Kansas City Chiefs: Concerns and Highlights of First Preseason Game

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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes directs the line on his first play of the game in the first quarter against the Houston Texans on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images) /

Patrick Mahomes threw zero interceptions

The story not only around Kansas City but the entire country at times this training camp period has been the interceptions thrown at camp by Patrick Mahomes. We cannot express this enough; there is no reason to worry about training camp interceptions for a first-year starting quarterback.

Mahomes is getting to know the offense, players, and playbook. Head coach Andy Reid wants Mahomes to test the limits and see what he can and cannot get away with. Finding out what players can make what kind of plays. These are all things that are needing to happen when a quarterback comes into a new offense.

Just last season Alex Smith had a huge interception day, and fans were panicking. Smith went on to have the best season of his career and only threw five interceptions all season. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had back to back three interception days this past week, and I don’t think anyone is talking about that.

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These interceptions are not a sign of him struggling. While some of the passes over the middle might be one of his weaknesses that we can talk about, the rest are just merely Mahomes testing his new offense.

During Thursday nights game, Mahomes looked good even without throwing a deep pass or a touchdown pass. Behind a line that struggled to stop backup defensive linemen, Mahomes took what the defense gave him. He spoke of that in a post-game press conference. This shows maturity in the young gunslinger as instead of trying to force something deep like most young gunslingers; he took what was available.

Mahomes looked in control of the offense, comfortable in the position, and worked the field to the best of his advantage. It’s hard to make deep throws when the offensive line struggles as badly as it did last night so keep that in mind as well. Overall, I think Mahomes had a decent showing despite stats which don’t matter in a preseason game.

We wanted to see him look comfortable, be in control, and not throw interceptions. His performance is a success in all of those categories. While fans are mad that he didn’t go deep, imagine what they would be saying if he tried to force something deep and it got picked off.

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