Along with making football more fun to watch, Patrick Mahomes has brought more attention to star quarterbacks of previous generations.
The late Otto Graham, for example.
Mahomes on Sunday ed the former Cleveland Browns Hall of Famer as the only starting QB other than Tom Brady to reach six consecutive conference championship games in the NFL.
Graham’s journey, come to find, was one Mahomes could appreciate. Like Mahomes, Graham had a multi-sport background and thrived under a brilliant coach who saw potential in him that other experts may not have seen.
Graham planned to concentrate on basketball at Northwestern. According to his Pro Football Hall of Fame bio, he was “discovered” playing intramural football as a freshman.
Browns head coach Paul Brown envisioned Graham for his T-formation even though Graham had no experience in the offense.
“Otto has the basic requirements of a T-quarterback — poise, ball-handling and distinct qualities of leadership,” said Brown, whose Ohio State team had lost to Graham and Northwestern in 1941.
The coach was right. With Graham at the controls, the Browns won four straight All-America Football Conference titles and compiled a 52-4-3 record.
Still, per the Hall of Fame, pro football experts theorized Graham and the Browns would get their comeuppance once they faced the NFL in 1950.
But the Browns won the 1950 NFL Championship Game behind Graham’s four touchdown es against the Los Angeles Rams.
Not only a prolific er, the 6-foot-1, 196-pounder ran for 33 touchdowns in his six-year NFL career. The 71-game run produced a .809 winning percentage and three NFL titles.
Mahomes played several sports well, including baseball. The son of former MLB pitcher Pat Mahomes, he has said that learning how to throw from different angles as a shortstop diversified his playmaking at quarterback.
For all of Mahomes’ success at Texas Tech, many NFL experts doubted him. The -happy “Air Raid” offense Mahomes directed wasn’t viewed by some NFL coaches and scouts as ideal for NFL development. Poor defenses in the Big 12 conference and reckless plays by Mahomes influenced the evaluation although Tech’s defensive struggles forced Mahomes to take on more risk.
Chief coach Andy Reid wasn’t put off.
He so believed in Mahomes that the Chiefs traded three draft picks to select him 10th in the 2017 draft, despite having a capable starter in San Diego’s Alex Smith.
Sounding off
The Ravens are slightly better than the Chiefs. I expect them to win Sunday, sending Lamar Jackson to his first Super Bowl.
• Cautionary note: With Mahomes, the Chiefs are 9-1-1 against the spread as an underdog.
• Running their 2-minute offense Saturday against the 49ers, the Packers should’ve run their offense through running back Aaron Jones. One, he’s a good receiver who’s their most NFL-experienced -catcher, by far. Two, the shorter es would’ve steadied young QB Jordan Love and opened things downfield for others.
• Dalton Kincaid did the University of San Diego proud. After catching 73 es in the regular season and a touchdown in his first NFL playoff game, the Bills’ rookie tight end played well against the Chiefs. He caught all five targets from Josh Allen, gaining 45 yards. Twice, the former two-year star at USD prevented the Chiefs from recovering a fumble.
• A Ravens victory will advance USD alum Josh Johnson, the team’s No. 3 QB, to his first Super Bowl at age 37. A year ago, Johnson replaced injured 49ers starter Brock Purdy in the NFL title game, only to exit with a concussion.
• Too much has been made of Bills kicker Tyler Bass’ big miss Sunday. The 44-yard try, blown wide right, would’ve tied the game at 27. The Bills would’ve kicked off with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter. The Chiefs had two timeouts.
• Would you have bet against Mahomes leading a game-winning drive, culminating in a field goal by Harrison Butker?
• Josh Allen not throwing a short crossing to a wide-open Stefon Diggs was a mistake on second-and-9 from K.C.’s 26 two plays before Bass’ miss.
But: if not for Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones driving a blocker into him at the last moment, Allen’s throw to the end zone could’ve gone for a go-ahead touchdown. It was a seam . Allen often nails those, having hit Kincaid for a TD in the wild-card round. His target, Khalil Shakir, was open. He made big catches Sunday and in recent games.
• Because there’s always a San Diego connection… David Shaw, whom the Chargers interviewed for their coaching job last week, is the son of Willie Shaw, a graduate of Lincoln High School who was the secondary coach of the only San Diego team to reach the Super Bowl. Dale Lindsey, the linebackers coach on those 1994 Chargers, said Willie Shaw suggested an alignment change that served the defense well several times in the team’s win at Pittsburgh in the AFC championship.
• The “13 Seconds” game is still looming over the Bills. How rough was that playoff loss two years ago for Buffalo?
It was worse than any defeat by a San Diego sports team. Despite taking a three-point lead on Allen’s TD to WR Gabriel Davis with just 13 seconds left — Allen’s second TD off a seam in the fourth quarter — the Bills allowed the Chiefs to tie it.
Coach Sean McDermott chose to kick a touchback rather than boom a deep grounder, return of which would’ve scrubbed precious seconds off the clock. (No, Chiefs speedster Tyreek Hill wasn’t the returner.)
From there, the Bills unveiled a loose D the Chiefs exploited with two es, leading to Butker’s tying, 49-yard field goal. The defensive collapse was surprising for three reasons: the Bills led the NFL in defense that year; McDermott’s expertise as a NFL defensive coordinator got him the job; and coordinator Leslie Frazier was (and still is) a much-praised, veteran assistant coach.
Allen’s only mistake that night?
Saying “heads” instead of “tails” when the ref flipped the coin in overtime.
That’s how Mahomes got the ball. The drive he led culminated in a TD to Travis Kelce, securing the first of three consecutive divisional-round defeats for the Bills.
The Bills should remain Super Bowl contenders next season. But with Allen’s contract taking a bigger bite out of the team’s payroll, the road figures to only toughen. For Allen, 27, and McDermott, the AFC tandem of Reid and Mahomes, 28, has created a Super Bowl road block more formidable than a New York snowstorm.
