Patrick Mahomes has been the best quarterback in football for several years. And he has two rings to show for it. One of his best attributes is his elusiveness. He is hard to get ahold of with his ability to move around along with his speed and mobility.
For that reason it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that no single player had ever had three sacks on him in a single game.
Until today.
Malcolm Koonce chased down Mahomes three times in the Raiders’ upset win over the Chiefs Christmas Day to become the first ever to do it.
#Raiders Malcolm Koonce is 1st player ever to sack Patrick Mahomes 3+ times in a game. Previous high was 2.5 for Miami's Jerome Baker in 2020
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) December 25, 2023
While this performance may come out of nowhere for most people, it’s been building to this all season for Koonce.
“Malcolm is really making a name for himself,” said Antonio Pierce after the game. “This is now three weeks in a row he’s been like ‘Wow!’ It’s good to see the effort. Fighting through a lot of stuff.”
Not only has Koonce strung together three solid weeks in a row, his three sacks in this game give him seven over the past seven games.
It’s certainly not a coincidence that Pierce took over as head coach seven weeks ago.
Koonce and Maxx Crosby have formed the kind of duo the Raiders had hoped they would get from Tyree Wilson when they spent their pick at 7th overall in this year’s draft on him.
“We talk about it each and every week,” Pierce added. “We got 98 on the left and if somebody shows up on the right or in the middle, that’s going to be a problem. It’s starting to become a problem.”
Koonce is in his third NFL season. He had just two sacks total over his first two seasons.
