NEW ORLEANS – Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes looks back on his rookie season with fondness.
He was drafted 10th overall by the Chiefs back in 2017 and only played one game. That period has helped build Mahomes’ foundation as he leads the Chiefs against the Eagles in his fourth Super Bowl appearance at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Superdome. He’ll be gunning for his fourth Super Bowl MVP award and title.
The Falcons, like the Chiefs, sat Michael Penix Jr. for most of his rookie season. Penix, who was taken eighth overall, was pressed into duty after Kirk Cousins, who revealed that he was injured on Tuesday, was benched.
“I’m not saying that he couldn’t have been as great as he is now if he didn’t sit,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said to a question from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But being with Alex Smith was something that you can’t buy. He was able to sit there and watch the guy who was the ultimate professional on and off the field.”
Mahomes was paying attention in class.
“It was extremely important for me,” Mahomes said when asked about his rookie season by the AJC. “Coming into the NFL you just don’t know what to expect. Instead of being thrown to the fire and having to figure it out on the fly, I got to learn from one of the smartest quarterbacks of all-time. See his process. He led the league in passer rating that year. You see what the greats do.”
Smith was traded after the season and Mahomes hasn’t had any problem applying the lessons he learned. Penix was learning from Cousins, another consummate professional and four-time Pro Bowler.
“Learning behind him taught me how to build my own process,” Mahomes said. “When I stepped on that football field, I was ready to play.”
Reid, who started his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers in the 1990s under quarterback guru Mike Holmgren, was intentional about matching Mahomes up with Smith.
“Just get an idea of the lay of the land,” Reid said. “How things work in this league. I think that’s helped him in that part of his career. I’m sure if he stepped in as a rookie and played, he would have been fine. But I think that helped.”
Mahomes has the Chiefs on the verged of winning their third consecutive Super Bowl, a feat which has not been accomplished in the Super Bowl era. The Chiefs are being compared to the Steelers of the 1970s, who won back-to-back Super Bowls twice, but never three in a row.
The Patriots came closed to a three-peat, but lost to the Broncos in the divisional round of the 2005 playoffs.
The Chiefs went 15-2 in the regular season and won 11 one-score games. In the playoffs, they beat the Texans 23-14 and in the AFC championship game they won another one-score game, a 32-29 victory over the Bills.
“As I’ve learned in this league, it’s all about winning at the end of the day,” Mahomes said. “It doesn’t matter how it happens. It doesn’t matter if you’re dissecting the coverage before the play. Getting us to a running play or running it with your legs or throwing the football. It’s about winning the football game. At the end of the day, that’s what the ultimate goal is.”
Mahomes’ numbers are down a little bit from the 5,240 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and 12 interceptions he threw in 2022. He threw 50 touchdown passes back in 2018.
The season, Mahomes passed for 3,928 yards and 26 touchdowns but also had 11 interceptions.
“Even though the stats may not be as flashy from my first year, we’ve won a lot of football games and I’m really proud of that,” Mahomes said.
He believes the Chiefs will be ready for the Eagles.
“I know the guys on our team and how much they love football, how much work they put in on a single-day basis,” Mahomes said. “When we step on that football field, we are going to get together as a brotherhood and as a family and play our best football. We’re going to live with the results after. It’s not like I’m embracing being a villain or anything like that. I just believe in my teammates and how we play football.”
Mahomes believes in his trusted tight end Travis Kelce.
“We just love to go to work,” Kelce said. “We love to come in the building and figure things out.”
Kelce caught 97 passes for 823 yards and three touchdowns in the regular season. He described how his relationship with Mahomes works.
“I think be accountable to the person next to us,” Kelce said. “We are very selfless in that regard. We have that desire to find a way to figure out the task at hand whatever that will be, whether if it’s in the run game, in the pass game. Whatever the defense is, we’re locked in all week trying to figure that out.”
Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who played at Georgia, has been impressed with Mahomes.
“He does a lot of stuff,” Carter said. “I want to almost say that he’s almost the perfect quarterback. He’s different. He knows how to move around, get out and scramble. Get around and see who’s getting open. Look off certain coverages and just be a dog. He’s been here three times and he’s trying to three-peat. We have to do our job.”
Maybe Penix learned as much from Cousins and Mahomes did from Smith.
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