Patrick Mahomes has played all over the country as the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. But he has yet to play in a game in his home state of Texas during his NFL career.
That will change when the Chiefs play the Texans at noon Sunday in Houston.
“I’m sure there will be more people that I know that are coming down to watch the game,” said Mahomes, who grew up in Tyler, which is about a three-hour drive to Houston. “It’ll be cool to kind of see some people, and they’ll get to see me play in my home state.”
The Chiefs (10-3) played the Texans (1-11-1) in Houston during Mahomes’ rookie season when Alex Smith was the quarterback, but Mahomes didn’t play as he was still the backup. Much has changed since then as Mahomes has led the Chiefs to two Super Bowls, an NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP.
This season, Mahomes has thrown for an NFL-best 4,160 yards and 33 touchdowns. Last week, Mahomes threw three touchdowns and three picks against the Broncos. His third touchdown came on a scramble play where he literally ran in circles and eventually found JuJu Smith-Schuster in the back of the end zone.
“He just stayed alive,” Mahomes said of Smith-Schuster. “They dropped right into where we wanted to throw the football, and so instead of running off and letting the play end, he just kept working. And you could see from the back end zone view that he’s moving side to side to try to give me a spot to throw the football.
“And so, he got open, and I was able to get him the ball in a big moment. And it’s going to take that. Not every play is going to be perfect. We’re going to have to be able to make some plays whenever the playcall isn’t perfect. And so, I thought he did a great job of continuing to work and not giving up.”
Mahomes could get two weapons back soon as Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney returned to practice this week. Though Chiefs coach Andy Reid isn’t sure if they will play Sunday, Mahomes said having them back will only make the offense that much better for the stretch run.
“I think getting Mecole and K.T. back will add another dimension,” Mahomes said. “Obviously they can do the jet sweeps and stuff like that but adding that speed to the field, it makes teams have to honor it.
“And obviously Marquez (Valdes-Scantling) has done a great job filling that role, and so has Skyy (Moore). But just to continue to add speed to any offense like those two guys have, it’ll open it up for everybody else.”
