If you look at the box score following the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 17 win over the Denver Broncos, you might think that Patrick Mahomes had a great performance. Watching the game, you’ll have known that he looked off at times, distinctly at the start of the second half.
The Chiefs deferred the opening kickoff and got the ball to start the second half. Mahomes began with six consecutive incomplete passes over three offensive possessions. It was the most consecutive incomplete passes he’d thrown in a single game all season long. He was missing some routine throws and struggled with timing on the deep ball.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Mahomes provided an explanation for what went wrong in the second half.
“I feel like my feet got bad there in the second half and then I missed the deep throws whenever they were there,” Mahomes explained. “And so, when you’re playing a defense like this, whenever they give you opportunities you have to execute on them and I didn’t today. I took what was there and did a lot of good things as far as moving the chains that first half and the second half I just missed a lot of throws which I have to hit.”
There was some question about whether Mahomes was dealing with some sort of injury after he came up limping, but he says that didn’t affect him at all. He struggled to get his feet into the right spot in the pocket and found himself throwing off his back foot or not being able to reset his feet while he was on the move.
“No, I don’t know if it impacted it at all,” Mahomes said. “It’s just my mechanics. I lost my mechanics in that second half, and I was trying to find a way to get back into them. I think you saw even in some of the completions – at least I felt like my feet weren’t in the right spot. I was kind of throwing off my back foot and I think that whenever I get in that mode is whenever I can struggle so I have to be better at kind of correcting that stuff in game.”
Footwork and mechanics are something that Mahomes has often worked to improve since entering the NFL. It’s been one of the biggest critiques of his game throughout his career. Correcting footwork and mechanics in-game, on a snap-to-snap basis, when you’re struggling, is something that is easier said than done.
“Yeah, I mean it’s hard,” Mahomes said. “When you’re out there live (and) people are flying around you but I just have to be better at stepping up in the pocket, finding that soft spot in the pocket and then making the throw. I think even the last one to Marquez (Valdes-Scantling) on the sideline, that’s a throw I’ve thrown a million times and leaving it short. I told him to get to the sticks and to go out right there at the sticks and then I was the one that threw it short of the sticks so just have to be better. I have to be better about hitting those throws whenever they present themselves.”
At the end of the day, it might be a good thing that these issues popped up late in the season. It’ll give Mahomes an opportunity to work on getting back to the basics with his mechanics and footwork ahead of the playoffs.
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