KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The fact that Patrick Mahomes has been the Kansas City Chiefs’ leading rusher each of the first two weeks is concerning.
About as concerning as their 0-2 start.
In fact, the best offense for Kansas City during a season-opening loss to the Chargers in Brazil and a 20-17 loss to the Eagles in its home opener on Sunday has been when Mahomes has been flushed from the pocket. More than once, the quarterback simply ran over a defender, both to pick up extra yardage and in an attempt to inspire a team struggling to find some kind of spark.
Remember when the Chiefs were the high-flying, score-a-minute team that everyone else in the NFL seemed to envy?
“It’s kind of been throughout the whole team,” Mahomes said of their current offensive struggles. “We just — it’s one guy here or there. It’s not like we’re missing by much. I know it sucks to hear it for the fans, but I feel like we’re close.”
That’s hard to believe looking at the box score. Mahomes threw for just 187 yards against Philadelphia, and a good chunk of that came on a 49-yard desperation heave to Tyquan Thornton as the Chiefs were rallying in vain. They finished with 294 yards, went 4 for 12 on third down, were stuffed once on fourth down and committed the only turnover of the game.
That came when Travis Kelce had a ball bounce off his hands at the goal line for an interception.
Sure, their inability to get the passing game going has been hampered by the loss of Xavier Worthy to an injury and Rashee Rice to a six-game suspension. But it hasn’t helped that they have been unable to run the ball. Mahomes ran for 66 yards and a score against the Eagles, and he has 123 yards rushing through two games; the rest of the team has 96 yards combined.
“It’s just kind of happened,” Mahomes said. “At the end of the day, I’m just a competitor. I’m just trying to win, so whatever it takes, I’ll do it. It’s been running a few times earlier this season, but we’ll get back to passing the ball again, and hopefully get better at it as the season goes on.”
No time like the present. The Chiefs visit the Giants on Sunday night in a precarious position. Over the past decade, just 7% of all teams that started 0-2 have made the playoffs, and only one such team has managed to make a conference title game.
“This is a good group. They have good leadership, and they’ll stay together and they’ll work hard on cleaning things up,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. ”There’s nobody more aware of it than the guys. We’ll make sure we get back to the drawing board.”
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