FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons’ defensive gamers speak about Patrick Mahomes like he’s an actor, and the NFL’s main man is coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday night time.
“When the play breaks down and also you’ve bought all of it coated and also you’ve carried out all of it proper, there’s a second half to the play. There’s a second act,” Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss mentioned. “Having the ability to cowl up not solely the preliminary play that the nice Andy Reid has drawn up falls aside, you’ve bought Patrick Mahomes changing into Him.”
“Him” refers back to the dominant determine in his setting, and few skilled athletes have been extra dominant of their setting than Mahomes.
In six seasons as Kansas Metropolis’s beginning quarterback, he has by no means completed a season wanting the AFC Championship Sport. His three Tremendous Bowl titles are tied for third amongst beginning quarterbacks in NFL historical past, and everybody forward of him on that listing began for no less than twice as many seasons as he has. Solely Tom Brady and Joe Montana have extra playoff wins than Mahomes’ 15, and he’s 29 years outdated. Since he joined the league in 2017, no quarterback has received extra video games (91) or received them at a better price (78.4 %). The seven different quarterbacks drafted in 2017 have received 76 video games mixed.
These numbers go on and on and on, and so they’re the rationale Atlanta finds itself on a prime-time stage for the second straight week because the Falcons are getting ready to host the Chiefs at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on “Sunday Evening Soccer.”
With all due respect to Kirk Cousins and Bijan Robinson and the new-look Falcons, the stage will belong to Mahomes.
“It’s his improv, man,” Falcons security Richie Grant mentioned. “He can improv each single play, flip one thing that you just assume is a no acquire right into a landing.”
Mahomes is so good he even beats the oldest of NFL cliches — that each week must be handled precisely the identical irrespective of the opponent. Atlanta exterior linebacker Matthew Judon confronted Mahomes six instances as a member of the New England Patriots. Mahomes Week is completely different, he mentioned.
“There are particular gamers on this league,” Judon mentioned. “Whenever you’ve bought a man like Patrick Mahomes on the schedule, you watch a little bit extra movie. You pay nearer consideration to the small print as a result of he’s a three-time champ, and there’s one thing within the margins to win the sport. It’s going to be one thing within the particulars. It’s most likely going to return down to some performs.”
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The Chiefs (2-0) come into Atlanta as 3.5-point favorites, having received eight straight video games courting to final postseason.
“As a competitor, you at all times need to make a play in opposition to probably the greatest rivals,” Grant mentioned. “I might query you when you don’t have that mindset.”
“It positively stokes your aggressive hearth,” Elliss mentioned. “In the event you take anyone lax on this league, it’ll get you, however if you get to go up a group of this high quality, it does stoke your aggressive hearth a little bit bit extra. I’m excited.”
Falcons coach Raheem Morris compares Mahomes to not an actor however to an extraterrestrial.
“He’s an alien,” Morris mentioned. “He’s good. He’s distinctive. He can transfer round. He can purchase time. He can play throughout the framework of the system. He is aware of what you’re doing on protection. He’s grown as much as the purpose of seeing every thing. He’s seen each trick, each gimmick, each gamut, no matter you need to name it. He’s been capable of actually go on the market and be on the prime of his recreation in nearly every thing, and he’s simply probably the greatest.”
DOT. @PatrickMahomes | @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/a9lV4txNu3
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Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson was charting draft-eligible quarterbacks as an analyst for Professional Soccer Focus in 2017. He mentioned Mahomes had all these traits even then.
“Clearly, the power that he has along with his arm to actually make any throw at any time was particular, and then you definitely simply noticed the instincts and the imaginative and prescient, and immediately you’re saying, ‘There’s actually no means that this shouldn’t work out,’ so long as he’s dedicated to the sport, and he loves it,” Robinson mentioned. “Clearly, he’s confirmed to be a soccer junkie.”
Sunday night time would be the second time the Falcons have confronted Mahomes. The primary was in December of 2020 when Morris was Atlanta’s interim head coach after the firing of Dan Quinn. The Chiefs received 17-14, however the Falcons brought on Mahomes sufficient issues (55 % completion proportion, 79.5 passer ranking) that different NFL groups briefly hoped that they had offered a blueprint for slowing him down.
He’s been to 3 Tremendous Bowls since then.
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Morris bought one other shot at Mahomes because the defensive coordinator of the Rams in 2022. Once more, Mahomes didn’t play nice (85.4 passer ranking). Once more, Mahomes received (26-10). In two matchups in opposition to Morris’ defenses, Mahomes’ passer ranking and effectivity as measured by EPA per try are decrease than his profession averages (82.4 passer ranking versus 103.3 and .04 EPA per try versus .26), in keeping with TruMedia.
These numbers don’t change how Morris talks about Mahomes.
“He’s definitely an issue it doesn’t matter what,” the coach mentioned, “and he’s probably the greatest that we’ve seen simply in no matter technology you need to speak about.”
Falcons security Justin Simmons, who spent the primary eight years of his profession in Denver, additionally has had some success in opposition to Mahomes. He’s intercepted the quarterback 5 instances. No different participant has carried out it greater than twice. Like Morris, Simmons is sensible sufficient to not brag about it.
“It’s not these first three seconds of the play, it’s these subsequent 4 or 5 seconds that basically matter,” Simmons mentioned. “You possibly can’t get annoyed once they make a giant play. It’s a next-play mentality. They take loads of photographs and you’ve got loads of probabilities to go play the ball. We’ve bought to have the ability to make performs on the soccer. It’s enjoyable taking part in that cat-and-mouse recreation. That is going to be a giant one for us.”
(Picture: David Eulitt / Getty Photographs)
