Mahomes and Curry both have ‘it.’
Patrick Mahomes has had a magnificent year, to say the least, throwing fifty touchdown passes & surpassing 5000 passing yards–both in his first year as the Chiefs’ starting quarterback. On Sunday, he’ll lead the Kansas City Chiefs into their first AFC Championship game since 1993.
Courtesy: Twitter
But Mahomes is doing much more than winning games. It’s how he’s winning games. And from my point of view, he’s winning NFL games much in the way Steph Curry is winning NBA games.
Each player has made an impact on their respective league and, perhaps more so, on their sport. As Jason Whitlock has said, “Patrick Mahomes is the Steph Curry of the NFL.” Bill Simmons and others have said the very same thing.
And what’s surprising in making that statement is that both players spent a good share of their playing lives as underrated talents.
Consider Curry’s situation. When he declared for the NBA Draft, a lot of scouts said that he was too small and questioned whether he could play point guard at the next level.
Well, they were wrong! In 2015, Curry broke the record for most ‘threes’ made in a season, and he led the Golden State Warriors to the NBA Finals. Today, you can walk into any gym in America, and you’ll see somebody shooting from 30 feet–just like Steph Curry.
When Mahomes announced he was entering the NFL Draft, many scouts saw him as ‘a turnover machine,’ sporadic at times, and impatient when going through his reads. But none of that has come to pass.
After sitting one year behind Alex Smith, Mahomes looks like he has been behind center for years. He not only has a cannon for an arm, but he can also pass the ball using a variety of trajectories–and accurately, too.
To me, Mahomes and Curry are transcendent, showtime talents. Cool under pressure with that special something, ‘it,’ very few players have.
Curry is a three-time NBA champ and two-time MVP. For his part, Mahomes has joined the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady club–the only three quarterbacks in NFL history to throw fifty TDs and 5000 yards in a single season. A Super Bowl championship–in his first year of play–may be in Mahomes’ future.
These two even have a genetic connection–both of their fathers played pro ball. Mahomes’ dad played pro baseball, and Curry’s father was in the NBA.
In the end, these talents are teaching the sports world a lesson: it’s possible to achieve great things … even after you’ve been panned by the experts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdg2uQuB7fs
