Tricks and treats: Chiefs are hoodwinking defenses with creative plays; there’s a reason for ’em

By Canadian Press on October 26, 2025.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It was going to be a walk-in touchdown.

Patrick Mahomes was sure of it.

He had served as a brilliant decoy, and the Las Vegas Raiders were utterly fooled, as their old quarterback, Gardner Minshew, took the snap instead.

Everything went perfect on the trick play except for one thing: the cadence.

“We had talked about through the week if I should do the cadence or if he should do the cadence, and we decided I should,” Mahomes said afterward. “Obviously, we should’ve let him do it.”

That’s because Mahomes’ own count caused a false start, wiping out the score — and what would have been another successful trick play in a Chiefs playbook so packed full of them that they might as well be their own book.

They could call it “Tricks and Treats.”

Perhaps no other NFL team has used trickery as often, for as long, and with as much success as Chiefs coach Andy Reid and his crew.

Whether it’s the “Snow Globe” play in a different game against the Raiders, or “Catch and Release” that ended up a touchdown for left tackle Eric Fisher, the combined creativity of Reid and Mahomes knows no bounds.

“There’s a lot of plays that we work on, especially throughout training camp and stuff like that, and then there’s plays that come to us with every single week that are new and that are innovative,” Mahomes explained to The Associated Press. “You don’t know if that situation is going to happen this week or it’s going to happen at the end of the year.”

That trick play in the 31-0 romp past Las Vegas last week wasn’t even the only one in the game.

On fourth-and-inches in their own territory, Mahomes went to the line of scrimmage and began barking his cadence. Then he stood up and yelled out, “This never works.” The Raiders relaxed ever-so-slightly, thinking the Chiefs were just trying to draw them offside.

Suddenly, Mahomes took the snap, handed off to running back Kareem Hunt, and they had a first down.

“The guys enjoy those,” said Reid, who probably has a few up his sleeve for Monday night’s game against the Commanders. “We practice them, and we feel like by the time we use them, they’re a part of the offense.”

The Chiefs often unveil their trick plays near the goal line, where they’ve been reluctant for years to run simple quarterback sneaks after Mahomes hurt his knee trying one in a game against Denver.

The field is compacted, making it a challenge to get that last yard or so before the end zone, and the myriad ruses tend to catch defenses off guard.

In a game in 2019 against the Ravens, Mahomes took a snap and threw to Fisher, who had reported as eligible and snuck out from his position. The 6-foot-7, 315-pounder grabbed the ball in his big mitts, and “Catch and Release” — so named for its intended target, whom his teammates lovingly called “Big Fish” — had been a success.

The next year, in a game against Carolina, also near the goal line, Mahomes began wandering to his right as if he was changing the play. Then he suddenly sprinted left and took the snap in stride, getting the defense off balance. The quarterback wheeled back to his left, fired into the back of the end zone and had a wide-open wide receiver waiting for the ball.

Reid is often the one drawing up the trick plays, a creative outlet for a coach who’s loved to draw up plays since he was a kid.

Mahomes will dream some up during the offseason, too, and Reid is perfectly willing to try them. Some work; some do not. Reid warns that he has “51% of the power on those,” meaning he can veto any play at any time.

“But we practice those things,” Reid said, “and we spend time on them.”

Inspiration can come from anywhere. In the case of an infamous trick play from the 2020 Super Bowl against San Francisco, it was the 1948 Rose Bowl between Michigan and USC. The Chiefs broke the huddle on fourth-and-1 at the 49ers 5, with Mahomes in the pistol and three teammates behind him. At once, everyone did a 360-degree spin, and one of the backs wound up at the tight end spot. The direct snap went to another back as Mahomes faked the pitch, and that back plowed forward for a first down.

“Everybody talks about the Rose Bowl play. We worked on that from OTAs and we didn’t run it until the Super Bowl,” Mahomes said. “That’s just stuff you have to stay on the details, because you never know when that exact moment is going to come up.”

The Raiders, the Chiefs’ longtime and bitter rival, seem to be a common target of their attempts.

Two years ago, in the aptly named “Snow Globe,” the Chiefs had the ball at the Las Vegas 10. The entire Kansas City offense locked arms in the huddle and began spinning, before breaking and sending receivers off in all directions. Then-running back Jerick McKinnon took the snap and pitched to Mahomes, who threw back across the field for a TD; the play was wiped out by a holding penalty, though it made just about every highlight package anyway.

The plays are designed to work, of course. Reid isn’t going to waste a play on anything. But Mahomes thinks they serve another purpose in Kansas City: They break up the monotony. In the week-to-week grind of a long NFL season, the couple of chances they get to run something tricky, or unique, or downright bizarre in practice does wonders to lighten the mood.

“I don’t know if he’s ever said it,” Mahomes said, “but I think Coach does do that just for us.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press

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