Last week, one of the reasons Denver was able to get back into its game against Kansas City was Patrick Mahomes’ three interceptions.
Mahomes was frustrated with himself after the game for some of the decisions he made. That feeling apparently lingered into the practice week, with the Chiefs getting ready to face the one-win Texans.
Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said on Thursday that he understands Mahomes’ mentality. But at the same time, there’s a point where he’d like Mahomes to turn the page.
“You know what, it’s not anything different that I’m seeing, it’s making sure that he’s focused and locked in, not talking himself off the edge,” Bieniemy said in his press conference. “And you got to understand, Pat’s a very competitive kid and he’s very self-aware of the mistakes that he makes. He’s very self-aware of anything that’s taking place on the field, especially in those critical moments. So, when something like that happens, the only thing that you can do is, ‘Hey, man, listen, it’s time to move on. Ok? We can’t keep killing ourselves over the mistake that we made.’
“Yesterday in practice he kept talking about a scenario that came up and how he threw it and he knew exactly what they were doing and he’s kicking himself in the face. I said, ‘Pat, OK, today is Wednesday. Today we play the Houston Texans. Do not worry about that. Ok? The only thing that we need to make sure is that we’re not putting our team in a very vulnerable state because when something like that happens, it tends to take the wind out of everybody. So, let’s make sure we’re controlling the controllables. And the only thing we can control is what we do today.’”
Mahomes is having another MVP-caliber season, leading the league with 4,160 yards passing and 33 touchdowns. But he’ll surely want to keep those turnovers under control as the team faces a schedule of Houston, Seattle, Denver, and Las Vegas for its last four regular-season games.