Quote:
Originally Posted by prhom
It’s funny because it always seemed like people here would argue that guys who appeared to be open on the all-22 weren’t really open at all and Smith made the right choice by checking down or scrambling. Well, now it’s like Mahomes is hitting anybody that looks even remotely open. It’s really a thing of beauty.
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In fairness, there's 'Smith open' and 'Mahomes open'.
Mahomes can rifle a ball into spaces that Smith just can't. The TD to Kelce is an obvious example, as was the TD to Robinson. Smith woulud've been an idiot to try either of those throws because his arm simply wouldn't allow him to execute them.
And that's more of a reflection of Mahomes than Smith. Smith has an average NFL arm; maybe a tick below but not egregiously so. Mahomes just has a damn howitzer.
I still wonder what the order of progressions was for Smith v. Mahomes. Mecca's right - Andy often sent guys downfield with Smith under center. I always assumed the reads were such that when you see an open player in your progression, you hit him (or the timing falls to hell). So when he'd hit that 7 yard cross instead of taking it downfield, it seemed to me like it was a feature of the offense - that's where he was supposed to look first and if it's there, take it.
But when you watch Mahomes, it seems the progressions are reversed and he looks outside to in. Smith's doing the same thing in Washington he did here, meanwhile Mahomes looks like he's playing a different sport. Hard to say that it wasn't on Smith rather than Reid at this point.