Patrick Mahomes Week 15 film review; Back to perfect football
Looking at every snap of the Chiefs QB in a game he deserves more credit than he's getting.
You know the drill. Every week (well, most weeks) I’ll be charting every dropback by Patrick Mahomes this year, just like I’ve done for… well, his whole career. As I laid out in the Week 1 film review (which is unlocked so you can see the methodology in more detail), statistical analysis of quarterbacks, especially in small sample sizes, doesn’t really tell us the whole story or even most of it. So I chart things that the QB can control, such as accuracy, pocket presence, franchise throws, going through reads, and more.
You might’ve missed it in the chaos, but Patrick Mahomes is back to playing almost perfect football.
Following the Chiefs’ win over the Patriots last Sunday, so much of the discourse surrounded Kadarius Toney’s drops and Rashee Rice’s emergence that Mahomes himself was somewhat lost as part of the conversation. Which is a real shame, because it may have been Mahomes’ best games of the season. And his play Sunday was a big part of why the Chiefs were able to hang 27 points on a very, very good Patriots defense despite drops once again playing far too large a role in the outcome.
That’s the thing about Mahomes. When he’s playing brilliantly, even problems elsewhere can’t completely tank the offense so long as at least a few guys (like Kelce, or Rice, or even Justin Watson) come through.
On a day when the opposing defense was getting a decent amount of pressure and drops were once again a real problem, Mahomes was so good and so consistent that the offense still moved well. He found a nearly perfect balance between creating yards when necessary and operating within the framework of the offense.
Let’s talk about Mahomes’ day against the Patriots, how some of the issues that have creeped up this season were gone (for at least a day), and how he was able to lead the offense down the field despite the issues elsewhere.
(In case you want to check out prior weeks’ film reviews, here you go. Yes, there’s no Week 14, I’m sorry!)
-Week 1 (UNLOCKED, lays out the terms and methodology)
-Week 3 (no article, but the numbers are there in a week he was virtually flawless)