Tracking Patrick Mahomes: Week 1 vs. the L.A. Chargers

The Patrick Mahomes II era officially kicked off Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers and it couldn’t have gone much better.

Mahomes is now 2-0 as a starting quarterback for the Chiefs and appears to be the quarterback fans have dreamed of. However, it wasn’t a perfect performance.

Throughout the season, we’ll be tracking Patrick Mahomes week by week to see how he specifically fares in this first season. Here’s a closer look at how Mahomes fared in his first start against the L.A. Chargers.

THE GOOD

The Stats

While the first half started sluggishly, Mahomes ended the game going 15-27 for 256 yards and four touchdowns and for a quarterback rating of 127.5. He spread the ball around completing at least one pass to eight different receivers. Those are quarterback stats that should win every time.

Chemistry with Tyreek Hill

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He showed great chemistry with Tyreek Hill, completing seven passes to him for 169 yards and two touchdowns. The Chargers could not stop Hill as he was seemingly wide open on every play and not just because he flew by defenders. He caught passes on quick screens, deep ins, and a shovel pass. The only deep ball Mahomes threw was a 30 yarder to Hill that he went up and made a beautiful play on.

His Legs

Mahomes not only ran the run-pass option to near perfection, he ran the option to perfection. He ran the ball five times for 21 yards including two carries for first down. On the Chiefs third drive, he made a wonderful read faking a pitch to Hill leaving himself a giant hole to get seven yards and a first down. He nearly scored a touchdown in the second half when he held the ball as Kareem Hunt was about to get drilled and ran left to the one-yard line before being yanked back by his facemask.

The runs were the right calls at the right times and Mahomes executed them well and showed he’s not afraid to take a hit. He took some good licks on all his runs but he popped right up and showed the veterans that he’s not some prima donna who can’t get dirty with the big boys.

His Touch Passing

With the 3- yard pass to Hill being the deepest ball Mahomes threw all day, we got to see his other arsenal of throws on full display today. While we didn’t get to see the full deep power of his arm, we did get to see his Randy Johnson fastball multiple times. Sammy Watkins dropped his first one on the Chiefs second drive of the game that would have went for a big gain, but he hauled in a crucial one in the red zone in the second half setting up a Chiefs touchdown.

He showed his ability to make a dime throw with just a flick of the wrist on the Chiefs first touchdown of the game. Mahomes dropped his arm and threw a side-arm dart to Hill running a quick slant. The throw was placed perfectly, leading Hill across the field to on his way to a 58-yard touchdown.

His best throw of the game came in the fourth quarter and it was hauled in by the sure-handed fullback, Anthony Sherman. Sherman came out of the backfield on a wheel route down the boundary line to Mahomes left getting behind the linebacker trying to cover him. Mahomes placed a perfect touch pass just over the fingertips of the defender, dropping it in Sherman’s hands in stride. We all know Mahomes can throw it through a brick wall and across the state, but now we know he has the touch to drop it in a tight window like he walked up and handed it to the receiver.

THE BAD

Chemistry With Travis Kelce

While the chemistry between Mahomes and Hill was electric, the chemistry between Mahomes and Travis Kelce was non-existent. Kelce caught a six-yard pass on the first drive of the game and then didn’t show up in the stat line again. Mahomes wasn’t ignoring Kelce as he targeted him five more times in the game, but they just never seemed to be on the same page.

Kelce dropped one pass in the second half that hit him right in his hands while the other passes just didn’t seem there. Without knowing the play calls it seems as either Kelce wasn’t ready for the pass or didn’t think he could make the play. Kelce seemed frustrated and complaining to refs looking for penalties to be thrown.

I don’t think it’s anything to worry about long-term, but for the second best tight end in the league to only have one catch for six yards isn’t good. I never want Mahomes to force it just to get Kelce numbers, but it’s hard to believe he wasn’t open more times.

Wrong Decisions

Mahomes played a great game, but he was not perfect as he had two poor decisions near the end of the first half. The first came when he tried to force a ball to Chris Conley who was blanketed by coverage. Mahomes double clutched and stared down Conley leading to the defender breaking on the ball and nearly picking it off. The ball tipped in the air and fell into the hands Damien Williams for a lucky first down for the Chiefs, but was called back on a holding penalty. The decision didn’t cost the Chiefs, but it was a throw he needs to know not to make.

The next bad decision came on the next play when with only 13 seconds left in the half Mahomes showed poor clock management. He took the snap and looked but nobody was open and as the pocket began to collapse he escaped to the right where he kept his eyes downfield looking to make a play.

While I will normally not have any issue with keeping a play alive, he ended up taking 11 seconds of the 13-second clock before throwing the ball away. Had he thrown the ball away sooner the team could have had more time to get into field goal range rather than hoping for the end of half hail mary that was knocked down.

THE FUTURE

After one game Mahomes is on pace for 4,096 yards, 64 touchdowns and zero interceptions on 240 completions. While nobody expects him to throw for four touchdowns a game, it is a great start to what the future could be. He clearly is not the turnover machine his detractors make him out to be, which makes sense since he was never that in college either.

The offense put up 30 points in a game they never seemed to be cruising on all cylinders. If Mahomes can have those stats and put up 30 points against a solid defense, it is safe to say the sky is the limit as the offense develops and comes together.

One game is hard to use as a judgment for the season, but Chiefs Kingdom could not have asked for a finer start of the Mahomes Era. How he progress through this season is the biggest story in Kansas City sports, and I’ll be tracking here at Arrowhead Addict all season long. Buckle your seat belts because this is going to be an amazing ride.