Is PFF Blind?! Mahomes Gets Robbed, and We’ve Got the Receipts!
Alright, let’s get right to it because I’m fired up. I just saw something that made me spit out my morning coffee. I’m talking about the so-called “grades” from Pro Football Focus (PFF) for Week 7. If you haven’t seen them, brace yourselves, because what I’m about to tell you is an absolute insult to football intelligence.
The Crime Scene: Chiefs vs. Raiders
Let’s set the stage. The Kansas City Chiefs absolutely dismantled the Las Vegas Raiders. It was a bloodbath. And who was leading the charge? None other than Patrick Mahomes II, looking every bit the part of a man on a mission for his third MVP trophy. In just three quarters of play, he put up a stat line that most quarterbacks would dream of for a full game: 26 of 35 for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns. Let me repeat that for the people in the back: THREE QUARTERS!
The Absurdity: PFF’s “Expert” Analysis
Now, here’s where it gets crazy. The “geniuses” at PFF, in its infinite wisdom, looked at that performance and gave Mahomes a grade of 62.2. But wait, it gets better. They graded Geno Smith, who went a measly 10 of 16 for 67 yards and ZERO touchdowns in the same game, a 67.2! You can’t make this stuff up!
I mean, are we watching the same sport? Did the PFF graders accidentally tune into a Pop Warner game? This isn’t just a bad take; it’s a complete and utter failure of its so-called “analytical” system. As Nick Roesch of A to Z Sports put it, this is an “egregious evaluation.” And that’s putting it mildly!
The Eye Test vs. The Spreadsheet
This is a perfect example of why you can’t just rely on spreadsheets and algorithms to tell you who’s good at football. Did its little calculators account for the pre-snap reads Mahomes was making? The way he manipulated the pocket to extend plays? The absolute LASERS he was throwing into tight windows? Of course not! It probably docked him points for “turnover-worthy plays” that never even happened!
“Analytics certainly has a place in football, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. When it comes to QBs specifically, analytics can’t evaluate things such as pre-snap protection adjustments, going through progressions, throwing mechanics, and gameplan schematics.” – Nick Roesch, A to Z Sports
And that’s the bottom line. PFF can’t measure heart, leadership, or the “it” factor that Mahomes has in spades. This isn’t just about one game. It’s about a flawed system that consistently undervalues the very things that make a quarterback great.
The Real MVP
So let me be clear. Patrick Mahomes is playing some of the best football of his career right now. The Chiefs are on a roll, and he is the engine that makes it all go. And no ridiculous, out-of-touch grade from a website that clearly has its head in the sand is going to change that.
So, PFF, it can keep its spreadsheets and broken algorithms. We, the fans who actually watch the games, will keep the wins, the touchdowns, and the MVP trophies. And we know who the best quarterback in the league is. And it ain’t the guy who got a 67.2 for doing absolutely nothing.
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