Kurt Warner defended the anonymous defensive coordinator cited in The Athletic’s recent assessment of NFL quarterbacks, in which the latter remarked that Patrick Mahomes “scrambles” and “plays streetball” when his first read gets taken away.
During a recent appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” the Hall of Fame signal-caller, 51, was asked about the now-widespread comments that Mahomes himself addressed, calling the criticism that he and fellow Black quarterbacks face “weird.” Warner praised the Chiefs’ Super Bowl champ, expressing he’s “so good,” while also noting that the coach’s remark may have been taken out of context.
“I think first we have to take in context… what you have to realize with defensive coordinators is that all of us as quarterbacks have flaws, you know, things and again, we have things that we’re not as good at as other things, and so, what I believe that coordinator was really saying was we’ve got to figure out how do we stop Patrick Mahomes, so how we stop him is we try to take the first or the early reads away, and we try to force him to get away from the context and force him to try to make some of those special plays,” Warner said, according to The Kansas City Star.
Patrick Mahomes drops back to pass during the AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Bengals on Jan. 30, 2022.Getty Images
Kurt Warner recently appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show,” where he addressed recent comments made about Patrick Mahomes from an unnamed defensive coordinator.Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesIn his assessment of the 26-year-old Mahomes, who is a four-time Pro Bowler, the unnamed defensive coordinator said: “We love Mahomes because of his unorthodox throws, not because of his natural pocket presence. And when that disappears, that is when they lose games. I don’t think that is a 1. I think that is a 2. Nothing against the guy. I love the kid. But take his first read away and what does he do? He runs, he scrambles and he plays streetball.”
Warner then continued of Mahomes, “Does he make them [the ‘special plays’]? Yes. Do they lose very often? No. But when they lose, I believe that coordinator was saying this is why they lose when they lose, because teams are able to take that away from them and force him to do other things.”
He then explained what could be going through the coordinator’s mind in terms of building a gameplan to find success against a dominant playmaker.
“I don’t think that coordinator was ever saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s not any good at this, if we just do this, Patrick Mahomes is never going to win a game, no. He’s a great quarterback that does so many things well, we’re just trying to force him to get to this point because now that gives us a chance,'” Warner said.
The four-time Pro Bowler is readying for his sixth NFL season.Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Mahomes, who is gearing up for his sixth season, was asked about the remarks from the unnamed coach last week during training camp, in addition to the “independent study” contract clause recently removed from Kyler Murray’s five-year, $230.5 million extension with the Cardinals.
“The Black quarterback has had to battle to be in this position that we are to have this many guys in the league playing,” Mahomes said Friday. “Every day, we’re proving that we should have been playing the whole time. We’ve got guys that can think just as well as they can use their athleticism. It always is weird when you see guys like me, Lamar [Jackson], Kyler, kind of get that on them when other guys don’t. But at the same time, we’re going out there to prove ourselves every day to show we can be some of the best quarterbacks in the league.”
