Patrick Mahomes drops ultimatum on Reid over banned play

The Kansas City Chiefs let a seemingly comfortable lead slip away against the Denver Broncos in Week 8 of the NFL season.

Kansas City entered the fourth quarter with a 24-13 advantage but failed to hold on, ultimately falling 28-24. The Chiefs had multiple opportunities to put the game away while leading and even had one final offensive possession to complete a comeback after surrendering the lead.

Patrick Mahomes opens the door to using QB sneaks

One of the most criticized decisions by Andy Reid in recent years has been his reluctance to use the QB sneak, a short-yardage play that many NFL teams regularly rely on in goal-line situations.

The coach’s stance dates back to 2019 , when Patrick Mahomes suffered a right kneecap injury while attempting a similar play. While many believe that incident was an unfortunate and isolated situation, fans have continued to argue that the Chiefs should bring the play back into their offensive arsenal.

The debate resurfaced against Denver during a crucial third-and-goal situation from the 1-yard line. With an open gap between center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith, Kansas City chose to hand the ball off to running back Kenneth Walker III, who was stopped by the Broncos’ defense.

After the game, Mahomes made it clear that he has no issue taking that type of risk if it helps the team win.

“I’m going to do whatever it takes to win. Quarterback sneak, whatever it is, it’s not like I’m scared to put my body on the line. That’s how I’ve played. It’s gotten me in trouble sometimes, and sometimes it’s helped the team. That’s stuff we’ll continue to evaluate and work on to make ourselves better for future references,” Mahomes said.

The decision was also questioned by former NFL player J.J. Watt , who believes the Chiefs will eventually need to bring the play back into their offense.

“You’ve gotta use the quarterback sneak at some point if you’re the Kansas City Chiefs. That was absolutely a false start,” Watt said.

Mahomes unlikely to challenge Andy Reid

Despite his willingness to run a QB sneak , Mahomes is unlikely to go against Andy Reid’s game plan. The relationship between the quarterback and head coach is one of the strongest in the NFL, and Mahomes has consistently shown complete trust in his coach’s decisions.

While Reid could give Mahomes more freedom in certain situations, the QB sneak appears to remain a limited option due to the history of his 2019 knee injury .

The Chiefs quarterback explained that if he does decide to use the play, he needs to be certain it will be successful.

“If I do that, it better work. I understand people watch the film and see stuff and want you to go out there and make it happen. But the play call is what we call, and we want to execute that play. That’s stuff that we evaluate and learn from. We’ll try to be better the next few weeks. If I call my own number, it’s got to work,” Mahomes said.