FOXBORO -- The plays really aren't that hard to find. They're all over the internet. As a matter of fact you can type the words "Mahomes" and "across" into a Twitter search and they'll be right there at your disposal.
None of them are identical. But they're all similar. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is on the move, his eyes are downfield, and he unleashes a fastball to one of his talented pass-catchers in the direction opposite that of where his body's momentum is taking him.
Would that fourth-quarter throw against the Ravens in Week 14 be one that will pop up in coaching clinics this spring? Probably not. But because Mahomes is as athletic as he is, and because his combination of arm strength and flexibility is so rare, he can complete what might be considered boneheaded throws by just about every other quarterback on the planet.
Whether he's rolling to his right, or rolling to his left and contorting himself to put enough on a pass back across the grain, the Patriots will try to do what they always do. For them, this week is about trusting the coaching points that have been in place all year.
Just because Mahomes is a special talent doesn't mean the team will establish special techniques to slow him down. Quite the opposite.
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"I wouldn't say we have to change our rules," Duron Harmon said Tuesday. "I think it would be more that we have to emphasize our rules. Especially when he's scrambling.
"When we talk about scrambling quarterbacks, whether it's zone or man-to-man coverage is plastering your man. Or finding a man when you're in zone to plaster. With a guy like this you can catch yourself just kinda looking, trying to mirror him, but in the end you have to find somebody to make sure he doesn't find that person to throw him the ball. I think it's more of an emphasis of playing your rules and understanding that this is a game that if you play by your rules, you'll usually be in good shape."
"Obviously you know he can make every throw," Stephon Gilmore said. "But you can't ease up. You gotta stay in your coverage. Plaster. He can run around and throw across his body so you gotta be prepared for it and try to make a play."
The Patriots did enough in the first half of their first meeting with Mahomes this season to slow him down. Back in Week 6, the Chiefs scored just nine points in the first 30 minutes -- a half we'll look at more closely later this week. But it wasn't long before Mahomes started to do what he does every week.
Break the pocket. Scan. Find the opening. Strike . . . even if it's a cross-body strike.
"I think his skill set alone is kind of him," said Dont'a Hightower, who picked off Mahomes in their first meeting. "He’s not as crafty as Aaron Rodgers, but Aaron Rodgers does a great job, as well, as far as extending plays and not looking to run with the ball but looking to get guys uncovered or moving guys with their eyes. There’s not a lot of quarterbacks that have that in their skill set."
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Combine that skill set with a cadre of explosive receiving options and a system that emphasizes Mahomes' arm on shot plays and his accuracy on more traditional catch-and-run West Coast concepts . . . it's a lot. Sprinkle in a handful of shake-your-head, what-just-happened, stupid-if-they-came-from-most-anyone-else types of throws? Then you have a potential league MVP.
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"For any other quarterback you might be able to get away with it," Harmon said. "But with this guy, he can throw the ball at any part of the field. He has the arm strength and accuracy so you have to do anything you can to play your rules, be fundamentally sound and give our guys up front a chance to get there."
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