Patrick Mahomes is very lucky that he played the stinky Giants last night
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The Kansas City Chiefs held on to beat the New York Giants last night, 20-17, to improv to 4-4 in a season that has been full of some ups and many downs for the two-time defending AFC champs.
While a win is always better than a loss, the Chiefs and their fans are still likely waking up this morning wondering what the heck is going on. Why do they continue to not look like the Chiefs that we’ve grown used to seeing over the past three years?
Oh, and the biggest question starts with their biggest star – what the heck is wrong with Patrick Mahomes?
We all know how good the former NFL MVP can be. He’s a special talent who has already done things in his career that we’ve never seen before. But he’s lucky he was playing the Giants last night because if Mahomes and the Chiefs were playing a good team they likely would be 3-5 this morning.
Let’s be honest here – the Giants are not a good team. They’re a bad team. A very bad team. Yet there they were with a chance in the final minute to drive down the field and force overtime. They didn’t do that, however, because Daniel Jones is not a great QB and the offense didn’t even come close to midfield.
Mahomes started off the game completing his first eight passes. Everything seemed right in his world again. Then a deflected interception happened and his night took a turn in the wrong the direction the rest of the way.
This is not the Mahomes we’re used to seeing:
The Chiefs got the win but couldn't get anything going downfield tonight.
Patrick Mahomes averaged 2.1 air yards on his completions, lowest of his career (min. 15 att).
He went 2-13 (15%) on passes of more than 10 yards downfield, worst of his career. pic.twitter.com/Gfj7qfsYfC
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 2, 2021
Not good.
Again, lucky for the Chiefs that they weren’t playing a good team last night because there’s no way the would have beaten a good team the way they played against the stinky Giants.
This game was supposed to be a big bounce-back, feel-good game in which they regained their mojo and got ready for a three game stretch in which they will face three very good teams – the Packers, Raiders, and Cowboys. That run, which begins at Arrowhead this Sunday against Green Bay, could be the end of the Chiefs’ season if they play like they have for the first eight weeks of the season.
Or, it could be just what they need to get things right and go back to being a serious contender again.
That’s a crazy thing to think about, right? The Chiefs entered the season as the favorites to win the Super Bowl and now they are trying to find themselves while also trying to remain in the hunt for the playoffs. Wild, wild stuff.
One would think that Mahomes and Andy Reid, who said after the game that “Everything’s not beautiful right now but we’re fighting through that,” will figure this thing out. They are two offensive geniuses who have a lot of firepower within their group, which makes it easy to believe that they can go on a run that will make us all forget about this blah 4-4 start.
But they can’t look back at last night’s game and feel good about their performance, even if they got the W.
Quick hits: Peyton and Eli best MNF moments… NFL players who could be traded… NBA City Edition jerseys ranked… And more.
– Peyton Manning and Eli Manning were back last night with their MNF football show and they were pretty great again. Here are their 7 best moments, including Peyton looking like a madman while eating chicken at halftime.
– The NFL trade deadline is today and here are 28 players who could be moved.
– Charles Curtis ranked the NBA’s City Edition jerseys from worst to best. There are lots of good ones this year.
– Mary Clarke has her November NHL power rankings.