Patrick Mahomes is engaged on a trick throw that may one-up the no-look go

PHOENIX — We’ve reached the purpose the place Patrick Mahomes throws a no-look go and nobody takes be aware.

It’s form of like when professional skateboarder Tony Hawk pulled off the 900-degree aerial spin and, months later, there have been different folks doing it. And then skate boarders have been doing it on a regular basis. The magic was there, however the fanfare diminished.

Not lengthy after somebody landed a 900 and accomplished a no-look go, everybody was excited about what else could possibly be performed. Everyone, together with Patrick Mahomes.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is all the time cooking up ridiculousness. Not solely does he embrace the chance to attract up elaborately foolish trick performs, however he additionally loves messing round with other ways to throw the ball.

A no-look toss? Been there. Done that.

A left-handed go? He’s performed it.

Underhand throw? Obviously. That was how he scored his first landing.

Mahomes wants a brand new transfer. He did his 900. Then his 1080. Now people are ready for him to tug off his 1260. 

And I’ve a fairly good concept of what that may appear like: a behind-the-back go.

“For sure gonna happen at some point in the game,” Mahomes stated final week on an look on First Things First on FOX Sports 1. “I’m not gonna say it’s gonna happen in the Super Bowl, but I actually do it in practice a good amount. I throw it in and completed it probably like 80% to 90% of the time, but I’m a little too scared still to do it in the game.”

Every time Mahomes does it in observe, tight finish Travis Kelce responds: “Do it in a game.”

When Kelce was requested concerning the throw’s greatest supporter, he started to snicker.

“I wonder who that is,” Kelce stated. 

Hint: it’s him.

“I’m a supporter of Pat just doing the craziest stuff possible,” the Chiefs tight finish stated. “So I’m all for him throwing it behind his back — over his head. He’s got to give it no look. Something like that. However he has to get the ball to somebody, he’s gonna do it. So I don’t see it happening anytime soon — the behind-the-back pass — but if it does happen, I’m sure it will be electric.”

Everyone says Mahomes is the grasp of improvisation. I wrote about it this week. But I now need to admit that I’m unsuitable. It merely seems to be like improv. His backyard-football type of play is practiced. Careful. Intentional. He doesn’t unveil trick passes willy-nilly. He doesn’t do something in video games that he hasn’t drilled extensively in practices.

The key to Mahomes’ newest trick go was not straightforward to unveil. How and when would possibly he use the behind-the-back go? Mahomes and his teammates have been cagey. The QB doesn’t need defenders to know it is coming, as a result of that defeats the aim of a stunning trick throw. 

The behind-the-back go appears to come back out most when Mahomes is rolling proper and a pass-catcher is trailing the QB within the flat and a defender is slicing off the throwing lane. Rather than turning to throw throughout his physique, he flips it behind his again to the close by teammate. We’ve additionally seen him use it as a pitch on possibility performs at observe. And then there have been ridiculous downfield throws the place he vaults the ball 20 yards from behind his again.

“It’s like you’re playing a game of H-O-R-S-E and you see somebody come up with something that’s just like, ‘How do you think of that?’ That’s him,” Chiefs quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy stated Thursday. “So the behind-the-back thing — that’s like shooting a free throw for him. That’s simple.”

Nagy later corrected himself: “Simple for him. Hard for us.”

This is strictly the way it went with the no-look go, in line with receivers coach Joe Bleymaier. Mahomes snuck it right into a observe session. And everybody did a double take.

“Did he just pull the no look off? That was really effective. Is he going to do that in a game?”  Bleymaier remembered everybody saying.

As Mahomes begins to work on the most recent trick go, he has been quietly methodical.

“He’ll break it out and everyone was just kind of like, ‘Did he just behind the back that and put it on the spot?’” Bleymaier stated. “And we’ll be like, ‘Is he gonna do that in the game?’ And we haven’t seen it, but it’s that same type of trajectory. It’s coming. He’s just got to figure out the right timing and he knows that you get one chance at that one and it better work.”

That’s the factor about Mahomes. He is up there with probably the most electrical quarterbacks within the historical past of the game. He is a expertise present on a soccer area. He takes insane dangers. But that doesn’t imply he permits himself to make errors in video games.

Mahomes stays one of the vital environment friendly passers amongst quarterbacks by six years of their profession. Mahomes is third in completion share (66.3%) behind Deshaun Watson (67%) and Dak Prescott (66%) amongst QB with not less than 15,000 passing yards of their first six seasons. 

The Chiefs QB has a infantile obsession with the sport. But his professionalism and mind is what permits these trick passes to occur. Because he’s not allowed to mess up. If he botches one in all these trick passes, he’ll hear from coach Andy Reid. And the flashy play will get banned from Mahomes’ repertoire. The Chiefs QB can’t get away the throw till it’s completely excellent — and he additionally has to attend for the precise proper second. It’s a situational throw, in spite of everything. Mahomes will in all probability solely use it when he can afford to burn a down — and when he’s completely sure an opponent received’t intercept the ball. That’s how he’s made these trick passes work by the years with staggering effectivity — by ensuring he doesn’t create a catastrophe.

“I have my full trust in Patrick. He can do whatever he wants back there and yeah, I’m not gonna be the one to get mad at him. So yeah, he’s made these plays happen time and time again. He proves he can, so I have no issue with that,” heart Creed Humphrey stated.

Even Reid does not have many points with Mahomes’ electrical and eccentric presence on the sector. As a lot because it seems to be like Mahomes is totally uncontrolled, he is simply the other. He’s merely doing one thing he is performed tons of of occasions. He’s doing one thing that is straightforward (for him). And that is why he is aware of he’ll get away with it in a sport.

Prior to becoming a member of FOX Sports because the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years overlaying the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.

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