Coming for the Kingdom: Patrick Mahomes’ college tape hinted at the greatness that followed

The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to do something no team has ever done: win three straight Super Bowls.

The rest of the NFL is trying to stop them.

Here are the key elements of the Chiefs’ success, which will again play a role in their quest — and could provide clues to how other teams can unseat the kings of the NFL.

(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports) (Yahoo Sports)

Other stories in series:Rookies who could lift KC | Steve Spagnuolo’s genius | How past 3-peat bids failed | What if Travis Kelce hits wall? | What can Chiefs teach rest of NFL?

When I got my hands on a couple of games of 2016 Texas Tech All-22 video, I wanted to rewatch film through the lens of 2024 to see if there was anything we could learn from Patrick Mahomes: The Prospect.

Was the (probable) greatest player of all time hiding in plain sight on a .500 college team in Lubbock, led by a head coach in Kliff Kingsbury (hey, whatever happened to him?) whose own career arc was starting to trend downward?

There are statistics popular now that help us paint the picture of quarterback prospects. Measures like pressure-to-sack and time to throw help piece together a prospect’s profile. What kind of damage a quarterback was able to mitigate, how far are they pushing the ball, where are they pushing the ball (with needed context of actually watching the players, of course)? Mahomes was painted as a wild horse of a player who needed to be reined in to have any chance of becoming playable in the NFL, but there were measures that pointed to a more nuanced player than even what first meets the eye when you watched him in Lubbock.

What were my impressions of actually watching Mahomes in college? Well, in the first game I watched, Mahomes completely sailed his first two throws of the game and the Red Raiders went three-and-out.

Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes overthrows a pass against West Virginia. (All-22 screen grab)

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Patrick Mahomes in college. (All-22 screen grab)

So, no. The skies did…

Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/coming-for-the-kingdom-patrick-mahomes-college-tape-hinted-at-the-greatness-that-followed-020355296.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-05 02:03:55

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