The greats keep receipts in the wallet. Legends keep them in the soul, a pilot light for payback.
“I saw things this afternoon that I haven’t seen before from the guys,” a flustered coach, a championship coach, remarked after a bad day at the office recently. “So that’s my responsibility to make sure they’re right. And we weren’t right today.”
Michael Malone? Nope.
That was Andy Reid, America’s Cheeseburger Chief … right after Broncos 24, Kansas City 9.
“No energy. No spark.”
Jamal Murray? Nope.
That was Kansas City wideout Mecole Hardman, also at Empower Field, last Oct. 29.
“(There) wasn’t enough energy for the offense.”
Nikola Jokic? Nope.
Wrong 15.
Same DNA.
That was Patrick Mahomes, the Tom Brady clone who beat the flu that day but lost to Russell Wilson and Sean Payton.
We mention this because the Nuggets (36-18) host Sacramento on Wednesday night at Ball Arena, the last game before the All-Star break, on dead legs and fried circuit boards.
The defending NBA champs are coming off consecutive floggings at the hands of the Kings and Bucks. They’re justifiably exhausted, hurting for spark, beat up like an old tractor, with one eye on the tub and the other on Cancun.
But they also have something — or rather, somebody — that nobody else on the planet does, so be careful kicking that bear while it’s down.
How does that joke go on social media? Ah, yes. Both men wear No. 15, both pass like Elway and both own Denver. Jokic is the Mahomes of the NBA. Mahomes is the Joker of the NFL. One of one.
A singular mold cast on Mount Olympus from gold and guts. Warrior-poets, artisans who make the eye of a needle look as wide and gaping as the entrance to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Doubt at your peril.
The casuals, of course, will sneer at Jokic’s road to a title compared to the Chiefs’ most recent path to a repeat. Look, winning at Buffalo and at Baltimore on back-to-back weekends with a bunch of butterfingers at wideout was impressive, no question. But let’s also not sell the Joker short on a journey that took out Anointed Ones Kevin Durant and Devin Booker in six games and the tag team of LeBron James and Anthony Davis in a four-game sweep. The Nuggs had to wrestle old money and ESPN to land a parade.
And the casuals will say Mahomes this season did more with less, and that Jokic proved for two springs running that he couldn’t carry a team through grind of a playoff marathon all by himself.
Even if we concede both points, let’s be real on this, too: It’s not as if Mahomes, the Magic Man, didn’t have help. Travis Kelce is Gronk with a better singing voice and kicking leg. Defensive tackle Chris Jones is quietly stacking up a Cantonian resume, one clutch stuff at a time. Mahomes works behind two first-team All-Pro guards, while defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has a first-team slot corner patrolling the back end in Trent McDuffie. Would Mahomes have beaten Lamar Jackson, assuming the Ravens held home-field advantage, four times in a best-of-seven situation?
Having watched Kansas City pile up three Super Bowl wins in five years, Broncos Country finds itself again cycling through stages of football grief, teetering between “anger” and “bargaining.”
Mahomes, like Jokic, isn’t even midway through the apex of his career yet. There’s no way to sugarcoat this for the Broncos, who find themselves in a situation where either landing a young, controllable Mahomes of their own or Father Time are the only answers. Shutdown defenses didn’t work. Big Russ sort of worked, and the tea leaves say Payton would be happier firing No. 3 into the nearest sun.
“Hey, he can’t play forever, so let’s pour some cold ones until Mahomes or Andy Reid retires” is a fun, even logical way to spend the sunshine of your autumns. But it’s a lousy marketing slogan if you’re the Broncos, with well-heeled new owners who suddenly find themselves stuck in traffic behind a semi that all the Walmart money in the world can’t move.
On the other hand, if Mahomey can win consecutive titles with a bunch of receivers who can’t catch, why can’t Jokic do the same with a thinner bench?
The Chiefs spent a regular season, especially the dog days of November and December, going through the motions. In the six games after their dud in Denver, K.C. went 2-4, slogging around to the point where they’d slipped to 8-5 a fortnight before Christmas while the Broncos had climbed to 7-6.
Y’all know how that bird landed. Another reminder of what one transcendent No. 15 can do with the ball in his hands, the tide that lifts all boats.
Funny, isn’t it? Last Halloween weekend, a K.C. reporter asked Mahomes if getting kiboshed by the Broncos could have a domino effect for the holders of the Lombardi Trophy.
“It won’t be,” the quarterback replied firmly.
The rarest pilot lights burn hottest when the nights bring their darkest and coldest. Meanwhile, the new NBA MVP straw poll came out Tuesday. You’ll never guess who’s leading now.
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