The 2023 NFL regular season is behind us and now it’s time for the playoffs. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs aim to make another trip to the Super Bowl, but they are not seen as one of the biggest candidates to the ring this year. On Saturday, they’ll have their first test of the postseason against the Miami Dolphins.
While the team led the league in yards and points in 2022, this offense hasn’t been anywhere near that productive this campaign. While that decline in their production is a warning sign for many, Mahomes believes his unit will be up to the task.
“Not only in our offense, but in our football team. You see how the defense is playing, offensively I feel like we’re going to play our best football at the right time,” Mahomes said, via ProFootballTalk. “I think if we can just score — we don’t even have to score too many points if we can just score enough points our defense will shut the door and we can find a way to get the win.”
Mahomes thinks experience can give Chiefs the edge
While the upcoming Wild Card game is an interesting one, Kansas City has home-field advantage as well as experience in these kinds of games. Miami, on the other hand, has failed to step up in most of its big games this year. Mahomes addressed this difference, claiming it could give the Chiefs the edge.
“We play in a lot of big games, playing games on short rest, we play in night games, whatever it is. I think just having that experience is going to help us,” Mahomes said. “Having those games where not everything is going your way, and you have to find a way to pull through and get a win. A lot of guys on this team have done that.“
The Dolphins started the season on the right foot, but they left a lot to be desired against other contenders. Last time out, they suffered a home loss to the Buffalo Bills that saw them miss out on the AFC East title after leading the division for much of the campaign.
The Chiefs haven’t been so impressive this year, but they did manage to beat Miami in Germany and even with all their struggles, they once again clinched the AFC West title.
“The step up that you always see going into the playoffs, it will be a step up, but I think we can make it even a little bit smaller because we’ve been in games like this. Just being able to rely on our experiences and go out there and be the best team we can be and play our best football and see what happens.”