Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs are struggling to protect Patrick Mahomes in the 2024 NFL season.
Protecting Patrick Mahomes has been one of the biggest challenges for Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 NFL season, with the quarterback taking a career-high 35 sacks this year.
The Chiefs’ offensive line struggles continued on Sunday, with Mahomes getting sacked three times. But in his postgame press conference, the 2x NFL MVP let Reid and company know that he’s not worried about this situation.
“I mean, it’s a part of football, you just play the game,” Mahomes said, via Sports Illustrated. “We’ve played a lot of good defenses this year. That’s the one bad thing about when you win the Super Bowl, you play the best schedule, and we’ve played a lot of good defensive ends and defensive linemen.“
Mahomes believes Chiefs will step up in 2025 NFL playoffs
The Los Angeles Chargers’ defense put Mahomes under serious pressure on Sunday, even though the Texas Tech product managed to lead the Chiefs to victory at Arrowhead.
Patrick Mahomes #15, quarterback with the Kansas City Chiefs, walked off the field with Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, after the 26-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals at Arrowhead Stadium on November 11, 2018 in Kansas City, Missouri.
But far from complaining to Reid or throwing his teammates under the bus, the Chiefs star claimed it’s up to him to take less hits. Either way, Mahomes is confident that these issues will be fixed when the 2025 NFL playoffs arrive.
“I think for myself, it’s just finding the soft spot in the pocket. I feel like on some of the early third downs I was kind of running into where they were looping to [and] they had a plan for me escaping the pocket. So, just trying to find that soft spot, I thought I did better at that as the game went on and then I was able to make the run at the end. Working the new guy (D.J. Humphries) in [and] trusting in those other guys. I think we’re going to be hitting the ground running as the playoffs come ahead,” Mahomes said.
The Chiefs’ problems at left tackle
One of the Chiefs’ biggest problems in the 2024 NFL season has been at left tackle. Rookie Kingsley Suamataia entered the year as starter, but lost the job after a poor Week 2 outing against the Cincinnati Bengals, who outplayed him with Trey Hendrickson.
That’s when Reid promoted second-year tackle Wanya Morris. However, the coach felt like making another change in Week 12, benching Morris late in the fourth quarter by moving Joe Thuney to left tackle, with Mike Caliendo stepping in at left guard.
The Chiefs signed seasoned tackle D.J. Humphries aiming to solve this situation, and the veteran did well in his debut against the Chargers. A late injury, however, saw Morris return to the field. Therefore, it remains to be seen who will be protecting Mahomes’ blindside in Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns.
