New cast, same Patrick Mahomes means fresh dimensions to Kansas City Chiefs’ pass game
First, the disclaimer: Yes, it was merely another preseason game on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs beat Washington 24-14. So any similarity to reality or actual events ahead might be shrugged off as purely coincidental.
Just the same, you could hold a certain truth to be self-evident as we get our first glimpses at life after Tyreek Hill and a new dynamic that was all the more impressive on a day when presumptive starting receivers Mecole Hardman (groin injury) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee) sat out.
That meant that on Saturday, while still buoyed by Travis Kelce, who has the most receiving yards in the NFL since 2016, quarterback Patrick Mahomes otherwise targeted a group of six others who had a total of 25 regular-season receptions in a Chiefs uniform.
You never would have known that, though, as Mahomes rather seamlessly connected on 12 of 19 passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns (both to tight end Jody Fortson) on his only two series of the day.
Combine that with his performance last week in Chicago, and Mahomes is 18 of 26 for 222 yards and three TDs on his three preseason series … and seems to have established whatever we’d hope to see going into the regular season with one more preseason game lingering here Thursday against Green Bay.
That included several plays on Saturday that few, if any, other quarterbacks could make, including to Fortson, fellow tight end Noah Gray and receiver Justin Watson that we’ll come back to.
But the vibe was nicely summed up by Fortson.
When I asked him about the absurdly tight window Mahomes threw through on his second touchdown, he said, “I almost don’t even know how he got it in there, but he did. And the first one he just did a great job of putting the ball where only I can get it.”
Same as it ever was from the uncanny Mahomes, who said that on each of those Fortson “wasn’t necessarily open” but that he’s built enough trust with him to “kind of give him the chance.”
It’s a small sample size, and a largely vanilla one at that. But it also was vivid enough to reinforce what we’ve speculated could be true: diversifying with a fresh arsenal may replenish the offense and add enough upside to offset, if not eclipse, the loss of Hill.
Put another way, nice as it would be to have Hill still be part of this, he’s going to miss Mahomes more than Mahomes will miss Hill.
We say that all the more now because of the obvious cohesion he already has cultivated with the overall group … starting at Camp Mahomes over the summer.
Moreover, Mahomes was in such a flow state and threw with such conviction that he compensated for any communication glitches on the other end — and demonstrated he could engage his improv gear as nimbly as ever even with a radically new cast.
You could see that most readily as Mahomes ad libbed with an adjusting Gray twisting downfield for a 30-yard reception when the pattern got clumped up short.
And you could see two revealing variations on third-down passes to Watson, the former Tampa Bay Buc who led the Chiefs in receiving yards (53) for a second straight week after he had five catches for 45 yards against the Bears.
In the locker room afterward, Watson said he believes he’s “seeing the game the same way Pat does” even as there’s room for growth. And both plays sure lent testimony to that.
The first came on third and 10 at the Washington 47-yard line. The Commanders came with what Mahomes called “the old fire zone blitz, where they dropped the big guys and brought the little guys, which you don’t see a lot in the preseason. So it got me.”
But only in the sense that he had to throw sooner than he might have wanted to on a day when his protection was largely terrific.
And that mattered little because of a rapport he’s built with Watson through his receivers camp and Chiefs camp … and some trial and error.
Working on that very play in St. Joseph, Watson had taken the option to stay down the middle instead of angling across more. At that time, Mahomes said, he threw it to the spot he wanted him to be in.
“And he learned from it, so in the game he’s there,” Mahomes said. “It’s just stuff like that, when those guys are learning on the fly like that (and) not making the same mistakes.”
“I trust those guys to be in the right spots, and they make the plays happen.”
In the locker room after the game, Watson smiled at what went into the 39-yard completion that set up Fortson’s first TD. When Mahomes released the ball, a Washington defender had been tagging along before Watson went into turbo mode anticipating where the ball was going.
“I know where Pat’s going to put the ball,” he said, “before I even turn around and look.”
That’s no small thing, and it showed up again on the next drive.
On third and 6, again at the Washington 47, Mahomes broke left to bide time when no one was open. Meanwhile, per lessons learned in scramble drills with Mahomes, Watson ran back toward the middle of the field.
On the sideline later, Mahomes recalled Watson saying, “Usually when you scramble you’re supposed to go with the quarterback; I’m realizing with you sometimes you’re supposed to go away from (him).”
Added Mahomes, “He’s kind of learning me a little bit in that sense.”
And learning that it’s entirely in Mahomes’ comfort zone to, you know, throw sidearm against the grain through the arms of one Washington defender and with another in his grill for a 14-yard gain that enabled Fortson’s second touchdown.
“So that’s where this offense is so fun to play,” Watson said, smiling. “We have an answer for everything.”
Answers that look different with so many new receivers but that all start with the same indispensable element of the formula: Mahomes.
Preseason or not, work to do notwithstanding, the names might be different, but the command denominator phenomenon remains the same … with room to grow yet.