At 29 years old, Patrick Mahomes has already accomplished more than 99 percent of NFL players will accomplish. But even still, there is room for improvement.
Mahomes had far from his best day as the Chiefs rallied to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-25 on Sunday. He threw for only 151 yards, and his two touchdowns were matched by two interceptions. Given what’s at stake for Kansas City in 2024 — a possible first-ever Super Bowl “three-peat” — the star quarterback is being warned that his display against Cincinnati was nowhere near good enough.
Andy Reid wants to cut down on turnovers
Viewers watching closely on Sunday will have noticed when head coach Andy Reid told CBS Sports‘ Tracy Wolfson that the Chiefs‘ turnovers were annoying him as Kansas City entered the halftime locker room trailing the Bengals 16-10. Even though the Chiefs rallied to win by a point, Kansas City was fortunate to do so — getting a defensive pass interference call to go their way in the final minutes and surviving three turnovers to claim the victory.
Reid reiterated this point when meeting with the media this week, as the Chiefs begin preparing for their Week 3 showdown with Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. Kansas City has turned the ball over four times in two games despite winning both — but Reid understands that in order to win the Super Bowl again, the Chiefs have to play “cleaner” football and form better habits.
“Turnovers, they finish you. They seldom give you an opportunity to win the game. We came out with a win, but we’ve got to take care of business there,” Reid said.
Mahomes‘ style of play lends itself to taking gambles and leveraging risk against his great arm talent. The two-time MVP has had a large number of interceptions called back due to penalties in recent years, and he threw a career-worst 14 picks last year before throwing three in the first two games of this season.
Atlanta‘s defense will be the next challenge Mahomes has to navigate as he seeks to lead the Chiefs to a 3-0 start next week. And you can bet he’ll be motivated amid Reid’s “challenge”.
