Kansas City plays at Denver this week, and there may be some thinking about sitting down Patrick Mahomes. Unlikely, but possible, with Denver currently having one of the league's best defenses, currently ranked in the top 3 in both yards and points allowed.
I won't be one of them. Mahomes has been awesome, of course, averaging 317 passing yards and 2.7 touchdowns per game. He's fared well against the strong opposing defenses he's faced this year.
Kansas City has played five games this season against defenses ranked in the top 12 in either yards or points allowed (or both). Mahomes has done fine in those games.
| MAHOMES VS. TOP DEFENSES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Pass | Run | TD |
| at T.B. | 249 | 34 | 3 |
| Buff. | 338 | 21 | 2 |
| at S.F. | 423 | 0 | 3 |
| Tenn. | 446 | 63 | 2 |
| at Cin. | 223 | 9 | 2 |
Aside from that, how good is Denver's defense, actually? It's not getting late stops in close games, that's for sure. The league's worst offense is the biggest problem -- no question. But four of the last seven losses have seen the defense unable to protect a late lead, with Derek Carr and most recently Terrell Huntley driving the field in two of the last three weeks to turn last-minute deficits into wins.
The vast majority of the Broncos games have come against quarterbacks a level or three below Mahomes. The best of those passers: Derek Carr (twice) and Justin Herbert.
The other nine quarterbacks Denver has faced this season: Geno Smith, Davis Mills, Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Ryan, Zach Wilson, Trevor Lawrence, Ryan Tannehill, Sam Darnold and Tyler Huntley. Three of those guys have been benched this season, and two are backups.
The Denver defense is very good. The coordinator should be coaching the entire team, it couldn't be worse than with Nathaniel Hackett.
But is it good enough to slow down Mahomes? I doubt it.
--Andy Richardson