Mahomes' decision on 3rd and 3

[CJD]

I don't want to belabor a point too much when we already won the game, but one thing I've seen from a LOT of KC fans in the aftermath of the game is the sentiment that Patrick Mahomes essentially threw the game because he didn't take the "easy first down" on that final 3rd and 3 play.

The easy first down they are referring to is, they claim, the RB McKinnon was wide open and Mahomes either didn't see him, which they say is his fault for not knowing the play call well enough, or he chose not to throw to him because he was going for the deep ball.

I didn't remember seeing any wide open player on that play in real time, but I felt bad that their QB missed such a wide open receiver that could have led to them winning. It made me feel like our win wasn't as "deserved" or something. So I went back and watched the highlights of the game, specifically for that play and, well...


https://youtu.be/Yp8zR0CqgKM?t=677

From what I can tell, it's a delayed flat route in case he is needed as a blocker. He comes out of the backfield but, before he is able to get his head around, Mahomes is already being chased by Ossai. You can see in the snapshots in this album that, in the moment that the RB has his head turned around and is ready to receive the ball, Mahomes has already broken down to evade the rusher. And, to my eye, there is never a time when he would reasonably be able to throw the ball to the RB because he's either dodging Ossai, running from Ossai or the RB is behind players that Mahomes wouldn't really be able to get him the ball.


RB is not yet out into his route


RB is beginning his route, but his head is not turned around and the DE is already causing Mahomes to move. If Mahomes attempts to lob it over the top here, there are two Bengals defenders waiting.


The RB could be open to an over the head pass, but Mahomes is in full evasion mode at this point.


This is the only frame that Mahomes may have been able to throw the ball, but he's already tucked the ball to evade the DE.

I've seen this take by KC fans on Reddit, on their forums and even on our pages, like Cincyjungle comments. I'm not sure how they all uniformly came to the same conclusion that this was a major miss by Mahomes. It looks to me like there was never any reasonable window for him to do it.

Maybe they're just used to Mahomes making unreasonable plays? haha I don't know. Am I seeing this wrong? Did Mahomes make a bad play? Or did Ossai just make a great (and timely) play?