KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two offensive drives, two touchdowns and 24 plays into the second of three dress rehearsals in August, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a week’s worth — heck, a month’s worth — of extraordinary throws.
A tight window dart to tight end Jody Fortson for a touchdown. A sidearm flick to wideout Justin Watson on the back end of a scramble. An improvisation 30-yard, over-the-shoulder toss to tight end Noah Gray.
A game Saturday against Washington had exhausted all of 17 minutes, and Mahomes had passed for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns in what would turn into a 24-14 Chiefs win at Arrowhead Stadium.
But as broadcast, press box and probably living room conversations in Kansas City focused on No. 15, Mahomes returned to the sideline and began a conversation about a different topic entirely. About the hidden reason he was on a roll.
The offensive linemen.
Remember those guys? A year ago at this time, they were all we were talking about, wondering how a group almost completely overhauled would actually function together.
Now? They feel like an afterthought. And perhaps there’s no better compliment.
Well, an afterthought to some.
“The offensive line played tremendous today,” Mahomes said. “That’s a really good defensive line, and they blocked and gave me a ton of time.
“... The pockets were amazing. I was patting (the ball) two or three times. I mean, if they block like that, it’s going to be a hard offense to stop. When you have that much time in the pocket, usually good things happen.”
The irony is some of Mahomes’ very best moments Saturday came on scramble drills. Those three plays I mentioned earlier — all were something-from-nothing throws. Mahomes has made it a staple of his game to turn broken plays into positive yardage.
But that narrative can be deceiving in this instance. These plays had not broken down but rather Mahomes had waited (and waited ... and waited) on openings to emerge with original routes only to find nothing.
The offensive line allowed an extra second or two. And with that, came an extra option or two. And with that, came an extra completion or two.
“There (were) times when I was scrambling, and I was only scrambling because there wasn’t stuff open downfield,” Mahomes said.
As we analyze how a new-look offense — or at least new-look offensive personnel — will produce this season, the presence of Mahomes provides stability. It provides optimism. And it should.
But from the point of view of Mahomes, that stability must come from the five men in front. How quickly things change, right? It was just 18 short months ago that he was running for his life — literally the length of five football fields in all — in a Super Bowl loss in Tampa Bay.
Heading into this season, ESPN Analytics has ranked the Chiefs as possessing the best overall offensive line in football, ranking it as the best pass-blocking unit and the fifth-best run blocking unit. The latter still needs some improvement, though the backs need to better hold up their end of the bargain.
But the former has turned into a sort of impenetrable wall, and as Mahomes referenced earlier, they weren’t playing against slouches Saturday. While Washington played without Chase Young, they did start Jonathan Allen, Montez Sweat and Daron Payne, a trio that combined for 18 sacks a year ago.
Mahomes dropped back 19 times Saturday over the two drives. He was not sacked once. He was not even hit once. Heck, he did not even run the ball on a scramble a single time.
Nineteen drop-backs. Nineteen attempted passes.
“They’re missing a guy, but still, that’s a talented defensive front. I thought it would be a good measuring stick for us at this time of year,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I thought they handled themselves well. We can do a little better in the run game part of it, but that pass game part, I thought was pretty efficient.”
Last year’s group — the identical five as this year’s group, with Orlando Brown, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Andrew Wylie — provided clear improvement over the injury-ravaged group from a year earlier. But in reality, that should be the floor for what they offer in 2022. Humphrey and Smith should actually take a proverbial step forward this season, given they were rookies a year ago. Brown is really in just in his second full season as a left tackle.
And then there’s the notion that these guys know one another pretty well now. They’re not shaking hands for the first time as they were last preseason. There’s familiarity in personality, in style and in communication.
The Chiefs allowed only 28 sacks last season, third fewest in the league. Two teams allowed more than double that amount. But this group actually should out-do itself.
“We’ve been in a lot of battles together as a group,” Brown said. “The communication and the feel and the understanding of things, we’re just working really well together.”
