Quote:
Originally Posted by Chiefs=Champions
The one thing Pat needs to improve on is pulling the trigger on contested tight throws. It happened earlier in the year. Players started dropping passes and he gets a little gun shy. He's so smart and unbelievable at creating space for himself that at times he leans on that instead of just hitting the easy read that might be slightly contested or in traffic.
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Yep when he loses his confidence he gets very tentative and hesitant and loses his anticipation and trust in his receivers.
I think the fluky INTs scarred him some but I think to some degree it's like you said, he's so good at getting outside the pocket and throwing on the run outside of structure that he gets gunshy on pulling the trigger in the pocket and in structure sometimes because he thinks he can create a less risky throw by buying time for a receiver to get more open and to find a better throwing lane.
BUT, I also think it's because he just has no receivers that are good in contested catch situations and he's never had one in KC. Kelce is pretty much it, but that's not even his strength.
You saw Tyreek all year not be able to hold on to contested balls, including twice Sunday and the last throw of the season that resulted in an INT. A legit 6'2 WR with great hands and body control comes down with that pass. We have and have had NO ONE that can do that in the 4 years Mahomes has started. To me, that's a big part of an offense that we don't have that so many other QBs do have.
Kelce and Hill are great, but contested catches aren't their game and we literally have no other receivers that are capable of it either. So I can understand why he doesn't throw a ton of balls into tight coverage.
Especially in this offense where he doesn't really have to do that much because we either go up against a ton of zone or if we go vs man, Kelce and Hill usually get separation or Reid will scheme someone else open.
I think he's been taught to avoid the low percentage shots in this offense and because of the receivers we have. And when he loses some confidence and no one gets any separation, instead of drilling a throw into tight coverage, he instead wants to get outside the pocket to make a higher percentage and less risky throw and it usually works.