- After falling behind 24-0 on Sunday, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs scored 28 points in less than 10 minutes to take the lead vs. the Houston Texans.
- Mahomes made a brilliant, heads-up play on his fourth touchdown by dragging his toe to keep from crossing the line of scrimmage as he threw to Travis Kelce in the end zone.
- If Mahomes’ whole body had crossed the line of scrimmage, the pass would have been illegal, but Mahomes’ toe-drag kept him behind the line.
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After falling behind 24-0 to the Houston Texans on Sunday, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs struck back with a vengeance.
Mahomes and the Chiefs scored four touchdowns in 9 minutes, 55 seconds to take a 28-24 lead going into halftime.
The last of those scores was perhaps the most impressive, thanks to a heads-up play and great spatial awareness by Mahomes.
On 3rd-and-goal from the Texans’ 5-yard line, Mahomes was flushed out of the pocket and ran left toward the sideline. After pump-faking a throw, as Mahomes got to the line of scrimmage, he threw a quick dart pass to Travis Kelce in the end zone. It looked initially like Mahomes crossed the line of scrimmage when he threw the ball, which would negate the touchdown.
However, referees reviewed the play, and slow-motion replays showed Mahomes actually stayed behind the line with a clever toe drag, much like a wide receiver would do to stay in-bounds while making a catch.
Watch the play below:
THE LEAD IS OURS! pic.twitter.com/wP8twefm8B
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 12, 2020
As Tony Romo noted, a quarterback's whole body must pass the line of scrimmage for the play to be illegal. Mahomes dragging his toe kept him from breaking the plane.
The NFL world was impressed.
Toe drag swag, redefinedpic.twitter.com/w7uUDqQxiZ
— PFF (@PFF) January 12, 2020
Mahomes showing off that toe drag swag pic.twitter.com/t6LZCpnyTR
— The Ringer (@ringer) January 12, 2020
Mahomes is just incredible .... toe drag to stay behind line of scrimmage on that TD pass. Absurd #Chiefs
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) January 12, 2020
Knowing to drag that toe is otherworldly field presence from Mahomes. Ridiculous
— Kevin Patra (@kpatra) January 12, 2020
Mahomes just dragged his toe on a throw to stay behind the line ... I don’t think I’ve never seen a QB do that
— Guy Haberman (@GuyHaberman) January 12, 2020
The Chiefs were in trouble early as a series of mistakes quickly put them in a huge hole. But Mahomes and the Chiefs offense showed just how quickly they can turn things around.