The pop pass and jet sweeps the Kansas City Chiefs ran with Mecole Hardman weren’t quite as memorable as Wasp was in Super Bowl LIV, but they proved equally effective.
Hardman scored three total touchdowns — two rushing and one receiving — to help lead the Chiefs to a 44-23 road win Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of the Super Bowl from three years ago. Hardman’s three touchdowns came basically on the same play — a jet sweep around the edge.
“I think I got a good feel for it,” Hardman said of running the jet sweeps. “Honestly, just the vision and trying to find the little holes and the gaps in the defense. If you can get through them with speed, and you try to get somebody one on one, it’s going to be a long day for the defender.”
Hardman finished with two rushes for 28 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while adding four catches for 32 yards and an 8-yard touchdown through the air. On that play, Patrick Mahomes lined up in the shotgun, took the snap and tossed it directly in front of him to Hardman, who came across to the left in motion.
Hardman then followed his blocks into the end zone and credited his three-touchdown day to the guys up front.
“It should go to the O-line, the O,” Hardman said. “Orlando Brown, I don’t know if you all saw him, but he was getting out on the edge, right? And (tight end) Jody Fortson had a key block out there, too. So without them I wouldn’t get in the end zone. But I think Coach (Andy Reid) called the plays at the right time and we executed it.”
Reid said offensive line coach Andy Heck came to him with the idea of including the jet sweeps in the game plan, and Reid credited Hardman for showing patience as his linemen got to the second and third levels.
“Coach Heck had these jet sweeps dialed up and he liked them,” Reid said. “And I thought Mecole did a heck of a job going fast, being patient and then hitting it, and our guys blocked it well.”
Mahomes, who threw for 423 yards and three touchdowns, said Hardman’s success can be attributed to playing physical even though Hardman is small in stature.
“I think what makes Mecole so good at it is obviously he’s super-fast, but he runs really hard,” Mahomes said. “And a lot of times when you get smaller receivers, and you get them on those jet sweeps they want to get outside and get to the sideline and get yards and go out of bounds.
“If you notice with Mecole, that man puts his foot in the ground, he gets up field and trusts his blockers. You don’t see that out of a lot of guys in this league, and it’s a special talent that he has.”
Hardman also has been playing with a heel injury since early in the season. Now with the Chiefs (5-2) having a bye week this week, he’s hoping he can finally get back to full strength.
“That still hurts, for real,” Hardman said. “But we got a bye week now. So hopefully this week I can get back healthy. I’ve been battling through it, doing different things, padding in the cleat and doing different tape jobs trying to take pressure off the heel a little bit.
“But every week on, it kind of lessens and lessens, and now with this bye week hopefully I can get back to 100 (percent) and get back to full speed.”
