Patrick Mahomes Week 2 film review: Human until superhuman needed
Mahomes had a few of his worst decisions/throws in years in one game... but did manage to do enough to help the Chiefs win.
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.
One day, there should be a 30 for 30 on Patrick Mahomes vs Lou Anarumo.
The Chiefs escaped Week 2 with a narrow win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but yet again Mahomes (on the surface) struggled against Anarumo’s defense. It doesn’t take an in-depth film review to note those struggles, as his two picks (a highly rare occurrence) tell a big part of the story (along with a third pick that was called off due to a penalty). His box score is also about as paltry as it gets for Mahomes (with only 151 yards on the day).
But, of course, a few plays and the box score don’t tell the whole story. That’s why God gave us all-22. And so I’ve re-watched the game and charted it, trying to figure out how Mahomes played over the course of the entire game, what led to those picks (and his potential pick), and whether or not there’s some sort of trend or issue we should be worried about as Chiefs fans (or something that opposing defenses can pick up on to try and imitate).
It’s always an unusual thing, going into a Mahomes review and expecting bad tape. And there were indeed some really, really rough snaps, including one of the worst picks I’ve ever seen Mahomes throw.
This play is even worse upon in-depth review, and we’ll talk about why in a moment. I’ll also talk about how Mahomes (and the Chiefs offense) had something of an uneven day overall as opposed to a purely bad one, with a pretty hot start followed by some speed bumps and turnovers leading to much poorer production than they should have gotten on the day. I’ll also talk about how one pass rusher derailed (from all appearances) an entire game plan, and how Kingsley Suamataia’s weird day had an impact everywhere.
Finally, I’ll talk about how at the end of the day Mahomes was able to do just enough to get the job done when everything was on the line (in his second chance, after the defense made a superb stop). So in other words, we’ve got a lot to talk about for this week’s Mahomes film review. Let’s get to it.
If you’re looking for the previous weeks’ film reviews, you can find them here.
-Week 1 (which lays out the terms and methodology)