Missouri’s Kansas City In the first quarter of the team’s preseason game against the Detroit Lions, quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs executed his first-ever behind-the-back pass in a live setting, less than two weeks after he had practiced the trick.
On a third-and-3 play deep in Lions territory, Mahomes faked a play to fullback Carson Steele, who then moved to his right and swung his right arm across his back to set up the perfect angle for a crazy ball. After catching the pass, tight end Travis Kelce advanced for a gain of eight yards. As he stood up to acknowledge the highlight, Kelce pointed to Mahomes with both of his index fingers. Mahomes, one of the few quarterbacks in league history to complete such a ball, ran back into the huddle.
MAHOMES BEHIND THE BACK 🫢
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Mahomes later said on NFL Network that Kelce “didn’t run the route he was supposed to run.”
“And then it was kind of a behind-the-back pass … because I was mad,” Mahomes told color analyst Trent Green. “I was pissed off at Travis. He was supposed to run a flat route. … I’m yelling at him and then he doesn’t run it. So out of spite, I threw a behind-the-back pass, but now it’s gonna be a highlight.”
When asked if he improvised the throw, Mahomes said, “One hundred percent.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying to everybody: It can’t be planned,” he said. “It’s just got to naturally happen kind of in the groove of things. … It wasn’t like I planned that at all.”
Kelce, however, also shared his side on the NFL Network broadcast, saying, “No, it was a play.”
“You know he’s got the voice thing,” Kelce said, ribbing Mahomes and imitating his voice. “So he kind of mumbled out the play. I couldn’t hear it. I was walking up to the line, I was trying to decipher what he was saying. Before I knew it, he snapped the ball and then I kind of saw him out of my peripheral run to the sideline so I was trying to go help my guy out.
“By the time I got over there, he was already in mid-form like a photo on a sports card throwing the ball to me. So it was just I guess right place at the right time.”
Until the play was replayed, a lot of fans—both inside Arrowhead Stadium and on TV—were unaware that Mahomes had pulled off the behind-the-back pass.
During a red zone team session one week prior, during one of the Chiefs’ final practices of training camp, Mahomes skillfully completed a clever behind-the-back ball to running back Isiah Pacheco, resulting in a short-yardage score. Mahomes tried the behind-the-back pass in part due to the Chiefs’ defense blitzing. To deny Mahomes the chance to run the ball around the perimeter, safety Chamarri Conner launched an attack from the edge. In response, Mahomes leaped to provide him with the ideal angle for his inventive pass. Pacheco also anticipated the pass. After catching the ball, he turned to his right and went unharmed into the end zone.
“It was cool that I completed it,” Mahomes said Thursday. “You want to get it in a live-type of atmosphere — and that’s as live as you’re going to get in practice.”
Mahomes first started experimenting with a behind-the-back pass during the 2018 season, when he attempted the feat in practices, ones that were closed to fans and during team periods that were not observed by reporters.
“The first thing he said was, ‘I’ve been telling you to do that for a while; That’s one of the plays I’ve been telling you that you can do it,’” Mahomes said Thursday of coach Andy Reid’s reaction. “He’s all for it. It’s me who’s the one that’s hesitant to do it in a game.”
Following the flawless execution of his trick, Mahomes may feel even more comfortable utilizing his unconventional throwing motion during the Chiefs’ upcoming regular season, which may start later in the season or possibly as early as the team’s Sept. 5 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
“There definitely is a possibility of it,” Mahomes said Thursday while smiling. “If you do it, it’s got to work.”
(Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images)
