Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes break down viral ‘snowglobe’ trick play

The Kansas City Chiefs have officially clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC after beating the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday night 31-13. Kansas City played a complete game making big plays in all three phases.

However, one play, in particular, had the entire football world spinning.

The Chiefs are no strangers to unconventional play calls, especially deep in the red zone. Up 14-3 facing a second-and-2 inside the Raiders’ 10-yard line, the play later dubbed “Snow Globe” by quarterback Patrick Mahomes went viral, as the Kansas City huddle rotated in a circle before smoothly getting into formation.

The ball was directly snapped to running back Jerick McKinnon, who pitched it out to Mahomes for the throw across the field to wideout Kadarius Toney as he weaved his way through the Vegas defense for the touchdown.

Although the play was ultimately called back due to a holding penalty, the unorthodox nature of it all had everyone asking head coach Andy Reid to explain the method to his madness.

“It’s just to create a little bit of confusion and then line up in something that’s not familiar to the opposing team,” Reid explained during his postgame press conference. “I know the guys executed it well. We end up with a holding call, but they did good with it.”

As for how they came up with such a play in the first place, Reid gave credit to his players, specifically mentioning Mahomes as the leading mad scientist. He praised the star quarterback for meticulously working on the play with the rest of the offense during practice as they prepared themselves for just the right situation to use it in the game — with their head coach’s permission, of course.

“We’ve kind of messed around with it in practice – we call it the laboratory in there – Pat [Mahomes] gets the guys down there, and then they don’t put their name on it, they just bring it to me,” Reid said. “And I’ve got 51 percent of the vote, so if I like it, then we will call it.”

After the game, Mahomes said he appreciates the freedom coach Reid grants him and the offense but ensures everyone that these types of plays are only possible if they execute them properly and get their desired results.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

“We work on stuff throughout the entire season and then try to call it in the right moments,” Mahomes said after the game. “Coach Reid gives us some freedom to do some of our own flair to it. And so, that circle one was one that we had ran some plays like it, and we talked about it on the side, and we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s see if we do this and get some confusion going and throw something back.’

“The whole thing is, it has to work, and it worked. We just got the holding penalty. Get some good stuff going for the playoffs, and whenever we run it, it has to work.”

That being said, the play encapsulates everything excellent about Mahomes. Whether it’s making highlight plays, breaking the record for most total yards in a season or inevitably winning this year’s MVP, Kansas City’s star quarterback continues to amaze people with something new every moment he is on the field.

Yes, it’s fun and full of freedom, but it’s also built on the foundation of difficult work to perfect what’s already good into something extraordinary — a core mindset for the Chiefs organization, which Mahomes says he will never take for granted.

“You have to have fun out there,” Mahomes said. “We practice hard. We go out there, and we try to get the best out every single day, but the coaches let us have fun. That’s what keeps us going. It’s a long season. A lot of practices and sometimes you just want to play the games.

“We built this culture of, ‘Let’s go out there and practice, have a great time doing it, enjoy it, have fun, but same time, let’s be great.’ That stuff was here before I even got here, and I’m just glad I’m in this organization and get to do it every single day.”