Tag: preparation

Patrick Mahomes talks importance of preparation ahead of Super Bowl LVIII

Patrick Mahomes told reporters about the importance of preparation ahead of the #Chiefs’ matchup against the #49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to compete in a second-consecutive Super Bowl, and their third in the last four seasons.

After going through the process of preparing for the championship game so many times throughout his career, quarterback Patrick Mahomes understands the importance of dialing in his strategy ahead of Kansas City’s matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

While speaking to the media on Thursday, Mahomes explained the significance of understanding Andy Reid’s entire game plan.

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“We’re pretty locked in this — I mean both weeks, but you’re really locked in this week,” Mahomes said. “You want to make sure you get the whole game plan in, get all your questions asked and answered so next week when you’re reviewing you can just go into the fine details that you might not have the chance to do in the regular game week. I’ll have that mindset all through practice. I’ll make sure the guys have the same mindset.”

The Chiefs will have their hands full against a stacked 49ers team that possesses hall-of-fame talent throughout the roster. Kansas City’s coaching staff and players must have everything organized if they want to defend their Super Bowl title and claim yet another Lombardi Trophy.

Travis Kelce describes the art of Patrick Mahomes’ game to former Chiefs QB Alex Smith

Travis Kelce sat down for an interview with former #Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith and discussed the art of Patrick Mahomes’ game. | from @TheJohnDillon

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The Kansas City Chiefs have become one of the most consistently successful teams in the NFL since quarterback Patrick Mahomes took over under center in 2018.

With two Super Bowl titles to show for their effort, it seems nothing can stop the AFC’s preeminent powerhouse. Though Mahomes is unquestionably the driving force behind the team’s competitiveness week in and week out, he wouldn’t be as effective without the help of his receivers, most notably All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce.

In an interview with former Chiefs signal-caller Alex Smith on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Friday, Kelce caught up with his former teammate and delved into the intricacies of his relationship with Mahomes.

“You kind of have your equal when it comes to improvisation and competitiveness when it comes to Pat at the quarterback position, right?” Smith asked. “Not only do you guys have so much success in rhythm in the passing game, but unbelievable connection off rhythm as you guys extend plays and your guy’s instinctiveness and how it marries is so unique. Can you take the listeners a little bit through. Is it just backyard ball? Is there a method to the madness? That relationship and obviously its growth as well.”

Kelce’s answer was about as in-depth as listeners could hope for it to be and entailed descriptions of both Mahomes’ play style as well as a look into how the pair function together within the Chiefs offense.

“Obviously, you don’t develop these kinds of things without being in practice,” He explained. “Going full speed, every single rep in the offseason and training camps. Those are all instincts that you build for in-game decisions. I feel like, you know, the one thing that Pat (Mahomes) does naturally better than any quarterback or player I’ve ever been around is improvise when the play shuts down. His ability to get out of the pocket and still be able to throw it anywhere on the field. As far as he needs to throw it, as short as he needs to throw it. Just being able to get it into somebody’s hands.

“When I saw that he has that ability, now it’s almost (that) you get more excited when the first play breaks down. They glove us on the first play, they just have our card, they have the right defense, the right coverage. And now, it’s even more fun because when Pat gets out of the pocket, guys tend to move more, it starts to become more of a broken-down play. Coverages don’t stay the same, voids open up in other areas. It’s really just backyard ball, you just go to the open spot and let Pat kind of throw you open.”

He ended his comments on the subject by reiterating the importance of preparation, particularly in the offseason, to ensure that the chemistry built over the course of Kansas City’s 17-game schedule doesn’t wane.

“That’s where you know, just being on the field with him during these OTAs reps, these training camp reps, seeing how he throws the ball to other guys, being like, ‘Oh, alright, that’s the kind of stuff Pat Mahomes can do!’ Now, when I’m in that situation, I’m ready for the football when it’s in the air.”

Kelce may have forged a legendary relationship with Mahomes, but his rapport with Smith was equally deadly for opposing defenses before 2017. Often overlooked in the new era of Chiefs football is the role that Smith played to mentor Kelce and Mahomes, who were rising stars during his time in Kansas City, and one can only imagine the impact that the retired quarterback had on both players’ trajectories.

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Chiefs P Dustin Colquitt providing unique advantage in preparation for Browns

Colquitt will make a huge difference in the Chiefs’ special teams preparation this week.

The Kansas City Chiefs pay a lot of attention to detail when they make roster decisions.

The Chiefs have a great rookie punter in Tommy Townsend, but this week, he won’t be doing all of the punting drills during special teams periods in practice. Instead, the team will rely on former Chiefs starter of 15 years, Dustin Colquitt, who was recently re-signed on the Kansas City practice squad.

Why will Colquitt be taking the majority of the reps over Townsend if he’s not scheduled to play, though? This week the Chiefs will be facing Browns punter Jamie Gillan, who happens to be a left-footed punter. Do you know who else is a lefty punter? Dustin Colquitt.

“It’s really fortunate to be able to get Dustin back,” Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub said. “He’s a Chief, he’s always been a Kansas City Chief and he always will be. It’s good to have him back in the locker room with the guys. He’s just a fun guy to be around and he’s going to help Tommy (Townsend) down the stretch here and he’s helping our football team because of the three teams that are left in the AFC, there are two left-footed punters that are left and he’s giving us those looks during practice, catch a left ball rotation for our returners, you know a live ball which is better than catching off a jugs and he’s been a real asset having him on the practice squad right now.”

Colquitt is giving Mecole Hardman, Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson and other return specialists a specific rotation on the ball that they wouldn’t be getting from Townsend in practice. It’s those small details that can be the difference between a muffed punt, a fair catch and a punt return during the course of a game. Catching some balls with that type of rotation will be a vital piece of preparation for each of those players.

Including Gillan, there are two left-footed punters that remain in the playoffs. Bills punter Corey Bojorquez is also a lefty and if both Kansas City and Buffalo advance and meet in the AFC Championship Game, Colquitt’s leg will come into play again as the special teams unit prepares for that challenge.

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How did Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes prepare for Browns during the bye week?

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes explained how he got a head start on preparations for the Browns during the bye week.

Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is locked in for the playoffs.

This is now his third time that Mahomes has made the NFL’s divisional round of the playoffs as a starter in the past three seasons. He’s taking things up a notch knowing that it’s win or go home time for him and his teammates. Travis Kelce even revealed that Mahomes got a head start on preparation for the Cleveland Browns during the course of the Chiefs’ bye week.

“You can tell that he’s been doing his homework for the past week and a half,” Kelce said of Mahomes on Wednesday. “Just talking to him, him understanding what every single team that we could possibly face is doing defensively. Sure enough, as soon as we found out on Sunday who we were playing, he was right there and had a whole notebook ready for the Cleveland Browns. I think right now we’re in the process of figuring out the gameplan and I think like I said, what Pat does best is communicating exactly what he’s seeing and how he feels we need to attack the defense. All those conversations are extremely relevant toward the game.” 

So how did Mahomes create a whole notebook worth of notes and begin preparing for the Browns prior to knowing they’d be the divisional round opponent for Kansas City? It was all part of his bye week process.

“Yeah, I mean, right when the bye week started and we knew who seeds were for the 7, 6, 5, 4 — all those seeds that we could possibly play — I took a day where I watched about four or five games of each team,” Mahomes explained. “Just trying to get a general feel of what the defense is presenting and what offenses are doing to try and attack them, from different teams and different offenses. So I had a days worth of film on the Browns, so whenever we found that out I was able to look back at that and look at my notes and try to see how it presents to us.” 

Many expected the Chiefs to place greater emphasis during the bye week on the three teams they hadn’t yet played this season. One of those teams, of course, was Cleveland. However, the Browns and Chiefs did share four common opponents this season — The Ravens, Raiders, Texans and Jets. Mahomes revealed that some of those opponents were part of his film study. He also revealed the types of things that he was looking for in the film.

“They definitely were,” Mahomes said. “You see those different offenses and they do a lot of similar things that we do. Then I try to look at offenses like the Texans and stuff like that, that do a lot of similar types of stuff that we do as well as Philly and all these other teams. If you try to take away from the formations that they’re in that are similar to ours, even though we do different things out of those formations, you can kind of see where their defense is at and how they’re combatting that. Then you know they’re going to make adjustments and we’re going to have to be able to make adjustments during the game.”

While Mahomes did get a bit of a head start on his preparation, this is really nothing new or different from what he’s been doing all season long. He claims the only thing that changes this week for the team in terms of their preparation is their intensity.

“I think you just take your intensity up a level,” Mahomes said. “I mean it’s still the same preparation, you just maybe try to dive deeper into the film study, dive deeper into the breakdowns and the different ways you can go out there and have success against a defense. But just to take it to another level is the biggest thing.”

During the ensuing week of practice, they’ll put that raised intensity level to the test as they continue to work on ways to attack the Browns’ defense.

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Chiefs return to practice, begin playoff preparation today

The Kansas City Chiefs are back in the building beginning their divisional playoff preparation.

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t intend to spend too much time away from football on their bye week. They had virtual team meetings on Monday and Tuesday, but today they return to practice for the first time ahead of the divisional round of the playoffs.

Members of the coaching staff like Joe Bleymaier, Alex Whittingham and Terry Bradden have been working on the advance scouting, checking out the four possible opponents that the Chiefs could possibly face in the divisional round. Kansas City already faced the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year, so they’ll turn their attention to the three other possible opponents.

“It’s a strong field out there in the AFC, and so we look forward to that challenge,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said on Monday. “Whatever one of the four teams that it’s kind of narrowed down to—we play the last seed that is seeded in the AFC, so there are about four teams there that we would need to be ready for. We’ve already kind of started that process. We had an idea of that going into this week so we had a little bit of a jump start on it, but we’ll go ahead and prepare ourselves. I mean, you look at the seventh seed in Indianapolis and that’s a good football team, so then you go right down the list and they’re all very productive and very strong.”

The Chiefs won’t know who they’ll face until the conclusion of the games on Saturday and possibly Sunday. They’ll play the lowest remaining seed in the playoffs. That means a lot of the game planning work won’t be in full effect until after this week of practice.

So what will the team get to work on this week if they can’t begin to prepare for a specific opponent? Getting better by any means necessary.

“For us, we have to get better,” Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes said following Week 16 against the Falcons. “Offensively I have to get better to put us in the right position so that we can go out there and execute at a higher level when we get to playoffs when we need to go out there and score.”

The Week 16 game against the Atlanta Falcons left a sour taste in Mahomes’ mouth. He believed that he could have played much better during that game, which is why he went to work right away when he was informed that he wouldn’t be the starter during Week 17.

Mahomes spent a lot of time at the practice facility, watching game film, drawing up plays and doing anything he could to improve. He still went through the week of practice leading up to the Falcons game as if he’d be the starter, despite working on the scout team. He went through his normal pregame routine, even though he didn’t dress for the game. It’s all for the sake of staying focused and making sure that you keep improving with the most important games of the season coming up.

“If you watched us throughout the season, it feels like we always raised up and played better in the big games,” Mahomes said. “I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. Knowing that the next three are going to be big games, I know that I’m going to get the best effort out of every single guy on this team and we’re going to raise our game to be even better. I’m excited for it because I know what this team can do. It can be a special run.”

The foundation has been laid with the Super Bowl victory last year. All of the Chiefs’ goals from this season still lay in front of them and the real “Run It Back” tour begins today.

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