Chiefs' Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes discuss viral 'snowglobe' circle sleight of hand

The Kansas City Chiefs have officially clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC after beating the Las Vegas Raiders Saturday evening 31-13. Kansas City went a full game making big plays in all three phases.

However, one game, in particular, had the entire footballing world spinning.

The Chiefs are no strangers to unconventional play calls, especially deep in the red zone. Leading 14-3 to a second-and-2 inside the Raiders’ 10-yard line, the latest play dubbed “Snow Globe” by quarterback Patrick Mahomes went viral, as the Kansas City squad turned in a circle before gently forming into formation.

The ball went straight to running back Jerick McKinnon, who tossed it to Mahomes to toss it across the field to widen Kadarius Toney as he blasted his way through the Vegas defense for the touchdown.

Although the game was eventually called off due to a waiting penalty, the unorthodox nature of it all led everyone to ask head coach Andy Reid to explain the method to his madness.

“It’s just to create a bit of confusion and then line up with something that’s unfamiliar to the opposing team,” Reid explained in his post-match press conference. “I know the guys executed it well. We end up with a call on hold, but they did it right.

As for how they came up with such a game in the first place, Reid paid tribute to his players, specifically mentioning Mahomes as the main mad scientist. He praised the star quarterback for working the game meticulously with the rest of the offense during practice as they prepared for the right situation to use him in the game – courtesy of their coach -leader, of course.

We kind of messed around with that in practice – we call it the lab in there – Pat [Mahomes] brings the guys over there, and then they don’t put their name on it, they just bring it to me,” Reid said. “And I have 51% of the vote, so if I like it, then we’ll call it.”

After the game, Mahomes said he appreciates the freedom Coach Reid gives him and attacks, but assures everyone that these types of plays are only possible if they execute them correctly and get the desired results.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

“We work on things throughout the season and then try to call him at the right time,” Mahomes said after the game. Coach Reid gives us some freedom to bring our own style to it. And so, this circle one was where we had played games like this, and we talked about it on the side, and we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s see if we do this and create some confusion and send something back’ .’

“The bottom line is that it has to work, and it worked. We just had the waiting penalty. Do good things for the playoffs, and every time we run them, it has to work.

That being said, the piece encapsulates everything great about Mahomes. Whether it’s making scoring games, breaking the record for most total yards in a season, or inevitably winning this year’s MVP, Kansas City’s star quarterback continues to amaze fans. people with something new every time he’s in the field.

Yes, it’s fun and full of freedom, but it’s also built on the foundation of hard work to perfect what’s already good into something extraordinary – a fundamental mindset for organizing Chiefs, whom Mahomes says he will never take for granted.

“You have to have fun there,” Mahomes said. We train hard. We go out there and try to make the most of every day, but the coaches let us have fun. This is what keeps us going. It’s a long season. Lots of practice and sometimes you just want to play the games.

We’ve built this culture of “Let’s go and practice, have a good time doing it, enjoy it, have fun, but at the same time be great.” This stuff was there before I even got here, and I’m just happy to be in this organization and to be able to do it every day.