Inside the Patrick Mahomes scramble that became biggest play in Chiefs’ victory
If you haven’t seen Patrick Mahomes place the fate of a game on his legs, you didn’t watch either of the past two Super Bowls.
Mahomes scrambled twice for first downs, including one on fourth down, to keep alive KC’s game-winning drive in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII last season against the San Francisco 49ers.
The previous year against the Philadelphia Eagles, his 26-yard scamper on a bad ankle set up the Chiefs’ game-winning field goal.
So, what happened with Sunday’s game on the line against the Carolina Panthers should come as no suprise: On the final series, when Mahomes saw no available receiving options, he took off.
Some 33 yards later, the Chiefs were in position for Spencer Shrader’s 31-yard field goal on the game’s final play for a 30-27 Kansas City triumph.
“They covered up our routes,” Mahomes said. “I got out to the left, and that time of the game, yards are more important than getting out of bounds.”
Mahomes isn’t a speedster, of course, and there are very few designed running plays for him in the Chiefs’ playbook. But over the years, he’s used variations of “I’m faster than I look” as a description for his running style.
On this occasion, the Panthers mostly didn’t account for him. Mahomes took off and didn’t stop until he had scrambled from the Chiefs’ 45 to the Panthers’ 22.
A 10-yard completion to Kareem Hunt got the ball even closer for Shrader, who was playing in just his second game in place of injured starting placekicker Harrison Butker.
Chiefs receiver Justin Watson proved to be the unsung hero of the play. He shielded Panthers cornerback Dane Jackson and blocked Carolina cornerback Mike Jackson. That allowed Mahomes to college some 20 additional yards on a 33-yard gain.
“It’s not like I pre-plan that stuff,” Mahomes said. “I just try to make the play.”
And leave teammates in awe.
“It’s phenomenal,” tight end Noah Gray said. “Just a great job extending the play, and there were great blocks, so it was a group effort.”
It had already been a stellar game for Mahomes — perhaps his best of the season. Three touchdown passes (including two to Gray for the second straight game) helped him build a passer rating of 120.2, his best of the season.
The Chiefs scored on six of their eight possessions Sunday, and their 30-point output was the highest of the year in regulation. But because Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was having perhaps the best game of his two-year pro career since being drafted out of Alabama, the Chiefs needed some late-game magic once Carolina knotted the game at 27 with 1:35 remaining.
For the fifth time this season, the Chiefs won on the game’s final snap. Include last year’s Super Bowl, and it’s six times in their last 11 games, a stretch that is book-ended by Mahomes’ legwork.