A night to celebrate pro football in KC: Chiefs and Mahomes draw bulk of the praise
The Committee of 101 Awards, Kansas City’s salute to pro football, turned 50 with last Saturday’s event. But even the longest-standing ceremony of its kind offered a few new wrinkles.
Like the presence of the host team as Super Bowl champion.
The Chiefs’ championship was a primary topic on an evening that celebrates the league, and the awards’ recipients were effusive in their praise of Kansas City and especially quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, honored as AFC Offensive Player of the Year and NFL MVP, got things started by stating his preference not to match up against Mahomes.
“That’s a great quarterback,” Jackson said. “I hate playing against him, to be honest. And I’m not even on defense. ‘He’s going to keep scoring; now we’ve got to go score.’ It’s a great game for the fans, but we hate it.”
Jackson’s tongue-in-cheek comments drew laughter. Mahomes was equally praiseworthy of Jackson. During his Super Bowl post-game news conference, Mahomes said Jackson “had one of the best seasons of all-time at quarterback.”
Mahomes and Jackson have met twice in regular-season games, with the Chiefs prevailing both times at Arrowhead Stadium. Their possible meeting in the AFC playoffs last season as the top two seeds was derailed when the Tennessee Titans upset the Ravens in the divisional round.
Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said the combination of Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Mahomes has created a dynamic offense.
“I try to take a lesson from Andy and what they’ve done with their offense, which is really unique and different, and changed the course of football just by opening up the playbook to every kind of different play you can imagine that fits Mahomes and fits their players,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what Andy does so well.
“Every play strives to be a touchdown. He gives it off inside, just to keep it honest. So I think we’ve learned a lot. I think Bill Belichick done same thing around Tom Brady in New England. A completely different quarterback. But everything is done at the line after the ball is snapped and Tom is able to take advantage of the defense.
“For us, that philosophy is what we’re chasing, too. Except with our QB, he has a different skill-set than either one of those two guys. So you try to build something that’s complete new and different around the players you have. That’s the lesson. That’s what Andy has done.”
As for Mahomes, Harbaugh sees one of the game’s most unique talents.
“He can get away from the rush, gain (rushing) yards, if you let him,” Harbaugh said. “This guy has got a vision of the field and the ability to put the ball everyone on the field, on a dime on the run, like nobody probably in history of game.
“That arm talent with the combination of the vision to me is just a killer. We played them last two years. I feel like we played some of our best football against him. He’s made plays in critical situations that have cost us the game. It’s really been heartbreaking for us. That’s the thing. We have a find a way to beat him.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 1:10 PM.