Patrick Mahomes named AFC’s offensive player of the week for Week 1

The NFL has named Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes as its AFC offensive player of the week for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.

Mahomes went 30 of 39 for 360 yards and five passing touchdowns for a 144.2 passer rating in Kansas City’s 44-21 beatdown of the Arizona Cardinals. It was the quarterback’s sixth-career game with at least five passing touchdowns.

Asked about Mahomes’ game on Tuesday, head coach Andy Reid pointed to his preparation.

“The way he approaches — I mean football is important,” started Reid. “I think if you asked him, family and football are right at the top of the list there of things that he does and so he’s always going to put that — whether he’s doing a commercial or something — he’s going to put that in the front and it’s not going to disrupt what he’s doing. So, I think it’s his approach to it. As you know, he’s extremely smart. His recall is exceptional. Retention goes along with that. You tell him something once, he’s got it, and he wants to be great.”

This award marks the eighth offensive player of the week award for Mahomes, who won two in 2018, one in 2019, two in 2020 and two in 2021. With his eighth weekly award, Mahomes tied the late, great Derrick Thomas for the most player of the week awards in franchise history.

In the other AFC awards, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick won defensive player of the week and Cleveland Browns kicker Cade York won special teams player of the week.