Sunday’s game between the Patriots and Chiefs will feature a pair of MVPs in prominent roles as quarterbacks Cam Newton and Patrick Mahomes lead their respective offenses.
It will also feature a mutual admiration society. Mahomes said this week that he wishes he “could do some of the things [Newton] does” on the football field and has been playing “really good football” since getting to New England. Newton called it “pretty neat” to hear Mahomes say that while lavishing praise on the younger player.
“Man, he’s changing the game,” Newton said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. “I think he’s shining light on the new wave of quarterbacks. It’s just fun to watch. . . . It’s not like he’s just back there and it’s an arcade game. Sometimes it looks like it, but he knows exactly what he’s doing and how he’s manipulating the defense. That’s the same thing that the Dan Marinos used to do. Obviously the Tom Bradys. The Aaron Rodgers. Those guys really have so much command of the offense that you dictate to the defense. That’s what he’s doing. He’s playing the game at a high level.”
The two players have never played against each other in the past, so Sunday’s game will be the first chance for either player to get a close view of someone they’ve admired from a distance. If both put up their best game, it should be an enjoyable watch for them and all the rest of us.