Patrick Mahomes is used to making jaw-dropping plays.
But not with his feet.
The Chiefs quarterback marveled at his own 27-yard touchdown run just before halftime, which helped propel his team back from another early deficit, and added another
“I haven’t run that far since high school, I don’t think,” Mahomes told Peter King of NBC’s Football Morning in America.
It wasn’t just the distance he covered, but the awareness he showed during the run. He credited his downfield receivers for drawing coverage away from him, and said afterward that with two timeouts in his pocket, he knew it didn’t matter if he stayed in bounds after scrambling for a first down, so he kept going.
“The offensive line shut everybody down, so I knew I could run to the sideline and get the first down,” he said. “So I tried to cut it back, and I did, a little. And luckily I hung onto the ball. . . .
“I was going for it.”
With that score, the Chiefs erased what had been a 17-7 Titans lead to take control of the game just before half. Mahomes continued to play brilliantly after the break, in more conventional ways.
It was quite a difference from last year’s heartbreaking overtime loss to the Patriots, and Mahomes said the moments he shared with Tom Brady after that game are with him still.
“The biggest thing he said was, ‘Stay with the process and be who you are.’ He didn’t want me to change at all. He wanted me to go out there and take advantage of every single day,” Mahomes said. “When you hear it from a guy like that, who’s had the success at the level that he’s had for his entire career, you know you’ve got to take advantage of every single day if you want to be great.”
He showed Sunday — again — that he already is.