Patrick Mahomes 2024 Interception Review

A Complete Breakdown of All 2024 Interceptions by the Chiefs’ Star QB

There is so much discourse around every quarterback in the NFL about the interceptions they throw and whether or not they are the quarterback's fault or not. For each one you will see arguments for both sides (based mostly on what fanbase the arguer is a part of). I’m going to subjectively look at every interception Partick Mahomes threw in 2024, playoffs included, and rate them on a scale of 0-3 to see how much he is to blame for his interceptions. Here is my scoring system:

0 - not his fault at all

1 - mostly Wide Receiver or blocking, a little him

2 - mostly him, a little WR or blocking

3 - completely his fault

Week 1 vs Baltimore Ravens - 2

This one was a simple example of Patrick trying to do more than he needed to. He wanted to get the ball over the lurking linebacker but got hit as he was throwing it, causing the throw to be too short. This one gets a 2 because he really should have checked it down to the wide open Pacheco in the flat but there was some pressure in his face from the interior defensive line.

Week 2 vs Cincinnati Bengals - 3

I struggle giving this one a 3 because Mahomes really did nothing wrong here, it was more so a great play by the dropping linebacker. This is a 3 because Mahomes didn't see the linebacker reading his eyes and he did have Pacheco open in the flat again. Blocking was great as well.

2nd Interception vs Cincinnati Bengals - 1

Another great play by a Cincinnati defensive player on this one. This is one where if this exact play happened 100 times, there would be an interception on maybe five of them. I can’t blame Mahomes too much on this one. He has the fastest receiver in the history of the NFL combine on the outside, and it was 2nd and 14 so I understand taking a shot. However, Pat does get a little blame here because Worthy was completely smothered and really had no chance of catching this pass.

Week 3 vs Atlanta Falcons - 3

This one is pretty inexcusable. Noah Grey is running a corner route against a safety. Not a bad decision, however the timing and throw were awful here. Patrick’s throw looked more like a punt and threw it before Grey made his final cut, giving the safety plenty of time to track the ball. If you’re going to throw this ball you need to rip it, after he makes his break. Plus, if you know you're playing against one of the best ballhawking safeties in the league in Justin Simmons, you should know you can’t throw this ball.

Week 4 vs Los Angeles Chargers - 3

This is also a tough one, as it was a very, very poor decision. The play is designed to have Rashee Rice running a decoy route (where he’s not designed to get the ball clearly), Xavier Worthy running a clearout (and is not designed to get the ball either) to free up the only read on the play, Kelce, to get the ball. A common play design that offenses run. However, in these scenarios quarterbacks have two decisions they can make. One is that the play works and the player is open so you throw the ball. The second is he is covered so you just throw it away and live to fight another down. Patrick decided, however — despite there being four guys around Travis because the play did not work how it was drawn up — that he would throw it anyways, and to nobody’s surprise, it got intercepted. Easiest 3 so far.

Week 5 vs New Orleans Saints - 0

Ugh. This one is an obvious 0, not on Pat at all. Perfect pass to an open receiver in the endzone, who drops it, the ball flies into the air right into a defensive lineman’s hands. Entirely on the receiver, nothing on Mahomes.

Week 7 vs San Francisco 49ers - 0

The second obvious 0 in a row here he had the receiver open on the dig route on the top of the screen, he let it rip, it just so happened to get batted at the line of scrimmage and land right in a defensive lineman’s hands. Nothing he did wrong here.

2nd Interception vs San Francisco 49ers - 0

Patrick again did nothing wrong on this one. The 49ers ran a man blitz, Mahomes had the running back in to help pick it up, so he decided to take the shot on a corner route vs man coverage, not a bad decision at all. The intended receiver fell down in his route which led to an easy interception for the corner.

Week 8 vs Las Vegas Raiders - 1

It's a little tough to grade this one since I only have the TV copy, however we can still easily see that the ball was again batted at the line of scrimmage which ultimately led to the interception. So why is this graded as a 1 when the last similar circumstance was a 0? It's because had the ball not been batted at the line, I still believe there's a great chance it could have been an interception. Mahomes threw the ball to Kelce who was running a go down the middle of the field, but the defense was running a Tampa 2 coverage. This means that, as you can see in this clip, the middle linebacker was dropping deep, to cover that exact kind of route. Best case scenario (had the ball not been tipped at the line), would have been an incompletion, but likely could have been more.

Week 11 vs Buffalo Bills - 2

This is a simple case of trying to do too much, which is why this play earns a two. If this were 3rd down or 4th down I would be more lenient because you need to make a play to keep the drive going. But on 2nd and 3, less than a minute into the game, you don't need to be the hero. Maybe this play could have actually been successful had Noah Grey jumped more than four inches off the turf, but the point stands, not a good decision, especially with Travis and Juju open as well.

2nd Interception vs Buffalo Bills - 1

Down, distance and time matter with this play as well. When its 4th and 13, down nine, with a minute left in the 4th quarter, you have to press your luck to make a play. That's what Pat was doing here. In most cases I would give this a 0, but Mahomes gets a 1 because the Bills were rushing just 3, and he scrambled outside of the pocket unnecessarily, which led to him having to make the throw earlier than he wanted to.

1st Super Bowl Interception vs Philadelphia Eagles - 3

One of the cardinal sins of playing QB is throwing the ball across your body, especially into zone coverage. And that's exactly what Mahomes does here. The Eagles defensive back read Mahomes like a book and he was throwing it to a covered receiver anyways.

2nd Super Bowl Interception vs Philadelphia Eagles - 1

This one gets 1 because as he was throwing the ball he got his arm hit by the edge defender pushing the pocket, which ultimately led to the ball falling short and into the arms of the lurking linebacker. It is a little Mahomes’ fault as he should have felt that pressure and escaped out to his right to try and make a play instead of throwing into pressure.

So the final scorecard is:

Three 0’s
Four 1’s
Two 2’s
Four 3’s

That gives Patrick Mahomes a final average interception score of 1.5.

If you want me to do any more interception reviews let me know in the comments!

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