Adam Teicher, ESPN staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes has been forced this season to adapt to circumstances he didn’t always have to face early in his career, especially when facing pressure from opposing pass rushers.
“It’s part of football,” Mahomes said matter-of-factly. “We played a lot of good defense this year. That’s a bad thing when you win a Super Bowl. You guys played the best schedule and we put out a lot of good defensive ends and defensive linemen.”
The Kansas City Chiefs have played tough schedules before, but this season has been their worst at protecting Mahomes, who has been sacked 13 times in his past three games and three times in his past six games. Fired 23 times.
He has been sacked 35 times in 13 games this season, more than any other season in his career. His previous highest number of goals in a single season was 28 goals. That’s not to say opponents put an emphasis on pressuring Mahomes. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, his dropback percentage is 24.4 percent, the fifth-lowest rate in the league.
The Chiefs have started three different players at left tackle this season. The first two rookies, Kingsley Sumataya and Wanya Morris, had very disappointing performances and were benched.
Last week against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Chiefs hired veteran DJ Humphries, who was signed as a free agent two weeks ago. But he didn’t improve, giving up eight pressures on 40 pass-blocking attempts, according to Next Gen Stats. The 20% pressure rate is the second-highest pressure rate a Chiefs left tackle has had in a game this season.
The need for improvement is even more pressing heading into Sunday’s game against the Browns in Cleveland (1 p.m. ET, CBS). Their main pass rusher is Myles Garrett, who ranks second in the league with 11 sacks.
“You’ve got to give him a different look,” Mahomes said. “You can’t have him rushing over again and again. He won Defensive Player of the Year for a reason. He’s going to win a lot of these games. So we’re going to bring changes to him. We’re going to bring different things to him, Hopefully he can keep his head above water, but eventually, he’ll make the game happen.
“When he starts winning reps or winning certain games, you can’t make a negative play and get away from the football, even if that’s throwing it away and living to play another game.”
Mahomes said he should take some responsibility for his high sack total, saying he held the ball too long on some plays. He cited his first sack against the Chargers, which came on third down on the first drive of the game and led to a Chiefs field goal.
“Sometimes I get greedy and try to shoot downfield,” he said. “Look at the sacks early on that last game. Down in the first third. I probably [should] just hit [Travis Kelce] He may or may not get the first down, but I try to really catch it and I rush to the pocket and try to make a play and hit the sack. “
Mahomes turned to the pass rush against the Chargers and made it work. When he threw the ball in 2.5 seconds, he completed 17 of 19 passes, or about 90 percent, according to Next Gen Stats. He made 7 of 18 shots when the clock lasted longer than 2.5 seconds.
Mahomes is throwing passes faster this season than at any time in his career, a sign that he’s adapting to his new surroundings. When asked whether Mahomes could adapt to that approach early in his career, coach Andy Reid said he wasn’t sure, saying: “We’re not asking him to do a lot of that.”
Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy added, “It might be more difficult for him as a young, up-and-coming player who wants to throw 75 touchdown passes a year and have 1 million. explosive force.” [plays].
“He’s definitely maturing and growing as a quarterback. His mentality hasn’t changed. Don’t get it twisted. He’s still trying to get downfield. But if they’re not going to give him that growth as a quarterback, don’t not get it done. 30 interceptions, he’s done a great job with that.”
The Chiefs struggled offensively last season as well, although the issues were different. At the time, the Chiefs had few reliable receivers and led the league in pass breakups.
Mahomes acknowledged his frustration after the season. He said he sees more promise this season than last year, when the Chiefs overcame problems to win their second straight Super Bowl.
This time around, whether the Chiefs can pull off a third straight title will likely depend on whether he can continue to handle the pressure.
“We’ve got to be able to make some explosive plays,” Mahomes said. “Once you do that, everything else opens up.” It seems we’re stuck on the drive [and] In some small things, I’ve been saying this all year, but it’s pretty close. I firmly believe we are very close now, much closer than we were last year.
“It’s just about finding a way to prove it on the football field on game day. Then we can go into the playoffs with some momentum.”
