Patrick Mahomes made a number of dazzling plays Monday night while leading the Kansas City Chiefs to a 27-23 comeback win on the road over the Denver Broncos, but there was one play in particular that got everyone talking and will be remembered from the game for years to come. The play took place on a 3rd-and-5 at the Kansas City 45-yard line with the Chiefs down 23-20 late in the fourth quarter. Mahomes was pressured by multiple Broncos defenders, including linebacker Von Miller, which caused him to roll to his left towards the Chiefs' sideline. Just when Miller dove and grabbed Mahomes by the legs, Mahomes switched the ball from his right hand to his left and heaved it towards wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who advanced the ball past the marker for a first down. The Chiefs went on to score a touchdown on the drive and held on from there to capture the win. Players, coaches, fans, and media all raved about the play, which was the type of highlight Mahomes has produced in his short time as a starter that has quickly established him as the most exciting quarterback in the NFL. The Chiefs learned to expect such moments from Mahomes after seeing what he was capable of in practice over the past two years, but being able to pull off that particular play in the situation he was in was something different altogether. "It’s not shocking to me because it’s Pat Mahomes, but it is amazing to make a throw like that under pressure – game on the line and you’re rolling out to your right and you decide to make a left-hand pass and it’s on the money, that’s something special," linebacker Justin Houston said. "It shows how great he is." Even though Chiefs head coach Andy Reid joked after the game that the play was something that came as a result of practice ("I’ve worked real hard on that left-handed throw, making sure he can do that," Reid said), Mahomes admitted it was a work of improvisation that happened in the spur of the moment. "I didn’t think it at all," Mahomes said. "I was kind of just scrambling left. I felt Von on my back and I knew I couldn’t throw it with my right hand and I knew we needed the first down. I kind of just shot-putted it to Tyreek and he made the first down and made a great play. You’ve just got to get the ball in their hands somehow." Technically it wasn't the first time Mahomes made a left-handed throw, although the circumstances he did so in the past were quite different. Monday night was the first time he says he's been able to complete one during a game, and it just happened to come at a most opportune time. "I never practice it," Mahomes said. "We have quarterback competitions where we throw crossbar challenge and we play left-handed sometimes. That’s about the variety of my practicing that. I did it a couple times in college but it was to throw it away. I never had thrown it to a receiver. It was a cool deal and I’m just glad we got the first down and got the win." The Broncos experienced Monday night what the Chiefs have learned since drafting Mahomes in 2017 and the rest of the league is also finding out, which is no play is over as long as he is still standing and has the ball in his hands. That type of ability also leads Mahomes and his teammates to believe they can come from behind to win games in the way they did Monday, and it surely won't be the last time it happens with him under center. "He’s a confident kid," Reid said. "He was confident before that. He won’t be overconfident from it. It tells everybody really that you’re within striking distance. You have that opportunity with a guy that can make plays. The guys around him made plays too, so this wasn’t just Patrick."<doc-sep>Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made a third-down conversion on his game-winning drive Monday night against the Denver Broncos by tossing the ball to his receiver with his left hand. Broncos linebackers Von Miller and Shane Ray were chasing Mahomes -- on 3rd-and-5 with about three minutes to play in the fourth quarter and his team down three points -- when he switched the ball from his right hand to his left and completed a pass to Tyreek Hill to get a first down. Mahomes would convert another third down later in the drive to help setup a 4-yard game-winning touchdown run by running back Kareem Hunt. The Chiefs would go on to win the game, 27-23. The Chiefs are now 4-0 behind a hot start from their second-year quarterback, Mahomes. The former Texas Tech standout has thrown for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns with zero interceptions in the first four games of the season.<doc-sep>
Patrick Mahomes has a magical right arm. We found out Monday night that he has some magic his left arm as well. With the Chiefs facing a 3rd-and-5 near midfield, the Broncos flushed Mahomes out of the pocket. He spotted a wide-open Tyreek Hill running with him, but with Von Miller on his heels, Mahomes couldn’t get the throw off with his right, so he improvised… Mahomes made sure that play wasn’t wasted. He converted a 2nd-and-30 with two equally impressive throws outside of the pocket before Kareem Hunt finished off the drive with the game-winning touchdown run. This wasn’t Mahomes’ best game. At least statistically. But it was, by far, his most impressive. He was pressured all night but continued to make plays to keep the Chiefs in the game. Through the first three weeks, Mahomes’ success was mostly the product of Andy Reid’s inventive scheme and the Chiefs’ deep stable of weapons. Not tonight. The Broncos did a good job of taking those weapons away, and Mahomes proved his improvisation skills aren’t a bad Plan B. According to the ESPN broadcast, he set an NF L record for passing yards from outside of the pocket. Mahomes is far from a finished product. He’s not overly accurate. He’ll miss a read here and there. But with that arm and imagination, he is capable of making plays out of nothing. Not just plays … big plays. With a quarterback like Mahomes behind center, the defense can do everything right and still get beat. Denver learned that on Monday night.