Arrowhead Pride on Patrick Mahomes
From the article
"You could even see the differences between Weeks 1 and 2. The Colts saw how committed we were to the run game and how well it worked. You could tell they were putting assets into stopping the run, so whenever you're doing the play fakes and linebackers are in the line of scrimmage, it opens up guys over the top of them."
STACKED’s take
Mahomes leveraging 35% play-action rate to exploit run-game respect; two of first three completions came on under-center
Mahomes is leveraging the Chiefs' dominant run game (220 rushing yards in Week 1, Kenneth Walker leading the league in yards and attempts through two games) to execute a balanced offensive strategy. The source notes that 35% of Kansas City's pass plays in Week 2 were play-action—the third-highest rate among all the team's games in 2025. Mahomes explained the strategic advantage: "It just puts the defenses in a predicament. Just knowing they have to kind of choose if they want to come up and stop the run or if they want to try and stop the explosive plays from happening." In the two games last year where the Chiefs ran play-action more than 35% of the time, Kansas City won convincingly (30-17 vs. Detroit, 22-9 vs. New York Giants). Mahomes noted that two of his first three completions in Week 2 came on under-center play-action, with both throws fired quickly to open targets because of the gravity of a potential handoff to Walker. The source credits Mahomes with executing this balance effectively: "I thought Coach Bieniemy and Coach Reid did a great job of calling the perfect play action, the perfect movement plays at the perfect time, so that I had guys open for me to throw."
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