For the primary half of the season, Patrick Mahomes type of obtained unnoticed of the MVP dialog, however that is seemingly going to alter this week after the Chiefs quarterback nearly single-handedly staved off an upset try by the Carolina Panthers throughout Kansas Metropolis’s wild 33-31 win on Sunday. 

In a recreation the place the Chiefs solely rushed for 30 yards, they wanted all the things Mahomes needed to provide and he got here by means of with 372 passing yards and 4 touchdowns, together with two to Tyreek Hill, who completed with 9 catches for 113 yards. 

The Chiefs noticed the Panthers an early 14-3 lead, however after that Mahomes took over. The quarterback’s first scoring move within the recreation got here on a one-yard throw, and though a one-yard move is not typically one thing that is price exhibiting you a spotlight of, this one was. On the play, not solely did the Chiefs ship Mahomes into movement, however he caught the shotgun snap whereas nonetheless in movement after which he did this … 

It is nearly not truthful. That one-yard move to Demarcus Robinson reduce Carolina’s result in 14-13 simply earlier than halftime, and after the rating it felt like there was no method Mahomes was going to let the Chiefs lose. 

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Though Carolina’s offense went toe-to-toe with Kansas Metropolis, Mahomes simply made too many large performs. With the Chiefs trailing 17-13 within the second half, Mahomes led Kansas Metropolis to a landing on three consecutive possessions, and hastily the four-point deficit had become a 33-24 lead. 

The Chiefs quarterback threw three landing passes within the second half, and a kind of was a 28-yard rating to Hill in that gave Mahomes 100 landing passes for his profession, which is notable as a result of it made him the quickest participant in NFL historical past to achieve 100 profession landing passes. 

The move to Hill helped Mahomes attain 100 touchdowns in simply 40 video games, which topped Dan Marino’s report of 44 video games that had stood for 34 years.  

The quarterback who received the MVP award in 2018 ought to now be thought-about the frontrunner to win it in 2020. For the primary eight weeks of the season, Russell Wilson turned the frontrunner because of Seattle’s choice to “Let Russ Prepare dinner,” however Wilson has burnt himself within the kitchen in two of the previous three weeks.

There have been different quarterbacks — like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Josh Allen — who’ve been good, however Mahomes has been nice. He went into Sunday’s recreation with 20 landing passes and one interception on the season, which is notable as a result of no different quarterback in NFL historical past had ever thrown 20 or extra touchdowns with one or fewer interceptions by means of eight video games, and now he is added to that. Via 9 video games, Mahomes has been practically excellent, throwing for two,687 yards and 24 landing passes together with that one decide. 

Mahomes simply hasn’t been making any errors, and the Chiefs are practically unattainable to beat when he isn’t making errors, because the Panthers discovered on Sunday. 

Alright, let’s get to the grades for each recreation from Week 9. Should you’re in search of a deeper dive on the Packers-49ers recreation that was performed Thursday, you’ll want to click on right here.

Kansas Metropolis 33-31 over Carolina

Atlanta 34-27 over Denver

Minnesota 34-20 over Detroit

Houston 27-25 over Jacksonville

N.Y. Giants 23-20 over Washington

Giants-Washington grades by Jordan Dajani (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Buffalo 44-34 over Seattle

Seahawks-Payments grades by Tyler Sullivan (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Tennessee 24-17 over Chicago

Bears-Titans grades by Bryan DeArdo (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Baltimore 24-10 over Indianapolis

Ravens-Colts grades by Josh Edwards (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Las Vegas 31-26 over L.A. Chargers

Pittsburgh 24-19 over Dallas

Steelers-Cowboys grades by Patrik Walker (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

Miami 34-31 over Arizona

Dolphins-Cardinals grades by Jeff Kerr (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)

New Orleans 38-3 over Tampa Bay

Saints-Buccaneers grades by Cody Benjamin (Love the grades? Hate the grades? Let him know on Twitter.)  

New England 30-27 over N.Y. Jets