It's Time For The Nation To Start Paying Attention To Patrick Mahomes

If you haven't watched Patrick Mahomes play this year, it's a little tough to describe what he can do with a football in his hands.

Statistically, he's one of the best quarterbacks in all of College Football. Before Saturday's game, he threw for a staggering 1,836 yards, 14 touchdowns, and only 5 interceptions. There's only one game where he didn't throw for over 350 yards, and that was against Arkansas. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, he made his throws count, hitting on 26/30. His accuracy when he's fully healthy can be described as similar to a heat seeking missile. When he isn't fully healthy, he's still unbelievable.

He suffered a left knee injury on the first drive of the third game of the year against TCU. For many mobile QBs, having a dent in their dual threat ability means that their downfall is imminent. For Mahomes, it just means that he gets to throw a little more and run a little less. Despite visibly limping the entire game, he nearly led the Red Raiders to an upset of TCU. In the end, the only thing barring him from his ultimate victory was a freak tip drill catch from Heisman contender Trevone Boykin to Heisman contender Josh Doctson to Aaron Green, who probably would be a Heisman contender if he wasn't surrounded by so much talent.

Against Baylor in the next week, he was still visibly hobbled. A big road game against Arkansas and a soul-crushing loss the week before at TCU had left the Red Raiders drained. We never really stood a chance against the shock and awe of the Baylor offense, but Mahomes tried anyways. I firmly believe that if he did not play in that game, we would be looking at a 49-7 score at halftime.

Those who haven't seen Patrick Mahomes play probably think that that's a certifiably insane line of thought. I'm here to tell you that if you've been watching this kid, it's the only sane line of thought in the midst of the pure chaos that is Texas Tech Football. We can talk about his mind-boggling stats and the breakneck pace of the Red Raider offense, but the true strength of Patrick Mahomes isn't something you can quantify with numbers or even explain with words. He's the best Quarterback in the entire nation at making something out of nothing.

Plays like this one that Patrick Mahomes pulled off last Saturday would cause insane celebration for any other team in the country. For those who have been following Mahomes, it's simply par for the course. He's Nightcrawler, if Nightcrawler also had the arm strength of Thor. He's a special ops sniper with the balance of a gymnast. His ability to get out of situations reminds me more of a kid playing NCAA Football on Freshman difficulty, or a scene out of Assassin's Creed. You can't stop him. You simply hope to contain him.

No one else in the country does what he does consistently. Other quarterbacks have had highlight reel plays where they get out of trouble and make a huge play, but no one does it week after week after week like Patrick Mahomes. It's more than just doing it constantly. It's the smoothness, the almost casualness that he makes these plays with. It's not how anyone drew it up. It simply happens. That isn't to say that Mahomes can't operate a normal offense, he's proven time and time again that he can. When that original play breaks down though, he doesn't get worse. He gets better.

Last Saturday, there were a couple of plays where the Iowa State coverage was pretty good, and Mahomes was forced to scramble and simply be a creator. It's our nature to not be comfortable with these decisions, as the vast majority of the time they don't turn out well. The only exception to this rule is, well, Patrick Mahomes. And there's no one in the nation that can do what he does.