Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spent much of the offseason building up the confidence of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but now with his first-year starter the reigning two-time AFC Offensive Player of the Week, Reid wants to stress that it’s just two games into what he hopes becomes a long career.
“Everything has not been roses up to this point,” Reid said. “It looks like it, but that has not been the case. He has a ton of things to work on.”
That’s surprising to hear from the head coach of a 2-0 football team leading the league scoring 40 points per game led by a quarterback who just set an NFL record with 10 touchdown passes in the first two games of the season.
“There’s always places you can get better on this offense and this team,” Mahomes said in concurring with his coach.
Reid has fewer worries about Mahomes himself. He showed enough confidence in Mahomes during the offseason to trade Alex Smith to Washington and hand over the offense to a second-year player with one career start.
What does concern Reid, however, comes with how Mahomes handles the difficulties inevitably coming his way when teams around the league begin to pick up his tendencies and learn to game-plan more effectively to take away his strengths.
“As defensive coordinators study and see these things, they will throw different wrinkles at you and you have to rise up every week,” Reid said. “That’s not a simple part of this. In this business it’s not so much about what you did the week before, it’s about what you do today. We have to keep answering these different challenges.”
Reid tried preparing Mahomes for those difficulties during the offseason program and training camp. Those practices normally become fairly scripted, without too many surprises for either the offense or defense.
But Reid directed defensive coordinator Bob Sutton to throw everything he had at Mahomes during those practices. No blitz or coverage was out of bounds; Reid wanted Mahomes to see it all.
“One advantage I think he had was he was able to work against Bob (Sutton) at training camp and had a lot of things thrown at him,” Reid said. “Everyone has their flavor and you have to be able to answer it. If you don’t, you have a problem.”
While the rest of the league may see Mahomes as ahead of the curve, however, Reid sees his quarterback exactly where he expected.
“He’s probably where I thought,” Reid said. “He’s got a ton of room here to improve but he’s doing a nice job.”
Reid pushed Mahomes to help him reach this point in his development, but Mahomes consider himself just as harsh as his own critic.
“Coach Reid, he is always going to push me,” Mahomes said. “He is never going to be satisfied with what I am doing and where I am at. That’s how I feel about myself. You never want to be satisfied with one good performance.”
Reid’s perfection extends beyond the passing game. The 18 penalties raked up by the
Chiefs in the first two weeks ranks tied for second in the league. The club also ranks 29th in points allowed and dead last in total yards allowed. Even the team’s vaunted run game ranks just 10th in the league right now.
“Right now, we are making too many mistakes,” Reid said. “We need to tighten some things up and make sure that we are doing just what you are saying, be in the right spot more consistently and work against all these different looks we’re getting.”
Mahomes faces a different test Sunday against San Francisco. The 49ers have a big defensive line, led by 6-7, 300-pound defensive tackle DeForest Bucker. He currently ranks second in the league with 3 1/2 sacks on the season. The 49ers’ secondary has four-time Pro Bowler Richard Sherman at cornerback as a threat to take the ball away at any time.
“It is going to be a great challenge for us, especially being our first home game,” Mahomes said. “We have to stay in process. Keep doing what we do well, keep getting better, fixing our mistakes and hopefully come out with the win.”
SERIES HISTORY: 13th regular-season meeting. 49ers lead series, 7-5. The 49ers have won the only meeting between the two franchises during the tenure of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Kicker Phil Dawson connected on five field goals and Colin Kaepernick tossed a touchdown pass to lift the 49ers to a 22-17 home win in Week 5 of the 2014 season. The Chiefs have won the last two meetings at Arrowhead Stadium by a combined score of 72-20.
