Laddie Morse
Before you go accusing me of sucker-punching you with the title, consider what Nick Wright has been proposing this past week already. Here’s his top three QB ranking based on last week’s game versus the Jaguars:
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Wright Ranked the QBs like this:
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1. Patrick Mahomes
2. Joe Burrow
3. Patrick Mahomes on one leg
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Based on some stats I found, I’d have to say the Rankings should look more like this:
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1. Patrick Mahomes on one leg
2. Patrick Mahomes
3. Joe Burrow
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Before I defend these rankings, please consider what Carrington Harrison — aka: c-dot — 610 K.C. Sports Radio host, had to say this week on a similar topic. He considers Joe Burrow an excellent quarterback and Patrick Mahomes an excellent athlete. In fact, Harrison goes on to call Mahomes a great athlete, one on par with: LeBron James, Muhammad Ali, Jim Thorpe and some of the other all-time greats.
My point is, that Mahomes is not only the best quarterback we’ve ever seen, he’s a great athlete to boot. However, he may be even better when wounded. Why? Because he has to use that exceptional mind of his, like he did on Sunday. Before getting into the stats to prove this point, consider what Louis Riddick had to say about Mahomes on Sunday:
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Patrick Mahomes was not only limping around on one leg, but he was playing the game on Sunday evening with 3 WRs out, Kadarius Toney (ankle), JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee) and Mecole Hardman (groin). Consequently, he was expected to win a championship like making lemonade out of lemons. Which, is exactly what he did. The Chiefs defense may have taken over the game, and become the main reason they won the contest, but even the defense was missing their best CB in L’Jarius Sneed (concussion), and their starting LB in Willie Gay Jr. (shoulder).
That makes what Mahomes was able to accomplish even more spectacular.
What I’m suggesting is, the Patrick Mahomes which has to adapt and respond by playing on one good leg… is better than he is when he’s fully healthy and can run around and make those off-schedule, creative and darting throws. True, many of the sensational and magical plays he makes come when he’s diving and whipping the ball, or throwing it like a Major League Baseball shortstop, but his mental adaptations that surface by being limited — even though that comes via an injury — puts him in a more restrictive space. A place where he can excel with his wits, and then he can beat them with his ample and unlimited intellect.
When Tyreek Hill wasn’t re-signed by the Chiefs last Spring, Patrick Mahomes invited all of his new (and old) receivers down to Texas and worked out with them on his own time, and that seemed to make a big difference this year. Last season, when it appeared that many of the Chiefs opponents figured out how to drop two Safeties deep into coverage so they could beat him, Tyreek Hill had his worst season with the Chiefs –> in terms of yards per reception (YPR). Since we know that the Cheetah has been a great long ball receiver, seeing his YPR rate dip down by 4.1 YPR (going from a 5-year average of 15.3 down to 11.4), was disturbing. That may have been one of the reasons why GM Brett Veach didn’t cough up the big cap bucks to Hill’s liking.
In the meantime, I kept wondering if Patrick Mahomes would be able to adjust to life without Hill. Mahomes has not only adjusted well, but is on the verge of another MVP year, throwing for 5,250 yards this season.
Now, it looks like he’s been able to adjust once again, and has played his best ball… on one leg. In week one of the 2019 season, he was injured (oddly enough by the same team that injured him this year –> the Jacksonville Jaguars) and it was his left foot (ankle) that translated to a high ankle sprain. The very next week he threw for 443 yards, was 30/44 and had a 131.2 Passer Rating. On Sunday, the week after another (right) high ankle sprain, Mahomes threw for 326 yards, was 29/43, and had a Passer Rating of 105.4. If you combine the two games that Patrick Mahomes played the very week after he had a high ankle sprain the stats look like this:
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By playing on one leg, because of a high ankle sprain (H.A.S.) Patrick Mahomes has superior stats to his career averages. Now, his career averages are nothing to spit at, in fact they’re amazing. I’ve already heard talk that if Mahomes retired today — God forbid — that he’d be a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. Examine these stats closer, and you’ll find what I have found… that the Patrick Mahomes who plays on one leg is better than the Patrick Mahomes who doesn’t. Sure, he has all the highlight reel plays to go along with his career stats, but the outcome of games is more important, right? In that 2019 game when he helped the Chiefs beat the Raiders on their Home dirt (in Oakland), the final score was, 28-to-10. Enough said. Does Patrick Mahomes have better stats in the playoffs than he has in the regular season? Of course he does:
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What do you think? Would you rather have the gimpy guy QB-ing your favorite team… or the Superman who can make every throw look like he’s flying a kite on a blustery day with Winnie the Pooh by his side.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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