The Early Years Tournament: Round 3, Heat 4. The Sweet Sixteen

[Rain Man]

Which feeling do you pick? Going downstairs on Christmas morning to see a fantastic group of presents under the tree? Or the moment of opening up one of the beautiful presents and realizing that it's something you always wanted?


2017 - Week 17 - W 27-24 over DEN
https://www.pro-football-reference.c...1712310den.htm
Chiefs 9-6 / Broncos 5-10

The Debut. The playoff-bound Chiefs let the backups play, which included putting our rookie Patrick Mahomes II up against the broncos' franchise quarterback Paxton Lynch. You get to see Mahomes' first NFL completion, a great throw to Demetrius Harris for a 51 yard gain on 3rd and 10. His first touchdown drive of roughly 86 yards took 57 seconds, and that was a sign. Mahomes and the Chiefs positioned us for the win with a comfortable 14-point lead, but then Tyler Bray came in and had a bad day. Bray fumbled a handoff that resulted in a broncos touchdown, and then stalled on the next drive and suddenly we had a tie game. So Andy brought Mahomes back in to lead the winning drive and position Harrison Butker to kick the winning field goal as time expired. The leading yardage guy was Albert Wilson, whose 147 yards made him a millionaire. Mahomes threw for 284 yards in his first appearance, and the Chiefs defense pitched in with two interceptions and five sacks, including a Chris Jones sack and strip that Ramik Wilson returned for a touchdown.




2018 - Week 3 - W 38-27 over SFO
https://www.pro-football-reference.c...1809230kan.htm
Chiefs 2-0 / 49ers 1-1

"Are you kidding me?" Of course, this game is famous for The Great Escape play, convincing legions of Chiefs fans that the first two games of Mahomes greatness was not a fluke as Mahomes juked and outran a free pass rusher and then hit Chris Conley on the move for a touchdown. It's definitely one of the top ten Mahomes plays of all time, given the impact on the Chiefs world. But it wasn't the only great play in this game. Watch Sherman power forward at the 0:45 mark. In his first few games, Mahomes used Sherman several times to great success. He was also hitting an all-star receiving corps, and the elevation of Tyreek Hill deep at the 3:50 mark is a sight to behold, and it set up The Great Escape play immediately afterwards. We also have a fantastic one-handed grab by Kelce at 5:15. I didn't remember that we were destroying the 49ers 35-10 at halftime, and then let them close the gap a little in the second half. Defensively, you might remember this game because Garoppolo decided to cut back inside on a 4th-quarter sideline run and Steven Nelson ended his season with a nice clean hit. Statswise, Mahomes ended up with 315 passing yards and 3 TDs with 0 int, and our leading yardage guy was Kelce with 114. We also had four sacks, led by Justin Houston with 2.

[Rain Man]

The Denver game was great because it was our first glimpse of the Mahomes era, and he looked very promising. But I have to go with San Francisco, because that's when we knew that the tectonic plates of the NFL had suddenly shifted.