Patrick Mahomes, 'Houdini of our era,' helps Kansas City Chiefs atone for Super Bowl loss with statement win over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

TAMPA, Fla. — Patrick Mahomes has completed no-look passes, side-armed throws and even left-handed tosses. His 2-yard touchdown pass to Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the second quarter of what would become a 41-31 Kansas City Chiefs win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night was at or near the top of the list of Mahomes' impressive and unusual plays — even to those who have been with Mahomes from the start of his NFL career.

«The NFL hasn't seen anything like Pat Mahomes, I promise you that,'' tight end Travis Kelce said. „And you saw it today. He's the Houdini of our era, man.''

Mahomes ran 39.4 yards, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, and needed 7.6 seconds to finish the touchdown pass to Edwards-Helaire. He was flushed from the pocket and appeared ready to run as he neared the sideline.

He then did a 360 spin to avoid a defender and, under pressure, flipped the pass to Edwards-Helaire in the end zone. Mahomes pushed the pass as much as he threw it and called his throwing motion on the play “a basketball shot.''

»I was able to use my speed, my little bit of speed, to get around the edge there. I was gonna run for it, but they kind of flew around me," said Mahomes, who threw for 249 yards and also had TD throws of 16 yards to Kelce and 10 yards to Jody Fortson while making NFL history by reaching 20,000 yards passing faster than anyone else. «I realized I wasn't going to make it and I saw Clyde, so I kind of flicked it up to him.''

Chiefs coach Andy Reid, in a nod to Mahomes' creativity, said the maneuver „is not in our playbook.''

The Chiefs busted out offensively at a seemingly unlikely time. They struggled to score 17 points in last week's loss to the Indianapolis Colts. And the Bucs had the NFL's best scoring