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For the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Kansas City Chiefs were not solely led by their offense. The numbers of the Chiefs quarterback did not blow people away as much this year. And as he hinted at after the AFC Championship Game, Mahomes had to adjust some of his play style this year. Controlling games and knowing that he could lean on the Kansas City defense, if necessary, was something he mentioned entering this upcoming Super Bowl.
We saw KC utilize a more balanced offensive attack throughout 2023. And in the passing game specifically, Patrick Mahomes played more basic, so to speak. He was able to thrive in the short to intermediate areas. The deep passing game was a major work in progress, to boot. And in key moments, Mahomes and the Chiefs were more of a threat when he worked from under center or with the play action pass game. Simply put, the Chiefs offense, and especially Mahomes himself, had to live with less explosive plays this season.
Patrick Mahomes has been a major leader for this Chiefs team for a while now. But, it was his words of wisdom and adjustments this season that helped get the offense to where it needed to go.
Steadfast Belief In His Guys
The Kansas City Chiefs struggled with drops throughout the entire regular season. All told, Kansas City pass catchers finished with 44 drops total, the most in the NFL. Beyond those issues, the Chiefs offense struggled with turnovers in a variety of ways, a lack of separation and failing to execute certain route concepts. After simplifying the offense late in the regular season, the Kansas City offensive unit has played much more sound in this playoff run. A major part of the postseason success, has been due to the steadfast belief that Patrick Mahomes maintained in his skill players.
Everybody knows that Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice and Isiah Pacheco offered little worry entering the playoff run. That trio was the most productive offensive pieces during an up-and-down regular season. However, names like Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson have come through in the playoffs. This is due to Mahomes giving those guys chances, even after they failed in those similar key spots beforehand.
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Overall, the leadership of Patrick Mahomes has shined through in a plethora of ways during this playoff run. He never threw his teammates under the bus publicly when he could have repeatedly. Furthermore, Mahomes was just as quick to point out ways he could have done something better in tight losses. He has continued to go after guys and target them after previous failures.
Playing Clean
In this current playoff run, Patrick Mahomes has adjusted to a much cleaner approach. Taking what the defense is giving him early in games is something he has improved on over the last few years. But in this particular playoff stretch, that has led to fast starts out of the gate for this Kansas City offense. By managing when to take his shots down the field, defenses have been left guessing and back on their heels far too often. As a result, that has led to some mental mistakes in coverage by opposing defenders.
Elsewhere, Patrick Mahomes has used his legs to create a playoff boost, when needed, once again. His quickness is deceptive when he takes off and runs. On top of that, the Kansas City passer is savvy when looking to fake out a defender in space. On the flip side, his calmness in the pocket is leading to easier points of access for the rest of the Chiefs offense. When defenses are tightening up, that cool, calm and collected nature of Patrick Mahomes is being fed to his teammates. And they have lived off of that in these playoffs.
Lethal In Big Moments
When needing to step up in those big moments, Patrick Mahomes and this Chiefs offense has not blinked. The end of the AFC Championship Game caught the KC quarterback mic’d up, wanting the football to ice the game. He could have avoided targeting Valdes-Scantling after past mistakes. But as he mentioned, Mahomes could not pass up that chance to give MVS a deep catch, once he saw the separation down the field.
In other key moments in the playoffs, Mahomes has allowed others to adlib to a simpler route or let them make magic after the catch. With those opportunities seeming like low-percentage plays, the quarterback has still been pinpoint with his distribution all across the field. In the end, it has led to perfect results from Kansas City in got-to-have-it situations. Mahomes has had to be absurdly special in past postseason trips. But in this playoff run, he and the Chiefs have almost made it look too easy in big moments. This group has just found their groove, thanks to the leadership and wisdom of Patrick Mahomes, learning what his role needs to be this year.
Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.
– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.