The Kansas City Chiefs absolutely dominated in their Week 7 clash with the Las Vegas Raiders. But the 31-0 blowout win wasn’t the biggest highlight. The greatest moment of the game was when franchise quarterback Patrick Mahomes decided to throw the Raiders’ defense into chaos with his acting. Post-game, even star tight end Travis Kelce dropped some flowers for his quarterback’s skills.

The Chiefs, leading 0-7, started the second quarter with a 4th and 1. Mahomes barked some calls to get Travis Kelce and running back Brashard Smith moving. But just before taking the snap, and attempting to draw the defense offside, Mahomes threw up his hands in exasperation and shouted, “This f****** never f****** works, man!” The Raiders’ defense eased up every so slightly, and that’s when Mahomes handed the ball to running back Kareem Hunt, who rushed in to convert the down.

After the game, Kelce was asked what he thought about Mahomes’ acting. Kelce’s smiling response: “Perfection. We got the first, that’s all that matters.”

Mahomes’ act was so on-point that even the commentators bought in on it before realizing it was a fake. That feint became part of a successful drive, ending with a touchdown catch by wideout Hollywood Brown and bumping their lead up to 14-0.

By the end of the third quarter, the Chiefs were already at 31-0. The victory felt so sure that the Chiefs even pulled out Mahomes and handed the reins to backup quarterback Gardner Minshew. The Raiders’ defense couldn’t do anything they’d planned, and the Chiefs’ defense kept the Raiders at zero points throughout the fourth quarter.

Mahomes later revealed the secret of that fake call when asked about it.

Patrick Mahomes’ trick play inspiration

Post-game, the spirits were obviously high in the Kansas City locker room. Patrick Mahomes was asked where those flawless acting skills came from. Smirking a little, Mahomes dropped a joke:

“I think it comes from all my State Farm commercials.”

While enjoying the laughter that followed, Mahomes then went on to talk about the real brain behind that play: offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.

“Nagy actually came up with the idea. We had talked about doing the hard count and trying to draw the teams offside. I can’t remember who I watched do it a couple years ago, and they had said that, and so I was like, ‘I’m gonna use that as my part of my acting to get the defense to relax a little bit.’”

That brilliant fake call aside, the Chiefs’ offense was firing back on all cylinders with the return of star wideout Rashee Rice from suspension. Rice followed that up by hauling in seven catches for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Mahomes found a whopping nine targets to stretch the field and create mismatches. When Mahomes exited after the third quarter, he’d already added 286 passing yards and 3 touchdowns with a passer rating of 126.6.

The 4-3 Chiefs will now host the Washington Commanders next in Week 8 at Arrowhead Stadium. With the entire roster buzzing in sync, can we expect more dominance from the Chiefs? All signs point to yes, with an added layer of dexterity from their bag of tricks.