The Kansas City Chiefs are 4-0, but star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has had a hard time finding his rhythm early in the season.
Despite the Chiefs’ winning record, Mahomes has looked out of sorts through Kansas City’s first four games and seemed to be seeing ghosts against the Los Angeles Chargers’ pass rush this weekend.
The Chiefs will have a target on their back in every game they play, and while no stage has been too big for Mahomes in the past, Kansas City may find it difficult to continue winning games if he continues to struggle in the pocket.
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz took to Twitter on Tuesday to help fans understand what was going through Mahomes’ head on Sunday.
Schwartz provided some valuable insights about the reigning Super Bowl MVP’s play with clips and breakdowns of 18 plays from Kansas City’s win over the Chargers.
Check out what Schwartz said about Mahomes in his breakdown below:
Let’s talk about this whole “happy feet” thing with Mahomes that I’ve seen flying around. Going to put together every pass pro clip from the first half aside from screens and let’s break it down together. Things like that don’t just happen, and I alluded to it last week.
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— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
1st play: Wants to take a deep shot to start the game, gears up, about to unleash, and has an OL in his lap and can’t follow through. Has to pull the ball down and dump it off. pic.twitter.com/DwqvMh4h3Q
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
2nd play: Play action, one OL in his face he has to evade, and then a DL, still makes it work and finds a guy along the sidelines. pic.twitter.com/S61HgLkkT7
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
3rd play: Can’t step into the throw because and OL is being pushed into his follow through area and has to throw it flat footed to Kelce. Incredible throw. Catching a theme here yet? pic.twitter.com/QWTmg46LKD
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
4th play: Play action, nice pocket. Overthrow to Kelce, or maybe Travis flattened it off a smidge lower than Pat expected. Never know with those two but clearly not the desired outcome. pic.twitter.com/hGFazSL9mb
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
5th play: Immediate read not open, left side of the OL starts getting collapsed into him, finds his RB on the check down but the ball gets tipped by a DL. pic.twitter.com/fg66gFFFnk
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
6th play: First read not open, bunch of OL backs are on top of him, tries to make something happen and the DE falls off the RT for the sack. pic.twitter.com/6ay9sCdmJc
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
7th play: Nice pocket, ball out on time, hits the WR in the hands on 3rd down for a dropped pass. pic.twitter.com/9vUVTY8zbV
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
8th play: Gets to the top of the pocket, turns to look at the 2nd read (or to fake out the cover man on Kelce), feels two OL collapsing on him as he turns back to Travis to throw and gets his arm hit by the OL after the follow through. Completed pass pic.twitter.com/VbIphhcPpW
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
9th play: Stunts going on but a cleaner pocket than it seems from the back view. Doesn’t matter, ball out and ripped to the WR for a completion. pic.twitter.com/nNZFaP4YB5
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
10th play: Good pocket for initial read which isn’t open, then feels RG who is going to help the RT, then another OL is getting pushed into him, and he’s forced to leave the pocket. pic.twitter.com/QxZXhWUIrQ
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
11th play: Defense wins the rep, gets a free rusher for a quick sack. pic.twitter.com/3pwQeLXykT
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
12th play: Play action, nice pocket, BOMB to Worthy for a TD. pic.twitter.com/yanZpOeOMk
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
13th play: Hits the top of his drop, already has to slide left, hits the TE down the middle while another DL gets hands on him after the throw. pic.twitter.com/IHsNKMZRCP
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
14th play: Into 2 minute drill. DL not set at all, good protection, ball out and completed quickly. pic.twitter.com/WNMkHt0nYG
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
15th play: Clean pocket, drifts slightly left towards his throw and completes the pass. pic.twitter.com/8UodoeN8k4
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
16th play: LT gets beat around the corner pretty quickly before Pat even sets his feet at the top of the pocket and he is forced to bail and run for it. pic.twitter.com/QlA7ODEU7g
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
17th play: FIRST time all game he’s gotten “happy feet” or bailed from a clean pocket. Feels the stunts and games and makes a run for it. Should’ve stayed in the pocket. pic.twitter.com/mGinhozWgH
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
18th play: Last pass of the half, ball out quick, completion, nice pocket. pic.twitter.com/yTK2W7QsZV
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
Ok, so do we understand now? Every clean pocket except for the INT was a nice play and completed pass. He had people in his face from the get go, and the pocket was continually getting collapsed into him. Despite that he still completed a lot of those passes early on.
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
As the game goes on those collapsed pockets, inability to step into throws, having to flat foot things, getting moved off your spot before you even hitch up affect you. The OL goes into every game, every team, and says “we have to protect him early so he feels good back there.”
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
By my eye the OL has not allowed Pat to feel clean pockets with regularity most of the year. It started late in the 2nd quarter of the Baltimore game and has mostly continued through this game. For whatever reason the protection hasn’t been quite as good.
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
That will need to change, and quick, because of the injuries to the WR position and changes there. But I wanted to do this to show that what we do up front is usually the biggest difference in every game, regardless of who’s throwing and who’s catching. It’s still an OL league.
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 1, 2024
