Patrick Mahomes went on the road in the playoffs for the first time in his career and got the job done. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Buffalo Bills 27-24 on Sunday night with Mahomes throwing for 215 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Mahomes and the Chiefs are now in the AFC Championship Game for the sixth straight year. They’re now two shy of the New England Patriots’ streak of eight straight from 2011 to 2018, but is Mahomes already better than the legendary Tom Brady?
Danny Parkins of the Audacy original podcast “1st & Pod” explained why he thinks Mahomes is already better than Brady after the road win in Buffalo on Sunday night.
“Six straight AFC Championship Game appearances for Mahomes, Reid, and Kelce. Patrick Mahomes has never lost in the divisional round of the playoffs,” Parkins said (15:00 in player above). “It is beyond comprehension.”
“You probably don’t want to go down this path,” co-host Andrew Fillipponi said, “but I feel like you are tempted to say he’s already better than Brady.”
“You know me, man. I judge things more by eye test than your trophy case than basically everybody in the media,” Parkins said. “He is better than Brady. He is a better football player.”
“Hilarious,” Fillipponi interjected.
“He is a better quarterback. He is better at quarterbacking football games than any player in the history of the sport,’ Parkins continued. “Brady’s more accomplished. Brady’s won more. Brady has the best trophy case. But the best quarterback I’ve ever seen is Patrick Mahomes. He just is. Eye test. It is a pure eye-test argument. I don’t know what to tell you, man.”
There were some questions around Mahomes and the Chiefs entering these playoffs. Kansas City had an uncharacteristically rocky season, but the Chiefs have been able to flip a switch in the playoffs.
“Having the best completion percentage of his career when his receivers led the league in drops. If this is a down year for Mahomes, when he had nothing around him and Kelce was a corpse for 85% of the year, and he’s in the AFC Championship Game again,” Parkins concluded. “Yeah, he passed the test. This is a down year for him and he’s in the AFC Championship Game.”
Mahomes is still just 28 years old and already has two Super Bowl MVPs to his name – and one other Super Bowl appearance. He’s still a few behind the much more accomplished Brady, who has seven Super Bowl rings (five MVPs) with three losses in the big game.
The Chiefs will travel to Baltimore on Sunday to take on the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.