The Broncos’ Damarri Mathis bizarrely tried NOT to tackle Patrick Mahomes in weird play

I’m honestly not sure what the heck happened here with this moment in which a Denver Broncos defender tried NOT to tackle Patrick Mahomes.

Damarri Mathis had a clear route to make a tackle on Mahomes Thursday night in the Broncos’ 19-8 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but as the QB was running toward him, Mathis … ran right into Jerick McKinnon, as if it was Mathis blocking on the play.

What the what? Did he not know Mahomes had the ball? Was he exacting some kind of revenge on the running back? I need an answer, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before:

OK, explain this tackle attempt by Damarri Mathis. He must not realize Mahomes has the ball, right? pic.twitter.com/UuehW5wcV2

— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) October 13, 2023

I’m really confused about what Damarri Mathis (#27) is doing here… lowers his shoulder to counter the block from McKinnon, turns his shoulder away from Mahomes and gives up a first down he could’ve easily stopped. https://t.co/Is6mPfzT0V

— Brock Kruske (@KruskeNFLDraft) October 13, 2023

Damarri Mathis had money on the #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/LBrEuSzM7J

— NFL Notifications (@NFLNotify) October 13, 2023