One of the things that makes Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes so great is that he constantly sweat the details, even during the offseason. The latest example of this is an offseason conversation Mahomes had with receiver Rasheed Rice that helped lead to one of Rice’s two touchdowns the Chiefs 31-0 shutout win against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. 

The throw in question was the second touchdown, which was a three-yard fade route. Most quarterbacks would have ignored Rice given that he was recovering from offseason knee surgery after the 2024 season, but that’s not how Mahomes rolls. 

“We worked on that throw all offseason,” Mahomes said to Jesse Newell of The Athletic. “To be able to do that in the season — kind of like we did in the preseason — was good to see.”

The conversation was about Rice’s college days back at SMU, but this wasn’t reminiscing. The receiver’s strength to date has been throws in the middle of the field where he breaks loose after the catch, but Rice shared a different and important detail with Mahomes.

“I basically told Pat I was a fade guy in college,” Rice said Sunday. “If you look at my college highlights, I caught a lot of back-shoulders at SMU. Just having a great quarterback, we just had to put it in the air, talk about it.”

That led to training session during which Mahomes and Rice would work exclusively on throws to the corner of the end zone. This was necessary because of the timing and trust that’s required to make these kinds of throws work, and that led to more work during the preseason. 

Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is definitely on board with this kind of work. 

“Little things like that that are first-world problems for everybody else. For him, it’s something that he can keep growing with,” Nagy said. “So I love where he’s at, and the kid has a smile on his face every day, and he’s ready to rock and roll.”

Another throw Mahomes made in the second quarter was based on the same concept. It was a sideline out route that went for 12 yards, and Rice said after the game that he had “zero percent” confident that the ball was coming his way. 

“He no-looked the whole team, to be honest,” Rice said with a smile. “Luckily, I was just ready for the ball.”

Being ready is an essential mantra when playing with Mahomes, and it’s a safe bet that we’ll be seeing more of these kinds of touchdowns going forward.