Patrick Mahomes was at the center of a rules controversy during Week 7 of the NFL season after pretending to run out of bounds against the San Francisco 49ers. A late hit against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday reignited the conversation.
At what point does the league’s biggest star benefit from the whistle?
We must first go back to last weekend to understand the dialogue. Mahomes broke a 33-yard run down the sideline, which was actually the longest run of his entire career. However, Dee Winters had an opportunity to knock him onto the sideline after a gain of only nine yards. Maybe 10.
The 49ers linebacker decided not to lay a big hit on the sideline as Mahomes seemingly gave himself up to go out of bounds and paid the price. He got juked out of his shoes.
The NFL is very strict on late hits — especially toward a quarterback. Winters made the decision not to hit Mahomes because he did not want to get flagged. It is a safer play for the defender to let the quarterback run out of the field of play on his own accord, even though that creates an open lane for the quarterback to keep running.
Mahomes exploited the open lane. Winters was there to babysit him as he ran out of bounds until he cut it back.
The play drew comparisons to Kenny Pickett’s fake slide during the ACC Championship in 2021, which led directly to a change in the rules. NFL fans wanted Mahomes’ fake run out of bounds to spark a change. Either that, or it set the standard for a linebacker like Winters to clobber the quarterback in similar situations moving forward without drawing a flag.
Fast forward to Sunday.
Raiders defensive end K’Lavon Chaisson was called for roughing the passer on this play during the second half:
Mahomes draws a roughing the passer penalty. #KCvsLV pic.twitter.com/YiEWSs1BRA
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) October 27, 2024
Most NFL fans would probably agree that it was a late hit, even though Mahomes absolutely embellished his fall. The flag is fine. Whatever.
With that being said, it reignites the rules controversy from a week prior. If K’Lavon Chaisson’s fairly harmless bump warranted a penalty, Dee Winters would’ve been fired into the sun for intentionally clobbering Patrick Mahomes on the sideline while it looked like he was going out of bounds.
At what point does the league’s biggest star benefit from the whistle?