The Kansas City Chiefs squeaked out a low-scoring win over the New York Giants last night and questions about Patrick Mahomes continue to mount. Dan Patrick cites a specific statistic illustrating a clear drop in performance, and considers what factors may be contributing to his decline. It appears that defenses around the NFL have made adjustments by taking away his explosive plays.
Dan Patrick: “Patrick Mahomes’ explosive plays through 8 weeks: in 2018 it was almost 7%. 2019: 6.7%. 2020: 6.4%. So far this year: 3.4%. You know, these are chunk plays... It’s one thing for Patrick Mahomes where the defenses are changing up what they’re going to give them, and basically say to Patrick Mahomes, ‘We want to see if you’ll take the 7-yarder instead of the 27-yarder. We want to see how patient you can be.’ And you know that (Chiefs’) defense doesn’t stop too many good offenses, and therefore puts even more pressure on Patrick Mahomes.”