Mahomes: 'I'm living right' after interception luck in win over Chargers
Patrick Mahomes made several signature otherworldly plays to help guide the Kansas City Chiefs to a comeback win Thursday night over the Los Angeles Chargers, but the quarterback also came close to throwing multiple interceptions.
Mahomes admitted postgame that he was lucky not to turn the ball over.
"First off, I'm living right," Mahomes said, according to NFL.com's Kevin Patra. "Because I had a couple interceptions that didn't get called with flags - because there were flags - and then that one got overturned when it hit the ground."
The former MVP's most controversial near-interception came midway through the third quarter.
With the Chiefs down 17-7, Chargers cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. undercut a route but struggled to control the ball as he went to the ground. Officials overturned the play to an incomplete pass after initially ruling it an interception, and Mahomes cut the deficit to three points later in the drive with a deep touchdown pass to Justin Watson.
Asante Samuel Jr for the moment has his second interception of the season, but the play is under review. Looks like it hit the ground after he dropped it #BoltUp #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/IxbEH03Cdw
- Pro Football Culture (@proftblculture) September 16, 2022
"Yeah, whenever you get that second opportunity ... to go back out there and score, you have to capitalize on it when you're playing great football teams. And so, it was a great job as an offense that we found a way to score on that drive," Mahomes said.
"I had to stop giving them even chances. It's just too close sometimes, and I'm going to make sure I get better at that."
Samuel dropped another surefire pick in the end zone at the end of the third. The Chargers managed to hold on to two interceptions from Mahomes earlier in the game but had them wiped off the board due to penalties.
Patrick Mahomes should fly to Vegas immediately after this is over. I have never seen one quarterback get bailed out of four interceptions in one game. pic.twitter.com/d0VaAsh3zV
- Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 16, 2022
Mahomes finished with 235 yards passing and two touchdowns. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert didn't share his rival's turnover luck, throwing a 99-yard pick-6 that gave the Chiefs the lead in the fourth quarter.
After throwing a combined 11 interceptions from 2019-20, Mahomes' gunslinger mentality caught up to him in 2021. He threw 13 interceptions last season, 10 of which came during the first eight games.
Copyright (C) 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.