Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes didn’t play his finest game in the team’s Week 14 win against the Denver Broncos.
Buy Chiefs TicketsHis three interceptions were the most in a single game since Week 14 of the 2020 NFL season when he threw three interceptions against the Miami Dolphins. Two of the turnovers directly led to points for the Broncos when they hadn’t scored any points prior.
“He’ll see the tape,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said following the game. “He knew where he goofed.”
In fact, Mahomes knew exactly where he went wrong with each of the interceptions. He even had some thoughts on how to correct each of them without having looked thoroughly at the tape.
“Just three bad decisions,” Mahomes told reporters. “If you look at them — the first one I could have probably taken the easy throw on the outside and I tried to force it to (Travis) Kelce. The second one, I was really just trying to burn it. I mean, (Patrick Surtain II) made a hell of a play, I was trying to throw it away at someone’s feet. The third one was just bad just because of the situation. We’re in field goal range, especially here at altitude. No one was open, just throw the ball away and let Harrison (Butker) end the game.”
Appreciate my team man! Picked me up today! #ChiefsKingdom
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) December 12, 2022
Had Mahomes made some different decisions with the football, perhaps the score wouldn’t have been quite so close. While all the interceptions were unique his biggest takeaway from it was simply, not forcing the football when a play isn’t there. It’s something easy to say, but when in the heat of the moment in a game, it’s tough. It’s in Mahomes’ nature to be aggressive with the football, but sometimes that aggression comes at a price.
Even making those poor decisions at the moment, the message on the sideline from his coaches and teammates was consistent. They all wanted him to keep firing and throwing the football because they know it was only a matter of time before he makes some patented “Mahomes Magic” happen.
“He tells me to keep throwing it, keep slinging it,” Mahomes said of Chiefs HC Andy Reid. “He doesn’t want me to lose who I am. I promise you, I know when I’m messing up. When I go to the sideline, I’m hot. Those coaches come to me and they know that I know, but they still say what I can get better at. I just can’t put our team in that situation. Luckily we got the win, but you don’t win a lot of games when you have three interceptions.”
Funny enough, Mahomes now has a winning record in games where he has thrown three interceptions. The aforementioned game against the Dolphins was a 33-27 win for Kansas City. The lone loss for Mahomes when throwing three interceptions came in the 2018 “Monday Night Football” tilt with the Los Angeles Rams, which the Chiefs lost 54-51.
In this particular win in Week 14, Mahomes gave his teammates in every phase of the game a ton of credit. When he wasn’t playing his best, they came through with critical plays to help them get back on track.
“Luckily for me, the rest of the team stepped up,” Mahomes said. “The defense stepped up and made a lot of stops in critical moments when we were put in some bad situations. I thought special teams even (played well), they made their field goals. Tommy (Townsend) flipped the field a couple of great times for us. And the guys around me stepped up and made some plays happen.”
The key now is figuring out how everyone can all have their finest game at the same time. They’ll certainly need it as the margin for error gets slimmer in the playoffs.
