KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There was a play in the first half of the Chiefs' 43-16 win Sunday in Denver when Patrick Mahomes tried to throw the football in the flats to new running back Le'Veon Bell.
But Bell wasn't looking, so Mahomes took the only other option: a sack by the Broncos' Bradley Chubb.
"There might have been a time where he would've thrown it and it hits a guy in the side when he's not looking," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said.
Mahomes agrees.
"Young Patrick would've probably tried to force it and thrown a ball and maybe made a bad interception or something like that," he said.
"Young Patrick" was 23 when he took over the starting quarterback job in Kansas City. He threw for 50 touchdowns that year against 12 interceptions.
Fast forward two seasons, and "old Patrick," now 25, isn't close to being on pace for another 50 TDs with his 16 TD passes through seven games, but he's only thrown one interception and that was late in the game against the Raiders when the Chiefs needed to take chances.
"Now, seeing the way the defense is playing and knowing that it's not there, either taking the sack or not completing the pass (is an option)," Mahomes said. "And throwing it away where it's not going to be intercept-able."
Mahomes did just that Sunday. He absorbed three sacks, had eight incompletions and was 0-8 on third down.
But he didn't turn the ball over in the snow, managed one touchdown pass and his team still won by 26 points.
"He might not have done that when he was younger," Reid said.
Again, "younger" was an MVP season just two years ago, but point taken.
"It's not always going to be 400 passing yards or 200 rushing yards, or whatever it is," Mahomes said. "It's going to be finding ways to win, and this team is doing a great job of doing that."
Says wise, old Patrick.
