KC Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes looked like the Mahomes of old in win vs Jets

Patrick Mahomes put himself right back in the MVP conversation after he and the Kansas City Chiefs torched the winless Jets.

Going into this week’s match-up against the New York Jets, the common narrative was that fans and experts alike was guessing  just how bad the Kansas City Chiefs would thrash the Jets. Some said to hell and back and others guessed to oblivion.

Call me a pessimist, but I approached the David and Goliath match-up with much more trepidation. Did I doubt the ability of the Chiefs to manhandle the hapless Jets? Of course not, it was not their ability I was questioning at all. It would be more accurate to say that I was entertaining the notion that the Chiefs might overlook the Jets, thus allowing them to sneak up on them, as this is what happened with the Raiders.

Now, with Sunday in the books I am proud to admit when my thoughts and suspicions have been ill founded. Not only did we witness a proper manhandling of the Jets, but it was a return to form game for Patrick Mahomes.

So far, halfway through this strange world that is the 2020 NFL season, the Chiefs have showed that it is not just through the air that they can beat you, but with old school smash mouth football as well. That wasn’t the case on Sunday though.

What we saw on Sunday against the winless Jets was vintage Mahomes at his best. Throughout the afternoon, Mahomes was in total command of his offense and at times was throwing the deep ball without even fully drawing back his arm.

Thanks to his offensive line, Mahomes had a pristinely clean pocket in which he could have made a sandwich or done his taxes, but instead, he threw long touchdown bombs with ease. One of those was the 41-yard touchdown pass to Hill on a go route that marked the end of Mahomes’ day and the entrance of Chad Henne to clean up for the second consecutive week.

Unlike the dominant win over the Broncos, which was largely thanks to defense and special teams, this game was all Mahomes. Indeed, in this 35-9 shallacking, Mahomes threw five touchdown passes, and four of those were for 20 yards or more. Even his shortest touchdown pass, which was a three yard shovel pass to Travis Kelce, will still make his highlight real. Mahomes was absolutely ruthless.

In the first half alone, Mahomes went 17 of 20 for 213 yards and three touchdown passes. He would finish the day (with nine minutes to go in the game might I add) 31 of 42 for 416 yards and five touchdown passes. In his first year as a starter in his 2018 MVP season, this would have been just another day at the office, but in 2020 when the Chiefs are experimenting with all new ways to beat teams, it was a season best.

The Jets did manage to stuff the run pretty well, and good for them, but perhaps they should have let Le’Veon Bell have that revenge game everyone was talking about. Instead, the leash came off Mahomes and the Jets defense didn’t stand a chance. They wanted to stuff the run and dare the Chiefs to beat them through the air, so Mahomes obliged.

While it might just be a thumping of the Jets, Sunday’s game showed Chiefs fans and the rest of the league that the Chiefs are not a one trick pony. With the emergence of rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the always present missile launcher of an arm attached to Mahomes, the Chiefs have multiple ways to beat you, and opposing teams should be afraid of every single one of them.

Perhaps Mahomes has been quieter this year than in previous years, but that has all been part of the plan, in an effort to develop other strengths for an already formidable offense. On Sunday, we were treated to classic Mahomes, as he threw the ball all over the yard and befuddled a Jets defense.

Mahomes has done a fantastic job this season, allowing the Chiefs offense to develop and to even be willing to take a backseat at times, but he is still a gun slinger to the Nth degree, and he showcased that once again, really for the first time this season.

Last year and the year before were not a fluke. The Kansas City Chiefs are here to stay, and you know what other teams should be afraid of? They are getting even better.