Kurt Warner defends coordinator who made ‘streetball’ comment about Patrick Mahomes
One quote from an anonymous defensive coordinator in a story in the Athletic caused big waves last week in the NFL.
That coach said when a team takes away Mahomes’ first read on a pass play, he scrambles and plays “streetball.”
Mahomes called that comment “weird,” while that assessment became fodder for sports talk shows last week.
That defensive coordinator’s criticism left Rich Eisen baffled, and he asked Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner for his thoughts.
Warner defended the assistant, saying he thought the comment was taken out of context.Warner made a point of emphasizing that Mahomes is a great player, but defensive coordinators see flaws in every quarterback.
“What I believe that coordinator was really saying was, we’ve got to figure out how do we stop Patrick Mahomes,” Warner said on “The Rich Eisen Show.” “So how we stop him is we try to take the first or the early reads away, and we try to ... force him to try to make some of those special plays.
“Does he make them? Yes. Do they lose very often? No, but when they lose, I believe that coordinator was saying this is why they lose ... is because teams are able to take that (first read) away from him and force him to do other things. Every coordinator is going to have a book on a quarterback and go, ‘no matter how great they’ve been, this is what we need to get that guy to do. And then we have a chance.’”
Warner added that defensive coordinators always try to find a way to give their unit a reason to believe they can shut down any quarterback, even Mahomes.
Warner added: “I don’t think that coordinator was ever saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s not any good at this. If we just do this, Patrick Mahomes is never going to win a game. Now, he’s a great quarterback that does so many things well. We’re just trying to force him to get to this point, because now that gives us a chance (to win)’.”
Eisen didn’t seem convinced by that argument from Warner.
