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Adam Teicher, ESPN writer
KANSAS CITY, Missouri — A priority for the bosses during the offseason is to increase the number of big passing plays.
They signed a fast wide receiver, brown marquiseand wrote another, Xavier Worthy, in the first round. Attack player Patrick Mahomes He said coach Andy Reid is encouraging him to push the ball downfield more often.
“If I don’t, he throws little jabs at me like, ‘Oh, you want to throw the check here?'” Mahomes said as the Chiefs wrapped up their offseason practices. “I’m like, ‘Gotcha.’ “Coach, let’s try hard.” It’s been fun.”
Mahomes has always seemed unaffected when he throws an interception or gets fooled by defensive coverage on a particular play. But Mahomes said he’s better now than ever at putting negative plays behind him.
“I think this is probably the most comfortable I’ve ever felt being able to not let anything get to me,” he said. “When you go up against (Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo in practice), you’re not going to feel comfortable.” be right 100% of the time and there have been times where I’ve lost on blitzes and Spags puts pressure on me with the new pressure he’s working on and I think it’s just being able to get the ball out of my hand, get it to “The check down.” or wherever it is and then live to play another play.”
The Chiefs have the ceremony to receive their Super Bowl LVIII championship rings scheduled for Thursday night. Mahomes said the ceremony, which the Chiefs held at the same time in the offseason last year for their Super Bowl LVII title, serves as the official end of the 2023 season.
Once the Chiefs hit training camp next month, he said, everything will be focused on 2024 and trying to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive championships in the Super Bowl era.
“You have to come in knowing that we’re going to get the best shot ever,” he said. “We know that, but at the same time, I think we were a young team last year and we grew as the season continued and I think this year you have to learn from the mistakes you made last year.
“It’s a whole new season. I’ve dealt with it a couple of times and we know it’s going to be every week, it’s going to be a great week. We started with some great opponents at the beginning of the season.”