Let’s pump the brakes here on all this “WHAT THE HECK IS ANDY REID DOING HAVING PATRICK MAHOMES RUN A QUARTERBACK SNEAK” business.
Unfortunately — and also horrifyingly — injuries happen a lot in the NFL. Mahomes, as fans pointed out, came into the game already hobbled by an ankle injury. But that may not be connected to a quarterback — one who is 230 pounds, for what it’s worth — leaping with a football into a pile of 300-pounders and emerging with a knee injury.
“It was a freak thing, sometimes it happens,” Reid told reporters after the game, via Pro Football Talk. And that’s exactly it. You could describe any play in the NFL that way.
Here are some folks who agree:
And some who don’t:
In fact, it was a smart call by Reid on a 4th-and-1 in Broncos territory and a good bet against the struggling Joe Flacco. Back in 2017, ESPN The Magazine pointed out that the QB sneak had gone down in usage, but that when teams ran it, the conversation rates were better than other plays. From 2001 to 2016, the New England Patriots ran it the most — not a surprise, is it? — and coverted a first down 90.6 percent of the time!
Can you remember a time Brady was injured on one of those plays? Nope. If Brady went down with that kind of injury on a sneak, would everyone be calling for Bill Belichick’s head? Of course not. But it’s the same situation and I’d argue Brady is just as valuable as the reigning MVP who went down on Thursday night.
So let’s chalk it up to bad injury luck and not terrible coaching.
