Patrick Mahomes ‘not satisfied’ with Chiefs’ win over the Raiders

Mahomes and Andy Reid discuss Kansas City’s 19-17 victory over the Raiders in Week 13.

As it turns out, the Kansas City Chiefs can keep getting away with their season-long trend of pulling off wild finishes. In Friday’s Week 13 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Chiefs survived another nail-biter as Raiders quarterback Aiden O’Connell led a late drive into Chiefs territory down 19-17 with under two minutes remaining.

However, on third-and-3, with 14 seconds left and Las Vegas threatening a potential go-ahead field goal, the football gods worked their magic in favor of the Chiefs once again. Raiders center Jackson Powers-Johnson snapped the ball before O’Connell was ready, resulting in a fumble that Kansas City recovered to seal their 14th straight one-possession victory.

“Obviously, a big stop in a big moment,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of the game-sealing play. “It got us the win there. But I mean, we got to execute better in the fourth quarter so that it doesn’t come down to that.”

Mahomes’ comment summed up the team’s bittersweet feelings about the victory. While the win made Kansas City the first team to clinch a playoff berth this season, Mahomes made it clear the Chiefs aren’t content with their current level of play.

“We’re not satisfied with where we’re at even though we’re winning football games,” Mahomes said after the game. “We know we have to get better. I think everybody in that locker knows we have to get better. We want to go out there and do that and prove that. So, our goal over these last few games is to prove that we are the team we believe we really are going into the playoffs.”

A big source of the team’s struggles today was their offensive line. First, they couldn’t get anything going on the ground, even with the return of starting running back Isiah Pacheco. Kansas City managed just 10 rushing yards by halftime and finished the game with 63 total yards on the ground.

The lack of a ground attack forced a bigger emphasis in the passing game, where Mahomes threw the ball a season-high 46 times for 306 passing yards and a touchdown. While they could move the ball effectively, the issue was their lack of efficiency in the red zone.

The Chiefs settled for field goals throughout the afternoon and scored a touchdown in just one out of their five trips in the red zone.

“We weren’t doing too good with it,” head coach Andy Reid responded when asked about the Chiefs’ ability to run the ball on Friday. “I felt the way they were playing; they were bringing an extra guy, so we were better off using the short passing game, which was working. We were going up and down the field. We just weren’t doing very good in the red zone.”

A big reason for those red zone struggles was the Chiefs’ pass protection. Mahomes was sacked five times and faced constant pressure throughout the game.

“It’s disruptive in any offense if the quarterback is getting hit and not able to get the ball off,” Reid explained. “That can be a problem. Now, we were playing against a couple of good players, but you’ve got to do better than what we did there.”

The pass protection issues were particularly evident on the left side of the line, where starting left tackle Wanya Morris had a rough outing. Battling a bone bruise in his right knee for much of the season, Morris was benched during the game as Reid shifted left guard Joe Thuney to tackle and inserted backup Mike Caliendo at guard.

After Friday’s game, the Chiefs now stand at a record of 11-1, first place in the AFC. They’re guaranteed a spot in this year’s playoffs, but Mahomes knows they have to get much better to achieve their true goal of winning their third straight Super Bowl.

“We just hold ourselves to such a high standard that we don’t feel like we’re playing our best football altogether,” Mahomes said. “It seems like every game it’s either offense does good or defense does good.

“We got to find a way to build up so that we can play great as a full, entire team. It’s awesome that we’re finding ways to get wins — at the end of the day, that’s what you’re going for — but our goal is to get to that Super Bowl.

“We’re going to try to continue to get better and better so that we’re playing our best football hopefully by the end of the year.”