KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs center Creed Humphrey cradled the football with his left hand, trying his hardest not to move for a false start.
It wasn’t easy during the second quarter of the Chiefs’ 31-0 home victory over the Las Vegas Raiders — not when, right behind him, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was about to go Hollywood on the Las Vegas Raiders.
“That,” Humphrey said after the game, “was hilarious.”
Let’s rewind for some context. The Chiefs faced fourth-and-1 at their 40 to start the second quarter while leading 7-0. Kansas City lined up to go for it, with Mahomes calling out, “Blue 80, set, hut, hut, hut” in what seemed like an attempt to draw the Raiders offside.
They didn’t fall for it. So Mahomes went right into the next part of his scheduled routine.
“This f—ing never f—ing works, man!” Mahomes screamed out, loud enough for the CBS microphones to pick it up clearly while analyst Tony Romo apologized for the profanity to his TV audience.
Humphrey, meanwhile, tried his best to keep a poker face after hearing those six words from his QB.
“I kind of chuckled when he said it,” Humphrey said.
Mahomes kept with his chicanery. He flipped both palms skyward while turning toward the sideline, feigning that he was angry at his coaches for attempting a silly “try to draw them offsides” call.
It was all a facade. A few seconds later, Mahomes actually called for the snap, hoping to take advantage of a Raiders defense that might’ve let its guard down.
Sure enough, it worked.
Mahomes handed off to running back Kareem Hunt, who plowed through a hole cleared by teammates Kingsley Suamataia and Jaylon Moore on the left side. Hunt gained 3 yards as the Chiefs continued their drive on their way to a near-perfect offensive day.
And Mahomes, afterward, spoke sheepishly about the play that called for him to go for a verbal fake-out against the Chiefs’ AFC West rivals.
So why were his dramatics so effective?
“I think it comes from all my State Farm commercials,” Mahomes joked with a smile.
incredible acting job 😅 pic.twitter.com/FTISe3ZFUz
— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025
The moment was part of the Chiefs playing their greatest hits Sunday, with the offense doing its best impression of some of the best Mahomes-led rosters of the past.
On a day wide receiver Rashee Rice returned from a six-game NFL suspension, the Chiefs scored touchdowns on each of their first four possessions while overwhelming a depleted Raiders defense.
Even more than that, Sunday’s outing — and Mahomes’ backyard football shenanigans — harkened back to times the Chiefs have played their absolute best.
And that’s when they’re having fun, too.
Remember, it was also against the Raiders two years ago when the Chiefs attempted their famous “Snow Globe” play, where they tried a spin-off of the children’s game “Ring Around the Rosie” pre-snap before circling themselves into position.
Coach Andy Reid often tells guys he wants them to let their personalities show — and that extends to the play calls as well. If Chiefs players come up with something creative, coaches listen to see if they can scheme up a way to make a call work.
This time, Mahomes gave credit to offensive coordinator Matt Nagy for putting the trick play into the game plan.
It was also something, though, that Mahomes said he’d thought about previously.
“I can’t remember who I watched do it a couple years ago, and they had said that (fake on the field). And so I was like, ‘I’m gonna use that as part of my acting to try to get the defense just to relax a little bit,’” Mahomes said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve just got to go get it.”
Fans online were entertained, along with CBS broadcasters Romo and Jim Nantz.
Romo, in fact, had all but given up on the Chiefs snapping it when Nantz interjected that the play had started.
“He was faking it!” Romo said on CBS’s broadcast. “He got ya!”
One underrated part of it all? The Chiefs had to prepare to make sure it would work.
Mahomes, without getting into too many trade secrets, said the team has certain things it does to communicate to players on the field that he’s doing a dummy snap count.
“That’s just what you have to do,” Mahomes said, “in order to be a step ahead in this league.”
Inside the Chiefs’ locker room, teammates acknowledged this wasn’t a one-off fluke. Instead, it was a carefully orchestrated maneuver.
“You already know we’ve been working on that one for a while,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said. “I’d rather do that than the fake and have to walk off the field after we don’t get them to jump. So I’m glad we finally got that thing ran.”
Chiefs receiver Hollywood Brown also said the team had worked on Mahomes’ snap-count misdirection a few times in recent practices.
“So to see that happen in a game and the way they executed that,” Brown said, “that was fun.”
Most of the rest of Sunday was enjoyable for the Chiefs as well. They scored 28 points for the fourth consecutive week, the first time they’ve accomplished that in the regular season since 2021.
Meanwhile, K.C.’s defense posted its first regular-season shutout since 2011. The Chiefs also had as many first downs (30) as the Raiders had plays (30).
“There’s a lot of people that played really well,” Reid said. “I’m proud of them for that.”
The Chiefs were more than good Sunday, though. They were also entertaining.
And never more so than during a second-quarter snap when Mahomes not only had broadcasters blushing.
He also had a teammate in front of him laughing.
“That,” Humphrey said with a grin, “was good acting.”