Chiefs-Bucs: Was Patrick Mahomes too much for Tampa defense?
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs handed Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers their second loss of the season Sunday, coming away with an impressive 41-31 road win in Week 4.
Mahomes, who has now evened his all-time record against Brady to 3-3, was 23-for-37 for 249 yards and three touchdowns, while Brady went 39-for-52 for a whopping 385 yards and three touchdowns of his own.
However, the Bucs' offense lost two fumbles — including the opening kickoff — and the Bucs' defense wasn't able to keep K.C. out of the end zone the majority of the night.
Tampa Bay, which only allowed 25 total points in its three previous games, allowed 41 points to the Chiefs.
That said, were the Bucs' defensive struggles the reason for their loss, or was Mahomes just too good?
If you ask Shannon Sharpe, it has everything to do with the Chiefs signal-caller.
"[Mahomes] can do things that very few quarterbacks — if any quarterbacks — can do," Sharpe said on Monday's "Undisputed." "The Bucs, no matter what they tried — they tried to blitz (Mahomes), they tried coverage, they tried one-on-one — it did not matter. He seemed [to always be] a step ahead of them. … The Chiefs' first five possessions into the red zone resulted in touchdowns.
"The Kansas City Chiefs outplayed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — offense, defense and special teams."
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Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe react to the Chiefs' and Bucs' Week 4 matchup.
Mahomes had plenty of tricks up his sleeve against Brady's Bucs.
He flexed his acting chops with a wild trick play at the goal line in the first half.
Mahomes sidestepped, scrambled and spun out to avoid defenders all game long, en route to picking up the win and lifting K.C. to 3-1 on the season.
However, Skip Bayless wasn't buying what Sharpe was selling, putting the onus on the Bucs' defensive coordinator.
"The biggest reason that Kansas City won this game was that Todd Bowles' defense gave up — by far — the most rush yards it has ever given up in the four years [that] he has been the defensive coordinator/head coach," Bayless said. "Patrick Mahomes had the ball for 39 minutes because his team ran for 189 yards … but the key was every time that he handed the ball to one of his two backs … [they] ran into a crowded or albeit closed hole, and I'd say, ‘Wait a second, the pile gets pushed seven yards!’
"Tom Brady has the ball for 21 minutes. Would you believe he throws for 385 yards? Unbelievable. Would you believe that Tom Brady completed 75% of his passes? That's outrageously great. [He] went 4-for-4 in the red zone. All of those are winning, winning, winning numbers."
Brady now has 1,058 yards on the season, the eight-most in the league, and six passing scores — three of which came Sunday.
Despite being at .500, the Bucs remain in first place in the NFC South at 2-2 headed into Week 5.