Only two weeks have passed and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is already on fire. Some call him the Michael Jordan of the NFL while others compare him to fellow genius, Steph Curry.
Mahomes was just named AFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday following his four-touchdown performance in last Sunday’s victory over the Oakland Raiders, and that’s well deserved. He was phenomenal.
Let’s rewind to this weekend and detail what happened.
Jon Gruden actually coached the first quarter quite well, as the Oakland defense put pressure on Mahomes and the offense scored 10 points right away in the first quarter. They surprised everybody and Derek Carr’s accuracy helped once again get the lead against the Chiefs in California.
This game was a much-anticipated event among the fans and the initial domination of the Oakland Raiders surprised many people. Finally, it appeared someone studied enough film to stop Patrick Mahomes.
Then, the second quarter happened.
Patrick Mahomes put on his superhero cape and shredded the Raiders for 15 minutes straight. In the second quarter alone, Mahomes was 12-for-17 passing for 278 yards and four touchdowns, all of which came from outside the red zone. The defense did a good job holding on during the second half and the Chiefs had their second victory in hand, 28-10.
In the end, he completed 30 of 44 passes for 443 yards against Oakland, marking his second-highest yardage total in a single game. Mahomes also posted a 131.2 passer rating in the contest – the third-highest mark of his career – and is the only quarterback in the league to tally a rating of 131.0 or higher in both games so far this season.
“It’s the [biggest] fun rush I’ve had in my life, man,” tight end Travis Kelce said after the Chiefs beat the Oakland Raiders, 28-10. “And that’s what you want every single week, is to come out and to feel unstoppable. We did in that moment.”
That is also the sixth time Mahomes threw for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns, reaching that mark in just 19th career game and passing Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Dan Marino for the most such outings through a player’s first 40 games.
Many people mentioned the regression phenomenon during the offseason. Others talked about the Madden curse. Well, so far it has applied to Patrick Mahomes, who may be on his way to obtaining a second consecutive MVP title. (But let’s slow down, it is just the second game, after all!)
Kansas City returns to action this Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens and this game will be a much harder challenge. Lamar Jackson has improved a lot during the offseason and the Baltimore Ravens’ secondary is not bad. Does Earl Thomas ring a bell?
To sum it up, it was truly an MVP performance from a young player who already is one. Chiefs Kingdom must be excited to feel that nothing is out of reach until Mahomes is their quarterback. He has already set the bar so high, performing like legends everybody admires, such as Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Dan Marino or Aaron Rodgers.
And the craziest thing is that, despite his young age, Mahomes is focused and even asked Mecole Hardman to speed up during Sunday’s game. He told Hardman just to run his route as fast as he could, and that would take care of things. After that, Hardman used his speed to catch a 42-yard touchdown pass … just like that.
Mahomes is rewriting the NFL standards.
