Patriots' defense last night

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by gold_and_red

Is Mahomes stepping into the pocket as often? It feels like he is itching to scramble to the sides.
Our interior OL needs upgrading if we are to fully use CEH and play action. We can't seem to get more than two yards running up the middle. I am afraid that such an approach is more philosophical with Reid and may not be truly fixed.
With the secondary being a team strength (what a turnaround in just two years) the focus must be on OGs. We need nasty.

Dante made a good point.

What you see as 'itching to scramble' is mostly Mahomes playing chess out there. He's trying to change throwing lanes to create havoc in the secondary. That's something that secondary just cannot anticipate, especially with a QB that can roll to his left and throw across his body to the right.

His ability to move around simply cancels out the opposing DC's plan in the secondary because you cannot plan for the lanes he'll create. So if/when a team can keep him in the pocket, they can actually set up a coverage scheme that stays largely to script.

Mahomes looking to move those throwing lanes is almost always a good thing. It's not happy feet and it's not 'itching to scramble' - it's intentionally creating havoc in the secondary. It's getting those guys to be reactive. The Patriots plan to contain him was a smart one and the Chiefs will have to execute at a higher level to keep more teams from doing it going forward.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Dante made a good point.

What you see as 'itching to scramble' is mostly Mahomes playing chess out there. He's trying to change throwing lanes to create havoc in the secondary. That's something that secondary just cannot anticipate, especially with a QB that can roll to his left and throw across his body to the right.

His ability to move around simply cancels out the opposing DC's plan in the secondary because you cannot plan for the lanes he'll create. So if/when a team can keep him in the pocket, they can actually set up a coverage scheme that stays largely to script.

Mahomes looking to move those throwing lanes is almost always a good thing. It's not happy feet and it's not 'itching to scramble' - it's intentionally creating havoc in the secondary. It's getting those guys to be reactive. The Patriots plan to contain him was a smart one and the Chiefs will have to execute at a higher level to keep more teams from doing it going forward.

Game was a chess match. I actually enjoyed it. But probably because the Pats played Hoyer and Stidham did i ever fear they would lose.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Dante made a good point.

What you see as 'itching to scramble' is mostly Mahomes playing chess out there. He's trying to change throwing lanes to create havoc in the secondary. That's something that secondary just cannot anticipate, especially with a QB that can roll to his left and throw across his body to the right.

His ability to move around simply cancels out the opposing DC's plan in the secondary because you cannot plan for the lanes he'll create. So if/when a team can keep him in the pocket, they can actually set up a coverage scheme that stays largely to script.

Mahomes looking to move those throwing lanes is almost always a good thing. It's not happy feet and it's not 'itching to scramble' - it's intentionally creating havoc in the secondary. It's getting those guys to be reactive. The Patriots plan to contain him was a smart one and the Chiefs will have to execute at a higher level to keep more teams from doing it going forward.

I'll push back here. Mahomes leaves clean pockets sometimes. I get why, you laid it out here. But I think he needs to hang in there and let WR's do what they do.

When he did that last night, they had success.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

I'll push back here. Mahomes leaves clean pockets sometimes. I get why, you laid it out here. But I think he needs to hang in there and let WR's do what they do.

When he did that last night, they had success.

But you can almost always tell when he's moving with purpose vs. when he's just not getting comfortable.

He usually 'jutters' with his feet a little on the latter.

I saw very very little of that last night. And I saw none of those 'backward drifts' that you see when he's not feeling the pocket well.

I think just about every decision he made w/r/t pocket awareness was done with purpose. You're making a chicken/egg argument here. Yes, he succeeded when he was tall in the pocket. But then again, he had throwing lanes. Why are you presuming he had those when he was moving? Isn't it equally likely that he simply didn't have those lanes, tried to move to create them and then found himself stymied by the BB bracket concept?

I think you're identifying the symptom just fine - I think you're simply mis-diagnosing the disease.