Patrick Mahomes — Week 3: Twenty of Twenty-Four, No Sacks
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Mahomes completed 20 of 24 throws for 246 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, completed his first 11 throws, and was not sacked. His 24 pass plays were worth plus 12.9 expected points, third among the 28 teams that had played in Week 3, and his first throw went 48 yards to Travis Kelce, in a 24–10 win over the Dolphins.
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Nothing to nothing, the first Kansas City snap of the game, first and 10 at the Kansas City 33 after Emmett Johnson's 31-yard kickoff return. Patrick Mahomes threw deep middle to Travis Kelce, 22 yards in the air, 48 yards to the Miami 19. +3.4 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 12.0 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the largest gain on any Chiefs pass or run. Three snaps later Kenneth Walker scored. It was the first of 11 straight completions to open the game.
The line: 20 completions on 24 throws, 246 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, no sacks, +12.9 expected points on 24 pass plays, third among the 28 teams that have played this week, with the Rams, Broncos, Eagles and Bears still to play. The one sack Miami got came back on an illegal-contact penalty. 12 of 13 for a hundred 34 before halftime; eight of 11 for a hundred 12 after it. The touchdowns: five yards to Walker on second and five at the Miami five early in the second quarter, tied at seven, a ball caught two yards behind the line; and 11 yards to Kelce on third and six with three-oh-one left, up 17 to 10. The twelfth throw was the interception — second and eight at the Kansas City 49, two minutes left in the half, up 14 to seven, deep middle for Rashee Rice, picked off at the Miami 29 and returned 18 yards. −3.6 expected points and −12.3 points of win probability, the largest win-probability swing on any Chiefs pass or run. Miami punted. Four throws traveled 20 or more yards in the air and two were caught, the 48 to Kelce and 24 to Noah Gray. On third down he threw four times, completed three and converted two. He ran once, a one-yard scramble from his own four.
Where the ball went: Rice nine targets, Gray three, Kelce, Walker, Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton two each, one each to three others, and one throw with no intended receiver. Kelce's two targets came out at +6.5 expected points, the most on the team.
Back in June the preview leaned watchlist on Mahomes — nine months off a torn knee ligament — and named two things to watch: the knee, meaning the mobility his value had come to lean on, and the accuracy, which had slipped. Week 1 was 15 of 27 with four scrambles and a rushing touchdown. Week 2 was 32 of 47 with no interception. Sunday was 83 percent, and the legs were one scramble for one yard. Three games: 67 of 98, 68 percent, 812 yards, seven touchdowns, two interceptions. The accuracy has moved one direction for three weeks; three games do not settle a season. Kansas City is at the Raiders on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Patrick Mahomes's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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