Patrick Mahomes film study will yield greater results in 2020

Patrick Mahomes’ attention to detail should yield greater results in 2020.

What does an athlete do after winning the Most Valuable Player award in his first season as a starter and a championship MVP trophy in his second year. For Patrick Mahomes, it’s business as normal. To hear his quarterbacks coach, Mike Kafka, describe his study habits, Mahomes sounds like an eager young player hoping to still make his mark on the National Football League.

This is good news for a Kansas City Chiefs team that is going to face the very best that defenses can throw at them in 2020, given their standing as the defending champions. Every franchise will be hoping to knock off the NFL’s best team from their tower, to expose them in some way on either side of the ball. That means the Chiefs are going to have to be diligent in all phases of the game if they want to repeat.

For Mahomes’ he’s doing his part. Kafka recently spoke to Chiefs reporters and described how hard Mahomes works to better himself, especially on the mental side. “Pat does a phenomenal job in the film room watching, studying tape, very intricate details of defenders that are indicators.”

Specifically Kafka thought of one instance late last season against the Denver Broncos—the snow game in Week 15 which ended up a 23-3 Chiefs win—where Mahomes saw a pressure only previously shown to him once and recalled how to respond. Here’s the story.

"“One example that comes to mind was last year against Denver. They had brought one pressure… we were playing Denver late in the season and they had brought a pressure maybe midway to early in the season. And really, it was only one time they’d shown it. We’d watched it through on our blitz cut-up, but them only bringing it one time, Pat was able to diagnose it.“They actually brought it in a game. I think he hit Tyreek on the sideline for one of them. He was able to at least see it post-snap, identify, get the ball out of his hands, and it ended up being a big play, a big third-down conversion for us.”"

Mahomes looked ready for his first full season as a starter in part because he had a strong mentor in Alex Smith and a year to watch and learn from his coaches and teammates. Now with two years of experience in the offense and three total seasons learning from Andy Reid, his comfort level is only going to yield greater dividends for the Chiefs as they move forward. Mike Kafka thinks the best is yet to come.

"“I think Patrick’s getting to the point in the offense where he kinda knows where his answers are. He knows where the bones are buried on the play. He’s able to anticipate the countermoves within the offense to where, ‘I know that if the defense does this and puts this play in a bind, I know my answers to get out of it.’ I think that’s where he’s grown the most from last year to this year.”"