Sunday’s Week 4 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Detriot Lions will mark an NFL first for quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
With 20 NFL games under his belt, Mahomes is off to the greatest statistical start by a quarterback in the history of the league. This week, Mahomes will have a chance to build on his impressive start to his career and may have an extra advantage going into it.
As pointed out by Peter Schrager of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football,” Mahomes has yet to play in a dome during the regular season. Mahomes did play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta during the preseason in 2018 and he threw a 69-yard bomb to Tyreek Hill.
The last time he played a full game in a dome was in 2016, during his final college football game. Against Baylor at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Mahomes threw for 586 yards and six touchdowns.
Generally speaking, when you have a quarterback that plays outdoors going to an indoor stadium, he will complete more passes, have more yards per attempt and fewer attempts per touchdown pass. As we all know, Mahomes isn’t exactly your average quarterback and the Chiefs basically have a track team of athletes catching the ball from him. Could Mahomes have a better-than-usual performance against the Lions on Sunday because they’re playing in a dome? It’s probable, especially if the Chiefs continue to lean on the passing game; they have 41 more pass attempts than rushing attempts on the season.
The Lions have been off to an impressive start defending the pass but they could be without star cornerback Darius Slay as he deals with a hamstring injury. That could make their defensive secondary vulnerable, and it could help make for an impressive showing through the air from Kansas City.
