Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes has long been recognized as one of the best quarterbacks in all of football. But perhaps his greatest attribute as a player is his ability to improvise.
Mahomes put that on display in a magical way in the second quarter of Kansas City’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
The Chiefs found themselves itself with a goal-line opportunity in the second quarter. Then, Kansas City head coach Andy Reid called a bootleg play, with Mahomes scrambling out of the pocket.
Mahomes was able to avoid a near sack from Buccaneers defensive lineman Patrick O’Conner and scrambled all the way back to the line of scrimmage.
He flipped a wild pass to Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire for a highlight-reel touchdown pass after spinning away from another Buccaneers defender.
WHAT WAS THAT?! @PatrickMahomes
📺: #KCvsTB on NBC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/o84hsBqv8I pic.twitter.com/LHCbF16aoq— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2022
This wild touchdown pass has many praising Mahomes for his impressive elusiveness that has been a staple throughout his career.
Nah that was cold af!
— Saquon Barkley (@saquon) October 3, 2022
Mahomes is ABSURD!
(🎥: @Chiefs) pic.twitter.com/B0OVcypmJU
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 3, 2022
Patrick Mahomes is doing unimaginable stuff right now. Holy cow. pic.twitter.com/vyPj7tJYV3
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 3, 2022
What the… ? He’s ridiculous.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) October 3, 2022
If Patrick Mahomes does this the media goes nuts pic.twitter.com/DCP4A4AWea
— Basic PFT (@PFTCommenter) October 3, 2022
According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats on Twitter, Mahomes now has four touchdown passes in his career after scrambling 30 or more yards on the play.
Considering no other quarterback has had more than one of these touchdown passes since 2018, it is very clear that Mahomes is the king of improvising at the quarterback position.
Patrick Mahomes scrambled 39.4 yards before finding Clyde Edwards-Helaire for a 2-yard TD.
Mahomes has thrown 4 TD passes in his career after scrambling 30+ yards. No other QB has more than one since 2018.#KCvsTB | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/DX2HvcJm3a
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 3, 2022
There was a lot of talk about how Mahomes would do without star receiver Tyreek Hill after his departure to the Miami Dolphins this offseason, but it looks like he is doing just fine without him.
Despite the AFC West looking extremely talented to begin the season, it seems very clear that the Chiefs led by Mahomes are still the top dog in the division.
