Read what Patrick Mahomes said after the Chiefs 28-7 win against Washington.
Q: On Travis Kelce’s touchdown reception.
MAHOMES: “The first read was to Trav (Kelce) on a little out and up. He (Travis Kelce) kind of got collision-ed on the route which I thought he probably would’ve won, got collision-ed. But we had talked about it all week, I told him, just be patient. I was like, ‘Be patient (and) I’ll be looking that way, but I think you’re going to be open so just be in the spot.’ And he was in the perfect spot at the right time and (I) was able to push up in the pocket and make the throw to him and he got into the end zone.”
Q: On going and grabbing Travis Kelce’s touchdown ball and the meaning of that.
MAHOMES: “I said it on the broadcast, I mean he’s (Travis Kelce) the true Chiefs Chief. He is the guy that has been here through the whole thing. (He’s) been here with (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid the entire time. He has helped set the culture, you know? He helped set the culture of what it means to play for Coach Reid and to play in Kansas City and I was able to come in and then have that guy to rely on. He’s breaking all the records now and he’s all about the team, so I want to make sure that he gets that and hopefully we can get another football for him later in the season after he actually breaks the record (most in Chiefs history).”
Q: On his interception off the hands of Travis Kelce and if that is something they talked about after.
MAHOMES: “Nah, I mean that stuff happens. Just like how I threw an interception earlier in the game. You got to move on from mistakes. They (Commanders) were able to make plays in that first half but luckily for us our defense stepped up. It’s a full team. The defense steps up whenever we’re struggling. We’re able to go out there and put up points in that second half and that speaks to the grit that we have as a football team.”
Q: How were you able to score 21 unanswered points coming out of halftime?
MAHOMES: “When we got in the locker room, we just talked about executing. Sometimes you want to press and make stuff happen, especially on a big game like Monday Night Football. We weren’t doing that. They (Commanders defense) had more energy than we did. Their defense versus our offense. We had to match their energy and execute at a higher level, and we were able to do that in that second half and start off that first drive, and then we continued that momentum through the rest of the second half.”
Q: On the team battling back from an 0-2 start.
MAHOMES: “Yeah. I think it shows the growth that we’ve had as a team, you know? Offense, defense and special teams. I think we’re getting better and better each and every week. Even though we didn’t start the way we wanted to today offensively, it showed that we can battle through adversity and still continue
to play the brand of football that we want to play, and we’ll have to continue to get better and better. It’s going to be a great challenge this next week and we’ll have to start faster but I was proud of how the guys responded in that second half.”
Q: On the confidence to go for it on fourth-and-goal.
MAHOMES: “Well they let me know in the helmet that we had two plays for it. That’s just a communication that we have. (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid, he believes in us to make those big plays in big moments and then I think another thing that gets lost in this, he believes our defense is going to get the stop if it doesn’t happen. You got to have a belief in everybody, not just us offensively. We didn’t make it the first time, but we ran a play (and) they (Commanders) covered it well and Kareem (Hunt) made a great job getting himself open there at the end.”
Q: Is it comforting to you to have players that can get open when plays break down? Does that play into your play style?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think just we’ve built this chemistry over the – obviously those two (Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce) are guys I’ve played with a lot. But even with the receivers and with Noah (Gray) and all these guys, is that we’ve been together for a little while now. We had kind of been – we were going in and out of guys and skill players and stuff like that, but we have guys that have been here for a year, two years, three years (or) whatever it is now. They have a good feel of kind of finding those open places. I think early in the game, there were a couple of opportunities that I didn’t hit (them). The guys continue to work with me in that second half. We made a lot of big plays happen on kind of secondary type plays.”
Q: Do you feel like the team is coming together in all three phases unlike last year when all the games were close?
MAHOMES: “I know the record isn’t as good (as last year) but it’s a lot more fun when everybody is going out there and making stuff happen. I think we’re getting better and better. We lost some tough games early that we had won in previous years but it’s not like anyone hung their head. They just continued to get better and better and that’s all we have to do is push forward and whenever the offense, defense and special team are rolling it’s fun to play football and it has been fun to be here at (GEHA Field at) Arrowhead (Stadium) to do it and now we’ll get to take it on the road and see if we can do it again.”
Q: On the offense still being able to sustain drives despite penalties.
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean that’s just like anything else. You got to pick each other up. You have some penalties here and there but how do you respond? And I think that just kind of speaks to the entire football game, it’s just moving on to that next play. We make a play happen and if something bad happens, let’s pick each other up and make the play happen again the next time. I think it speaks to the mindset that this team has and that’s kind of the mindset that I had early in my career, the penalties weren’t going to affect us, we were going to go out there and score no matter what. I was proud of the guys. Like I said – I’m proud of the guys because we’ve been in these situations earlier in the season (and) we haven’t responded well. It shows that were kind of battling through now and kind of building that toughness to be able to win games like that.”
Q: It seemed like you had a lot of completions to receivers that weren’t your first read. Did it feel that way?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, the one that Travis (Kelce) (caught). I probably should’ve thrown it to Xavier (Worthy) and he probably scores but I didn’t and so it’s one of those on film that I should’ve thrown it, but we scored a touchdown anyway, so it’s ok (laughter). If you don’t score a touchdown, it’s not as ok. I did a good job getting back – he (Travis Kelce) was my third read so getting back to him. And then him working away from the guy and making a play. I left it inside too and he was able to come back and make a big strong catch on the football. I did a good job at that. Early in the game, I wasn’t doing a good job – I’m thinking about the first pass that I had to (Robert) Tonyan over the middle and I kind of didn’t trust it and throw that ball. I’m feeling better at that this year, it’s just continuing to get better and better at it.”
Q: On responding to Travis Kelce’s drop by throwing it to him the very next drive. Was that on purpose?
MAHOMES: “I don’t know if it was because of the drop. That’s a very reliable guy (Travis Kelce) in big moments. He steps up to the occasion and I think the interception – that’s kind of not normal. The normal is him making the play and making a big play in a big moment. Whenever we get the matchups, they had a lot of guys focus on Rashee (Rice) and some of these other guys. Let’s get it to the big 87 and let him get the first down and move the chains.”
Q: On Rashee Rice lining up in the backfield.
MAHOMES: “Yeah when you get 4 (Rashee Rice) and 1 (Xavier Worthy) in the backfield, that’s tough for defenses. They got to decide if they’re going to take the speed away with 1 or 4 running up the middle. He (Rashee Rice) says he can play quarterback, but I’ve seen him throw so I don’t know about that (laughter). We’ll probably stick to running the football when they’re back there.”
Q: On the design of Travis Kelce’s 38-yard reception.
MAHOMES: “Even though we haven’t been hitting some of these explosive plays, the defenses are respecting it. That was actually a shot play down the field where I think I had 1 (Xavier Worthy) and 5 (Hollywood Brown) and they covered it well. The safety was extremely far deep and Trav (Kelce) was supposed to block and he was blocking, blocking, blocking and you kind of have to play ball. He (Travis Kelce) just released because he saw no one was guarding him and I threw him the football, and he made a lot of yards happen after the catch. He kind of stumbled, I thought he was going to hurdle the guy. He kind of stumbled a bit but he did a good job of getting a lot of yards after that.”