Tracking Patrick Mahomes: Week 2 vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers
By Britt Zank
The Kansas City Chiefs have been trying to find an answer to how to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. The answer was revealed to be Patrick Mahomes II.
Last week, in my efforts to track Patrick Mahomes’ performance throughout the season, I noticed in his start against the L.A. Chargers that Mahomes played a great game but wasn’t perfect.
Well, this week he was as close to perfect as you can get and not be perfect. A perfect quarterback rating is 158.3, Mahomes finished the Steeler victory with a rating of 154.8.
This is week two of my tracking of Mahomes first season as a starter, and it may be the most fun one I do all year. Let’s dive into it.
THE GOOD
The Stats
More from Arrowhead Addict
- Former Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las Vegas
- Chiefs Kingdom: Get ready to break contract news
- Chiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in Germany
- Podcast: Breaking down the Chiefs biggest roster battles
- KC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator
When you see that Mahomes finished just 3.5 points away from a perfect quarterback rating, you know he had a great night on the stat sheet. Mahomes finished the game 23-28 for 326 yards and six touchdowns. He did a solid job of spreading the ball around, completing passes to seven different receivers including four different wide receivers. Mahomes was so hot on Sunday that the Steel Curtain would have struggled.
Finding Travis Kelce
Mahomes was only able to complete one pass to Travis Kelce in week one, leaving some to question his chemistry with the star tight end. That question was answered with a resounding no on Sunday, as Kelce led the team in receiving with seven catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Mahomes wasn’t forcing it to prove a point either; Kelce was running free in the middle of the field all day and Mahomes was finding the open man.
Spreading the Wealth
While Kelce led the team in receiving, dismantling the Steelers secondary was a team effort from start to finish. Sammy Watkins had 100 yards receiving, and Tyreek Hill stayed hot catching five balls for 90 yards.
Even more impressive was that Mahomes threw six touchdowns to five different receivers. Kelce caught two while Hill, Chris Conley, Demarcus Robinson, and Kareem Hunt had one apiece. The distribution in those numbers proves that Mahomes doesn’t try to force the ball to one person or fall in love with one target, he is looking to find the open man on every play no matter who it is.
Record Day
The most important thing that happened today was the Chiefs beat the Steelers to improve to 2-0 on the season, but some records fell today that need to be mentioned. The first is the fact the Chiefs beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1986, snapping a six-game losing streak there.
On an individual level, Mahomes tied Len Dawson for the most passes by a Chiefs quarterback in a single game with six. He wasn’t happy with just having a Chiefs record though, and he broke an NFL record by throwing for 10 touchdowns in the first three games of an NFL career. He also broke the record for most touchdowns in the first two games of a season by throwing for 10 touchdowns in the first two games of this season.
THE BAD
One Play
When you go into Pittsburgh and throw six touchdowns with no interceptions, it is nearly impossible to find anything bad. He didn’t make a single high risk throw the entire game. He never bailed from a clean pocket. Instead, he stood in and took shots against the blitz, and even fixed his sliding with a clean one.
The only thing bad I could find was the one play when he took one too many steps into the pocket and ran into an offensive lineman being pushed back by the defender. Mahomes had Hill streaking down the middle of the field one step from breaking free of coverage, but he couldn’t make the throw because he took one step too far into the pocket. That is a problem Mahomes has had going back to college, but if that is the biggest problem he has then that is a good problem to have.
THE FUTURE
After last week’s game, I wrote that nobody expects Mahomes to throw four touchdowns a game. Now after two weeks, he’s averaging five. The always entertaining “on pace for” stats are looking ridiculous after two games: 4,656 yards, 80 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. I don’t have the record book memorized, but I’m pretty sure 80 touchdowns and 0 interceptions would break something there. No, he will not stay on the pace, but it sure is fun to look at and wonder just how good will this season be.
More importantly than the individual numbers is the fact Mahomes and the offense are averaging 40 points a game. He has made it look easy against two of the most sound defenses in the league—proving this is not some fluke. If Mahomes keeps tracking on the same path he’s currently on, this offense will continue to be scary good.
Next. The Steelers win was a game-changer in every way. dark
This has been a fun article to write and I admit I’m as excited as I’ve been since 1993, but it is important to remember the season is only two games old. Anything can still happen and you won’t see me jinxing anything with over the top excitement. But I’m getting goosebumps writing this, and I already can’t wait to see what update I’ll have for you next week.