Did Patrick Mahomes Subtly Take a Shot at Chiefs Coach While Praising Colts’ Lou Anarumo?

Patrick Mahomes praised former Bengals and current Colts DC Lou Anarumo for always fielding great defense against the Chiefs.

Did Patrick Mahomes Subtly Take a Shot at Chiefs Coach While Praising Colts’ Lou Anarumo?

Patrick Mahomes (Image via IMAGO)

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While the Kansas City Chiefs players and coaches might deny it, the team seems to be showing signs of panic with a 5-5 record heading into their Week 12 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are right in the center of it.

At one point the Chiefs were cruising with three wins on the bounce to wrap up October. However, they lost to the Bills before the bye week and then suffered another defeat a week after against the Broncos. Mahomes entered unchartered territory as he had never been 5-5 in his NFL career. In order to break the cycle of defeats, he needed to beat a Colts team sitting pretty at the top of AFC South with an 8-2 record.

The Colts enjoyed a bye week after taking care of the Falcons in week 10. Quarterback Daniel Jones is experiencing a career resurgence in Indiana while running back Jonathan Taylor is racking up numbers at a better rate compared to Saquon Barkley in 2024.

And yet, Mahomes is more concerned about the defense led by defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. He said:

Coach Anarumo is a great defensive coordinator, a great coach… He wants to go with their strengths, getting their guys in the best position to succeed, even from some of the trades they’ve made they’ve adjusted their defense as well.

Anarumo managed the Bengals defense that shut down the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Championship game. Despite taking 20 point lead at halftime, the Bengals defense did not allow the Chiefs any leverage to book place in the Super Bowl.

The Colts defense was already among the best in the league before Anarumo took over as DC in the offseason. Under his tutelege, they rank ninth in points per game allowed, 12th in yards per rush, and 10th in yards per pass attempt.

Mahomes obviously has respect for Anarumo as evident from his speech. Some might say, he gave Anarumo too much respect. He quipped:

I think that’s something that makes him a great coach is that he’s not stuck in his ways of how he calls things, he adjusts his scheme to the team that’s around him.

The All Pro signal caller usually refrains from saying things like “not stuck in his ways of how he calls thing.” He didn’t drop any names, but it came across as a subtle jab at his Chiefs coaching staff. Perhaps towards his head coach, Andy Reid?

Earlier this week, while discussing the Chiefs’ limited use of the running game, Reid mentioned that they have called run plays, but depending on the situation, they often turn into RPOs. (run play option). Only Mahomes has the authority to make that change in real time because he is the quarterback.

Patrick Mahomes’ struggles with intermediate passes

The Chiefs signed Hollywood Brown, brought in Tyquan Thornton from New England for additional fire power in a wide receiver team comprising of Rashee Rice, Juju Smith-Schuster and Xavier Worthy.

Did Patrick Mahomes Subtly Take a Shot at Chiefs Coach While Praising Colts’ Lou Anarumo
(L) Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and #15 Patrick Mahomes (Image via IMAGO)

With all those weapons, Mahomes should be winning games every single week. However, at present the Chiefs leading receiver is 36 year old Travis Kelce with 50 receptions, 631 yards and 4 touchdowns. Brown is second on the list with 38 catches for 429 yards and 4 scores.

The run game has also taken a nosedive. Kareem Hunt leads the backs with 86 carries for 353 yards and 6 touchdowns. The Chiefs haven’t had a 1000 yard rusher since Hunt logged 1327 yards in his debut year (2017). The reason behind the offensive struggles is the Chiefs is the lack of intermediate passes.

Mahomes ranks fifth in the league with 2625 passing yards on 233 completions, 18 total touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

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