Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes nearly turning the ball over on a backwards pass in their Week 3 matchup against the Giants Photo Credit: NBC
By Reice Shipley on

Cris Collinsworth has never shied away from praising Patrick Mahomes. But in the eyes of most fans tuning into the Week 3 Sunday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Giants, Collinsworth’s praise for Mahomes went a bit overboard on Sunday night, particularly when it came to one play that wasn’t particularly flattering for Mahomes.

With 1:34 remaining in the second quarter, the Chiefs avoided near disaster when Mahomes attempted a swing pass out to Isiah Pacheco that ended up being a backwards pass, dropping several feet away from Pacheco.

The errant pass, deemed a fumble because it went backwards, was then recovered by Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke briefly. But fortunately, Mahomes was then able to wrestle the ball away from Okereke to avoid what would have been a first-and-goal opportunity for the Giants offense.

After seeing the replay, Collinsworth largely ignored what was obviously a poor ball thrown by Mahomes and instead decided to praise the quarterback for not giving up on the play after the ball had been picked up by Okereke.

“I can’t tell you how good of a play that is,” said Collinsworth. “So many quarterbacks would have done nothing here, right? He knew better than anybody this was a backwards pass. And all of the sudden, that thing was understood immediately. He stole it! That’s a turnover created by Patrick Mahomes. I mean, not only did he save the touchdown, but he also got the ball back.”

You certainly won’t see many arguing the fact that Mahomes showed tremendous effort on the play to get the ball back. But to describe a play that should have been a turnover as a “great play” is certainly contrarian in comparison to how most watching at home saw the play.

“Cris Collinsworth gawking over Patrick Mahomes after he nearly gives away a fumble. Classic,” wrote SB Nation Bills writer Alex Brasky.

“Cris Collinsworth praising Mahomes for falling on a fumble….that was his fault,” wrote the Underdog Fantasy X page.

“I just KNEW Cris Collinsworth was going to make Patrick Mahomes out to be a hero as soon as this happened, even though it was Mahomes’ fault to begin with,” wrote David Furones of The Sun Sentinel. “That said, great hustle and effort. Not many other QBs are doing that.”

“I don’t like anything in my life as much as Cris Collinsworth likes incomplete passes by Patrick Mahomes,” wrote Mike Sielski of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Especially the backward ones.”

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley