I know I'll get picked to pieces on this but just some thoughts on the past few years..
Year 1 for Mahomes starting: Guy is unreal, plays fancy free without a care in the world. Throws over 5000 yards and on 3rd and short he is dropping back throwing 50 plus yard passes. Sets the NFL on fire and with the WORST defense in modern football history we make it to the AFC championship game and besides Dee Ford we win the superbowl. He plays loose even with a historically bad D we do just fine because for that one year we have perhaps one of the best years EVER by any quarterback that has ever played any year. I get he may not be first but a top 5 all time year.
Year 2 you see him get a bit more conservative and not throwing it around as much as he does year 1 but still looks like 90% of year one. He did cut down on turnovers which was good but still not quite as good overall as year 1. The defense takes a step up and plays decent. Even 90% Mahomes (of year 1) with a decent defense we win the superbowl. early signs that year was he was starting to become too conservative.
Year 3 Now we are seeing him dump the ball off all the time and not taking nearly as many shots as he did year 1 ( seemed to be cut by 60% or more) We have games that year that are way to close for comfort ( falcons game as one example) and we don't cover the spread in most games ( not that it matters but means we are just squeaking things out. One of the only games that season where Mahomes looks anything like year 1 was the Buffalo game in the playoffs and he looked like he was playing fancy free like year 1. Then in the superbowl ( I get our O line vs our D line) but he started dropping his eye quickly and not being the old Patrick we know. Like the pressure was just too much for him. But you could tell that the entire year he was off compared with year 1 and year 2.
Year 4 Look I love what he has done for us as a fan base and I'll never forget it but something is way off with Mahomes. He is starting to look like Alex Smith, he isn't keeping his eyes down the field anymore, he looks jittery, he looks shaken, etc etc. He looks like a AVERAGE QB in football. I know you can make the argument that "look at his yards" or "look at his TD's" but I could also argue "look at his turnovers" but its more of a eye test.
He does not look ANYTHING like the year 1 and year 2 QB, he just looks average. Its like his field vision and decision making has completely gone. I think at best we win 9 games but 8 games is probably realistic.
*excuses* People say he is pressing because our defense is so bad but in year 1 our defense we historically awful as well. Even with a bad defense we should of won the superbowl and it was our best team ( because of how he played) Good or bad defense if Mahomes played like he did year 1 we win virtually every game.
Teams are playing us differently, worst excuse ever, look at the QB's that EVERYONE knows throws bombs so teams play them deep like they do the chiefs..... Guess what? they continue to throw the ball deep and continue to win. Examples the Raiders, they throw deep , everyone knows it and they play it that way but they still throw deep all the time and still make the throws. Tom Brady everyone knows throws deep and he continues to and it works. Its like using that as a excuse makes it ok. Just go back to how you were in his first year, throw it around and have fun. This isn't working.
Bottom line is our team isn't great but we have enough players on offense that we can be historically great again but it all hinges on Mahomes. If he gets back to playing like he did then we are fine but if he continues to play average this team is a .500 team at best. Mahomes is the great deodorant in the NFL. but thinking of madden its like Year 1 he was a 100, year 2 he was a 95, year 3 a 85 and now he is a 75. If we now have a average QB then we are cooked boys.
Something is wrong, its one or all of these but its the money, new child, wife, crazy brother or other things but he isn't remotely the same player he once was. No matter how bad our defense plays if we get fancy free Mahomes then we win if we continue to get this version of mahomes then its over...
We have lots of problems and I get we need better or new coaches, we need better players, we need better schemes but at the end of the day we need a better Mahomes. [Reply]
I've notice how good they have been on third down most games. How many drives has Mahomes hit a key third down pass or scrambled for a first down? Despite the crappy tackles, Mahomes just usually gets it done. He didn't against Buffalo or Tennessee because the offensive line woes were too much to overcome. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TEX:
Fix the OL and you fix Mahomes. Give him an actual RB threat + a fixed OL and it's special again.
Mahomes was the best QB in the league from 2018-2020. We didn't have a great OL any of those years. Especially the interior OL. The tackles were better that's true. However, Schwartz missed half of the season last year. This team did fine up until the SB. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TEX:
Fix the OL and you fix Mahomes. Give him an actual RB threat + a fixed OL and it's special again.
The fix on the OL is really the Tackle position. I think Brown could be a damn good RT, but that's not gonna happen. I'm not sure Niang has what it takes to play LT, so I think we need to focus mightily on getting a new LT and hope like hell that Niang can improve enough to be a serviceable RT.
As far as RB, if we just had Damien Williams level production, durability and capability, we'd be in tall cotton with that position. That's not shooting for the Stars. That's just finding the right fit....and CEH just ain't that guy, imo. [Reply]
All I have noticed is Mahomes has this "Oh Crap" look on his face a lot of the time, because he has no time in the pocket. I can't blame him for that part. He's been abused this year. It's pretty disappointing that after they put so much time into revamping the line, that this is the result. I assumed they had that fixed. [Reply]
Originally Posted by gblowfish:
Two of the OL guys that Bruce Valanche brought in haven't even sniffed the field. The guy from the Rams and the guy from the Bears.
On that note, any word on Long? Is he still in broke dick mode? [Reply]
Originally Posted by ChiTown:
The fix on the OL is really the Tackle position. I think Brown could be a damn good RT, but that's not gonna happen. I'm not sure Niang has what it takes to play LT, so I think we need to focus mightily on getting a new LT and hope like hell that Niang can improve enough to be a serviceable RT.
As far as RB, if we just had Damien Williams level production, durability and capability, we'd be in tall cotton with that position. That's not shooting for the Stars. That's just finding the right fit....and CEH just ain't that guy, imo.
That's exactly the case. On both counts. Orlando Brown is terrible. Absolutely terrible and past protection. And none of our running backs are any kind of a threat. [Reply]
It's a mix of all those things. They had a stat on ESPN earlier that the Chiefs have given up the most QB pressures in the league. Our line hasn't looked good.
There is some truth though that sometimes Mahomes gets himself into pressure by taking drops that are too deep. Then there are other times where we just get mauled up front and it doesn't matter.
But that's the reason these defenses are playing everyone deep. There were plays yesterday where Tennessee was playing their LBs 8 to 10 yards off the ball, and they'd drop back. Teams are flat out saying we aren't going to let you beat us deep at all costs. Which is fine, but you should be gashing that defense with runs and short passes. They're basically giving you free yards and we can't even take those. We're losing the battle up front even though it's 5 on 4, or even 5 on 3 sometimes. Guys don't execute. WRs drop balls, Mahomes slinging it at guys' feet. It's just ugly all around. [Reply]
Mahomes is missing one of his biggest previous assets... the focused/locked-in/offensive brilliance of Andy Reid that has been missing since Britt Reid's car crash.
The Chiefs are 3-5 since Britt Reid's car crash, including three blow out losses and in two of those losses the Chiefs failed to score a TD.
As great as Mahomes is, like any QB he needs the support of a strong coaching staff and he had that for his first three seasons as the starter with Andy Reid.