Patrick Mahomes: Game Manager

[DJ's left nut]

So i re-watched the 2nd half last night just for grins.

And during the game I was just aggravated that we simply wouldn't push the ball. But on re-watch and after listening to the post-game, it's clear that this was Mahomes just going full Alex Smith out there.

He wasn't concerned anymore about scoring points. He (and Andy) were wholly content bleeding clock and leaning on their lead. He knew that if he just didn't make a mistake, the Ravens weren't going to come back and win it. So he took ZERO risks.

Contrast that with how he played on the first two drives. And hell, the throw he made on 3rd down when they had to have it. He HAD big plays. He HAD yards and probably points on the board. But he dialed that risk/reward calculus waaaaaaay down because he wanted to make sure there were zero mistakes.

And I think part of it was because he knew that if he needed to pick things back up, he could. He would. He was in complete command of the game and game script.

It was part of a continued evolution from Mahomes. If he needs to breath fire, he will. But when he doesn't need to, he knows how to just keep the game under control. He can be Rodgers OR he can be Brady.

He's a scary scary dude even when he isn't.

[Spott]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Had we challenged that call not only would we have lost but we also would have lost a challenge we might have needed later.

We might have lost a challenge, but we would have had that much more time to come up with a different play to get that conversion. If we get that conversion, it’s likely 24-7 at half.

[Bl00dyBizkitz]

Originally Posted by scho63

I think some of the 1st down runs early in the 2nd half were too conservative. We had too many 3rd and longs entire 2nd half.

Later in 4th qtr it's OK to bleed clock but we could have used one more score. The game was too close to turtle up that early.

I'm 50/50 on it. On one hand, it stopped working after awhile and it was frustrating seeing us continue to attempt something that just didn't work.

On the other hand, the Ravens were trying to force the offense to play riskier by taking away our easy stuff. They wanted a turnover or defensive score. Its what they've done all year. And we just didn't budge. In this specific game, it was the right call.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Spott

We might have lost a challenge, but we would have had that much more time to come up with a different play to get that conversion. If we get that conversion, it’s likely 24-7 at half.

No matter how remote a challenge means we have a chance to overturn it.

No challenge = no chance to overturn it.

We didn't need a challenge later. All we did was waste an opportunity....

[O.city]

The Ravens had a clear tripping penalty in the endzone go uncalled and the hold on the Rice td was bullshit. That's what, 6 points off the board?

[Mecca]

The Ravens absolutely had no poise, you could see that the pressure and the moment was to big for them. Especially Lamar which was rubbing off on the rest of the team.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by Spott

We might have lost a challenge, but we would have had that much more time to come up with a different play to get that conversion. If we get that conversion, it’s likely 24-7 at half.

Dude, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the play call. Pac had been gashing them up the middle. They made a stop one time at a good time for them. Tip your cap and move on. Had we ran some cutesy shit or something and it didn't work people would be screaming that we didn't just slam Pac up the middle like we had that whole drive.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by O.city

The Ravens had a clear tripping penalty in the endzone go uncalled and the hold on the Rice td was bullshit. That's what, 6 points off the board?

I'm convinced they didn't call the trip because it would have ended the game and they didn't want "oh refs helped the Chiefs"

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

I don’t know. Yesterday seemed like a gift between the van noy penalty, then another penalty right after to give us 30 free yards. Then the zay flowers taunting followed by the fumble and then Lamar endzone INT and we still only won by a score.

They melted down and playoff experience matters... we "out experienced" them. I'd 100% not put the fumble in that category though, that was an absolutely outstanding play.... and Lamar's turnovers are who he is, standing in the pocket too long waiting for a wide open receiver, and not being a good passer.

I'll take it... it's ****ing hard beating real SB contenders (and the Ravens weren't one), which is exactly why they didn't beat both the Bills and Bengals in 2021, and why the Bengals didn't beat both the Bills and Chiefs last season.

Everyone wants the toughest possible path, but as much as I love :13 and winning the heart attack games, it's not often how SBs are won... they're often won by playing a 6 seed in the AFCCG or getting a bye and then playing a rookie QB in the divisional, etc. Getting breaks is a good thing.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by O.city

The Ravens had a clear tripping penalty in the endzone go uncalled and the hold on the Rice td was bullshit. That's what, 6 points off the board?

The Ravens had about 10 penalties go uncalled.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by O.city

The Ravens had a clear tripping penalty in the endzone go uncalled and the hold on the Rice td was bullshit. That's what, 6 points off the board?

Clear hold that sprung Lamar for his big run that led to a TD as well.

Oh hey, look, it's Wharton (98, lined up over 79) being blatantly held in a way that let Lamar through on the Ravens 4th and 1 conversion... which led to BAL's only TD drive on the day.

Pretending the refs were even sort of the reason BAL lost is dumb. pic.twitter.com/kRW4a88w3e

— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) January 29, 2024

It's almost as if refs miss stuff, and the good teams find ways to overcome it.

[Hoover]

I never quite understood the Raven's mindset coming into the game. Like why where they so chippy towards the Chiefs? They are the one seed. We are in their house. Act like it. Instead they went all thug-like acting as if this Chiefs team is a house of cards and would crumble if you just got though with it.

I think it was a completely wrong approach.

I also ****ing hate Tony Romo and the constant doom and gloom coverage of how the Chiefs should be worried. Oh I can't believe they deferred and elected to give the Ravens the ball. No credit given for the Chiefs walking into that environment and taking the crowd out of that game after forcing a quick three and out and scoring a TD.

It was like little brother was all emotional and big brother just ****ing shoved him to the side.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

I don’t know. Yesterday seemed like a gift between the van noy penalty, then another penalty right after to give us 30 free yards. Then the zay flowers taunting followed by the fumble and then Lamar endzone INT and we still only won by a score.

I hear you. We won the TO battle 3-0 (3-1 if you consider a turnover on downs a true TO) and only saw 6 RB carries all game from the premier rushing team in the league, still only won by 7.

BUT I think the Ravens were overmatched. You can argue that most of those penalties were a result of us bullying them. Kelce baited that PF on Van Noy by getting in his head, as did Sneed with Zay Flowers. Travis Jones was clearly trying to hurt our QB with his punch PF. Roquan Smith’s PF was a strategic play by the Ravens to try to get the ball back as we were looking to salt the game away.

The turnovers we got, two were forced and one was expected (Lamar will throw you at last one). Bolton dropped another easy one.

And we were clearly in Harbaugh’s head, which is why he abandoned the run basically from the beginning.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

We also benefited by them allowing our corners to be handsy. If it was officiated like the Tampa Superbowl...we lose. Alot of contact on deep passes they let go.


Crazy how only Brady got those prayer chuck PIs in the playoffs. Otherwise it's...let them play!

Have I mentioned how bad we got ****ed against Tampa again...

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Clear hold that sprung Lamar for his big run that led to a TD as well.

Oh hey, look, it's Wharton (98, lined up over 79) being blatantly held in a way that let Lamar through on the Ravens 4th and 1 conversion... which led to BAL's only TD drive on the day.

Pretending the refs were even sort of the reason BAL lost is dumb. pic.twitter.com/kRW4a88w3e

— Seth Keysor (@RealMNchiefsfan) January 29, 2024

It's almost as if refs miss stuff, and the good teams find ways to overcome it.

I called it in the game chat real time....

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by TripleThreat

I don’t know. Yesterday seemed like a gift between the van noy penalty, then another penalty right after to give us 30 free yards. Then the zay flowers taunting followed by the fumble and then Lamar endzone INT and we still only won by a score.

Some of those flags were pretty weak, especially in a playoff game. But the taunting flag was legit. Incredibly dumb play by Flowers in that moment. And we did commit DPI on that INT that wasn't flagged. But the refs effed up both ways; ultimately BAL just committed more dumb frustration penalties than KC.