How the Patrick Mahomes-Maxx Crosby episode illuminates more than just Chiefs QB’s fire

One of my favorite movie scenes is from “To Kill A Mockingbird,” the film adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic book.

It’s the way Gregory Peck’s immortal Atticus Finch reacts when racist Bob Ewell spits on him. He resists his impulse to lash back and instead takes out his handkerchief to wipe off his face before walking away.

I always admired that courage to turn the other cheek, and the reminder that, as my dad liked to say, eagles don’t eat worms.

Then again, I always appreciated what might be considered the exact opposite stance to be found “In The Heat Of The Night.” It’s when Sidney Poitier’s Virgil Tibbs character is slapped by the plantation owner … and instantly smacks him back. Because he’s got the courage not to take it no matter what the implications are.

As the Chiefs prepare to play the Raiders on Sunday in Las Vegas, I got thinking about those scenes in the context of the well-publicized (through Netflix’s “Quarterback” series) verbal jousting and jostling last season between Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby — who absolutely was the instigator.

And I found myself thinking that Mahomes stands tall by straddling those fictionalized places, essentially balancing what has long seemed to me to be conflicting approaches:

Intense yet poised to absorb blow after blow after blow … but not indefinitely and certainly not to be trifled with.

Crosby missed several days of practice this week with a knee injury and as of Friday afternoon is considered doubtful to play on Sunday.

The point here, though, isn’t about another potential game within the game between them, but rather the light that episode cast on Mahomes as a competitor.

Not long after “Quarterback” was released, I wrote about what that exchange reaffirmed about Mahomes’ temperament: that he has the rare habit of being able to harness rage into precision performance. A sort of emotional alchemy.

But obscured by Mahomes’ crude tirade at Crosby as the Chiefs began rallying from a 17-0 deficit (along the way to a 30-29 win) was his decided patience dealing with Crosby’s repeated jabs.

That reflects something about Mahomes that may or may not be apparent to the naked eye but is another distinction of his that I applaud: an inclination toward graciousness, imperfect as that might be at times, that melds with an indomitable spirit.

So come with that trash-talk and those mind games at your own peril. Mahomes is always looking for extra motivation, and it’s also in his nature to never to give you any disrespect with which to work.

“When I’m out there on the football field, I’m going to push it to the limits. I’m going to try to do whatever I can to win,” he said in a preseason interview with The Star. “But I’m not going to do it in a way that hurts anyone else.”

Despite his eventual outburst against Crosby, I believe that holds true. And I think it helps explain why Mahomes routinely is considered among the NFL’s most-liked players by fans, and even why NFL peers (46.4% of 84 polled by The Athletic) chose him as the top player in the league even during this thus far quiet season of his.

Now, through what he termed blackout anger and all, Mahomes may finish a matter like that with Crosby.

But he is never apt to start anything — to the contrary — and he’s also intent on reconciliation in the aftermath.

If you watch virtually any mic’d up episode of Mahomes, it’s full of accolades for opponents on how they hit him or rushed him. In the Netflix series, Mahomes said he does that to “make sure those guys like me,” and that this approach might make them “consciously or subconsciously” not finish their hits on him as hard.

While I imagined there is at least some element of gamesmanship to that, and Mahomes certainly is too discreet to give opponents any pre-game fodder, it seems to me those gesturescome to him too automatically to be contrived.

So I asked him about why he spends so much time complimenting opponents in that preseason interview with The Star.

“It’s respect for the game …” he said. “I really admire people who are really good at what they do, and they go out there and lay it on the line to be the best. So that’s all sports, but especially when I’m playing football. Because I understand how hard it is.”

So when you see him praising or encouragingly patting opponents like Aaron Donald or Jalen Ramsey or Bobby Wagner, he said, “What I’m doing is showing them the respect, because they’ve put in the time and done the work to be on that stage.”

As for Crosby, let’s remember how that unfolded.

As the Raiders were stifling the Chiefs early, Crosby sacked Mahomes twice but also kept taking gratuitous shots at him.

At one point, Crosby appeared to try to land on Mahomes after he was taken down by another defender. At another, Mahomes complained to an official that “98” was diving at him after every play. Then, well after Mahomes released a pass, Crosby thumped him on the arm.

“‘Come on, dawg,’” a mic’d up Mahomes said as he actually patted Crosby on his arm and walked away. “‘I know what you’re doing, but just chill out a little bit, you know what I’m saying? Don’t just punch me for no reason, dawg.’”

That was the last calm before the unleashed fury of a patient man. After Mahomes shortly hit Travis Kelce for the first of their four touchdown connections that day, he hollered “I’m here all day!” six times facing Crosby before his words turned into repeated rants of “you woke up the wrong (expletive)” and he knocked heads with Crosby.

It’s worth noting here that Mahomes seldom, if ever, has cursed when speaking with the media. And if he had his way now, perhaps the official transcript of that exchange would read the way he put it on the recent Monday Night Football ManningCast:

“It was ‘gentleman,’” Mahomes said, smiling, as in, “‘You woke up the wrong gentleman.’”

At game’s end, in fact, Mahomes and Crosby were just that: gentlemen. Mahomes went directly to Crosby and hugged him, saying, “Hey, you know I love you, dawg. Hell of a game.”

And in a podcast with Von Miller, Crosby said, “Every single time we play, he’s the first guy that comes up to me and we always show love. So I’ve got a bunch of respect for him, and it’s an honor to chase him down.”

Surely all the more so because Mahomes won’t back down ... but won’t start it, either.