The Kansas City Chiefs are still amongst the best teams in the league after four weeks, regardless of the offense’s inconsistent play. Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has seen his efficiency slightly drop to start the season as he looks ahead to play this Sunday better.
Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy has worked with Mahomes since his rookie season as a backup behind Alex Smith. He’s seen the growth behind the scenes and understands the focus he has to be a better quarterback. Nagy spoke to reporters Thursday about Mahomes’ recent turnover issues and optimism that he will figure things out.
“Well, you rely on Patrick (Mahomes) just being a savvy vet,” Nagy explained. “[I rely on him] knowing where he made the mistake… there’s been a lot of unbelievable quarterbacks that have made some throws that you wonder how they made it, or why they made it.
“e’s allowed to have a couple of those every now and then. And that happened to be a game we’re, you know, again, he had two throws where right away one he knew, he just said, ‘that’s all me’, like ‘I pulled the string’ or ‘The ball just kind of floated in the second one’, or ‘That linebacker got underneath, second, third level underneath the deep cross’, and ‘The kid made a good play.'”
Nagy further elaborated on how he intends to respond to Mahomes’ candor through his early-season struggles and made it clear that nobody is more committed to getting back on track than the reigning MVP.
“To us, as coaches, it’s like, you sit there, and you say, ‘Okay, we know that you know, decision-wise, what to do, we know you can make every throw in the book. Now, let’s get back to this week in practice; let’s get back to the defense we’re about to see, let’s get back to timing with our wide receivers. Keep working that, and understand that he’s a true pro.
“He’s going to use our coaching to help him get better and, and eliminate what was last week with those two throws because he, again, Patrick’s harder on himself than anybody, even right after the game, you know, hey, I put us in that situation, with the field position, et., with those throws. He knows that, and you don’t need to, you know, beat it down; we just move on from it and learn .”
Mahomes has four interceptions through as many games in 2023 after finishing with 12 total in his MVP season last year.