Kansas City Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka isn’t listening to talk of regression for his offense or star QB Patrick Mahomes.
History might tell us one thing, but Kafka isn’t ready to put limits on what the Chiefs offense will be able to do in 2019. Some of that probably has to do with the fact that he’s got the league’s reigning MVP as his starting QB, but they’ve also got a job to do, and Kafka isn’t willing to sell everyone’s hard work short.
“We are not going to put a ceiling on the offense at this point,” Kafka said after Tuesday’s practice. “We want to just keep on rolling, keep on executing at this point, working towards doing our job the right way, pushing the tempo, and forcing the defense into conflict.”
Some of the offseason has been spent calibrating Mahomes, but don’t confuse that for the Chiefs attempting to reign him in. Kafka wants him to remain aggressive, improvising and doing what he’s best at. That means working on no-look passes and even behind-the-back throws in practice. The coaches also want to ensure he’s making the best possible decisions with the football.
“We never want to take away from that aggressive mentality, there are going to be things like that,” Kafka said. “I think he is a smart enough player to know his limits, which is why we go out here and practice him, test him out and see what we can get away with. We are not going to be afraid to shoot a shot into a tighter window that we maybe wouldn’t do in a game, but that is where you learn and take those things in. In the game, we expect him to make the right decision with the football.”
While the team does want Mahomes making the right decision with the football, they’re simultaneously unwilling to take the special things that he does for granted. They know that the type of ability that Mahomes has doesn’t come around too often, so they’re not going to put arbitrary limits on what he can do or what this offense is capable of achieving.
