On third-and-6 in the opening quarter of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was flushed out to his right, and seeing an opening, he scrambled 25 yards for the first down.
Watch the play we’re talking about here or below:
Patrick Mahomes looking back at the ref for a flag in the middle of the play #KCvsDET pic.twitter.com/9l7PNGaURC
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 29, 2019
As can be seen on the replay, Mahomes actually looked back at the referee during the play. The Chiefs quarterback was asked about the amusing moment during a press conference Wednesday.
#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes on his look-back moment vs. Detroit. pic.twitter.com/kL1x2DOqxZ
— Arrowhead Pride (@ArrowheadPride) October 3, 2019
“I looked back to see if there was a penalty,” Mahomes said. “I saw that I had to run the run and I thought I could probably get the first down but I didn’t want to run 50 yards if I was going to get called back and have to run another play.
“I looked back to see if there was a penalty and when I realized there wasn’t one, I took off.”
Pressed further, Mahomes said he had “no idea” why he did that, to which the media laughed. Had he seen a flag for something like offensive holding, he might have slowed down a bit.
Ref regarding offensive holding: pic.twitter.com/fz3UqlAVgm
— Bucks_in_six (@BucksSix) September 29, 2019
“I still would’ve gotten the first down, it just might not have been a full sprint to the first down,” he said. “There could be hands to the face in the defense and stuff like that but once I saw there wasn’t a flag, I made sure to turn it up a little bit.”
Mahomes finished the game with 54 rushing yards in the 34-30 Chiefs win.