Patrick Mahomes and Kanas City Chiefs honor recently deceased Hall of Famer Len Dawson
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Patrick Mahomes and Kanas City Chiefs honor recently deceased Hall of Famer Len Dawson by using Choir Huddle before Green Bay Packers game
- Hall of Famer Len Dawson passed away at the age of 87 Wednesday in hospice
- Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes honored Dawson to start final preseason game
- Dawson won Chiefs a Super Bowl and was a radio broadcaster for over 30 years
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The Kansas City Chiefs took a moment at the start of Thursday’s third and final preseason game to honor Hall of Fame Quarterback Len Dawson. Dawson passed away at the age of 87 on Wednesday.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes trotted out for the only time he would take the field during the game and proceeded to take a delay of game penalty while the Chiefs offense stood in the choir huddle.
The choir huddle was the style of huddle Dawson’s Chiefs and many other old school football teams used, compared to the circular huddle often used by teams today.
Chiefs start game by taking penalty while imitating ‘choir huddle’ used by Len Dawson’s Chiefs
Len Dawson waves to crowd during Fan Fest before his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement
Dawson lead the Chiefs to an 23-7 upset victory over the Minnesota the Vikings in 1970, when he also won Super Bowl MVP.
The Chiefs victory over the famed Vikings defensive line known as the ‘Purple People Eaters,’ also helped usher in a new era of the game during the 1960s that saw teams begin to become more reliant on the passing game.
Dawson played for the team until 1975 and would eventually go on to spend over 30 years as one of the team’s radio broadcasters.
Dawson runs with ball while looking down field for a wide receiver in November of 1966
Coincidentally enough Mahomes himself, who was at the center of attention during the moment has also been given credit for ushering in a new era of wrinkles to NFL offenses.
Since Mahomes has been the Chiefs quarterback, RPO’s also known as run-pass-options have become ever popular throughout the league. Simply put these plays give the quarterback the option of deciding to hand the ball to his running back or make a quick predetermined throw to a wide receiver based off what he sees from the defense.
Teams have also begun to spend more time practicing scramble drills after watching Mahomes pick apart the league with while appearing to run for his life outside the pocket. These plays have evolved from receivers and tight ends randomly running wherever they see fit once the qb starts scrambling, to instead running to a specific point based off which way the qb runs.
Mahomes wears a sweater paying homage to Dawson while participating in pregame warmups
In terms of the actual game itself Kansas City went on to defeat the Green Bay Packers 17-10.
Both teams held out the majority of their starters, as is often seen by teams in the final game of preseason action.
The Chiefs will begin the regular season with a trip to Arizona, while the Packers will travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings.