If you follow sports talk radio and talk shows then you’ve probably heard of Fox Sports 1 radio/TV talk guy Colin Cowherd. How could you have not if you’ve ever watched a sports game on Fox or Fox Sports 1 such as Thursday Night Football on Fox. You would have seen his face in one of his commercials by now. In any matter, the guy has a tendency to form an opinion on a player and stick to a narrative even if there is no basis for it such as with Baker Mayfield. The latest case that we’re going to talk about is with Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
In 2018, Mahomes just finished second season with the team, his first as the full-time starter. He was sensational last season and has done more with the Chiefs than his predecessor Alex Smith ever did with this roster. He put up huge numbers and led his team despite the recent Kareem Hunt drama (yikes). The man threw 50 TDs and passed for 5000 yards. However, that hasn’t stopped Cowherd from calling the guy all FLASH and not much SUBSTANCE.
I posted the link down low. It is his most recent Mahomes criticism video from his show The Herd. In this video he whines about how Mahomes is all flash and that people only like him because of his headband and his sidearm, no look passes. He says that people clamor to him because he isn’t some boring robot with a stupid neck beard like Andrew Luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laNvEY8mEmo&t=353s
I don’t know about you guys but I don’t think he could be anymore wrong. I’m not sure how leading a team to a 13-3 record atop of the AFC is just flash. Neither is throwing for over 40 touchdowns with a few games left to go. The man has displayed great accuracy, mostly good decision making, an ability to run Andy Reid’s offense with great tempo and command, and has been shown to have phenomenal arm strength. Not to mention that his ability to feel the rush, buy time in and out of the pocket, and to be able to throw from different platforms and angles has been amazing and tantalizing to watch. If Colin Cowherd’s idea of all flash no substance is that then I’ll gladly take it. No but seriously, what the Hell is this guying saying with that?
I guess the guy might be eluding to how Mahomes’ super confidence in his arm and willingness to always try to make something happen can lead to a few bad turnovers. OK. When you throw as much as he does as a young quarterback playing with a bad defense in high scoring games, a few mistakes will occur. What’s his point?
One of the many things Cowherd was rambling on about in his Mahomes rant was that he has been put in a perfect situation compared to other quarterbacks in regards to situation, help, and coaching. In fairness, he has. There was some skepticism over whether he would be able to adjust to playing against NFL defenses and to running an NFL offense quickly enough since he ran a very collegiate-like offense in the Big 12. However, he has shown that ability to process information quickly as well as to look off safeties. Sitting behind Smith for a year, having Andy Reid as his head coach, and having talented players like Tyreke Hill and Travis Kelce have helped. However, it still shouldn’t take away from his ability just because the Chiefs did what any organization is supposed to do when they draft a franchise quarterback.
The only thing Colin has any validity in is him whining about articles that compare Mahomes to Miami Dolphins quarterback great Dan Marino. It’s too early to be making those type of comparisons. However, that’s just about it. Nothing else he says about Mahomes holds up.
He likes to admit that he does like Mahomes but says that in his three biggest games, he’s 0-3. These biggest games were at New England, at LA Rams, and the Thursday night home game against division rival Chargers. His argument that he is 0-3 is misleading because it implies that he came up short in these moments.
Let’s start with the first game at New England. He made a couple of mistakes early on as a young quarterback who at that point hadn’t even started up the 10 games would. Regardless, he brought the back from a 24-9 halftime deficit and managed to tie the game at 40-40 with a little over 2 minutes to go. He didn’t see the ball after that because Brady marched the Pats downfield for a game winning field goal. How’s that his fault?
On to the Monday night game against the Rams in the game of the year, he put up stupid numbers and the game went into the 50’s. People like Cowherd will point to Mahomes’ turnovers. His early turnovers were fluky. One of them was because Aaron Donald made a great play strip sacking him after Mahomes’ offensive line couldn’t hold up. The other one was caught be a defensive linemen. He did throw two picks when the team was down 54-51 late in the fourth with a chance to tie or take a lead. However, what Colin won’t tell you is how it happen.
The first of those two picks came because he was hit as he threw it. The last one was with time running out. He knew he had to throw it up and make a play to get them into field goal range before time ran out. The ball sailed and got picked off. He had to score over 50 to make up for a really bad defensive performance. Not to mention, Colin is looking over the earlier turnovers LA Rams QB Goff had against those Chiefs pass rushers. The same pass rush that was nowhere to be seen when he toss the go ahead touchdown to put the Rams up 54-51 late in the fourth.
Here’s the link to the Rams Chiefs highlights since there’s a lot in it if you didn’t watch the game for some weird reason and actually need to see what I’m talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkMUXct0kEc
Now to the Chargers. This is one is really bad if Colin is trying to use this as an example. The guy played well and didn’t turned it over. Colin brings up how his “best” drive of the second half occurred because of bad calls that went in his favor when they went up 28-14 in the fourth quarter. He is ignoring the previous touchdown to put him up 21-7 that occurred without any bad calls but with excellent ball placement and reads. Also, he conveniently doesn’t bring up the questionable pass interference call on Chiefs defensive back Orlando Scandrick on a 3rd and goal play with seconds to go late in the fourth as the Chiefs were nursing a 28-21 lead that helped keep the Chargers alive.
Colin is saying Rivers outplayed Mahomes. Colin is once again glossing over Rivers’ two terrible interceptions and what should have been a 3rd one in the 3rd quarter. In fairness, Rivers was amazing in the second half but to say he easily outplayed Mahomes is stretching it. I don’t know what Mahomes did wrong in that game to lose it. He gave the defense a 14 point lead with 6 minutes to go. When he got the ball back up 7 with 3 minutes to go, the offense committed a false start penalty that made a manageable 3rd and 8 into a harder 3rd and 13 that requires more time in the pocket. Mahomes immediately had no time to throw and was sacked, forcing them to punt.
Once again, he didn’t see the ball again for the rest of the game as the defense gave up a score late. The very fact that the Chargers went for 2 instead of the tie tells you all you need to know about how they feel about Mahomes. They didn’t want him and that offense with the ball in overtime so they went for it and obviously succeeded since the Chiefs’ defensive backs blew a simple coverage assignment.
But no, Colin. Let’s say that Mahomes got outplayed and is 0-3 in his biggest games. Why, because it fits into your nice narrative? Because guys like him and Mayfield have actual personalities and aren’t boring stiffs like your man Sam Darnold? Because Mahomes wasn’t one of the guys you were repping coming into the year? If this was Luck, you would be putting him in the Hall of Fame now. Heck, he’s already doing it now by trying to argue for Luck as being ahead of Mahomes in the MVP race. Comeback Player is fine but not MVP. It’s only him pushing that. It took him up until last week to even have Mahomes third behind Brees and Luck. How silly does that sound?
The whole “Mahomes not for the MVP” talk seems forced by pundits like Colin and Skip Bayless. It’s as if the NFL and some of the media overlords don’t want to anoint some flashy second year player that wasn’t overly hyped so they’re pushing for pundits to look for whatever misguided reasoning to suggest why he shouldn’t be MVP.
Look, I’m not going to call you guys SHEEP this time. Based on many fan sites and even the comment section of that The Herd video I shared the link to, most of you aren’t falling for Colin’s BS on this subject. Most of you know Mahomes should be leading the MVP race and the reasons so far as to why he shouldn’t aren’t good at all. Don’t fall for these fake narratives and bias opinions with no context. Always analyze and critically think about what you’re watching in these games and apply it to other players in an objective matter even if you too also have your biases.
