Smiles, pushes and beer: Inside the defining scenes of the Chiefs’ win over the Lions

[Hammock Parties]

Something magic about this team.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/sp...235605422.html

The star quarterback’s face broke into a child’s smile at the instant the game’s outcome was pushed to the edge of the cliff and the center offered beer to the running back for his help on a touchdown.

We’ll get to all of that.

But first, a scene from Chiefs’ locker room:

LeSean McCoy, the new running back: “We undefeated! Y’all, I haven’t been undefeated in ... man, I don’t even know. Y’all take it for granted.”

Jeff Allen, the lineman in his sixth season with the Chiefs: “We’re used to it, bruh.”

Darrel Williams, the running back in his second season: “Big facts.”

The Chiefs screwed a hundred things up Sunday in Detroit, and that’s probably conservative. The offense lost as many fumbles as it scored touchdowns. Patrick Mahomes did not throw a touchdown for just the second time as the Chiefs’ QB1. They missed a field goal. They buried themselves in penalties.

And here they are anyway, celebrating a 34-30 win over the previously unbeaten Lions after the first game-winning, come-from-behind, last-minute touchdown drive of Mahomes’ career.

So much happened here. Mahomes had an MVP moment, with brain and body and emotion. The Chiefs’ defense made the play of the game. The offensive line once criticized by a rival coach for relying on “gimmicks” quite literally pushed its running back over the goal line for the day’s defining moment.

Lots to get to. Another scene, this one from the goal line:

Second and goal from the 1-yard line, 24 seconds left, opportunities at a premium. The Chiefs are a speed team. A timing team. One strategy opponents have workshopped is to be tougher, stronger, meaner. Mahomes is a magician, the theory goes, but force the Chiefs to win with brawn and you might have them beat.

Nine Lions defenders stood within two yards of the line of scrimmage as center Austin Reiter snapped the ball to Mahomes. The handoff went to Darrel Williams, who saw a crease of open air. Offensive linemen Andrew Wyle and Cam Irving pushed their guys back, but a better path opened between right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz.

Middle linebacker Jarrad Davis met Williams head-on, standing him up. For a blink, maybe Williams was stopped. Then came Reiter, pushed off the line of scrimmage at the snap but now shoving a defensive tackle out of the way and smashing like a charging bull directly into Williams’ ribs.

Touchdown.

“Being on the 1-yard line, as a running back, you shouldn’t be denied,” Williams said.

“Every time we get one of those touchdowns, I look at it like it’s mine and not the running back’s,” Wylie said.

“Austin pushed the (spit) out of him,” Duvernay-Tardif said.

“I told him after: ‘I owe you a case of beer for hitting you in the back,’” Reiter said.

The Chiefs, who lost four times in the final minutes or overtime last year, won their first test of resiliency in their most serious Super Bowl push in generations. An offseason goal achieved.

Another scene, this one from the huddle:

Two minutes, 20 seconds left. The Chiefs trailed by 3, and it could’ve worse. They hadn’t played well. Sloppy. Mahomes missed some throws. Receivers messed up some routes. Mahomes, for all his gifts, had not won a game like this with a touchdown.

The Chiefs came back in the fourth quarter last year against the Ravens but won in overtime with a field goal. Mahomes had a hero’s chance against the Rams. The Chiefs lost late against the Chargers and the Patriots (twice).

“This is what we get paid to do!” he said in Sunday’s huddle, according to teammates.

The first snap was coach Andy Reid’s, an inside screen to give Detroit’s pass rushers something to think about. First down.

The second play had to be Mahomes’. Nobody was open on first down, a second-down completion went nowhere and a third-down pass missed high to Demarcus Robinson. That’s fourth and 8, and at that moment computer projections gave the Chiefs an 11.9 percent chance of winning.

And there, with a juiced crowd filling this dome with noise, Mahomes looked at his 10 friends in the huddle — and smiled.

“Let’s go,” he told them.

“Pat thrives in those situations,” Wylie would say later. “He really does.”

The Lions rushed three and dropped eight, typical in that situation but probably not ideal against Mahomes. The protection held up, and the Lions rushed upfield, ambitious but perhaps a bit careless because the field opened in front of Mahomes. He ran straight ahead, slid before anyone could hit him, set the ball on the turf and signaled first down.

The projections then had the Chiefs at 51 percent.

“There’s definitely a calm there,” Reiter said.

“He told us: ‘We’re not doing anything different, just be ourselves,’” Wylie said.

“Verbally, mentally, as a leader on this team keeping us collected,” tight end Travis Kelce said.

Then came a broken play when the Lions doubled Kelce but forgot about him when the play appeared designed the other way. That left Kelce wide open and led to another first down. Field goal range.

Robinson took a crossing route 9 yards, Mecole Hardman caught a first down, and the Chiefs pushed the ball inside the 5 with the second catch of Byron Pringle’s NFL career.

Then came the toughness, Williams’ rushing straight at the linebacker, Reiter pushing the (spit) out of him, the promise of the beer and — after surviving two Hail Marys — the locker room celebration.

They’re used to it, bruh.

Games like this used to go against the Chiefs. For years, for decades. The other team always had the quarterback who made the play, who created belief, who smiled when the world around him shook.

Then Mahomes showed up.

“When it’s all said and done he’s going to be one of the best to ever play the position,” Chiefs linebacker Anthony Hitchens said. “As a quarterback (in his) second year of playing, he just did something that some quarterbacks who have been playing for years can’t do.”

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

And yes, I'm digging McCoy too. The guy is clearly having fun like a kid in a candy store as he's never had in his career and it's great to see his enthusiasm (especially as a well-established veteran).

I'm sure he's thrilled to be on the same team as Mahomes and have a legit shot at getting a ring before his body forces him to retire...

[tmax63]

Originally Posted by RedRaider56

Don't forget that Reid pretty much went into turtle mode in the 2nd half of the first 3 games. I think this offense needs to build on the rhythm they had going on early in those games, but the yo-yo effect of Reid's play calling during the games hasn't helped the offense keep it going.

Everyone keeps saying that Reid goes into safe mode when he gets a lead but I'm not so sure. All it takes is an illegal procedure or any small slip and a drive is stalled in today's NFL. I wonder if the offense as a whole may "relax" a little bit and suddenly because MH or SW didn't come out of his break like their ass was on fire the pass is a foot overthrown or one of the linemen is a half a step slower getting to the second level etc.etc. I'm just not sure it's the playcalling but more of an execution problem.