After the Kansas City Chiefs squeaked out a win against the Las Vegas Raiders on Black Friday, quarterback Patrick Mahomes expressed his frustration with how Kansas City’s offense operated in Week 13.
“Just too many mistakes at the end of the day. I felt like there were times offensively [where] we moved the ball — didn’t execute in the redzone, didn’t execute enough on third down — too many mistakes. We have to clean that up if we want to get to where we want to go,” Mahomes said during his postgame press conference.
Against the Raiders, the Chiefs scored 19 points against a defense that has given up the fourth-most points per game this season (27.8). Mahomes managed to throw for 306 yards, but he was sacked five times, Kansas City gained just 63 yards on the ground, and the unit went 1-for-5 in the red zone.
Chiefs Look Vulnerable Despite 11-1 Record
After losing to the Buffalo Bills in Week 11 and defeating the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 by a field goal, the 11-1 Chiefs don’t appear to be as strong as their record shows. That needs to change if the team wants to make history by pulling off a three-peat this season.
“We just hold ourselves to such a high standard that we don’t feel like we’re playing our best football all together,” Mahomes said. “It seems like every game it’s [either the] offense does good [or the] defense does good — kind of vice versa. We have to find a way to build up so 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, so 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.”
Patrick Mahomes Frustrated by ‘Missed Opportunities’
After the game, Mahomes was asked what stood out to him the most about Kansas City’s Week 13 win over Las Vegas, and his response can be summed up in two words:
Missed opportunities.
“It’s just missed opportunities at the end of the day. There’s going to be a lot of good – usually, it’s better than you think or it’s worse than you think, but it’s — there’s going to be a lot of good on tape. We have to just find ways to execute,” Mahomes explained. “I mean, there was one [where] I hit JuJu (Smith-Schuster) coming on the cover zero blitz — I mean, I hit Trav (Travis Kelce) and JuJu was wide open probably for a touchdown. There’s the one at the end of the game with Xavier (Worthy). If I can just give him a chance to make a catch there, we can ice it there — he goes down at the two-yard line [and] we [can] ice it. It’s just missed opportunities, and we have to execute on those opportunities if we want to get to where we want to go.”
The Chiefs’ next opportunity to right the ship offensively will be in Week 14, when KC hosts the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers. That game will be played on Sunday, December 8 at 7:20 p.m. Central Time and will be available to watch on NBC and Peacock.
