NFL expert Lindsey Prather details the rising talent in professional football that is Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has had a record-setting season this year, following another fantastic game against the Cleveland Browns on Nov. 4. Mahomes was 23-of-32 for 375 yards, with three touchdowns and only one interception in the Chiefs’ 37-21 victory. Mahomes’ totals for the season stand at 2,901 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions, leading the league in yards and passing touchdowns.
Patrick Mahomes has done what his predecessor Alex Smith had trouble accomplishing: finishing games with a high octane offense. Mahomes has been absolutely unshakeable this season, and it’s been paying off: he’s currently a frontrunner for the NFL’s MVP award.
Mahomes is setting records in each game he plays, and he’ll have yet another chance to put his name atop the Chiefs’ record book in a very notable category against the Cardinals on Nov. 11. Mahomes needs only two touchdown passes against the Cardinals to reach 31 on the season, which will break Hall of Famer Len Dawson’s record for most touchdown passes (30) in a single season for a Chiefs QB. Dawson set the record in 1964, following a 2,879 yard, 30 TD and 18 interception season.
The touchdown record probably won’t be the last single-season team record Mahomes breaks this season. He’s on pace to surpass Trent Green’s single-season passing yardage record (4,591, set in 2004), as well as those set by Smith in 2017 for passer rating and completion percentage. In addition to his incredible raw passing statistics, Mahomes has a 66.2 completion percentage and a passer rating of 116.7 through his first nine games.
He currently has a streak of eight consecutive games with 300 or more passing yards, tying him with Andrew Luck for the most by a rookie and putting him one behind Drew Brees for the all-time record of nine. If Mahomes reaches the 300-yard mark against the Cardinals, he’ll be in a good position to break the record on Nov. 19 against the Rams, a team that is currently 14th in the league in pass defense.
Mahomes has seen an almost-unbelievable amount of success in his limited career as an NFL starter. He was able to step up following the departure of Alex Smith and outperform even the most wildest of expectations. The Chiefs have a real chance at making it all the way to the Super Bowl; their only weakness is their defense.
Much like Mahomes’ college career, he heads a lightning-fast offense that works opposite a porous, abysmal defense. Mahomes is capable of carrying an offense out of sheer tenacity. However, the viability of this strategy is questionable at best. The NFL is an entirely different animal than college football, so what remains to be seen is the ability of the Chief’s defense to come through like Texas Tech’s never did.
