On Monday night, the celebration surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs’ 31-10 winover the Denver Broncos masked the need for criticism. Chiefs Kingdom was busy high-fiving each other and taking in the highlights on ESPN’s Sportscenter after the game.
In his first game back after knee surgery, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was grateful and excited as he talked to sideline reporter Lisa Salters on the field immediately after the win.
By the time he got to the podium, he was ready to think out loud
through the self-critiques he has about his 15-of-27 passing performance that resulted in 184 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
“I think I was a little quick with my reads,” Mahomes told reporters on Monday. “I think there were some [plays] that if I had just gotten to the second and third read, they were open, especially earlier in the game, but I tried to force a few things early.
“And then I had a few over strides,” Mahomes continued. “Which is kind of part of it. But I’ve got to get back to being balanced where I can make those throws, and when I overstride, it goes a little bit lower, so you can see that somewhat throughout the game.”
“I’ve still got to keep working,” Mahomes emphasized. “I want to get some of these passes down the field a little bit more. I think that will help me out mentally in kind of getting back into the rhythm of things.“
With a couple of days to self-evaluate, Mahomes returned to the podium on Wednesday to speak with reporters before the first practice leading into a Week 2 game against the Indianapolis Colts. He followed head coach Andy Reid, who went into detail on Mahomes’ ugly interception that set up a Denver field goal in the second half.
“We probably didn’t rep that enough; I look back at it,” Reid said. “It was a backed-up play call; basically, you only get one rep on it. 22 played it in the perfect area where it was a gray area where you either go over the top or underneath, and neither guy was really wrong other than the result. Probably should give them more opportunities to practice it. That one is on me.”
Reid gave credit where credit is due: Broncos safety Brandon Jones played this well, tricking Mahomes into a confident, rifling throw to nobody by baiting Worthy into a route adjustment the quarterback wasn’t expecting.
While the Denver’s elite pass defense was a big reason for Mahomes’ mediocre performance, some of the early incompletions were self-inflicted. On the first pass of the game, the Chiefs’ quarterback might have been a little quick to trigger on a miss to tight end Travis Kelce.
Running back Kenneth Walker was wide open on the other side of the field.
“I tried to force the ball to Trav,” Mahomes reflected. “If I just kind of get through my read, the last read is Kenneth on the route out of the backfield. If you give it to him, he has a chance to score a touchdown there.”
Later in the first quarter, Mahomes attempted a tight-window throw on third down to move the chains. Again, Mahomes admitted to speeding through his reads.
“I tried to force the ball into Xavier,” Mahomes reflected on Wednesday. “That is my first read, and there was a chance I could get it in there, but if I just see the coverage and reset back, Tyquan kind of wins on the backside route.”
“You can try to make those plays happen,” Mahomes continued. “When they work, it’s awesome, but if you want to just go through the whole entire offense, you know where you can get to and where you can kind of find the free guy with the better leverage and the better matchup.”
Mahomes’ biggest critic is himself, even though only he knows how incredibly difficult it was to return to live football by Week 1. Amid a 31-point performance, the captain of the Chiefs’ offense knows he can be better.
