KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A mind-meld between Chiefs coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes was engaged from their first meeting, before the NFL draft in 2017. And what the offensive mastermind and his revolutionary disciple have conjured together since could leave you wondering where one imagination ends and the other begins.
Or even if they're now, say, completing each other's sentences.
"It's funny you say that," Reid said with a chuckle Monday in a conversation with The Star. "He knows me better; I know him better. He can about call the play before I call it."
More specifically, as they emerged from a quarterback meeting the previous Friday, Reid began to say something to Mahomes that he recalled wasn't even related to football.
Just then, Mahomes uttered the very words for which Reid was reaching.
"Exactly the same," said Reid, re-enacting the moment with a playful recoil and turn of the head. "I go, 'Wait a minute.' "
Which happens to be the right term to provide anyone shallow enough to think the reduction in Mahomes' statistical output this season is an indication of some sort of regression.
Wait a minute: Mahomes is a better quarterback in virtually every way, and no one understands the substance and nuances and alignment of that better than Reid.
Yes, he went from throwing for 5,097 yards and 50 touchdowns in 2018 to throwing for 4,031 and 26 in 2019.
But let's step back and put that in context, starting with the text Reid sent Mahomes after the Chiefs beat the Chargers, 31-21, in the regular-season finale last Sunday.
"I just go, 'For you to be able to have back-to-back seasons like you have, I mean, that's a sign of being a tremendous football player,' " Reid remembered writing to Mahomes. "'Because these great defensive minds have had a whole offseason to study you.
" 'It's one thing when you're fast onto the picture, and guys are scrambling to put a game-plan together. (But) this is now. You've been tested here with time and effort by these great minds (trying) to stop you. And you've answered that, right?' "
In fact, there are ample other answers to any questions the diminished numbers and even stylistic tweaks might evoke.
First, the statistical baseline was fundamentally altered when Mahomes missed two and a half games with a mangled knee (OK, "dislocated kneecap") that could have had season-ending implications. He also was impaired much of the first half of the season with ankle issues, at times affecting the range and scope of plays Reid called.
Beyond that, his injury-riddled offensive line was in flux much of the season. And the broader capacity of the offense at times was hampered by injuries to star receiver Tyreek Hill (out four games) and starting running back Damien Williams (five games), among others.
Plenty more goes into this blender, of course, including the notion of playing complementary football given the vast improvement of a defense that has given up a total of 69 points in the Chiefs' current six-game winning streak.
As the team has gone from allowing 26.3 points a game last season (24th in the NFL) to 19.3 this season (seventh), the scoring has gone from an NFL-best 35.3 to 28.2 (fifth).
At least in a certain sense, that's by design.
"Absolutely," Reid said. "As we've gone on, that's taken place."
A more complete team makes for a better team, of course, but perhaps isn't as conducive to the gaudy stats Mahomes amassed in his first full season as a starter. In three of the last five games, for instance, the Chiefs basically were just draining clock in the second half.
Not surprisingly, Reid and Mahomes seem in sync on that.
"I realized this year that it's just better to try to find ways to win than putting up all these numbers and (trying to) win that way," Mahomes said Sunday before being asked to elaborate Monday. "I think it's just a different variety of ways of winning is the biggest thing this year. We've won games obviously putting up points and doing those different things this year. But we've also won games when the defense has stepped up and controlled the games for us.
"For us, it's about when you get to the playoffs not every game is the same. And we've found ways to win in different ways."
But most distinctly, in all the ways that matter most to Reid, Mahomes has done nothing but grow.
"Well, he is better," the ever-understated Reid said, smiling.
Here's how:
"His decision-making is a lot better," said Reid, who credited Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka with helping Mahomes. "Knowing the offense, getting in and out of the huddle, there's no delays. There's nothing. I mean, he just gets up and goes. Complete control of it.
"Understands the (pass) protections 100 times better and knows how to move in the pocket better. You see him stepping up now and doing all that. That's full trust in knowing what your guys are doing up front.
"His arm's the same, but teams are playing us different. They're playing us to (defend) the shot plays."
With that, Mahomes' inherently uncanny ability to "know where everybody is" and keep everybody involved in the game has been sharpened all the more, Reid said.
"And you're still looking at a guy who doesn't turn the ball over; that's not his deal," said Reid, whose protege threw five interceptions (in 484 attempts) this season after throwing 12 (in 580 attempts) a year ago. "He's utilizing his checkdowns better."
Accordingly, Mahomes has become more patient and less inclined to force plays even while retaining his dynamism and on scan to pounce.
Case in point: To offset the deep threat of Hill, the Chargers last week aligned almost every play with a single safety in the middle, Reid said, "and playing so deep."
With one exception, Reid said, that resulted in a 47-yard pass to Hill that set up the game-clinching touchdown.
"If you look at that, they tried one snap of Cover 2," Reid said, smiling. "And (Mahomes) destroyed it."
The play, incidentally, was one Mahomes had been nagging him to run: "I probably should have (gone) to that sooner," Reid said after the game. "He was feeling that one."
All of which helps explain why Reid feels the same way about Mahomes as he did from the start. Only more so from seeing what he imagined turn into a reality, from their relationship to Mahomes' general grasp to the sort of leadership that affects everyone around.
"He came in as a great leader, right from the get-go, but that's time-tested, too," said Reid, noting Mahomes had been unchanged by earning NFL MVP honors in 2018. "So it's now a show. This is what he is and who he is."
And an affirmation of who they are together _ completing each other, in some ways.
