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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — So, there was this quarterback playing at Arrowhead Stadium who zipped sidearm passes and evaded defenders and completed throws that peers wouldn’t even consider trying. And it vexed the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I would imagine that’s what it feels like when Pat’s on the other side for opposing defenses,” right tackle Mitchell Schwartz said.
Patrick Mahomes’s closest stylistic analogue is the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers, whose improvisational brilliance has captivated the N.F.L. since Mahomes was in junior high school.
As Rodgers shredded the Chiefs on Sunday night, summoning his superior powers of extemporization in a three-touchdown performance, Mahomes, out with a dislocated kneecap, loitered on the Kansas City sideline, hands in his pockets, powerless to alter the outcome.