“You dream of your first NFL start when you’re a little kid, playing football in the backyard, but until you get there, you never know what to expect.” Patrick Mahomes is cooking up chaos like he’s Walter White in a Chiefs jersey—except his recipe includes 3,928 passing yards, 26 touchdowns, and a 93.5 passer rating in 2024. With three Super Bowl rings, six Pro Bowls, and a playoff record (17-3) that’s hotter than Travis Kelce’s sideline antics, the 29-year-old QB is the NFL’s ultimate cheat code.

But not everyone’s cheering. Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor just dropped a truth bomb hotter than a sideline Gatorade cooler: “What happens when you’re playing a guy like Mahomes who does his fake going to go down, and then he takes off? Let’s get some fairness in this.”

LT isn’t just ranting—he’s flashing back to the 80s when QBs like Joe Montana pulled similar stunts. “I remember chasing Joe,” Taylor growled, recounting a play where Montana feigned stepping out of bounds. “I let up, and boom—he ran another 15 yards. I went over and said, ‘If you ever do that again, I’ll light you up.’He apologized. Nowadays? You can’t even touch [QBs] once they hit the ground.”

Back in Taylor’s era, QB shenanigans came with consequences. During the 1986 playoffs, LT’s Giants bulldozed Montana’s 49ers 49-3, with Taylor snagging a pick-six after a brutal hit on Joe Cool. Fast-forward to 1990: Even Leonard Marshall nearly folded Montana like a lawn chair, sidelining him for two years. “You wanna fake a slide? Enjoy the turf,” Taylor’s Giants seemed to say. Montana’s résumé—4 Super Bowls, 40K+ yards—was built in a league where QBs paid the price for theatrics.

Cue the Goodfellas freeze frame: Taylor’s warning to Montana was the OG version of “talk softly and carry a big stick.” But in 2024, defenders can’t even whisper to QBs without a flag. Mahomes’ “fake slide” magic isn’t new—it’s straight out of his Houdini playbook. Take the 2024 Divisional Round: Mahomes scrambled, hit a Matrix-style slide, drew a penalty, then tossed a TD to Kelce to ice the game.

Critics howled, but the stats don’t lie: 310 pass yards, 45 rush yards, and a 23-14 W. Taylor’s gripe? The rules reward QBs for trickery while handcuffing defenders. “It’s like playing Among Us with a guy who’s always the impostor,” one fan tweeted.

At the heart of this debate lies a collision of eras: the gritty, unyielding style of LT and Montana versus the flashy, innovation-driven tactics of today’s Mahomes. While LT racked up 1,088 tackles and 132.5 sacks (142 unofficially) over 184 games with the Giants, Montana dazzled in 192 games with 40,551 passing yards and 273 TDs, setting a benchmark for quarterback play.

Mahomes, though? He’s thriving in a safer NFL, where his 105.8 playoff passer rating and 46 total TDs make him a glitch in the system. Meanwhile, Mahomes is chasing Brady’s ghost, three rings deep and eyeing a three-peat.

But this is not the first time Mahomes has been called out for his tactics.

The infamous ‘flopping’ accident

During the Chiefs matchup against the Houston Texans in late January, Mahomes had to face growing criticism for allegedly “flopping.” Towards the end of the scramble against Houston, Mahomes slowed down as he made his way to the sideline. And it was the exact moment when Texans linebacker Henry To’oTo’o shoved him inbounds and the quarterback went tumbling out of bounds with his arms flailing above his head.

For a league like the NFL that is as obsessed with protecting its quarterback, it is the exact kind of play that could flag for a late hit from an official who likely isn’t paying attention. It was only after this that the fans began to suggest that Mahomes was baiting the officials into a flag while benefitting from his status as the biggest star. But this is where it gets interesting.

Surprisingly, Mahomes admitted to his wrongdoing, saying, “I would say the only one I felt like I probably did too much was the one on the sideline where I didn’t get the flag. The refs saw it and didn’t throw a flag. I understood it immediately and know that I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

Moving on, Mahomes’ combination of acrobatic plays and pinpoint precision keeps fans watching because football remains a mix of heart and resilience alongside innovation.