Patrick Mahomes breaks down late plays in Super Bowl, including ‘Wasp,’ Watkins pass
The Chiefs on Wednesday replayed Super Bowl LIV on the team’s YouTube page and brought in special guests to talk about what was happening as the game unfolded.
That included quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was the game’s Most Valuable Player. Mahomes joined in just as the Chiefs were starting the fourth-quarter rally that would lead to a 31-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Mahomes broke down what he was thinking on some of the biggest plays in the game, shared insights of what the team was planning and praised teammates like Frank Clark, Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, Damien Williams and Travis Kelce. Here are some of the plays he talked about.
2-3 Jet Chip Wasp
NFL Films did a deep dive on the play, but Mahomes revealed one new bit of information. He didn’t want to throw the ball too far.
“Obviously, I was asking for this play, not only for Tyreek, but we had three of our guys with Sammy, Tyreek and Kelce all down field and it was a pretty good protection,” Mahomes said.
“With the chip blocks, the offensive line gave me enough time to do like a 15-, 14-step drop and Tyreek ran a heck of a route. I remember when I threw it, I was kind of getting ready to get hit and all I was thinking about was don’t throw it too far. I should have known with Tyreek out there, you can’t throw it too far. So I just put it out there, he made a great play coming back to the ball.”
The 1-yard touchdown pass to Kelce
Mahomes said this touchdown finally put the heat on the 49ers as the Chiefs’ cut their deficit to 20-17.
“I feel like the whole game the pressure was on us and they were kind of ... keeping the tempo of the game,” Mahomes said. “But with us scoring a touchdown, it kind of put pressure on their offense that they needed to make plays and move the ball down the field or we were going to get back on the field quickly.
“Luckily our defense, who came up big time and time again this season, they got a quick stop for us and we were able to get the ball back again and make another run down the field and score another touchdown.”
The 38-yard pass to Watkins
Remember when Mahomes threw that bomb to Hill in the 2018 preseason game at Atlanta? The Chiefs also ran this play ... with a much different result.
“Sammy was the hidden hero I feel like all season long and especially in the playoffs,” Mahomes said. “If you look at his stats in the playoffs in the last two years, it’s pretty remarkable how he steps up whenever the big games happen.
You see this play, we have a good protection on, we have almost a six-, seven-man protection and they bring the pressure and it puts Sammy in a one-on-one on the backside, and I just trusted in him to make the play and for him to just get by a great corner in Richard Sherman and he did and I put it out there and he made a great play.
“It’s actually funny, it’s a play that my first year he did the exact same release inside, which you’re really not supposed to do on this play and I throw it in the Atlanta Falcons game in the preseason and it gets intercepted. And I remember the coaches saying, ‘If he releases like that, don’t throw it.’ I thought about it and I was like ‘if he releases and gets open, I’m going to throw it again,’ and it worked out perfect this time.”
The 5-yard touchdown pass to Williams
This put the Chiefs up for good. But Mahomes answered a question fans may have had.
“He got just enough to get in that end zone,” Mahomes said. “I’m just going to be honest, we’re going for it even if he didn’t get it. We were going to go ahead and go for it all right there.”
While the play was being reviewed, the Chiefs offense had a play picked if they ended up facing a fourth-down play from inside the 49ers’ 1-yard line.
“We had already got another play going,” Mahomes said. “We were ready in case they said it was a half a yard out. We already had a play ready to go. I can’t remember exactly the play. We’ll probably run it next season so I don’t want to tell you all, but we had something ready to go.”
There are some other good insights in the video, which you can watch here:
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 8:54 AM.
