CNN —
There have been plenty of highlight reel moments in NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes’ career – and then there was what happened on Saturday afternoon in Arrowhead Stadium.
On third down and three with 6:16 left in the first quarter of a preseason game against the Detroit Lions, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback faked a handoff and then threw an audacious behind-the-back pass to tight end Travis Kelce to grab the first down, much to the delight of the home crowd.
While the drive ended in a field goal and Mahomes only ran two series the entire game – which the Chiefs eventually lost 24-23 – it was a moment of magic that the three-time Super Bowl champion said was the product of a mistake.
“Yeah. I mean, long story short, Travis didn’t run the route he was supposed to run and then it was kind of a behind-the-back pass kinda ‘cause I was mad. I was pissed off at Travis,” Mahomes said during an interview in the third quarter, as the TV crew could be heard laughing in the background. “He was supposed to run a flat route, I don’t know if you can hear me on the broadcast, I’m yelling at him and then he doesn’t run it, so out of spite, I threw a behind-the-back pass, but now it’s going to be a highlight.”
“100% [it was improv]. That’s what I’ve been trying to say to everybody, it can’t be planned. It’s gotta be just naturally happening, kinda in the groove of things, and so I actually forgot about it until halftime, someone actually brought it up to me. It wasn’t like I planned it at all or it wasn’t a called play, it just kinda happened.”
“I was just like, ‘Gosh, darn it, Travis,’ and I threw it behind my back and it worked out for us.”
Kelce, meanwhile, refused to accept blame and playfully shot back at his QB during another in-game interview to the NFL Network.
“You know he’s got the voice thing,” Kelce said, nasally mumbling to the interviewer in a Mahomes impression, and then continuing on, “and so he kind of mumbled out the play [and] I couldn’t hear it. I was walking up to the line, I was like trying to decipher what he was saying and before I knew it, he snapped the ball.
“And then I saw him out of my peripheral, ‘Run to the sideline,’ and so I was trying to go help my guy out and by the time I looked over there, he was already in mid-form like a photo on a sports card and throwing the ball to me, so I guess it was the right place, right time.”
Kelce refused to accept blame from Mahomes, saying postgame,