How Patrick Mahomes is prepping the Chiefs’ defense for a challenging opening month
The initial three games on the Chiefs’ schedule offer a resemblance. It’s a similarity between opponents that will require particular emphasis in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s game plans.
Quarterbacks who can move.
It’s the Houston Texans’ Deshaun Watson in the opener, a trip see the L.A. Chargers’ Tyrod Taylor in Week 2 and a visit to face the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson in Week 3. Those three quarterbacks possess an added element — or an added worry, depending on your perspective.
But the Chiefs have a perfect preparation in training camp.
Patrick Mahomes.
As the Chiefs continue offense-versus-defense drills in camp, Mahomes has gone about being himself. Scrambling. Extending plays. Making throws on the run.
“It does challenge us to make sure when he’s scrambling around, our thing is you have to plaster receivers. So everybody find someone,” Spagnuolo said. “We’ve tried to keep the quarterback contained. It’s a great challenge for us because we’re going to face, certainly in the first three games, quarterbacks with similar athletic ability and (who are) able to make those kinds of plays. So it’s good for us.”
Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu has called Mahomes and Watson “1A and 1B.”
And what better way to prepare for 1B than to see 1A day after day? Watson has rushed for 964 yards and 12 touchdowns in the past two seasons. Beyond that, like Mahomes, he’s able to prolong his time in the pocket before releasing the football.
In Los Angeles, Taylor returns to a starting role for the first time since 2017 in Buffalo. As the starter there for three seasons, he rushed for 1,575 yards and 14 scores.
It’s the dual-threat nature of his game that earned Jackson the league’s most valuable player award in 2019. He ran for 1,206 yards in 15 games.
And assuming he wins the job, New England’s Cam Newton likely awaits in Week 4. When healthy, he’s not bad on the move, either.
The most constructive work for the Chiefs defense comes now, when their first-team unit sees the first-string offense in full pads and contact practices. Of course, they still can’t hit the quarterback, with Mahomes clad in a yellow no-contact jersey.
But the lesson is learned just the same — defensive backs must follow their receivers longer than they might anticipate; and defensive linemen should never stop chasing the quarterback.
“It’s a lot of help,” facing Mahomes every day, Chiefs defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon said. “That guy can run. That guy will bounce out of the pocket. He’ll go 10 yards back down the field and throw some crazy sidearm ball — those plays that you expect from top-tier quarterbacks. I really feel like that helps us as a defense as a whole to prepare — our backfield sticking on guys longer, us continuing to rush relentlessly and just track him down.”
On Sunday, Mahomes acknowledged he uses training camp as an occasional opportunity to experiment with new throws. Maybe it’s different arm angle. Maybe it’s squeezing a pass into a tight window. Or maybe it’s releasing a ball after extending a play that he might usually throw out of bounds.
The defense’s response: Go for it. They want to see it. Want to get used to it as the challenge of the opening month approaches.
What better prep work?
“We got an advantage over here in Kansas City. When you’re playing against an offense like ours in practice, you see some crazy stuff,” rookie linebacker Willie Gay said. “When you see that, it’s like, OK, I know everybody in the league can’t do what this guy’s doing at quarterback ... or running back or receiver. It’s definitely making us a lot better.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 1:56 PM.