Patrick Mahomes is taking a democratic approach to his new job.
Get open and the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback will get you the ball.
The proof came on Sunday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a record-setting 42-37 victory over the Steelers.
Photo: AFP
The first-year starter threw six touchdowns to five different players over four quarters of brilliance that did little to derail the rapidly accelerating hype around Mahomes, who turned 23 yesterday.
“I think this is even better than we envisioned,” said wide receiver Chris Conley, whose 15-yard touchdown reception less than two minutes in helped kick-start Kansas City’s first win in Pittsburgh in 32 years. “Guys were getting involved all over the field. We were able to spread it out.”
Mahomes was able to spread it around on a day he had more touchdown passes (six) than incompletions (five), while finishing 23 of 28 for 326 yards.
He tied Hall of Famer Len Dawson’s 54-year-old franchise record for most scoring passes in a game and his 10 touchdowns over the first two weeks are the most through two games in NFL history.
Oh, and it was his third career start.
“I see Pat doing this all season long,” said tight end Travis Kelce, who hauled in two touchdowns of his own.
Mahomes is quick to downplay his impact.
The way he figures it, he is just trying to make sure coach Andy Reid’s game-planning does not go to waste.
“There [are] always plays that coach Reid just draws up every single week,” Mahomes said. “I always say that they always work. He just gets on the board in his room and just starts drawing plays. The possibilities are endless.”
So, apparently, are the options.
Seven Chiefs caught at least one pass. Two — running back Kareem Hunt and wide receiver Demarcus Robinson — turned their only targets of the day into scores.
“He’s not going out there and playing favorites,” Conley said. “He’s looking and reading the field. He has the arm to get it anywhere.”
The Chiefs (2-0) might have stamped themselves as one of the early favorites in the American Football Conference after opening the season with victories over the Chargers and Steelers on the road.
“I feel like we all expected this,” defensive tackle Chris Jones said.
Not so much in Pittsburgh.
The two-time defending American Football Conference North champions are winless through two weeks.
In the opener the blame fell on an offense that turned it over six times in an ugly tie with the Browns.
Back home at Heinz Field, the defense looked lost or overmatched, and occasionally both.
“Every category for the defense, we were below average,” Pittsburgh safety Sean Davis said. “You can’t beat a good team like that. We missed tackles. We gave up plays. Too many penalties. You can’t beat a good team like that.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier