If you believe the national conversation, or at least those instigators intended on stoking the fire, there’s something wrong with Patrick Mahomes.
The numbers themselves are true. Mahomes has thrown eight interceptions on the year through six games—including four games with multiple turnovers filed under his name. Mahomes has already eclipsed the number of interceptions he threw in 2020 (6) or 2019 (5). He also seems “well on his way” to eclipsing a career high, which would mean throwing more than the 12 INTs he tossed during his first full season as a starter in 2018.
Just for the sake of clarity, he won the league’s Most Valuable Player trophy that year.
The national media is going to carry on with their lazy narrative about Patrick Mahomes throwing interceptions.
Here’s the problem. Saying that Mahomes has a problem throwing interceptions this year is like saying that Mahomes had a horrible first year in the NFL because he didn’t throw a single touchdown pass at all. It’s largely a lazy reading of the box score. (Just for the sake of further clarity, Mahomes played only one game during his rookie year so of course those numbers are all skewed.)
Throughout this season, there’s been a sort of feeding frenzy on the subject of “Mahomes looks off” in 2020. As the Chiefs have stumbled out of the gate at 2-3, some of the blame has been laid at the feet of Mahomes, as if the team’s bright young quarterback is having a sort of fifth-year curse or that opponents have figured out how to play against him.
This past week, Gregg Rosenthal made his weekly QB rankings and left Mahomes out of the top five, as if there’s even a single quarterback who teams would love to have more than Mahomes (let alone five). Earlier this week, Skip Bayless (yes, we know…) even said Mahomes was “devolving.” Somehow these interceptions are creating a lazy narrative from the media who are just glancing at totals and making weird comparisons and contrasts. Check out some more.
Patrick Mahomes has now been intercepted in 5 straight games.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/MoncIeezys/status/1449593475180212227
It’s as if Mahomes is in charge of the defense that ranks as the league’s absolute worst in both total yards allowed per play or total points. Or perhaps Mahomes is responsible for coughing up multiple fumbles in the run game. You get the picture.
Yes, Mahomes has thrown a few passes this season that he should not have. Even against WFT, Mahomes made a WTF throw (see what we did there?) near the red zone on a play where he clearly should have just absorbed the sack. There’s no denying that some decisions should have never been made. He’s admitted as much after multiple games this year, and Andy Reid has said the same.
So far this season, however, coming into Week 6, Mahomes is on pace to match his career high in touchdowns with 50 given that he already had 16 through 5 games. That’s an NFL leading total through five games as well. Yet somehow the narrative on Mahomes is about interceptions and not touchdowns—a league-leading touchdown total.
Even worse, Mahomes finds his stock down somehow after being “responsible” for these interceptions, removing the sheen from him despite the fact that he’s still dominating the NFL as much as ever. Check out the evidence from Sunday as the latest sample:
Mahomes INT off the hands of Tyreek Hill in the redzone. Just comically brutal. https://t.co/cT4mFAIt2W
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) October 17, 2021
That’s the second interception of the season that bounced off of the fingertips of Tyreek Hill. There’s also the one that bounced off of Marcus Kemp. Some others have come on last-second, downfield heaves from Mahomes trying to make something happen. That’s not to say every throw by Mahomes has been a laser on target. There have been errant throws. There have been poor decisions. But every quarterback is going to make those, including Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, and they’re somehow clouding what Mahomes is actually doing on the field on 90 percent of all plays.
Despite what you might have heard, Patrick Mahomes is looking good as ever in 2021. He is the single most creative offensive force at the game’s most important position. He’s finding new ways to make jaw-dropping throws each and every week. Unfortunately, the national narrative is lazier than the truth, just because everyone has grown bored or tired of Mahomes’ consistent success.
Either way, it doesn’t matter. What is true is that Mahomes is the best in the league and some lazy midseason takes doesn’t change that reality.