There are a few ways to… well, if not “beat” Patrick Mahomes, at least make him look a bit more mortal. You can throw all kinds of two-high coverage against him, and that works more often than not. In 2021, Mahomes completed 215 of 332 passes against two-deep looks for 2,532 yards, 1,401 air yards, nine touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a Positive Play Rate of 50.3%. Only Trevor Lawrence had more interceptions against two-deep coverage last season, and given the disaster Lawrence had to work with, we’re inclined to say that it doesn’t count.
You can also throw eight in coverage against him to constrict his openings and throwing lanes, as the Bengals did against him in the second half and in overtime of the AFC Championship game, and that turns out to be pretty effective, as well — especially since blitzing Mahomes is an invitation to absolute disaster for your defense.
What you probably don’t want to do is to throw a bunch of vanilla one-on-one coverage (and coverage busts) against him. Mahomes will go thermonuclear on you if you do, and for some reason, that’s what the Washington Commanders decided to do in the first half of their Saturday game against Kansas City.
As you could easily surmise, it did not go well. Mahomes was in for the first two drives of the game, both drives went 12 plays (for 82 and 87 yards), the Chiefs were 5-fot-5 converting third downs, both drives ended in touchdown passes from Mahomes to receiver Jody Fortson, and Mahomes finished his day completing 12 of 19 passes for 162 yards, those two touchdowns, and a passer rating of 125.3. Had Mahomes not had a couple of miscommunications with new receivers, things would have been even worse for Jack Del Rio’s defense.
Sadly, this is par for the course for the Football Team/Commanders under Del Rio. In 2020, when Del Rio became the defensive coordinator, Washington finished third in Defensive DVOA. In 2021, that fell to 27th (28th against the pass), and busted coverages were a common problem, despite a lot of talent in the secondary.
Last season, no defense allowed more passing touchdowns than Washington’s 34, to just 11 interceptions. That defense also allowed 400 catches on 597 attempts for 4,542 yards, a completion rate of 67.0%, a yards per attempt allowed of 7.6, an opponent passer rating of 100.9, and an opponent EPA of 67.90.
Based on how things looked against Mahomes, the Commanders may be in for a repeat performance. How did things go so wrong in such a bit hurry? There were a few reasons. We’ll start with basic coverage issues.