Monday’s Hot Clicks: Patrick Mahomes Has Been Making Circus Throws Since High School
Patrick Mahomes is just a wizard
Peter Aiken/Getty Images
Chiefs first-year starter Patrick Mahomes submitted an early contender for touchdown pass of the year yesterday. Not only did he run 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage to avoid the rush, he fired a wrong-footed sidearm strike on the run right into Chris Conley’s bread basket.
It was a jaw-dropping play, but I have a feeling Mahomes’s high school teammates weren’t too surprised. Before Sunday’s game, Mahomes’s high school coach sent The MMQB’s Robert Klemko a highlight of a then-16-year-old Mahomes making a very similar play.
Mahomes, the son of a former MLB pitcher, credits his ability to make improvisational throws like that to his baseball background.
“It definitely started with baseball,” Mahomes told The MMQB’s Albert Breer earlier this season. “In baseball, you have to throw it sidearm sometimes. I played shortstop my entire life, you have to throw it with your body not in the right position and still be accurate to get people out. That’s definitely where it started. And then I got to college with Coach [Kliff] Kingsbury and the other quarterback, Nic Shimonek, we used to always mess around with the sidearm stuff, throwing from different platforms.”
What a scene
Do you think people still care about Tiger Woods? Tiger won the Tour Championship yesterday in Atlanta, his first tournament victory in more than five years, but it looked more like a religious pilgrimage. The sight of the massive throng of fans following Tiger up to the 18th green is one of the best sports moments of the year.
Calls like this are going to be the talk of the season
The one thing all NFL fans can get behind is that the new “body weight” rule for roughing the passer is a total disaster. Clay Matthews was the latest victim, after getting screwed by another crazy penalty last week, but you can see it make a major impact in plenty of games every Sunday.
“Unfortunately this league’s going in a direction I think a lot of people don’t like. I think they’re getting soft,” Matthews said after the game. “The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me who play the game hard.”
Bits & Pieces
The Coyotes are wearing their classic 90s jerseys as an alternate this season and goalie Antti Raanta has the sweet pads to match. ... This was a really interesting story about a baseball team that plays half its games in Mexico and half in Texas. ... Josh Allen’s touchdown run was the 13th-fastest run by any player this week. ... Some scientists ran an experiment where they gave MDMA to octopuses. ... At least RZA is a fan of Maroon 5 playing the Super Bowl halftime show.
I bet the Vikings wish the Bills actually did end up somewher near Madison
Tom Brady-induced schadenfreude is the purest emotion
The only good rule change the NFL made recently was allowing group celebrations
So Bartolo Colon has some kind of Renaissance painting on his arm now
The band must have sounded like someone playing music on their phone
Kevin Durant just started following Russell Westbrook on Instagram
At the 15-yard line, no less!
Quite possibly the goal of the season
Pure robbery
Those are some pretty solid mechanics
This was the funniest highlight of the weekend
Not everyone hates the umps
Not bad for a guy who eats garbage
Easily the best way for a fight to end
A good song
Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
