Raiders get chance to stop ‘Houdini of our era’ in Patrick Mahomes

The hard part is that you don’t know when the hard part will arrive. It might be the game’s first play. It might be its last. It might be three or four times somewhere in the middle.

You know this when preparing for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. That no matter how much film you watch, how many diagrams you draw, how many walk-throughs you execute, the unknown can get you at any moment.

He’s the unknown. He’s the problem.

Mahomes and the Chiefs host the Raiders on “Monday Night Football” at Arrowhead Stadium, the Kansas City star looking to continue his dominance over the visitors. He dominates lots of folks.

It can be a frustrating riddle to solve. No amount of study can cover all the tricks Mahomes might produce. No amount of defensive discipline can assure you of stopping him.

“He’s special,” said Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, whose 1-3 team will attempt to win its second straight AFC West game. “He’s going to make plays. It’s not a mystery. There are going to be some things he does in the course of a game … You’re not going to stop this guy from doing some really good things for his team. That’s just the nature of the kind of player he is.”

Mahomes is 7-1 as a starter against the Raiders, the only blemish a 40-32 loss in Kansas City in the 2020 season. Derek Carr was terrific at quarterback that day for the Raiders; Mahomes still threw for 340 yards and two scores.

His career numbers against the Raiders via ESPN: 2,546 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, three interceptions.

The Chiefs have averaged nearly 38 points in those games.

Enough said.

The opponent

Duron Harmon has played against Mahomes three times as a member of the Patriots. Harmon is now a safety for the Raiders and knows well the sort of frustration that can be created by trying to slow Mahomes.

“(Big plays) can happen at any time,” Harmon said. “He’s just different. If your job (defensively) is to stay deep, stay deep. If your job is man-to-man, then play man.”

In other words, you pay for deviating.

Harmon also gives credit elsewhere, calling Chiefs coach Andy Reid the best offensive coordinator in football. That no matter how good Mahomes and his skilled teammates are, it’s Reid who drives the bus into the end zone so often.

But the co-pilot makes the plays that are called.

And others that aren’t.

“It’s a challenge,” Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs said of defending Mahomes. “But that’s the job we signed up for. When you step on that field, you have to know who you’re facing and that he’s capable of busting something you can’t script at any time.

“He can make the intermediate throw, a rope of a deep ball, a 70-yard bomb on the run. There’s no throw he can’t make. You have to be attentive at all times.”

Oh, yeah. And don’t poke the bear.

It was before last season’s game in Kansas City when the Raiders congregated at midfield, kickoff minutes away, and had a grand old time stomping up and down on the home-field logo.

They then played one of the worst halves in franchise history.

It was 35-3 at intermission.

It was 48-9 at game’s end.

Kansas City barbecue.

Mahomes is said to have remembered this past week such a pregame move (mistake) by the Raiders.

Not that he would offer any bulletin board material of his own.

“Both teams are going to play their best football,” Mahomes said. “We know it’s a true rivalry. Doesn’t matter what the records are. It’s going to be a dogfight. They don’t have the best record, but they’ve been in every game or leading at certain points.

“We understand it’s going to be a great challenge for us, and we want to go out there and find a way to win.”

Are there any lasting memories for the Raiders of that midfield stomping session?

“No comment,” a smiling edge rusher Maxx Crosby said. “No comment.”

The comparisons

It has been viewed this way since Mahomes’ college days at Texas Tech: Fran Tarkenton was Mahomes before Mahomes.

The Hall of Famer in Tarkenton had the same ability to scramble away from trouble, to complete balls on the run that others couldn’t, to evade the biggest and fastest of defensive players.

He was the unknown for most of the 1960s and 1970s. He was the problem for others.

But it’s also true Mahomes seemingly has some — stay with us here — Tom Brady in him.

While just being a whole lot more athletic.

There are few more impressive traits of Brady than his ability to make others better. To take whatever wide receivers his team might employ at the moment and have them produce at a high level.

The Chiefs traded star wideout Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins in March, taking from Mahomes his most trusted and reliable outside weapon.

And yet it hasn’t seemed to phase Mahomes.

Kansas City is 3-1, and its quarterback has a passer rating of 108.4 while throwing for 1,106 yards and 11 touchdowns to two interceptions. He has targeted 11 teammates. Has thrown scores to six players.

More important: Mahomes, in his sixth season, seems to be maturing as a passer. He has chosen the underneath routes more this season, trusting that by moving the chains and forcing defenses to adjust, those deep shots will eventually materialize.

“(Mahomes) is getting more comfortable, he’s getting older, he’s getting wiser,” Harmon said. “When it’s a drop-back, he knows where he wants to go with the football and is doing a good job getting it out quickly. You can just tell. He’s a quarterback who is continuing to grow.”

The play

It should have culminated in a tackle for loss. Or an incompletion. Whatever you would surmise from your average mortal quarterback. But not from a magician of one.

The Chiefs defeated Tampa Bay 41-31 last Sunday, and it was during the victory when Mahomes again defined all logic of what his position entails.

He made the improbable possible.

Kansas City led 14-3 early in the second quarter when Mahomes was forced to scramble on second down from the Buccaneers 2.

He would travel nearly 40 yards in distance before being met by linebacker Devin White. Mahomes was neither brought down nor threw the ball away.

Instead, he executed a 360-spin to avoid White before flicking the ball toward running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the back of the end zone as Mahomes was tackled while falling out of bounds.

Touchdown.

Magic.

“The NFL hasn’t seen anything like Pat Mahomes, I promise you that,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said afterward. “He’s the Houdini of our era, man. The guy just finds ways to make plays throughout the game. I mean, big-time third downs, big-time goal-line plays. Just willing our team into the end zone and willing our team to win.”

Harry Houdini was a Hungarian American escape artist, magic man and stunt performer. Kelce is right. Mahomes is all of that in cleats. He executes jump passes like Steph Curry does jump shots.

Mahomes’ high-wires acts across 100 yards have become so commonplace, they’re now more expected than astonishing. It’s as if he is — dare it be said? — underrated by some as a player.

“As I told our guys, just don’t take it for granted,” Reid said. “They’re special, some of the things we’re seeing. Appreciate them. But it’s unique. Enjoy every one of them. Some of the things he does have made history and will continue to do so.

“The best thing about him is he’s always trying to get better. He’s not sitting there patting himself on the back.”

Pretty hard to sit while pulling off 360 spins.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.