Arrowhead Pride
On Monday, Kansas City’s head coach and players reacted to how the rookie played — and what more could be in store.
If a positive can be taken from the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 11 30-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills, it would be major signs of growth from rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy.
After a difficult stretch of games in his first season, Kansas City’s first-round selection caught four passes for 61 yards and a touchdown. The wideout’s big game — and anticipation of even more improvement — was a frequent topic in the Chiefs’ media comments on Wednesday before the team’s first practice of the week.
“I think more than anything,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes noted of the speedster, “you saw the confidence that he was playing with. You could tell that he has more confidence within himself and what he can do within the offense. Whenever he’s playing confidently [and] not thinking, he’s playing fast, and it’s hard for people to account for how fast he is.
“So, I’m excited for him. I thought that was a good jump-off point. We’ve got to keep him more involved in the offense throughout the second half, but at the same time, I think that’s going to help the offense go.”
Worthy’s efforts are also impressing a veteran member of his position group.
“That guy,” wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster bragged, “he can do it all, man. He can go deep [to] open up the field for a lot of us. He also can play short game too. He’s starting to get rolling and moving, so it’s nice to see that. He’s doing his thing, and [I’m] excited to see what more is to come for him.”
Smith-Schuster also has a unique understanding of where Worthy is coming from. Steve Sarkisian — Worthy’s head coach while at Texas the past three seasons — also coached Smith-Schuster at USC from 2014-15. The veteran trusts that the system learned in college will translate to the Chiefs.
“[Worthy’s] a smart kid,” said Smith-Schuster. “It’s funny — he went to Texas and me and him had the same coach in college. Coming from Sarkisian [and] coming from his offensive scheme has helped him a lot — has helped me a lot — and he pretty much gets it all.”
Sunday’s effort was not always smooth sailing for the first-year pro, however. Mahomes and Worthy narrowly missed a near-certain deep touchdown as the rookie just missed getting both feet in bounds on a sideline throw. The league’s best quarterback knows that, until they are consistently connecting downfield, Worthy’s stats will ring somewhat hollow.
“I think you’ve seen as the season’s gone on that he’s playing faster,” Mahomes observed, “[Worthy] has more confidence. It’s about me being on the same page as him. I can sit here, and we can practice it all we want — but until we start doing it in the games, there’s nothing much more that I can really say about it.
“But I’m...
