Patrick Mahomes in motion? Chiefs TD on ‘Ferrari Right’ play has a good backstory
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes strolled to his right behind the offensive line Sunday afternoon, temporarily abandoning the snap to bark out a couple of instructions, and on the opposite side of the field, Panthers cornerback Rasul Douglas relaxed for a moment.
His first mistake.
Mahomes turned and darted back left, and as he called and received the snap from center Austin Reiter, he was actually on the run — like a receiver in motion as the play began. Douglas followed the movement, taking a step forward, completely baited by the oddity of it all.
His second mistake.
The man Douglas had intended to defend — Chiefs receiver Demarcus Robinson — sprinted by him on a drag route across the back of the end zone unguarded. Mahomes picked him out, and as far as pitch-and-catches go, they don’t come much more easily.
Touchdown ... on a play that started with the quarterback taking a snap while on a brisk jog.
“The crazy thing is I really didn’t think that play was going to be put in,” Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill said.
The blueprint started with the quarterback experimenting in practice, and it looked so ridiculous that it prompted literal laughs from a couple of his teammates.
The Chiefs offense earns a break during special teams portions of practices. For Mahomes, that’s offered some time for trial and error. The underhand passes he’s thrown for touchdowns? Those came from practice drills that Mahomes treated in a manner some players would consider messing around. But he’s always been serious about it.
He was here, too. Mahomes began going in motion before a couple of snaps in practice, and he liked the feel of it. He approached tight ends coach Tom Melvin about it first, because he had a specific question.
Am I even allowed to do this?
Check.
The next hurdle? Convincing head coach Andy Reid to run it. Mahomes tried it during a defensive walk through. Better to show him than ask him.
“I had to start throwing little hints to Coach Reid that we needed to try it out,” Mahomes said. “We finally got it in, and it worked out well.”
Check.
So days ago, Reid walked to Mahomes and said, “We’re going to put that play in.”
“He looked at me like I was crazy,” Reid said.
They even had a name for it.
Ferrari Right.
The design is calculated to deceive the entire defense — to put them on their collective heels — but it eyes one player in particular.
The position occupied by Douglas.
He willingly played along. He let up once pre-snap, then moved in the wrong direction after it.
But could you blame him? How many NFL teams design a play with the thought, “What if we put the quarterback in motion?
The play didn’t just confuse the defense — it confused Mahomes’ own teammates the first time they saw him doing it.
“Bro, what are you doing? Why don’t you just line up and snap the ball?” Hill said of his initial reaction to it. “But it turned out to be a great play. Just him being around Coach Reid, Coach Reid is wearing off on Pat. Just the creativity and the ideas that both of them have.
“It’s just crazy. I know we’re going to have something fun after the bye week. I’m looking forward to it.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 4:37 PM.