KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of the first “how’d he do that” moments of Patrick Mahomes’ career came during his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs’ starter on Monday Night Football in Denver.
Scrambling to his left and approaching the sideline with former Broncos pass-rush specialist Von Miller nipping at his heels, Mahomes switched the ball to his left hand and lobbed a pass to Tyreek Hill for a first down en route to a comeback win.
Mahomes may have topped himself with respect to ridiculous touchdown throws at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday early in the second quarter.
“It’s the play after the play, that I like to call it, kind of the extended play, that makes Pat Mahomes the best quarterback in the National Football League,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “Even when you think you’ve got us, we’ve still got 1-5 back there making plays.”
This time, Mahomes was flushed from the pocket to the right and three Denver defenders were converging, including safety Justin Simmons, who left Jerick McKinnon to try and prevent a first down.
After stepping out of an attempted ankle tackle by D.J. Jones, and with his eyes toward the sideline not downfield, Mahomes heaved the ball over Simmons’ head with a half-underhanded shot put-like motion, and McKinnon found himself all alone to dash 56 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.
NO LOOK TOSS??? @PatrickMahomes who are you?!?#ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/J4jfxgn04K
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 11, 2022
“I wasn’t sure, but that’s just Pat being Pat,” McKinnon said. “He’s incredible at making plays like that. Anytime he gets outside the pocket, he does a great job of keeping his eyes downfield. Once I saw them suck up on the QB scramble, I just tried to get downfield, and he made an incredible play to get it out there.”
McKinnon credited tight end Noah Gray for his block in the secondary, which sprung him along the sideline and ultimately into the end zone.
Obviously, that's not how the play was drawn up.
“I was committed to running, then I saw I was going to get hit like I did last week in Cincinnati, so I just kind of flicked it,” said Mahomes, who finished 28 of 42 with three touchdowns and three interceptions. “I was just trying to get it to him whatever way possible. I kind of just flicked it, and he made a great play after. Some guys made blocks downfield, and he scored a touchdown.”
Kansas City, which can extend its AFC West record for consecutive division titles to seven straight with a win and a Los Angeles Chargers loss, led 13-0 after that Mahomes-to-McKinnon TD toss — the first of two in the game — and went on to prevail 34-28.
“I was in a position to block, so all I could think of was, ‘Man, let me get this last block, so Jet can get in the end zone,’” Kelce said. “But that kind of stuff, I don’t want to say it doesn’t amaze me, but at this point, it’s almost expected that he’s going to do something magical out there.”
The Chiefs have now won 14 straight games against the Broncos. Denver’s last win in the rivalry came in September 2015 when Mahomes was a sophomore at Texas Tech.
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