Patrick Mahomes has become the best quarterback in football and is attempting to win his third Super Bowl in the last five seasons. One player who influenced him during his early football career is Matthew Stafford, a fellow Texas native who has a flare for the spectacular at the quarterback position.
In an interview with Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times, Mahomes said Stafford is someone he grew up watching and his sidearm throws, as well as his no-look passes, are what got Mahomes to do those himself.
“First off, he’s a Texas guy, so I mean, always love the Texas quarterbacks are out there having success,” Mahomes said. “Everybody talks about the sidearm throws and the no-look passes — I mean that’s from watching guys like Matthew Stafford play that I’ve been able to do it.
“I kind of got some hype coming into the league, but I mean you watch the film, he’s the guy that kind of started that stuff off, him and Brett Favre. And so it really is cool to be able to kind of be along those guys now, and be able to have my own impact on the game. I mean, those are the guys that I watched, that influenced me to be the quarterback that I am.”
Stafford doesn’t just pull off sidearm throws and no-look passes for style points. He actually uses them to throw receivers open and move defenders off their spot.
His best no-look pass was in the Super Bowl two years ago, hitting Cooper Kupp over the middle on the Rams’ game-winning drive against the Bengals – the biggest drive of his career, and likely the most important one, too.
This angle of Matthew Stafford's no-look pass. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/vwWRUsMekn
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 14, 2022
Mahomes is equally good at making those difficult throws, but he wouldn’t be attempting them if it wasn’t for Stafford.