Gmod » Patrick Mahomes preseason game three: something improved and some

thing that needs improvement This is part three of a three-part weekly film analysis on the performance of Patrick Mahomes.Part one here http://www.thechiefsfootballauthentic.com/dee-ford-jersey-authentic , part two here.There is noticeable improvement and reason to be optimistic every time we see Patrick Mahomes take the field. He’s both wowed us and given us hope for his ascension to the franchise quarterback this city has desperately craved. Sometimes, I forget how difficult a transition he is making from his time at Texas Tech to now. He was very raw, very green coming out and it still shows. From last week’s game, we have talking points about the same facet of the game, but on opposite ends of the spectrum. There are areas of improvement and areas that require improvement in Mahomes’ work from the pocket.Something improvedWe need to see this happen more often (more on that in a minute), but Mahomes is becoming more space efficient when he hangs in the pocket.Mahomes is gradually learning to work within tighter spaces. Where we’ve seen him literally run to space in college to work in a uniquely large and wide pocket and still fight that urge in the NFL, the clip above was a very encouraging sign. The potential for Mahomes to be lethal from the pocket is tremendous. He doesn’t need a ton of space to set up because of his arm talent and fearlessness to pull the trigger, so he has the potential to create big plays opportunities other quarterbacks can’t. Tom Brady is phenomenally efficient with his movement in the pocket. Everything is subtle, quick and he finds the best space he has to work with great consistency. In college, Mahomes’ pocket was large, wide and oddly structured, and it led to bad habits. It’s not remotely as big in the NFL, and the players coming to get him are bigger, faster and stronger. Efficiency of space is everything. The old saying, “aim small, miss small,” works here. He’s never needed to aim small. He could literally run up in his pockets in college. He can’t get with the extra half-step here or there now.His movements are starting to tighten up. He’s starting to aim small when he’s working within the pocket to find the best space. It’s just a matter of him getting enough live reps to understand when to leave, when to hang in the pocket, when step up http://www.thechiefsfootballauthentic.com/eric-fisher-jersey-authentic , when to back out. Speaking of which...Something that needs improvementIf only we can get him to stay in the pocket long enough to continue to develop his management of tight spaces. The decision making from play to play has been inconsistent. He hasn’t consistently made the right choice about when to hang in and give the design of the play a chance, when to ad lib or when to run for yards. It’s wildly inconsistent. In the clip above, he leaves a clean pocket too quickly, hangs in too long with an open receiver in front of his face and finally elects to run for a touchdown from a clean pocket.There doesn’t appear to be a consistent logic to it yet. Brady, for instance, on that last clip, would stay in the pocket to see if he can find someone on the back line of the end zone for as long as he can, only using his legs as a last resort. Mahomes saw the routes covered and decided to make a break for it immediately, even though he could’ve given his playmakers time to separate. He’s too early and too late in different instances. These clips appear to be the times that Mahomes is thinking the most on the field.All those clips were from the third quarter. He may have been feeling the pressure he’d faced all day. It could’ve been affecting him. That’ll be something to look for moving forward. There’s both good and bad happening in his navigation of the pocket. It’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together. It’ll take time, but there’s promise amidst the issues he’s dealing with. He can be exceptional from the pocket someday, but he’s got to smooth out the rough edges of his game in that regard.Chiefs beat Chargers: 9 winners and 7 losers The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Los Angeles Chargers, 38-28, in their first game of the 2018 season on Sunday afternoon. Here are the game’s winners and losers:WinnersJake Roth-USA TODAY SportsIn a game that was supposed to be more about Patrick Mahomes than anything or anyone else, Tyreek Hill stole the whole damn show on Sunday. Hill returned the first punt of the Chiefs’ season 91 yards for a touchdown, then proceeded to score a 58-yard touchdown on his first reception of the game. Hill scored another 1-yard receiving touchdown late, totaling three touchdowns and 169 receiving yards on the day. Hill started out his career as strictly a special-teams guy, then developed into a reliable receiver and is now officially in the mix for one of the best receivers in the league. If Antonio Brown wasn’t paying attention before, he is now.Mahomes was a winner, too. Though it wasn’t a perfect game by any means Womens Harrison Butker Jersey , we saw flashes of the guy the Chiefs traded up 18 positions to go and get. Mahomes makes throws that very few, if any, other quarterbacks in the league can make, and we are now beginning to see them in the regular season. Mahomes finished 15 for 27 for 256 yards and four touchdowns.Two of those touchdowns were to Hill, one was to De’Anthony Thomas and another was to fullback Anthony Sherman, our third winner of this game. Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest astutely pointed out that in Sherman’s first 107 games of his career, he recorded 408 receiving yards, 11 rushing yards and two touchdowns. His last two regular-season games? 57 receiving yards, 40 rushing yards and two touchdowns. It was a sausage party on Sunday.Dee FordJake Roth-USA TODAY SportsDee Ford, in the first game of his contract year, looked to have a little extra pep in his step Sunday (as he $hould). He seemed to get consistent pressure on Philip Rivers all game, and it paid off for him with the Chiefs’ only sack of the game. I think Ford will play just well enough this season to make fans second-guess what to do with him, but this is ultimately Ford’s Kansas City finale. Ron Parker played well in his return, picking up right where he left off in the Chiefs defense. The Chiefs sure needed him, as Eric Berry was indeed held out after being ruled doubtful for the game on Friday. Parker had one pick, and it could have been two had he not dropped the second one. Parker totaled two passes defensed and recorded eight total tackles by game’s end.In regular-season game one of his five-year contract, Anthony Hitchens looks like he was well worth the more than $21 million of guaranteed money. The Chiefs run defense was better, holding running back Melvin Gordon, one of the league’s absolute studs at the position http://www.thechiefsfootballauthentic.com/cameron-erving-jersey-authentic , to just 64 yards on 15 carries.The combined force of Andy Reid and Brett Veach put a winner on the field Sunday against a team that many, including those at Las Vegas sportsbooks, picked to win the AFC West division. It wasn’t all pretty, but the Chiefs are 1-0.Jake Roth-USA TODAY SportsAnd Chiefs Los Angeles, you outdid yourself. LosersJay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY SportsSometimes, it isn’t your day. And it wasn’t tight end Travis Kelce’s day on Sunday. Targeted six times, Kelce had just one catch for six yards, including one pass that was just knocked out of his hands.Similarly, Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt couldn’t really get it going Sunday, finishing with just 49 yards on 16 carries. It wasn’t a bad day, per se—just not a great start for the 2017 NFL rushing champion. He’ll look to rebound against the Pittsburgh Steelers.The Chiefs secondary did not look good. I counted at least three occasions in which the Chiefs were badly burned but the Chargers receivers just dropped the football. The Chiefs managed to put 38 points on Sunday, and had it not been for quality players making unusual mistakes, it may have been a game at the end.Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY SportsToward the final stretch of the game, it felt as if Rivers may have been singling out Orlando Scandrick, who, in particular, didn’t look especially sharp. He arrived to Kansas City, so he does deserve some time to sort it out, but not the start you’d want for the Chiefs nickel corner.The Chargers as a team have lost nine games in a row to the Kansas City Chiefs. I asked Rivers about needing to get over the Chiefs’ hump this week on a conference call Youth Xavier Williams Jersey , and Rivers told me that no year and no team is the same, but man, the way the Chargers lost Sunday, by shooting themselves in the foot on numerous occasions, felt awfully similar to recent years.Chargers fans. That was an embarrassing home crowd. Someone flew a plane around StubHub Center with the message, “ONLY TEAM WITH 16 AWAY GAMES” tailing it on Sunday. Through one game, it was true.Me. I got a few tweets after the game about my game prediction. Let’s pull it up.To update that last thought. Ahem...Chargers offense, good; Chargers defense, below average; Chiefs offense, potential to be scary good or perhaps even elite; Chiefs defense, worrisome. Through one game, I learned that Mahomes is more ready than I thought. But the secondary may be as bad as I thought, too.Welcome to Shootout City, USA.