pulls it. Nickelback Desmond King now becomes the second read-man. He tries to slow down the action to allow his teammates to rally up, but Mahomes gives him a quick one-two and flips his head to the option man, forcing the DB to open his hips and give up an easy running lane.
After all those RPOs and other option runs, the second level defenders are forced to hesitate and allow running room on the inside. With another set of downs close to midfield, this is the perfect time for a shot play. The Chargers are in a two-high safety look with the outside corner immediately turning their hips parallel to the numbers, signaling cover-two. Therefore Mahomes could either go to Kelce running a corner route as the single guy to the left in a short split or Conley running a post route out of the slot. However, this is where I see that young signal-caller has grown. First, he looks left for Kelce, but doesn’t like how much depth the corner gets into his drop and when he glances to the trips-side and sees that the safety was able to stay inside the numbers because the Chargers actually run cover-six and the corner stays with that outside fade, he pulls it down once more, buys a little time and finds Hill working his way back to him off a hook route. That is the type of smart risk-taking I needed to see from Mahomes. I want him to take chances and put fear into the hearts of defenses, but if it’s not there I don’t want to see him force it.
The drive ultimately ends in field goal after a pass is batted down at the line and Spencer Ware can’t quite keep his balance along the sideline on the swing route out of the backfield and Desmond King redirects exceptionally well to force him out of bounds, even though this should have resulted in another first down by running off the defenders to that side with slant routes. Even though Ware breaks loose for 30 yards when they get the ball back with less than a minute on the clock, Mahomes and Hill show off what kind of relationship they have already by completing a broken-off corner route against cover-three, a holding call sets them up with 1st & 20 and they are forced to chuck it to the end-zone twice, which almost led to Mahomes’ first interception of the season.
However, KC gets the ball back at the start of the second half and they know they have this defense on their heels. With motions out of different formations and misdirections, they drive the ball the length of the field and finish off the drive with a little touch pass sweep to De’Anthony Thomas. An interception by safety Ron Parker on a late throw to the outside by Rivers sets the offense back up at their own 14-yard line. After a zone run and an end-around being sniffed out, the offense is set up with 3rd & 13, They come out in far bunch to the right and run what I would call an uncommon sail-concept. They have Kelce hesitating on a quick out, Watkins breaking out at almost 20 yards and Hill at a similar depth breaking to the corner. I’m not sure if any other team would call this play in that situation because of how much time it takes to develop since the corner can sink so deep before he has to break with Watkins. With that being said, Mahomes is a different cat and after taking a quick step up and scrambling right he just flings it 40 yards on the run as it if was nothing, because there is no way the free safety can get there.
The plays later the Chiefs come back out in that tight-end and wing set and he burns them with a perfect throw in stride to Sherman on a wheel-route, as Kelce clears out the cornerback to that side with deep third responsibility by breaking to the post. This was all set up by those post patterns they had completed throughout the game and with the quarterback’s eyes baiting Trevor Williams to cheat inside, all the guy who is listed as a fullback needed to do was run faster than the linebacker covering underneath and he just did.
After going three-and-out following a Rivers TD pass, the Chiefs were forced to punt the ball, but the Bolts’ return man muffed it and set up the opposing offense inside the five. All it took at that point was another one of those touch-pass sweeps to Hill to make this a three-score game once again. At that point Andy Reid decided to just run down the clock and the Chargers hopes of a miraculous comeback were crushed by another crucial missed field goal late to get within a touchdown. So we saw unbelievable arm talent, mobility and fearlessness, but also a ton of understanding of how to identify coverages pre-snap and then clarify how they change once the play in under way, plus when to be smart with the ball and not force something that isn’t there.
