What is wrong with Mahomes' deep ball?

[TLO]

I was in the camp most of the season in saying that these guys are going to get on the same page, and eventually the deep shots will start hitting.

After today, I'm not sure this is the case.

Is this an offensive line issue? Just not enough time for Mahomes to set and fire an accurate deep ball?

Is it an WR issue? We have 1 burner in Worthy, but the rest of our receivers are slow.

Is it a Mahomes issue?

Someone smarter than me tell me what's going on.

[louie aguiar]

Originally Posted by mr. tegu

He has been very hesitant on basically all anticipation throws this year.

Yeah, it seems like he’s so afraid of a turnover he’s constantly double clutching and the ball isn’t coming out on time.

[BlackOp]

Originally Posted by RaidersOftheCellar

You actually think he’s missing them intentionally to create drama or something?

If he had hit on the 7-8 bombs this year...do you think teams would defend them differently in the post-season?

I think this whole season has been a fact finding mission for a three-peat....that has always been the main objective. To make history...it's never been done for a reason. It's almost impossible...

I think they've been keeping things close to the vest until they are needed...whenever they need a drive, they suddenly kick in gear.

I think this has been a deliberate strategy from day one...red zone plays have shown little creativity all year.

If I'm correct...it'll go down as one of the biggest snowjobs in sports history. They'll be talking about it 50 years from now.

[Hammock Parties]

Who cares?

San Francisco scored 6 points this week.

Count your blessings. Chiefs are fine. MORE than fine.

[BlackOp]

Think about it...you have a lot of looks you havent shown all year and you deliberately start every game conservatively....if you arent in a position of needing to use them, why would you?

Save that shit for you absolutely need it...I dont think this NFL record of one score games is an accident. Every game kind of looks the same regardless of opponent...and they still haven't topped 30 points.

You really think KC showed the Bills anything?

[Hammock Parties]

Chiefs were a D-Hop drop away from scoring 28 today. Oh noes!!!

[Regime]

Yep zero doubt he’ll hit his stride down the stretch.

[TEX]

Dont know what's wrong, but I will say watching Josh Allen have all day to throw, is something to behold.

Also, when Reek was here, he made a lot of it happen because he could track the ball so well and run it down. We dont have that WR right now, or the time, to consistently hit the deep stuff.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Red Dawg

He's never been a great deep ball guy. He doesn't put enough air under the ball.

Yep its pretty simple.

[Gary Cooper]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Chiefs were a D-Hop drop away from scoring 28 today. Oh noes!!!

That wasn't a drop. The defender made a great play. Hopkins almost made a better play. But yes, if he pulls that down, they likely go up 28-0 and maybe Mahomes gets pulled early in the 4th before the injury.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Chiefs were a D-Hop drop away from scoring 28 today. Oh noes!!!

You didn’t mention the missed chip shot field goal too

[BlackOp]

Remember those crossing routes that Rice was torching teams with...then JuJu did for one game? Where did those go?

I haven't seen that play in months....no one could stop it.

What's the over/under those suddenly start again in a few weeks?

[Titty Meat]

His deep ball seems flat not alot of air on it

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

You didn’t mention the missed chip shot field goal too

He missed that because his injured knee gave out on him.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

Here’s what I got.

1. Mahomes deep ball, even at its best, was usually regarded as average. He usually doesn’t put a whole lot of loft into it (likely because he doesn’t need to), but this makes deep throws harder to time and doesn’t leave the receiver with a whole lot of time to adjust.

2. There’s been great discussion on this in the Mahomes thread (by DJ and others) that Mahomes cut his teeth in the NFL primarily by receivers who were not great at over the shoulder catches. Hill is a great example here, as he liked to pivot and turn. This meant Mahomes spent his four years with primary pass catchers (Hill and Kelce) demanding that the grand majority of his balls be thrown in this fashion. Hill also gave Patrick a hell of a margin of error with perhaps the greatest tracking ability I’ve ever seen on a football field.

***Sammy Watkins is a major exception to this rule, as he grabbed three of Mahomes best long balls in his career during the postseason.

3. MVS continued this trend. He never seemed to have the over the shoulder catch mastered and preferred to turn and catch. He also seemed rather clueless on deep routes more often than not.

4. Now I believe Mahomes deserves a little grace for his line this season. He has been getting obliterated, and it’s caused him to lean into some bad habits. Kurt Warner, who has more often than not been critical of Mahomes through the year, has championed Mahomes play this year and credited Patrick as the reason why we were able to win the division. It makes sense that Mahomes has felt sped up this year especially as he tries to master timing with receivers he didn’t have coming into the year.

5. So where does that leave us? You take Patrick, who is elite in almost everything but the deep ball, and have him spend the first six years with a cast of receivers who also prefer not to catch the ball over the shoulder, and now ask him to fix this issue in a season where he’s had to rely on abysmal blocking on his blindside, and idk, it seems natural that there’s some issues as teams are now daring Patrick to win deep - especially as Patrick is grappling with lower body injuries (an issue through his career) and an admitted lack of trust with his tackles.

The hill things makes no sense and I've always said so. Hill made over the shoulder catches plenty of times when the ball was thrown well and in stride. The only reasons he turned were if Mahomes underthrew it or threw too flat to catch over the shoulder which happened a lot or if he needed to jump and attack the ball because there was a safety on top and he wanted to catch the ball before the safety could make a play on it. But if Mahomes put some air under the ball, he had no problem catching it over his shoulder.

It's always been a Mahomes thing. He just struggles with putting air under the ball and letting players run under it in stride.

[BlackOp]

I remember a line from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War"...

"Never interfere when your enemy is making a mistake"...every team is playing KC like it's their SB. Bills showed their hand by suddenly playing more man than they ever have before. Chiefs arent showing more than they have to.

They burned that surprise too early...it was a strategic mistake.

Hopefully KC can sucker the Steelers/Texans into the same trap...