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.

[CaptainMorgan]

Originally Posted by Gary Cooper

Chris Jones was tripped in the end zone when the Ravens were on their own 1-yard line. Pretty blatant. I believe it was their last drive. Should have been called a safety.

Forgot that one! Absolutely!

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Mecca

The Flowers thing even went a step beyond as he pushed Sneed down to do it like going "yea take this bitch"

It was the right call. Absolutely. If they call all the other shit all year long, they have to call that one.

I'm not sure I agree with the legislative intent.

In this specific case, Sneed still had ahold of his foot from the tackle. Sneed was needling him. And it worked. Veteran schooled the rookie.

What Sneed did is never called. What Flowers did is always called. But I'm not sure they're materially different.

[Eleazar]

I don’t know how you can call the Van Noy one weak. He joined an altercation as a third player, anyone with any sense knows there’s a significant chance of getting a flag by doing that.

Staying in control of your emotions and using them in the right way is what winning teams do. Losers do what the ravens did at many points yesterday.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Lol, when did I say either of those flags were weak?



Anyway, at least of the holding calls on Taylor was a weak call. The second one, iirc, wasn't holding.

The unnecessary roughness on Roquon (when he jumped off-sides and ran into Trey) was kind of weak.

No, I disagree drastically. Smith took a full run and absolutely DRILLED a stationary player on purpose. They have to protect offensive linemen there.

Originally Posted by Megatron96

The flag against BAL after the altercation between Travis and Queen or whoever was pretty weak for a playoff game.

Again, disagree. Van Noy came running in AFTER the officials began separating players, and head butted Kelce in the helmet.

Originally Posted by Megatron96

And KC committed DPI at least twice that wasn't called.

And there were probably a couple more, but I haven't rewatched the game and I missed part of the first quarter.

But again, the refs this season have been terrible, so it's not like any of this was a surprise.

In all, the officiating crew missed some big things on both ends. You can point to 6 points and a possession off the board for the Chiefs and make a good case the bad holding calls and missed tripping penalty were more impactful than anything that went the Chiefs' way.

Take away either of the holds on Smith and the Chiefs go into halftime up 21-7. Call the trip in the end zone and give KC a safety to go up 19-7 with the ball and about 10 minutes left in the game. At BEST for Baltimore, the Chiefs kill about 2.5 minutes of clock in that spot. But considering KC probably starts with a little better field position (say, the 37 instead of the 25) and only needs about 25-30 yards to get into make-able FG range, it could have been a lot worse.

[poolboy]

Ravens were head hunting Mahomes all day....miracle he didnt get a concussion

[WilliamTheIrish]

Game manager thread turns into ref thread.

The Chiefs felt (rightly) that Lamar Jackson, while an intriguing player, did not possess the needed QB fundamentals to overcome the Chiefs defense.

In the regular season? Yea, maybe he does make the reads and lead them back from 2 scores. But the playoffs? You could feel entire organization had a shirt collar that was shrinking around the neck in real time.

That does not mean Baltimore choked. Because they didn’t, IMO. It means the Chiefs strangled the game from them.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

Again, disagree. Van Noy came running in AFTER the officials began separating players, and head butted Kelce in the helmet.

That's the critical part.

When I saw the flag, I was kinda pissed because I had no idea who it was against and I felt like it was the officials fault for not getting in there and really breaking that thing up. They let it go a little longer than I expected and then the camera flashed away and a flag came out.

Then they showed the replay and I realized the officials WERE in the scrum, had broken it up and then Van Noy got involved after the fact.

At that point I withdrew my objection because yeah - that's a penalty folks. You can't enter a scrum AFTER the officials have put a pin in it and then pull the pin back out. You're going to get flagged for that every single time.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Game manager thread turns into ref thread.

The Chiefs felt (rightly) that Lamar Jackson, while an intriguing player, did not possess the needed QB fundamentals to overcome the Chiefs defense.

In the regular season? Yea, maybe he does make the reads and lead them back from 2 scores. But the playoffs? You could feel entire organization had a shirt collar that was shrinking around the neck in real time.

That does not mean Baltimore choked. Because they didn’t, IMO. It means the Chiefs strangled the game from them.

Lamar choked.

The interception was a choke. The 2 or 3 balls he had guys on that he simply missed the throw on was a choke.

He didn't play at the level he'd played at all season. It's a textbook choke.

[wachashi]

Romo said during the broadcast, "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret" and proceeded to tell us that the Ravens intended on hitting Mahomes on his scrambles. They thought defenses were too nice to him when he ran.

Well, Baltimore, how'd that work out for ya?

[CaptainMorgan]

Lamar is a front runner. Getting the lead was so important, which is why I think we saw the Chiefs so aggressive to start. Once they had the two score lead, just let the defense and Lamar do the rest.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Lamar choked.

The interception was a choke. The 2 or 3 balls he had guys on that he simply missed the throw on was a choke.

He didn't play at the level he'd played at all season. It's a textbook choke.

It's one of those things that happens under pressure. Muscle memory is a bitch.

[petegz28]

Originally Posted by wachashi

Romo said during the broadcast, "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret" and proceeded to tell us that the Ravens intended on hitting Mahomes on his scrambles. They thought defenses were too nice to him when he ran.

Well, Baltimore, how'd that work out for ya?

Romo also said we made a mistake deferring the kickoff...

[Jerm]

Originally Posted by petegz28

Romo also said we made a mistake deferring the kickoff...

I think it's hilarious he's had to be in person broadcasting our run as he clearly roots against us....and now he'll have to watch and commentate us winning another Lombardi.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by CaptainMorgan

Lamar is a front runner. Getting the lead was so important, which is why I think we saw the Chiefs so aggressive to start. Once they had the two score lead, just let the defense and Lamar do the rest.

And the 49ers are the same way. They want to get out to that lead and control the game script.

[DanT]

For what it's worth, on today's episode of Schein on Sports, Phil Simms praised Mahomes's ability to manage the game in the second half, calling it deliberate and difficult to do and noting that Mahomes was making sure to burn clock and avoid moderate risk and higher throws because they weren't in the Chiefs interest.
The deal with Mahomes is that everyone knows that he can make whatever throw he needs to make. He's not a traditional game-manager in the way that term is used derisively. Even when he's playing "safe" he is putting pressure on opponents and forcing errors from them.