People are Making Excuses for Mahomes That They Never Did for Brady
Patrick Mahome and the Kansas City Chiefs had a disappointing start to the season on Thursday night, and if you watched the game you might have caught a subtle hint or two that someone key in that offense wasn’t play. I think Chris Collinsworth only mentioned about 75 times that Travis Kelce was out. And did you know, Mahomes was throwing to a pretty underwhelming group of receivers?
Hearing those excuses is so frustrating for Patriots fans. Don’t get me wrong, Mahomes played great with what he had to work with. But can you imagine if the media had ever given Tom Brady so much credit? Heck, there have even been people on Twitter making the direct comparison, saying Brady never had a supporting cast as bad as Mahomes did last night.
Other than outing themselves as new football fans, they’re also just being outright ridiculous. Did Brady have great receivers at times? Of course. But ask any Patriots fans about some of the bad times. Ask them about Aaron Dobson. Ask them about Kenbrell Thompkins.
Missing Kelce? Yes, that’s difficult. Gronk only played one full 16-game season in nine years with the Pats. Team not bringing in talented wide receivers? Julian Edelman missed 7 games in 2015 and and Brady threw for 4,700 yards plus a league-leading 36 touchdowns with Danny Amendola, Brandon LaFell and Keshawn Martin as his three leading wide receivers.
Heck, how much of the “Brady’s supporting cast wasn’t that bad” conversation comes from how much success and fame he brought his receivers? If Danny Amendola never plays with Brady, how different is his reputation? Even Julian Edelman, who was great and I absolutely love, probably wasn’t as productive as non-Pats fans would have assumed. He only ever had three 1,000-yard seasons. It’s not like he was doing Tyreek Hill-level lifting in that offense.
This isn’t to say that Mahomes deserves criticism, either. If anyone can appreciate that great quarterbacks deserve to be recognized, it’s Patriots fans. We know full well how ridiculous people send when they try to detract from clear greatness.
Is it too early to project Mahomes as the future GOAT? Sure. But he’s done something truly special and incredible so far in his career. His greatness doesn’t take away from Tom Brady’s greatness any more than Brady’s greatness took away from Joe Montana’s greatness as the quarterback GOAT before him.
So I’m not sitting here trying to tell you “Mahomes’ weapons aren’t all that bad, get over it,” but rather pointing out the serious double-standard going on. Give it a few years, though.
If Mahomes keeps being this great, people will get tired of him just like they did with Brady. They’ll switch from making excuses for him to finding any reason they can to detract from him.
And Chiefs fans, when that happens, Patriots fans will be here for you. We might hit you with a few “See!? Now apologize for what you said about Brady,” demands first, but once you do that we’ll be happy to commiserate.