Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Defends Controversial Sideline Scramble vs 49ers

Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked during his October 23 media availability about his controversial 33-yard run against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 8. The superstar QB defended his decision to slow down near the sideline before working his way upfield.

“I didn’t believe on that play right there [that] I was really showing like I was going to go out of bounds,” Mahomes explained. “I don’t want to ever put a defender in a bad spot. I know that we are all competing. When I go out of bounds, I’m going to go out of bounds, I’m not going to try to fake a guy out by using a loophole in the rules. At the time, I was going to cut back and get the first down, and then once I cut back, I was going to do one of those dives for the first down, but I cut back and realized [that] I had a lane to run, so I went down the sideline and then, I literally ran out of bounds on that exact play.

“When I go out of bounds, I’m going to go out of bounds, and whenever I’m trying to get a first down, I’ll get a first down. I’m not trying to use a loophole or anything in the rules to try to cheat in any way.”

Patrick Mahomes’s Sideline Scramble in Context

The Chiefs offense had the ball with a little over a minute left in the third quarter of KC’s Week 7 game against the 49ers. On a 2nd-and-7 play from San Francisco’s 37-yard line, Mahomes dropped back to pass, scrambled to his left, faked out 49ers linebacker Dee Winters near the sideline, and proceeded to run up the sideline for a gain of 33 yards.

That run by Mahomes set up Kansas City’s offense at San Francisco’s four-yard line. The result of that 13-play, 79-yard drive was a touchdown, and with the successful point-after attempt the two-time defending Super Bowl champions took a 21-12 lead with 14:13 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Patrick Mahomes Under Fire for Sideline Scramble

Mahomes’s 33-yard run was the longest he has ever had during the regular season. But he drew criticism on social media for taking advantage of how protected QBs are along the sideline by making Winters think he was going out of bounds before he sprinted upfield.

“That Patrick Mahomes run on the sideline is [expletive],” one person wrote. “Exactly why QBs should be able to be smacked on the sideline.”

“That move by Mahomes on the sideline is a direct result of how late-hits on QBs are judged,” another person wrote. “He deked that he was going out of bounds, knowing that if anybody touched him it’d be 15 yards. Once they stopped playing defense, he just started running forward again.”

“Perfect example of why there should be no late on the sideline. Mahomes does this [expletive] all the time,” another person wrote. “He dances on the sideline, defenders avoid hitting him so they don’t get a penalty and then he just keeps going and steps out at the last minute.”