KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officially, Patrick Mahomes said he threw the pass “a tad too early.”
Early in the fourth quarter on the 14th play of a 74-yard drive that seemed destined to put the Kansas City Chiefs in front against the Philadelphia Eagles in a Super Bowl LIX rematch Sunday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Mahomes threw a pass toward his favorite target, future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce, on a quick slant from the 6-yard line.
Instead of the go-ahead touchdown, Kelce didn’t get his head around until the ball was already in the air. The pass bounced off Kelce’s hands and into Eagles safety Andrew Mukuba’s in the defining play of the Chiefs’ 20-17 loss.
“We got the defense that we wanted,” Mahomes said. “We expected them to play that ‘zero-zero’ with the hole player, with the safety. I think I threw it a tad too early, trying to put it on his body low before that hole player got there. I think if I can put it more on his body, and not so far out in front of him, that he can catch it, take the hit and get the end zone.”
Kelce beat Reed Blankenship on the route and Mahomes wanted to put the ball low, so Kelce could get under the on-rushing Mukuba and avoid taking a big hit, but the timing wasn’t quite right.
“Whenever you're in those tight quarters like that, you want to give it to him, especially a bigger guy, more on his body, where he can catch it and brace for that contact,” Mahomes said. “We knew the hole player would be looking for him. That’s one of our big targets down there in the red zone. He was breaking to make a hit, and it’s just unfortunate the ball bounced up in the air and right to him.”
Kelce did not speak with the media in the locker room after the game, so it’s unclear how he viewed the play.
“Obviously, on the offensive side, we can’t have the turnover,” Reid said. “I've got to dial up something different than that.”
The Chiefs ran a similar concept at the goal line in the season-opening loss Sept. 5 against the Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Kelce appeared to settle on that route with Mahomes expecting him to keep going, resulting in an incompletion.
Kelce led the Chiefs with 61 yards receiving on four catches in the loss to Philadelphia.
“I know he’s upset at the last one, but we keep rolling here and we keep getting better,” Reid said.
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