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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been throwing less deep balls this season as compared to previous years. The major change of his passing decisions didn't seem to affect the team as the Chiefs continue on their winning ways halfway through the 2020 NFL season, according to Sam McDowell of Belleville News-Democrat.
His maturity was evident in their most recent encounter against the Denver Broncos where he had a quiet outing in which he didn't necessarily have to tally monster numbers just to lead his team to a win. The performance of the Chiefs' defense and the contributions from their special teams did enough to run away with a 43-16 blowout win in Mile High.
Patrick Mahomes has been working with his restraint on passing deep balls on certain occasions:
“It’s a battle that I have with my nature — I want to throw it and take the risk every single time,” Mahomes said. “But games like the other day when we’re up by a lot of points, you have to realize that you don’t have to take that risk whenever your defense is playing like they are and specials teams are doing what they do.”
Looking at his past few seasons specifically in 2018, the two-time Pro Bowler made full advantage of his strong throwing arm and led the league in deep passes that season, with 92 attempts of 20-plus yards, according to Pro Football Focus. His tally eventually landed him the NFL MVP honors in that year.
“My nature always wants me to take that shot if I get that chance,” Mahomes said.
“I mean you watch back games of me playing early in my career — there are some throws that I wouldn’t have made (now) because they were dumb decisions at the time,” Mahomes said. “But there are some throws that I hope I still do make.
“It’s kind of playing with that fine line of being aggressive as you possibly can but not overly aggressive. I try to look back on every experience and learn from it.”
Also back in 2018, Patrick Mahomes’ average pass traveled 9.2 yards downfield, per NextGen Stats, which ranked fifth in the league. In 2019, it regressed to 8.6 yards, 12th in the league and in 2020, it has dipped to 7.7, 24th in the NFL.
His decision to skip the long bombs also helped minimize his errors. Mahomes threw 12 interceptions in 2018, at a rate of 2.1% of his attempts. This season, he’s thrown just one and his 0.4% interception rate is the lowest in football thus far.
As he progresses through his NFL career, the 25-year-old realizes that he doesn't need to go for risky passes and just focus on whatever could help give his team the best chance of winning.
