Patrick Mahomes Discusses Xavier Worthy's Breakout Debut: 'He's So Cool, Calm and Collected'

After a win that came down to the final seconds, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes explained what made rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy special in his NFL debut.

Sep 5, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) and wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) talk with reporter Melissa Stark after defeating the Baltimore Ravens at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

With an extra few seconds or a slightly smaller shoe size, the Baltimore Ravens may have had a chance to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night as the AFC rivals kicked off the 2024 NFL season. Instead, the Chiefs held on for a thrilling 27-20 win to start their three-peat campaign 1-0.

No individual player stood out more on the national stage than rookie first-round wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who scored a pair of touchdowns in his first night of NFL action — with his first coming on his very first touch.

X GON' GIVE IT TO YA‼️ pic.twitter.com/SPBbzNpJu6

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 6, 2024

After the win, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked about Worthy's debut performance and what made the rookie ready to contribute in his first game of NFL action.

"I mean, he's so cool, calm and collected all the time," Mahomes said. "You would never even see the excitement on him, but he goes out there and makes plays. Obviously, we want to continue to use him more and more, but I thought he had a great day today making big plays in big moments, and it was good to get the whole offense going and kind of seeing where everybody's at."

Worthy's first touchdown came on the ground. His second arrived through the air. Mahomes discussed what happened on the passing touchdown to Worthy with an apparent coverage bust from Baltimore giving Mahomes and Worthy a pitch-and-catch score.

"You could see, it was a bust in coverage," Mahomes said. "From where the corner was playing, I looked out there and I saw how he was playing him, and I was like, 'I think he's playing Cover-2, but the safety's not there,' and so I was going to alert the 'go' anyway, just a one-on-one matchup, and the moment he played Cover-2, I think everybody else played Cover-2 too, and there wasn't a safety there, so I just fired it to him and he scored a touchdown. So, definitely a bust in coverage, but that happens early in the year and I just had to take advantage of it."

In light of the number of times Mahomes and Chiefs pass catchers will adjust a play on the fly, Mahomes was asked if Worthy's "go" route was his designed role on the play.

"That's definitely the route he's supposed to run, he was gonna run a 'go' route, I was gonna probably go there anyway if it was man, just because I was gonna try the matchup, it was off-coverage man, he could get a good release, but it wasn't, so he was just running wide open."

TOUCHDOWN NUMBER 2 FOR 1‼️ pic.twitter.com/f6RohvdXNi

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 6, 2024

Aside from his touchdowns, Mahomes was asked if and how Worthy impacted the game even when he didn't get the football.

"Oh, 100%," Mahomes began. "I mean, just having him out there, it just opens up stuff. You saw when he's out there, they're playing shell coverages, it's getting guys like [Travis Kelce] and it's getting guys like Rashee [Rice] open underneath, and that's what's so great about this offense, is we're able to do all of that. And that's when we're at our best, and so like I said, we get 'Hollywood' [Brown] out there too, it's gonna be tough for defenses to decide who they want to cover."

Read More: Three Takeaways from the Chiefs' Win Over the Ravens