One secret to Kansas City Chiefs’ success with Patrick Mahomes: ‘We can do that here’
The playbook told JuJu Smith-Schuster to run a corner route. He came to a complete stop instead.
And strange as it might sound, this ended up being one of the most memorable moments for quarterback Patrick Mahomes this offseason.
The Kansas City Chiefs were going through OTAs in late spring at the time, and Mahomes had already attempted some catch-up with the newbies. He’d previously invited receivers like Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore down to Texas to train with him, making the ask with a specific outcome in mind.
The new wideouts would have to become accustomed to the Chiefs’ plays. That was a given.
But the secret sauce to the Chiefs’ offense with Mahomes has never been those bold lines on a piece of paper.
It’s been blurring those strokes — on the fly — to take advantage of defenses in real-time.
This Smith-Schuster adjustment, then, was a significant Eureka moment.
While running toward the sideline, Smith-Schuster saw his predestined course was about to take him directly into a defender. So instead of continuing, he put on the brakes, turning around to see if Mahomes had seen the same thing.
The ball was already on the way. Smith-Schuster caught the pass, then received kudos from his quarterback afterward.
“Some of the newcomers that have come into our room will comment, ‘We were never allowed to do that at a certain other place,’” Chiefs receivers coach Joe Bleymaier said. “Well, we can do that here, as long as you know when you can and why.”
The alterations have not only given the Chiefs offense an advantage in games; it’s also oftentimes done the same in practice.
There are instances in training camp when Chiefs linebackers coaches have asked Bleymaier about a receiver’s strange path from the previous day. The squiggly movement, on film, doesn’t seem to match up with any commonly run route.
So was that what the receiver was supposed to do?
“The answer might be no,” Bleymaier said, “but he can do it.”
Mahomes likes to joke with teammates about a similar topic, trying to envision film sessions for opposing teams as they watch Chiefs pass-catchers run routes from previous weeks.
He uses tight end Travis Kelce as an example. On one particular play, Kelce could read the defense and cut out. Or he could stop. Or he might adjust his route high or low based on what he sees.
Mahomes laughs. What’s an opposing assistant coach supposed to do when trying to prepare his players for that?
“I’m like, ‘Dude, I just can’t even imagine,’” Mahomes said. “Do they just draw the line (of the route), and they’re like, ‘Well, he might do all this’?”
Thus makes up one of the most difficult-to-defend parts of the Chiefs offense.
In addition to all his physical gifts, Bleymaier says Mahomes processes the game remarkably well. This often lets the Chiefs counter-punch after the snap once defenders have already revealed their intentions.
KC’s second preseason game gave an indication of what that can look like.
Against Washington, Kelce started to run an intermediate out route. After reading zone coverage and seeing a pair of defenders toward the sideline, though, he broke off from his original intentions, pivoting near the hash while finding a vacancy.
Mahomes not only expected Kelce to do that — he sold out for him to make that exact move. The quarterback threw the ball to that spot before Kelce even turned from his break, with the tight end catching it at eye level before turning upfield to gain 15.
“I think it’s a little bit more friendly of an offense than a lot of guys have been in,” Kelce said. “And with that being said, that means we need to get those reps so guys can kind of — I don’t want to say bend the rules — but feel the nuances of what this offense can bring to their game.”
One looming question will be how quickly Mahomes can develop that chemistry and trust with his first-year guys.
Bleymaier says the goal of training camp is to repeat plays so often that the rapport is well-established by Sept. 11’s season opener against Arizona. Mahomes has also complimented the new receivers by saying the team has “the right guys,” especially relating to the football intelligence needed to execute new roles.
Stakes will be high in the weeks to come. Any miscommunication not only could derail a play, but also might result in an interception.
The potential reward of it all coming together, however, remains tantalizingly high.
“The defenses that we go against in the league, they know the route combinations that we run, that everybody runs, because they’re similar throughout the league,” Bleymaier said. “The difference between a successful offense and getting open is knowing that gray area — and those blurry lines.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
