![\"Chiefs\u2019](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/chiefs-qb-patrick-mahomes-vs-broncos.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Denver Broncos\u00a0turned the pressure up on\u00a0Patrick Mahomes\u00a0in their win over the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs, and the two-time MVP spoke candidly about the experience afterward.<\/p>\n
It included a blunt reality check about himself in the grand scheme of the offense.<\/p>\n
Mahomes\u2019 comments come amid some from Broncos head coach\u00a0Sean Payton, whose remarks underscore just why Denver did not shy away from the significance of this contest going into it or in the aftermath.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what you want. You want to get that opportunity at the end of the game, and we didn\u2019t \u2013 I didn\u2019t come through,\u201d\u00a0Mahomes told reporters on November 16.<\/p>\n
Mahomes also lamented missing the few opportunities to complete passes down the field, saying he had to \u201cmake the throw\u201d on one, and that he simply \u201cmissed\u201d another. Mahomes finished with a 276-1-1 line on 64.4% completion.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou learn from it,\u201d Mahomes said of the misses.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, against a good defense like that, you\u2019re not going to have these opportunities all game long. And so, when they\u2019re there, you gotta hit them.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those attempts led to an interception from Broncos nickelback\u00a0Ja\u2019Quan McMillian.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was rolling out to the right. Just \u2013 you can\u2019t do it,\u201d Mahomes said. \u201cI\u2019ll have to look on the film \u2013 I thought I had\u00a0Elijah [Mitchell], kind of down the sideline. And I was going to give him a chance, and I just didn\u2019t throw it high enough at the end of the day. I got 29 [McMillian] to go to me because he was guarding him. And I didn\u2019t throw it high enough, and he jumped up and made a good play.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was not the only play McMillian made on Mahomes for the Broncos, either.<\/p>\n
McMillian also got 2.0 sacks on Mahomes for the Broncos. McMillian revealed that the three-time Super Bowl champion showed a tell.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a timing thing. You try to hold it as long as possible. You can see some of the quarterbacks, they looking at the nickel. Because the nickel kind of shows what the defense is in a lot of the time. So, I just try to hold it as long as possible,\u201d\u00a0McMillian said postgame.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re trying to find keys to when the ball is snapped. And I noticed early in the game when he was snapping the ball, his hands would come up, and the ball was coming out. So, I just timed it up. When his hands start coming up, I start sneaking towards the edge, and just made a play. They didn\u2019t slide the protection. I just went in.\u201d<\/p>\n
McMillian said he \u201cwasn\u2019t sure\u201d about some details of the fleeting moment.<\/p>\n
However, one thing was for certain. He was not going to let Mahomes complete one of the plays the uber-talented quarterback has become synonymous with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just seen him winding up, and that\u2019s why I kind of jumped. I jumped in the air. I didn\u2019t want him to throw the ball,\u201d McMillian said. \u201cI was going to bat it down or \u2026 get the sack; one of those. But he wasn\u2019t getting that ball off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos are one of the best defenses in the league, and the best if they tell it. Moreover, the Broncos\u2019 success in\u00a0flustering Mahomes when it mattered the most was not by happenstance.<\/p>\n
Payton explained that the Broncos intended to limit Mahomes\u2019 explosiveness, along with a tip of the cap to the QB.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think changing the looks with respect to Patrick \u2013 Man, he\u2019s something,\u201d\u00a0Payton said\u00a0on November 16. \u201cTrying to keep him in the pocket and eliminate some of the [plays where it is] third-and-20, he climbs up, and we give up an interference, but rushing him the right way and then playing coverage the right way, it\u2019s tough, especially when they\u2019re healthy with all their skilled players like they were tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Payton\u2019s note about the Chiefs\u2019 health was not a slip.<\/p>\n
The Broncos, who entered this game without\u00a0Alex Singleton,\u00a0J.K. Dobbins, and\u00a0Pat Surtain II, split their meetings with the Chiefs last season, winning in Week 18 as Mahomes rested.<\/p>\n
Payton\u2019s Broncos had beaten Mahomes and the Chiefs once before, in Week 8 of the 2023 season. The Broncos finished 8-9 that season. They won 10 games and made the playoffs last season.<\/p>\n
This season, Payton and the Broncos are 9-2, tied for the NFL\u2019s best record coming off that win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0Denver Broncos\u00a0turned the pressure up on\u00a0Patrick Mahomes\u00a0in their win over the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs, and the two-time MVP spoke candidly about the experience afterward. It included a blunt reality check about himself in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t