KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes was rolling to his right in the first half of the Kansas City Chiefs' preseason game against the Detroit Lions on Saturday when he realized that Travis Kelce had run the wrong route. So, Mahomes threw to his trusty tight end out of spite anyway — by throwing it to him behind his back.
The audacious throw was the highlight of an otherwise forgettable preseason game in which Mahomes threw for 93 yards in two tidy series of work, but the Lions rallied to win 24-23 on Jake Bates' 43-yard field goal with no time remaining. "I always told you it had to happen naturally," said Mahomes, who has fooled around with behind-the-back passes in practice but had never tried it in a game. "I knew it was on target.
It was just low. But like I said, it wasn't like — I didn't do it to look cool. I did it because I was like, pissed off (at Kelce), like why did you run that route like that? And it just worked out.
" Mahomes was 8 of 14 through the air while leading the Chiefs to a pair of field goals against the Lions' backup defense. He also led Kansas City to a field goal in his only series in its preseason opener against the Jaguars last week. But none of that will be remembered like his behind-the-back pass to Kelce, when Detroit defensive lineman Josh Paschal was beginning to bear down on him.
Kelce reached down and snagged the pass, and the completion on third-and-3 at the Detroit 33 was good for a first down and helped to set up an eventual field goa.