Elite QBs Wilson and Mahomes duel in critical Week 16 contest
Looking to take advantage of a second shot at clinching a playoff berth, the Seattle Seahawks will welcome the high-powered Kansas City Chiefs to town as both teams look to bounce back from difficult losses last weekend.
Unable to overcome a franchise-record 148 penalty yards, the Seahawks dropped a disappointing 26-23 overtime decision to the 49ers, prolonging their playoff hunt for at least one more week. The Chiefs suffered similar heartbreak, squandering a 14-point lead late in the fourth quarter and losing to the Chargers on a game-winning two-point conversion.
At the center of this much-anticipated Week 16 clash, two of the league’s premier quarterbacks in Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes will face off for the first time with plenty at stake for their respective teams.
Referencing their baseball backgrounds as former infielders and innate abilities to improvise, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll sees plenty of parallels between the two star signal-callers heading toward a game full of playoff implications.
“There’s nobody that’s had a better year off the spot than Patrick (Mahomes) has,” Carroll said. “Russ has always been noted for that and so there’s similarities in that regard.”
In his first season as a NFL starter, Mahomes has caught the NFL by storm in head coach Andy Reid’s offense, leading the league with 45 touchdown passes and 4,543 passing yards through 14 games. Showing off his versatility, he’s also rushed for 238 yards and scored two touchdowns as a runner.
When asked about Mahomes’ swift ascension to the top of the league’s quarterback hierarchy, Carroll quickly credited Reid and his coaching staff for constructing an offense that best fit their quarterback’s strengths.
“I think it’s a fantastic job by their staff and Andy putting together an offense that could make sense to him so that he could execute this well. … To bring the quarterback along that quickly in a sophisticated attack, that’s a big accomplishment by their coaching staff and Patrick has made full use of all of it and he’s had a great season.”
Mahomes started out hot right out of the gate, throwing 14 touchdown passes and zero interceptions during Kansas City’s first four games, including a six-touchdown performance against Pittsburgh in Week 2. Carroll acknowledged a talented receiving corps headlined by Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce has made life easier for the second-year quarterback, but a perfectly-designed offensive scheme has been most influential in his success.
Carroll knows all too well the value of a dual-threat quarterback in today’s NFL, as Wilson continues to post gaudy numbers of his own for the Seahawks despite playing in a run-first offense that limits his pass attempts substantially.
Though his numbers pale in comparison to Mahomes in many aspects, Wilson still ranks third in the NFL in passing touchdowns, second in touchdown percentage, and fourth in passer rating. And after a slow start to the season as a ball-carrier, he has quietly rushed for 321 yards and a healthy 5.6 yards per carry average.
Having coached in the NFL for 25 years, Carroll believes preparing to face a quarterback like Mahomes or Wilson who can create off-script is “as tough as it gets,” as defending against such a unique talent can make it feel as if the opposing team is running more than one play each snap.
While much easier said than done, Carroll said containing Mahomes’ effectiveness on improvised plays will come down to discipline and execution by Seattle’s secondary and pass rushers.
“You just have to work at it and keep the explosive plays from happening and keep him somewhat corralled the best you can. Just like any quarterback, if you can rush him, you have a chance to slow down their effectiveness, so we have to do that too. We have to take some chances at the right time – it just takes every aspect of every part of your game.”
Carroll understands the obstacles his defense will have to overcome against the league’s best scoring offense orchestrated by Mahomes and coordinated by an offensive guru in Reid. But with 14 games in the books, he hopes the Seahawks experience defending against Wilson in practice as well as a strong understanding of their opponent’s offensive scheme will allow them to hold their own on Sunday.
“They have shown everything now, we’ve seen ’em. After all these games, we know kind of the whole scope of what this offense is. … Hopefully we can settle into it – not that it gets easy because they have such a diverse attack that you’ve got to be ready for a lot of stuff – but our guys are up for it and are ready for the challenge.”
SERIES HISTORY: 52nd regular-season meeting. Chiefs lead series, 33-18. Previously division rivals before Seattle moved to the NFC in 2002, Kansas City won 30 of the first 46 matchups between these two teams, including winning 14 out of 15 games between 1991 and 1998. The Seahawks have never won more than three in a row in the all-time series, while the Chiefs have won four or more consecutive games three separate times. Since the Seahawks moved to the NFC West, the Chiefs have been victorious in three of their four battles, including defeating them at Arrowhead Stadium 24-20 in 2014.
