Patrick Mahomes has a magical right arm. We found out Monday night that he has some magic his left arm as well.
With the Chiefs facing a 3rd-and-5 near midfield, the Broncos flushed Mahomes out of the pocket. He spotted a wide-open Tyreek Hill running with him, but with Von Miller on his heels, Mahomes couldn’t get the throw off with his right, so he improvised…
Mahomes made sure that play wasn’t wasted. He converted a 2nd-and-30 with two equally impressive throws outside of the pocket before Kareem Hunt finished off the drive with the game-winning touchdown run.
This wasn’t Mahomes’ best game. At least statistically. But it was, by far, his most impressive. He was pressured all night but continued to make plays to keep the Chiefs in the game.
Through the first three weeks, Mahomes’ success was mostly the product of Andy Reid’s inventive scheme and the Chiefs’ deep stable of weapons. Not tonight. The Broncos did a good job of taking those weapons away, and Mahomes proved his improvisation skills aren’t a bad Plan B. According to the ESPN broadcast, he set an NF L record for passing yards from outside of the pocket.
Mahomes is far from a finished product. He’s not overly accurate. He’ll miss a read here and there. But with that arm and imagination, he is capable of making plays out of nothing. Not just plays … big plays.
With a quarterback like Mahomes behind center, the defense can do everything right and still get beat. Denver learned that on Monday night.