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On Thursday night, I wrote about how Patrick Mahomes’ first preseason start was rather uneventful. Mahomes played just one quarter against the Houston Texans, finishing 5/7 for just 33 yards.
It wasn’t a bad performance; it just wasn’t memorable.
On Saturday, after the Kansas City Chiefs finished their first practice back in St. Joseph, head coach Andy Reid reminded fans and followers that type of game was by design.
“You look around the league and most teams are running the ball quite a little bit in the first game, especially with the starters,” Reid said. “My idea was to get some reps trying to throw the football and get Patrick a little full, live contact there, [and] give the offensive line some full, live contact. And so that’s what we did.”
Reid said prior to the game that he wanted each Chiefs quarterback to get a quarter of playing time.
“I wanted to maximize as much as we could,” he said. “There are some things we could clean up. You need to get that on tape. You need to see it. You need to feel it. That’s what the preseason’s about. I don’t hide much as far as what we’re doing. We don’t really game plan for it at all. We just kind of call up some plays we feel pretty comfortable with and go with them.”
The plan for the Chiefs on Saturday was to get through practice, and then hit the film room to watch the game tape with the coaching staff. Mahomes only had nine snaps in the game, but Reid said there are still lessons to take away.
“I’m not going to get into specifics, but he’s got to get in, and he’s got to study the thing,” Reid said. “He made a couple nice throws and there are a couple that he can learn off of—one in particular. He had a little bit of pressure on the other one. He can get in and just see.
“It’s hard in that first quarter. You have to get in and get a little rhythm, and all of a sudden you’re out of the game. He can learn from it. There are some things he can learn from. He’ll get in and do that.”