suzzer99
10-04-2018, 01:19 PM
You'll have to get a subscription (worth it imo) to see the inline videos, but you can guess. https://theathletic.com/566078/2018/10/03/film-review-patrick-mahomes-still-thrived-but-broncos-pressure-was-even-more-intense-than-it-looked/?source=dailyemail
Film review: Patrick Mahomes still thrived, but Broncos’ pressure was even more intense than it looked
By Seth Keysor Oct 3, 2018 28
On Monday night, the Denver Broncos did almost everything right against the Kansas City Chiefs and their juggernaut offense. They played fantastic, disciplined coverage. They dialed up more than a dozen blitzes that worked to perfection and often left a rusher unblocked. They tackled well. They mixed up their pre-snap looks in the secondary to create confusion. They even got pressure with only four rushers multiple times. They did it all exactly how their coaches drew it up.
In addition to playing a brilliant game defensively, the Broncos had several breaks in their favor throughout the day. The Chiefs’ pass-catchers dropped six passes, by my count — even All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce was a culprit — and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, a crucial cog in the Chiefs’ passing game, was forced to leave early due to a hamstring issue.
Yet none of it — the great game plan, the fantastic execution, the Chiefs’ dropped passes, Watkins sitting out — mattered in the end. They didn’t matter because Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was absolutely brilliant.
Chiefs fans and the rest of the NFL have seen Mahomes play brilliantly already, but this game was different. Mahomes wasn’t taking advantage of his receivers winning and the offensive game plan creating good looks. Instead, Mahomes was succeeding despite well-covered receivers and the defense anticipating what the Chiefs were looking to do on offense, as well as overcoming drops and a multitude of bad penalties from the offense.
Coming into this review, it was my expectation that the first three quarters of the game — when the Chiefs struggled to score — would finally reveal some serious warts in Mahomes’ game. Instead, the opposite is true. Mahomes played as well as possible under the circumstances presented to him, and had only a handful of plays that were even questionable.
For those unfamiliar with the system used here to review quarterbacks, click here for a lengthy explanation about terminology and methodology. The simple explanation is this: Watching every snap on “all-22” video and charting each one, we attempt to separate the quarterback’s play from the offense around him to get a feel for how he played as an individual. Games like this one are the precise reason this system was created, as it allows us to see whether the quarterback played well/poorly on his own, or whether the rest of the offense should receive credit or blame.
The reality is that Mahomes played exceptionally well, both in the first and second half. It was the offense around him that struggled. Here are the numbers:
For a frame of reference, here’s what a typical Alex Smith game looked like in 2017.
There are many things to take away from the numbers. First is the incredibly high number of plays made and yards created. Of the 446 total yards the Chiefs gained, 171 of them were on plays Mahomes was forced to make something out of nothing. That’s 38.3 percent of the total offense Monday night, much higher than any I’ve seen in more than four years of charting quarterback play. This is highly reflective of a game in which the offensive game plan and skill-position players were not creating opportunities for Mahomes, and he was forced to make things happen “outside the box.”
Another stat that can be examined in order to see how difficult a game it was for Mahomes is the number of “flushes” Denver was able to create. A flush, remember, is a play in which pressure arrives before any receiver is open, forcing the quarterback to either take a sack or make a play. The Broncos’ 19 flushes is an absurdly high number, as evidenced by comparing it to an average Chiefs game from 2017 (4.9 flushes). In other words, Mahomes faced real pressure four times more often than the average game from last season.
Still another stat that’s demonstrative of how difficult a game the Chiefs had on offense is the number of drops. Of the six drops, five of them occurred before halftime. Several would have extended drives that later ended without points. Even worse, a third-quarter drop cost the Chiefs a touchdown on one of Mahomes’ best plays of the evening.
Mahomes goes through several reads here while under pressure, manages to miraculously evade the first rusher, then delivers an absolute laser despite a defender being draped all over him. Receiver Demarcus Robinson is unable to corral the ball, and the Chiefs are forced to settle for a field goal rather than a touchdown. Had Robinson hung on, the Chiefs would have gotten off to a better start in the second half, and any talk of Mahomes being “figured out” by the Broncos would likely have been nonexistent.
That was the type of evening it was. In the face of disaster striking all around him, Mahomes made play after play and essentially dragged the Chiefs along with him on scoring drives. Even in the first half, when the offense was largely stymied, Mahomes had to create magic on third down multiple times in order to keep scoring drives alive. An example is on this 3rd-and-4 play, during which the Broncos had every receiver covered as the play began.
With his receivers covered, Mahomes could have panicked. Instead, he continued to scan the field. The pressure eventually mounts, and Mahomes moves outside the pocket. The Broncos — who really did have a phenomenal game plan — were anticipating this, and All-Pro outside linebacker Von Miller was waiting to clean up and collect a sack. Mahomes literally ignores him and, despite taking a hit, delivers a strike for a first down. This drive ended in a touchdown, and would have been a field goal if it were not for Mahomes’ playmaking ability.
This happened so many times Monday that it would be impossible to show every clip. Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t look at a few more. On 3rd-and-16 in the fourth quarter, with the Chiefs down by 10 points, Mahomes made a play that is essentially impossible to defend.
The arm talent to drive that throw into a tight window is unheard of outside 2-3 other quarterbacks in the NFL (which is something that gets mentioned about Mahomes every week). However, the fact that he rolled right to create a window for himself and buy a few seconds while keeping his eyes down the field is just as important, if not as freakishly impressive.
Mahomes’ ability to buy time and ad-lib has never been more important than it was Monday. The most talked-about example was Mahomes’ casual flip from his right hand to his left hand on 3rd-and-5 as Miller chased him down from behind.
This play has been discussed at length by me and others, but it’s important to reiterate this: The presence of mind to realize throwing with his right hand would risk a fumble while on the run in an incredibly high-pressure situation is arguably more impressive than any off-platform dart Mahomes will ever throw. Taking into consideration the hostile environment, the game being on the line and the way the entire game had gone, Mahomes’ clear-headedness is almost frightening.
This was demonstrated on the final play created by Mahomes on the day, a big gain to tight end Demetrius Harris that set up the Chiefs for the win.
Once again, Mahomes found himself in a situation where no receivers were open initially. While Kelce had a little separation, he was short of the first-down marker and was being trailed by Chris Harris Jr., who had done a very good job in coverage on him all evening. Mahomes also faced an overload blitz from his left. Again, considering the context here, one would expect a first-year starter to panic.
Instead, Mahomes calmly surveys the entire field, then moves to his right to buy his receivers more time to get open. This leads to a linebacker failing to stick with the tight end Harris deep, and Mahomes hits him perfectly in stride for a huge gain. Had Harris kept his feet, this is likely a touchdown, though the way things turned out, it was actually more advantageous for the Chiefs in terms of clock control.
Just one play prior to this created play to Harris, Mahomes dragged the Chiefs out of a 2nd-and-30 hole that seemed insurmountable.
This is yet another play Denver did everything right. They achieved pressure on the outside and crushed the pocket to make it difficult for Mahomes to step up. Their coverage down the field was exceptional for a full five seconds, which is longer than any secondary is supposed to hold up. And once again, it simply didn’t matter. Mahomes buys time brilliantly, then finds Robinson down the field to create a much more manageable situation on third down. There’s no defense for plays like this.
Analysts have been praising Mahomes for his strong arm and ability to run the offense, but many have questioned how he would do when the windows became tighter against superior coverage. Mahomes answered that question time and again Monday night, as almost every throw that wasn’t on a created play was into a tight window.
Mahomes was forced to complete pass after pass with defenders in the vicinity of the ball Monday. The fact that he threw only two potential interceptions is a testament to his ball placement and the velocity with which he delivers into tight windows. If teams were hoping that good coverage would result in poor decisions from Mahomes, this game likely dashed their hopes.
It’s worth noting that of the potential picks Mahomes threw, one of them was essentially an arm punt on a busted screen on third down.
On this play, the Chiefs appear to be setting up a screen to the left side to running back Kareem Hunt. However, the Broncos play the screen well, bumping Hunt on his way out of the backfield to mess with his timing and keeping a defender in his vicinity. Mahomes sees this and keeps the ball, hoping that something will open up down the field. Of course, the pressure comes quickly given the design of the play. Mahomes sees this and, knowing it’s third down regardless, heaves the ball down the field to Harris in an advantageous matchup. Given the length of the throw and what down it was, this wasn’t a poor decision at all.
Mahomes wasn’t perfect on Monday. Normally, this is where we’d examine clips of a few happy-feet snaps, where Mahomes bailed out to his right sooner than he should have. Or we could look at a few plays where it appears Mahomes was surprised by the blitz and talk about how he needs to work on his pre-snap recognition.
However, such things feel foolish when looking at the entire context of the game. Mahomes made very few individual mistakes in the face of a defense playing as well as anyone could be expected to play against an Andy Reid-coached team, and he did so despite a half-dozen drops from his receivers and without one of his favorite targets.
Drive after drive, Mahomes found receivers not open and pressure coming quickly. In the face of this, he created play after play and brought the offense kicking and screaming down the field. These reviews allow us to observe plays and yards the quarterback “left on the field.” Those plays were virtually nonexistent Monday night. Instead, Mahomes added yardage left and right with created plays and fantastic throws.
Prior to the season, I wrote about how Mahomes could be the perfect complement for Reid, who struggles at times when his initial game plan is foiled, sometimes retreating into an over-controlling shell. The hope was that Mahomes’ creativity in the face of bad circumstances would allow the offense to overcome execution issues or being out-schemed by the opponent. On Monday, that hope was realized on the field in Denver, as Mahomes was able to take a dozen bad plays and turn them into something good.
The Broncos played the Chiefs as well as they could, on an evening in which the Chiefs were missing a key cog and dropping passes left and right. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to prevent Mahomes from forcing points onto the board. And that, more than anything we’ve seen in the first quarter of the season, should terrify opposing defenses.
Next week’s matchup against Jacksonville will be an even bigger test for Mahomes. Given what occurred Monday, we wouldn’t doubt him rising to the challenge.
My favorite comment:
I don’t remember there being many who opposed. Most were just glad we drafted a QB in round one. Sure, some may have griped about the extra first-rounder, but clearly he’s worth two later first round picks.
I keep telling friends: At this point I think Favre is his floor. I think he could (and I know it’s cliche to say) change the QB position.
Film review: Patrick Mahomes still thrived, but Broncos’ pressure was even more intense than it looked
By Seth Keysor Oct 3, 2018 28
On Monday night, the Denver Broncos did almost everything right against the Kansas City Chiefs and their juggernaut offense. They played fantastic, disciplined coverage. They dialed up more than a dozen blitzes that worked to perfection and often left a rusher unblocked. They tackled well. They mixed up their pre-snap looks in the secondary to create confusion. They even got pressure with only four rushers multiple times. They did it all exactly how their coaches drew it up.
In addition to playing a brilliant game defensively, the Broncos had several breaks in their favor throughout the day. The Chiefs’ pass-catchers dropped six passes, by my count — even All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce was a culprit — and wide receiver Sammy Watkins, a crucial cog in the Chiefs’ passing game, was forced to leave early due to a hamstring issue.
Yet none of it — the great game plan, the fantastic execution, the Chiefs’ dropped passes, Watkins sitting out — mattered in the end. They didn’t matter because Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was absolutely brilliant.
Chiefs fans and the rest of the NFL have seen Mahomes play brilliantly already, but this game was different. Mahomes wasn’t taking advantage of his receivers winning and the offensive game plan creating good looks. Instead, Mahomes was succeeding despite well-covered receivers and the defense anticipating what the Chiefs were looking to do on offense, as well as overcoming drops and a multitude of bad penalties from the offense.
Coming into this review, it was my expectation that the first three quarters of the game — when the Chiefs struggled to score — would finally reveal some serious warts in Mahomes’ game. Instead, the opposite is true. Mahomes played as well as possible under the circumstances presented to him, and had only a handful of plays that were even questionable.
For those unfamiliar with the system used here to review quarterbacks, click here for a lengthy explanation about terminology and methodology. The simple explanation is this: Watching every snap on “all-22” video and charting each one, we attempt to separate the quarterback’s play from the offense around him to get a feel for how he played as an individual. Games like this one are the precise reason this system was created, as it allows us to see whether the quarterback played well/poorly on his own, or whether the rest of the offense should receive credit or blame.
The reality is that Mahomes played exceptionally well, both in the first and second half. It was the offense around him that struggled. Here are the numbers:
For a frame of reference, here’s what a typical Alex Smith game looked like in 2017.
There are many things to take away from the numbers. First is the incredibly high number of plays made and yards created. Of the 446 total yards the Chiefs gained, 171 of them were on plays Mahomes was forced to make something out of nothing. That’s 38.3 percent of the total offense Monday night, much higher than any I’ve seen in more than four years of charting quarterback play. This is highly reflective of a game in which the offensive game plan and skill-position players were not creating opportunities for Mahomes, and he was forced to make things happen “outside the box.”
Another stat that can be examined in order to see how difficult a game it was for Mahomes is the number of “flushes” Denver was able to create. A flush, remember, is a play in which pressure arrives before any receiver is open, forcing the quarterback to either take a sack or make a play. The Broncos’ 19 flushes is an absurdly high number, as evidenced by comparing it to an average Chiefs game from 2017 (4.9 flushes). In other words, Mahomes faced real pressure four times more often than the average game from last season.
Still another stat that’s demonstrative of how difficult a game the Chiefs had on offense is the number of drops. Of the six drops, five of them occurred before halftime. Several would have extended drives that later ended without points. Even worse, a third-quarter drop cost the Chiefs a touchdown on one of Mahomes’ best plays of the evening.
Mahomes goes through several reads here while under pressure, manages to miraculously evade the first rusher, then delivers an absolute laser despite a defender being draped all over him. Receiver Demarcus Robinson is unable to corral the ball, and the Chiefs are forced to settle for a field goal rather than a touchdown. Had Robinson hung on, the Chiefs would have gotten off to a better start in the second half, and any talk of Mahomes being “figured out” by the Broncos would likely have been nonexistent.
That was the type of evening it was. In the face of disaster striking all around him, Mahomes made play after play and essentially dragged the Chiefs along with him on scoring drives. Even in the first half, when the offense was largely stymied, Mahomes had to create magic on third down multiple times in order to keep scoring drives alive. An example is on this 3rd-and-4 play, during which the Broncos had every receiver covered as the play began.
With his receivers covered, Mahomes could have panicked. Instead, he continued to scan the field. The pressure eventually mounts, and Mahomes moves outside the pocket. The Broncos — who really did have a phenomenal game plan — were anticipating this, and All-Pro outside linebacker Von Miller was waiting to clean up and collect a sack. Mahomes literally ignores him and, despite taking a hit, delivers a strike for a first down. This drive ended in a touchdown, and would have been a field goal if it were not for Mahomes’ playmaking ability.
This happened so many times Monday that it would be impossible to show every clip. Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t look at a few more. On 3rd-and-16 in the fourth quarter, with the Chiefs down by 10 points, Mahomes made a play that is essentially impossible to defend.
The arm talent to drive that throw into a tight window is unheard of outside 2-3 other quarterbacks in the NFL (which is something that gets mentioned about Mahomes every week). However, the fact that he rolled right to create a window for himself and buy a few seconds while keeping his eyes down the field is just as important, if not as freakishly impressive.
Mahomes’ ability to buy time and ad-lib has never been more important than it was Monday. The most talked-about example was Mahomes’ casual flip from his right hand to his left hand on 3rd-and-5 as Miller chased him down from behind.
This play has been discussed at length by me and others, but it’s important to reiterate this: The presence of mind to realize throwing with his right hand would risk a fumble while on the run in an incredibly high-pressure situation is arguably more impressive than any off-platform dart Mahomes will ever throw. Taking into consideration the hostile environment, the game being on the line and the way the entire game had gone, Mahomes’ clear-headedness is almost frightening.
This was demonstrated on the final play created by Mahomes on the day, a big gain to tight end Demetrius Harris that set up the Chiefs for the win.
Once again, Mahomes found himself in a situation where no receivers were open initially. While Kelce had a little separation, he was short of the first-down marker and was being trailed by Chris Harris Jr., who had done a very good job in coverage on him all evening. Mahomes also faced an overload blitz from his left. Again, considering the context here, one would expect a first-year starter to panic.
Instead, Mahomes calmly surveys the entire field, then moves to his right to buy his receivers more time to get open. This leads to a linebacker failing to stick with the tight end Harris deep, and Mahomes hits him perfectly in stride for a huge gain. Had Harris kept his feet, this is likely a touchdown, though the way things turned out, it was actually more advantageous for the Chiefs in terms of clock control.
Just one play prior to this created play to Harris, Mahomes dragged the Chiefs out of a 2nd-and-30 hole that seemed insurmountable.
This is yet another play Denver did everything right. They achieved pressure on the outside and crushed the pocket to make it difficult for Mahomes to step up. Their coverage down the field was exceptional for a full five seconds, which is longer than any secondary is supposed to hold up. And once again, it simply didn’t matter. Mahomes buys time brilliantly, then finds Robinson down the field to create a much more manageable situation on third down. There’s no defense for plays like this.
Analysts have been praising Mahomes for his strong arm and ability to run the offense, but many have questioned how he would do when the windows became tighter against superior coverage. Mahomes answered that question time and again Monday night, as almost every throw that wasn’t on a created play was into a tight window.
Mahomes was forced to complete pass after pass with defenders in the vicinity of the ball Monday. The fact that he threw only two potential interceptions is a testament to his ball placement and the velocity with which he delivers into tight windows. If teams were hoping that good coverage would result in poor decisions from Mahomes, this game likely dashed their hopes.
It’s worth noting that of the potential picks Mahomes threw, one of them was essentially an arm punt on a busted screen on third down.
On this play, the Chiefs appear to be setting up a screen to the left side to running back Kareem Hunt. However, the Broncos play the screen well, bumping Hunt on his way out of the backfield to mess with his timing and keeping a defender in his vicinity. Mahomes sees this and keeps the ball, hoping that something will open up down the field. Of course, the pressure comes quickly given the design of the play. Mahomes sees this and, knowing it’s third down regardless, heaves the ball down the field to Harris in an advantageous matchup. Given the length of the throw and what down it was, this wasn’t a poor decision at all.
Mahomes wasn’t perfect on Monday. Normally, this is where we’d examine clips of a few happy-feet snaps, where Mahomes bailed out to his right sooner than he should have. Or we could look at a few plays where it appears Mahomes was surprised by the blitz and talk about how he needs to work on his pre-snap recognition.
However, such things feel foolish when looking at the entire context of the game. Mahomes made very few individual mistakes in the face of a defense playing as well as anyone could be expected to play against an Andy Reid-coached team, and he did so despite a half-dozen drops from his receivers and without one of his favorite targets.
Drive after drive, Mahomes found receivers not open and pressure coming quickly. In the face of this, he created play after play and brought the offense kicking and screaming down the field. These reviews allow us to observe plays and yards the quarterback “left on the field.” Those plays were virtually nonexistent Monday night. Instead, Mahomes added yardage left and right with created plays and fantastic throws.
Prior to the season, I wrote about how Mahomes could be the perfect complement for Reid, who struggles at times when his initial game plan is foiled, sometimes retreating into an over-controlling shell. The hope was that Mahomes’ creativity in the face of bad circumstances would allow the offense to overcome execution issues or being out-schemed by the opponent. On Monday, that hope was realized on the field in Denver, as Mahomes was able to take a dozen bad plays and turn them into something good.
The Broncos played the Chiefs as well as they could, on an evening in which the Chiefs were missing a key cog and dropping passes left and right. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to prevent Mahomes from forcing points onto the board. And that, more than anything we’ve seen in the first quarter of the season, should terrify opposing defenses.
Next week’s matchup against Jacksonville will be an even bigger test for Mahomes. Given what occurred Monday, we wouldn’t doubt him rising to the challenge.
My favorite comment:
I don’t remember there being many who opposed. Most were just glad we drafted a QB in round one. Sure, some may have griped about the extra first-rounder, but clearly he’s worth two later first round picks.
I keep telling friends: At this point I think Favre is his floor. I think he could (and I know it’s cliche to say) change the QB position.