‘Mahomes is getting better.’ National media gushes about Chiefs after beating Ravens
The highly touted game featuring the last two NFL MVPs turned out to be a dud.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes made sure of that, throwing four touchdown passes and running for another as the Chiefs thumped the Ravens 34-20 in Baltimore.
Mahomes’ tremendous showing in the national-televised game left the country’s NFL media members gushing about him. Here’s what was being said.
USA Today’s Mike Jones wrote a column with the headline, “Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs prove they’re in separate class from Ravens, rest of NFL.” This is an excerpt: “one thing is clear: with his 411-yard (385 passing, 26 rushing), five-touchdown (four passing, one rushing) performance against Baltimore on Monday night, Mahomes left no room for doubt about the rarity of his game-changing talents. And the Chiefs erased any doubts about whether they remain the crème de la crème of the NFL.”
ESPN’s Trey Wingo tweeted this:
ESPN senior writer Ian O’Conner’s story had this headline: “The Lamar Jackson-Patrick Mahomes rivalry isn’t one yet.” Here is a selection of what he wrote: “Mahomes is too good to have a rival. He proved Monday night that he is playing a different game than everybody else, with the same wonderment in his eye he had as a kid shagging flies at the World Series that his father’s Mets played against the Yankees two decades ago. A fake jump pass. Precise throws against the grain. A perfectly placed long ball into the back of the end zone. A touchdown strike while taking a shot to the ribs. A six-point softball pitch to a fullback. A six-point lob to a left tackle. It all added up to pro football’s Big Two being reduced to pro football’s Big One.”
Mark Maske of the Washington Post wrote a story headlined, “Patrick Mahomes sparkles at Baltimore, proving his Chiefs are still NFL’s team to beat.” Here is a snippet: “Mahomes improved his career record in September games to 10-0. Even though it was only Week 3, the victory had significance for the AFC postseason picture. Under the NFL’s expanded playoff format in effect this season, only the No. 1 seed in each conference receives a first-round bye, a distinct advantage for that team. Kansas City and Baltimore figure to be in the running for that spot.”
Shannon Sharpe said on Fox Sports’ “Undisputed” that Mahomes is the best player in the NFL:
Rodger Sherman of The Ringer wrote a story with the headline, “You can’t settle for field goals against Patrick Mahomes.” This is an excerpt: “There is no game plan to defeat Patrick Mahomes. He torches man-to-man defenses, and he’s the best quarterback in football against zone defenses. If you blitz him — please, I’m begging you, do not blitz him — he’ll obliterate you. But if you just sit back and let him pass, he’ll eat you alive. And if you somehow manage to cover all of his receivers, he’ll simply scramble for a first down before skipping out of bounds. He’s unkillable. There is no game plan to defeat Patrick Mahomes ...”
Mike Freeman of CBS Sports said the Chiefs look like the San Francisco 49ers team that dominated in the 1980s:
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports wrote a column with the headline, “A Raven perfectly summed up Patrick Mahomes’ dominance: ‘They don’t give that guy half a billion dollars for no reason’.” Here is an excerpt: “Lamar Jackson was named MVP last season. Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers are getting the early buzz this season. They are all great players, but whatever. This is Mahomes’ league until it isn’t, and based on the Chiefs’ 34-20 victory in Baltimore, that isn’t changing anytime soon. Mahomes is something out of a comic book running a video game offense that Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy dream up each week.”
Bleacher Reports’ Brad Gagnon wrote a story headlined, “Patrick Mahomes Shows Lamar Jackson Who the Real MVP Is in Chiefs’ Statement Win.” This is a snippet of the story: “Mahomes and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spent much of the evening essentially showing off. They moved the ball at their leisure, tinkered with trick plays and never looked intimidated in a prime-time matchup with a team that went 14-2 in 2019 and hadn’t lost a regular-season game in nearly a calendar year.”
Rich Eisen of the NFL Network offered these thoughts on the Chiefs:
The Score’s Dom Cosentino wrote a story with this headline: “It’s hard to believe, but Mahomes is getting better.” Here is part of what he wrote: “There’s also an indescribable flair to the way Mahomes does all this. He makes it look so easy, like he’s shrugging his way through a casual exhibition routine and not carving up one of the NFL’s best defenses. He’s in only his third season as a starter. He’s already won a league MVP and a Super Bowl MVP. But when he plays like he did Monday night, and when Reid digs that deep into the playbook to emphasize so much of what he does best, Mahomes looks like he’s somehow still stretching the limits of what’s possible.”
Peter Schrager of “Good Morning Football” on the NFL Network noted why Mahomes counted to four:
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 10:30 AM.
