Without Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes’ world as a starting quarterback consisted of one game, a meeting with the Pittsburgh Steelers late in the 2021 season while Kelce was recovering from COVID-19.
Mahomes tossed three touchdown passes as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Cleveland Browns 36-10. However, Mahomes can’t extrapolate much from that game to his present circumstances. Tyreek Hill was with the Chiefs at the time. Byron Pringle was their top receiver that day.
Neither of the guys is still on the squad. So Mahomes and the Chiefs are ready to go on an adventure against the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). Kelce will miss the game due to a knee injury sustained during the week’s practise.
Skyy Moore, a wide receiver who would be required to help make up for Kelce’s absence, was unsure what the offence would look like without their longstanding tight end.
“It’ll be a little bit different,” Moore stated. “No one will be able to fill in the gaps.” Obviously, that’s a Hall of Fame tight end, but we’ll do our job and cross the finish line.”
Without Kelce, Mahomes had a strong statistical game against the Steelers in 2021, but several of his important metrics have gone down throughout his career on plays when Kelce hasn’t been on the field.
Mahomes’ lifetime QBR with Kelce in the game is 79, compared to 65 without him. His average yards per attempt with Kelce is 8.2 and 7.2 without. His throws had an average air yardage of 8.0 with Kelce and 6.1 without.
Andy Reid’s preferred multiple tight end formations have been heavily used by the Chiefs. Last season, they were third in the league in terms of the number of plays involving two or more tight ends on the field.
The Chiefs would still be able to use many tight ends on a regular basis. They have two more tight ends on their current roster, Noah Grey and Blake Bell. They also have two players on their practise squad who might be promoted to the main roster in time for the Lions encounter.
However, in the absence of Kelce, their strength seems to be in a deep wide receivers group that comprises seven players, including Kadarius Toney, who just returned to practise after tearing a meniscus on the first day of training camp.
Throughout his career, Mahomes has been able to adjust to a rotating cast of skill players. In Mahomes’ first season as a starter in 2018, Kareem Hunt was the starting running back, while Hill and Sammy Watkins were the primary wide outs.
All of them have left, and Mahomes has thrived. Mahomes earned his second MVP award last season, his first without Hill.
Kelce has been his lone constant. Mahomes is facing his most difficult adjustment yet without him.
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