[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19

I'm with ya. I can't tell you how many times these past two years I have thought, "damn, was Andrew Wylie and Orlando Brown Jr. really that much better than what we got now?...."

And I just can't bring myself to believe that's the main reason. Those tackles struggled too their fair share.

You can split the blame up however you want, but the eye test says Mahomes' just isn't playing up to his standard. Like this should be the first year of his career he doesn't earn a Pro Bowl bid, and I'll almost be upset if he does, because it just is not deserved.

That said, just like last year, I expect his best when we need it most. And maybe that's part of the issue. This team is in a constant state of wanting to get on with the postseason already.

EDIT: Just saw your 9:35am post.... yep.

I just remember the Lions game thread last year.

I have season tickets so I'm at every game. I get a better view of this stuff than most. And as the game thread is just shouting at everyone NOT Mahomes, I'm sitting there in the first 3 quarters trying to tell folks "Uh...guys, he's just not seeing dudes. They're all over the place out there..."

And predictably, I got barbecued for it.

Now in the 4th, he found his groove and the rest of his team collapsed around him. But this goes back to week 1 of the 2023 season. He wasn't seeing guys. He was playing tight.

And he's done that in less impactful spots pretty much every game since. It's like he's holding back or playing tight. He has that early game knob turned WAY over to "Complementary football".

I think the 'damn the torpedoes' is still in there but I do worry a bit that it's clearly not his default setting. He used to be The Hulk -- his secret was that he was ALWAYS angry. Now it's the inverse. He doesn't come into the game with the knob turned up to 11 - but the knob does still go that high. It just has to be forced up there through game script.

And as we saw Sunday, that leaves your margin for error pretty slim. If he plays that first half more free, perhaps missing Worthy or Kelce doesn't make the game come down to Chenal.

I dunno. It's strange. But it's real, IMO.