Mahomes always finds a way

QB duel turns out the way people thought - damn it

Yes, Virginia, the great quarterback duel Sunday night between the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills came out about the way everybody expected. Damn it.

With State Farm Insurance, the entire refereeing corps of the National Football League and 76,416 roaring fans, most of ‘em dressed in Kansas City red, pulling hard and pulling strings for the seemingly invincible Chiefs, Mahomes wasn’t about to let them down and he didn’t.

Kansas City won 32-29, sending them back to a third straight Super Bowl, something no other NFL team, including Bill Belichick’s historic New England Patriots, had ever done. And while those of us who have watched the happenings in the National Football League for most of our life should be appreciative of Mahomes, who somehow finds time in-between filming stupid State Farm commercials to win football games on Sundays, I’m sorry, but I’m just sick of the guy.

The Patrick Mahomes vs. Josh Allen duel turned out the way people thought. Damn it.

Yes, I know he’s a great quarterback and he did it again Sunday night with his arm, his legs and his karma. I don’t know that any other NFL quarterback I’ve ever watched has his karma, which is not something Mel Kiper spotted at the NFL combine or Andy Reid knew about when they drafted him. But you can’t say it isn’t there.

If you have another explanation how these Chiefs seem to get every break, every call, every bounce, every bit of misfortune to happen to their opponent, I’d love to hear it.

No, I wouldn’t. That’s not true. I WOULDN’T want to hear it.

Teams missing extra points so the Chiefs win. Jump ball interceptions by the Bills snatched by a Chiefs’ receiver while lying on the ground and ruled a catch for the Chiefs, a ruled first down isn’t a first down all of a sudden, fumbled snaps on game-winning kicks, a string of things that even Kreskin couldn’t explain. (He was a psychic, kids. Died a little while back. Wonder if he saw that coming?)

Now, Mahomes probably has enough money for the rest of his life already but with the way he seems to have the universe going in his direction, why not go to Vegas, clean the place out and start a brand new country, MAHOMESVILLE where people find $20 bills on the street, get good service in restaurants, somebody steps up to pump gas for you and every light is always green?

Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills is a horse, a stallion, blessed with great size, strength, an arm unlike just about anybody this side of Nolan Ryan and he can run. If you were an NFL scout, you’d say this guy is a can’t miss. And he’s a terrific quarterback, no doubt about it.

But in these championship level games, where every little thing you do seems to be magnified, he, like Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, always seems to come up short. And it’s not a matter of talent, because you can’t have more than either of these two guys. It’s that, to me, anyway, the talent, that belief in their own ability to do just about the impossible, betrays them. Because in games like these, it takes skill ALONG with talent.

All their lives on their way to the NFL, when things got tight, QB’s like Mahomes and Allen always had the talent to prevail with a great throw or run. So I missed that impossible throw, I’ll make it on the next play.

Except at this level, though, when your opponent has made a seriously intense study of what you can and can’t do, those old patterns, that less-than-careful throw, the run you always try, your opposition is ready to stop them.

You can start with Allen’s infamous “tush push” (a great title for a Jennifer Lopez memoir wouldn’t it?) which was denied again and again and again when the 6-5, 250-pound Allen was continually stopped where he hadn’t been all year. He kept trying it, the Chiefs kept stopping it. Whether the Chiefs did stop him on that big fourth-down call, well, the record says they did, doesn’t it?

But the play that stuck with me though came in the fourth quarter after the Bills had driven impressively down the Kansas City end and were threatening to tie it. They were first and and goal and had been convincingly stopped on first and second.

Clearly frustrated, on third down, Allen, under center as I recall, took a quick snap, one step back and he winged one towards the corner of the end zone. It was a toss that was behind his receiver who happened to be manned up by the Chiefs’ best secondary defender and the ball sailed harmlessly out of bounds. But a wasted play.

Color man Tony Romo immediately chirped up about what a dangerous play it was. But when on fourth down, Allen made a spectacular throw to Curtis Samuel for a touchdown which tied it, it was forgotten. That fourth-down toss was, in essence, Allen saying, “See what kind of talent I have?”

As we know, the Chiefs went on to add a field goal, the Bills’ final drive stalled when an all-out blitz on fourth down had Allen firing the ball up into the sky.

That earlier pass was what stuck in my mind and to me, that was the difference between the two quarterbacks. On that previous third down throw so close to the end zone with the game in the balance, I cannot imagine Patrick Mahomes EVER being that careless or impatient in such a crucial spot. He was NOT GOING TO GET HIMSELF BEAT. If, as an opponent, you are waiting for Mahomes to make a mistake at the end of a game, the way we used to see the Patriots win so often, well, good luck with that one.

Allen, I think, saw it differently. For him, that fourth down was just another chance for him to make a great throw which he did and tied the score. Why would he ever doubt himself? That’s what got him to the NFL, right?

But there’s talent and there’s skill. Skill is maximizing that talent, where your athletic ability combines with your experience, knowledge, anticipation and yes, karma, to find a way to prevail. What do you need to do — and no more — to win?

It may seem crazy to boil down a whole football game to an incomplete pass followed by a spectacular touchdown throw but that’s how I saw it. There’s Josh Allen, a fabulous talent, one that lives for the next play and Patrick Mahomes, a talent, too, but a shrewd one. He’s a QB who asks a simple question and answers it — what will it take to win. Then does. Damn it.