The Kansas City Chiefs bounced back from their loss to the Buffalo Bills with a tight 30-27 win over the Carolina Panthers, with Patrick Mahomes getting it done again in crunch time.
Throughout the season, the Chiefs haven't been clicking on all cylinders on offense with injuries playing a key role in that, but now with Juju Smith-Schuster returning, and DeAndre Hopkins getting better each week, Kansas City's receiver room is beginning to heat up.
But why are things only now starting to click for Mahomes and his receiver room, given that we are in Week 13 of the season? The three-time Super Bowl champ puts it down to one thing—live game reps.
“I think just us being able to utilize their strengths in the offense and then me being on that same page with them, and the more reps you get of that, the better it is,” Mahomes said. “Obviously you want to get those reps in training camp, but we had injuries and stuff like that, we've kind of had to move through that and worked through that throughout the entire season. But I feel we're getting better each week and that's all you can ask for. You want to be playing your best football at the end of the year, and we're getting there.”
That is a scary proposition for the rest of the NFL that the 10-1 Chiefs are getting better.
With Isiah Pacheco set to return against the Las Vegas Raiders, barring any setbacks in practice, it is yet another weapon that Mahomes will have at his disposal.
With Worthy, Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, Justin Watson, Hopkins, Kareem Hunt, Pacheco, Smith-Schuster, and Mecole Hardman, the Chiefs offense is beginning to look formidable.
Part of that is the sheer talent of the unit, and part of it is the chemistry that is being built on the football field, which gives the Chiefs a whole new look as we approach the playoffs.
