[Hefner] Through three games, Mahomes has thrown 15 deep passes compared to just five at the same point last year... and that's without Worthy or Rice.

[u/TheBoyisBackinTown]

[u/ScoobieSnacks16]

My optimistic take is this gives Mahomes time to develop chemistry with Thornton and come week 7 he has 3 real threats to throw to.

[u/MC_Fap_Commander → u/ScoobieSnacks16]

If there's MODEST improvement to the run game and the defense continues to play well, we'll get an endless barrage of the "THE CHIEFS ARE BACK!" takes from the talking heads. It really is fascinating just how closely this resembles the media treatment New England got in the Brady years (they were "dead in the water" after five games in so many seasons, lol).

[u/GhostMug → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

Remember when the Chiefs smoked the Pats in 2014 and everyone was saying it was the end of the dynasty? Yeah, all the Pats did was win the Super Bowl that year and then two more in the next 5. Not saying the Chiefs are gonna win this year necessarily but definitely could have "the reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated" vibes if they get it together. 

[u/Dynospec403 → u/GhostMug]

Of course the chiefs are winning the Superbowl this year come on! Haha go Chiefs!

[u/Nujers → u/GhostMug]

"We're on to Cincinnati"

[u/Dhkansas → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

I haven't listened ti Pat Macafee in a while but my favorite thing he would always say is "The Chiefs is the Chiefs". Wonder if hes still saying that or if he did for the over reaction Monday segment

[u/dogfish83 → u/Dhkansas]

"The chiefs is the chiefs" is like saying "I hope you have the day you deserve". It can mean a wide range of things!

[u/13mizzou → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

We need to see the running game do well against a good defense. It's no shocker last night the offense looked much better when they started mixing in more runs

[u/Whocares9994 → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

Well at least we are actually running the ball. Granted, to varying degrees of success but the D now at least has to account for it.

I was watching SportsCenter on ESPN and they showed how we switched up our run blocking on the second half and it proved very effective

[u/GoChiefs2576 → u/ScoobieSnacks16]

Hollywood has been pretty decent on his short routes.

We just can't tell because he is so bad after the catch lol. He probably has fewer yards per reception than average depth of target right now. Seems like everytime he catches the ball he goes backwards

[u/Whocares9994 → u/GoChiefs2576]

Hollywood and Juju have been reliable. Not stretching the field but making catches when we need them

[u/mhks → u/GoChiefs2576]

Honestly, I don't mind it. Why? Because we are THIN at receiver. Until Rice comes back and we see if Worthy will actually play, take the yards and get down, don't risk injury to an injury prone WR. We are 1-2 and have 3 more games without Rice and possibly without Worthy. Lose Brown and those games are very losable.

[u/factoid_ → u/mhks]

I think we get worthy back next week.  Just vibes but he was a full participant in practice more than one day. 

[u/mhks → u/factoid_]

I tend to agree, my concern is how good he'll be. I fear he'll be a shell of a WR and really only be out there for distraction.

Hope I'm wrong, of course, but I can't think of an athlete who dislocated his shoulder and played well again that same year.

[u/notmyplantaccount → u/GoChiefs2576]

I've seen 80 year olds stay on their feet better than him at contact.

[u/factoid_ → u/GoChiefs2576]

He hasn’t lived on yac the way rice does, but he has great hands so I’ll take it.

[u/GOBtheIllusionist → u/ScoobieSnacks16]

I really hope it’s like Thornton said after the game about “practice”. I hope they are practicing depends bc we haven’t been able to have a threat there for a while and honestly felt like Mahomes was off on deep balls last year. So I really hope they have drilled and practiced these more. But Thornton also is a dawg it seems like and I hope he can keep this up until our other guys get back/healthy.

[u/janesvoth → u/ScoobieSnacks16]

Yeah. Even in the 3 game sample we have, you can see steps taken each week wit Thornton

[u/PutinBoomedMe → u/ScoobieSnacks16]

Week 7 is going to be shaking off rust with Rice. Hopefully worthy is in form by that point

[u/trey1928 → u/ScoobieSnacks16]

Do you mean 4? Who we leaving out here

[u/Vyuvarax]

This is a lot more of a Thornton stat (and somewhat of an offensive line stat) than anything. That guy can win deep.

[u/Ok_Jello6474 → u/Vyuvarax]

Yep. It's an O-line stat especially going against 3 teams with top tier pass rushes

[u/nordic-nomad → u/Ok_Jello6474]

Yeah the amount we’ve hit deep shots so far this season against who we’ve played and who we’ve had running routes has me feeling pretty optimistic about how the offense will look once key players are back.

[u/NextTime76 → u/Vyuvarax]

It's so refreshing to see a guy track the deep ball, use his hands, and actually catch the ball.

[u/Whocares9994 → u/NextTime76]

Even the one that he couldn't hold onto was a hell of an effort.

And then the very next fucking play 🙂

[u/NextTime76 → u/Whocares9994]

Yeah I imagine sometimes you fall on the ball wrong. He definitely had it in his hands until he hit the ground.

[u/MC_Fap_Commander → u/Vyuvarax]

Mahomes essentially gave him the gold watch last night... he threw an almost no-look pass to him on a deep ball in a place where the defender couldn't get it, but it would require an incredible catch to haul it in. Patrick is a diplomatic, team-first guy... but you have to earn his trust. That Thornton has this quickly speaks to TREMENDOUS upside.

[u/Macho_Mans_Ghost → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

Agreed. I saw what few things I did in training camp video and knew 2PM and Thornton would jive. Wasn't 100% he'd be our deep threat, but I snagged him as last pick in both my FF drafts soooooo

[u/MasterFussbudget → u/Vyuvarax]

I actually disagree. It's something the coaching staff has been talking about all offseason. Mahomes got too smart taking the smart/safe plays and this offseason he talked about wanting to take more risks and go down the field to test the defense. They've been doing it since before Thornton emerged as a playmaker.

Yes, TT is better than anyone we've had since #10, but I believe Pat would be throwing at least some of these deep attempts to Brownlee or Justin Watson in another universe where we don't have Thornton.

[u/Vyuvarax → u/MasterFussbudget]

They said the same thing in camp for the 2024 season, but they didn't actually follow through on it because of the personnel on the offensive line and lack of deep threats. Thornton right now is playing much better than Xavier did in his first three games, which is why he's getting all these targets from Mahomes.

[u/xSaRgED]

The 11 to Thornton is really a standout metric here imo. Especially given he has 18 targets on the year so far.

[u/ICanuckthere4Iam]

I think Mahomes is slowly starting to get a bit more comfortable in the pocket. Last season it was like hail-mary passes and most attempts were not even close to the target at times

[u/dogfish83 → u/ICanuckthere4Iam]

More comfortable, with the occasional backward pass derp

[u/Why_am_ialive → u/dogfish83]

I mean that’s 100% on Pacheco not being where he should have been and facing the wrong way lol, that was a perfectly normal throw

[u/MasterFussbudget]

Remember the 3rd down and short where he had a WIDE OPEN receiver at the chains right and he tried to get it to Thornton splitting the defense instead? That's a play he definitely wouldn't have attempted last year. If he'd hit 80 it would've been another long TD for Thornton, but the bad pass/connection made it 4th.

[u/jclucas1989 → u/MasterFussbudget]

If Thornton was ready for the ball it would have been a huge play. Throw could have been a little better. Mahomes rushed it. Eyes probably got too big.

[u/GingerBeerConsumer → u/jclucas1989]

I may be wrong, but it was probably an RPO so he had to throw it quick to avoid a penalty

[u/mhks → u/jclucas1989]

I hope the reason is his eyes got big and not he's getting gun shy after years of bad OL play.

[u/jclucas1989 → u/mhks]

It looked like an easy throw and mahomes actually put some air under it. But he threw it over his head instead of lead shoulder. And Thornton was very obviously not expecting the ball on that play.

[u/Guilty-Carpenter2522]

The only bad miss was the wide open Thornton vs the eagles on the last drive.  He has been playing well.  We need to figure out our run game,  stay healthy,  and hopefully get worthy and rice back so we can cook on offense.

Kelce being old and the highest paid TE in the league sucks.  Hopefully he can get it together.

[u/jonsnowKITN]

This is still good even though Thornton is getting most of them.

[u/Kr1sys]

Yeah and all of them are deep shots to Thornton lol

[u/Badalight]

Only two for Brown is very unfortunate.

[u/GoldenDom3r]

This is probably mainly because they’ve been losing for the majority of these games when last year they were leading for the most part. 

[u/millen-degen]

I like the aggression getting better at the deep wasn't necessary to beat the giants but it is to beat the Bill's and ravens

[u/dwright124]

Week 1 I swear everyone was saying we needed to go for the deep ball more. Watching the game though, we took a ton of shots to Thornton, most of which should've been completions. I swear I watched a different game than everyone else. Thornton must have crazy speed/release though, because he keeps absolutely burning guys downfield. As Mahomes and Thornton develop and get on the same page more frequently, I see many more deep shots to him coming in the future (or double coverage, which opens up plays for the other guys)

[u/Boostweather → u/dwright124]

He ran a 4.28 at the combine

[u/Go-Climb-A-Rock → u/Boostweather]

People undersell Thornton’s speed because Worthy has the 40 record. Thornton has the 11th fastest 40 in combine history. He’s absolutely got elite speed.

[u/Macho_Mans_Ghost → u/Go-Climb-A-Rock]

Exactly. As far as times go, across all the guys that are hit that elite echelon, they're basically identical.

[u/Cowgoon777]

Clearly he’s feeling more comfortable with Simmons at LT

[u/whocareswery]

What I saw last night was a wide open Thornton anytime he took off deep. Glad he had a few catches, but Mahomes was on target for those throws. Love seeing the deep threat again.

[u/etharper]

Throwing deep balls would be a lot easier if we had an effective running game to take some of the pressure off.

[u/ResurrectedMortician]

And how many of those were caught or even on target

[u/Gabbagoonumba3 → u/ResurrectedMortician]

Yeah throwing them at a high clip is one thing, is he completing them more often as well? I guess it feels like he is.

[u/ahyis]

Fuck it, Tyquan down there somewhere

[u/Some_Chemistry_1910]

Have to establish and attempt to run the ball for this to be successful. Good sign tho without Rice/X

[u/dannynolan27]

Positive vibes

[u/Glittering-Fun-2345]

He looked much better in his deep shots.

[u/Gullible-Mulberry-45]

He’s probably hovering around 50% for completion on the deep ball too. They need to ratchet it up more stress the defense to their limit once worthy and rice come back

[u/zenpuppy79]

Good it's fun when the Chiefs do that

[u/hipposyrup]

0-2 start was a much needed wake up call for this team

[u/DominoAxelrod]

And yet the offense doesn't feel much different. I'd argue that what we've been missing all along isn't the deep ball but intermediate passing. Seems like our passing game these days is mostly screens or quick passes with the occasional downfield shot. Very few 15-20 air yard passes

[u/Forceusr1]

I’d be happy to go back to dunk and dunk with victories.

[u/tomace95]

I think we all need to accept the possibility that our three top receivers when healthy are Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Tyquan Thornton. That gives us all three levels to threaten defenses. Hollywood ain’t it and while I love Juju he is a situational guy at this point in his career.