Quote:
Originally Posted by DRM08
Funny you say that. He's a lot better at protecting himself now than he was in college. He would lower his shoulder into people all the time and took way too many big hits in college. These days he at least will get out of bounds most of the time when he runs. He's at least showing some signs of growth compared to 4-5 years ago.
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No question he's improved in that regard.
And it's hard to say "well he took a couple of hard shots in the SB..." because duh - it's the Super Bowl. That's what you save yourself for.
But you're right, he's gotten better there. I just don't think the average fan understands how much more composed and in control he was last season than '18 because the numbers weren't as gaudy. He was taking hits in '18 that he didn't take in '19 because he knew how to use little movements to buy space and time. He also knew where to go with the ball that much sooner.
But he's always going to be a hard-wired competitor. You take away all that athletic ability and he'd have ended up being the guy who's still diving for balls and sliding in slow-pitch softball at 40 years old and eventually blows up his ankle. You can know all day that what you're doing is stupid and reckless...but you're still gonna do it because it was late innings and you really wanted to break up that double-play.
Mahomes can be smarter and safer, but he'll never be able to turn off that fire and it will get him whacked at times.