Mahomes vs. Purdy: Which Super Bowl QB is 'Just a Game Manager'?

LAS VEGAS - We have reached a saturation point here in Las Vegas as "Super Bowl Week'' happily morphs into game day ... and not a moment too soon, as the over-analysis has reached its normal point of ridiculousness.

An example: An argument about whether Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback in the NFL and the single-most important reason the Kansas City Chiefs are again in the Super Bowl - is "just a game manager.''

Former NFL offensive lineman Willie Colon is among those trying to make that argument, having suggested that Mahomes is "managing games'' for the Chiefs - as opposed to "making plays'' - by avoiding the deep throws and keeping things conservative. ... and that led to a heated exchange on an FS1 show.

Colon got into a heated exchange with another ex-player, Greg Jennings, on "The Carton Show" on this topic.

"Greg, turn on the AFC Championship against Baltimore," Colon said. "It was five yards to [Travis] Kelce, a quick one to Rashee Rice. He didn't throw the football down the field [except] one time ...''

Jennings' response?

"They're making me want to physically put my hands on you," Jennings replied. "Are you talking about Patrick Mahomes?''

The facts: Mahomes makes every throw. Mahomes carries the Chiefs offense. Mahomes is the best player on the team ... and to many, the best player in the NFL. The Chiefs are a perennial contender as a result of his singular brilliance.

When Mahomes has to "game-manage,'' he does that. When he needs to throw for 300 yards, or run the ball, or win in the clutch final minutes? He does all of it.

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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is often called a "game manager,'' and it fits - not as an insult, but as a fact. But to say it about Mahomes, who has played in six straight AFC Championship Games and at just 28 years old is now playing in his fourth Super Bowl and shooting for his third title.

If Mahomes and the Chiefs win, he would become just the fifth starting QB in NFL history to win three Super Bowls, joining Tom Brady (7), Terry Bradshaw (4), Joe Montana (4) and Troy Aikman (3).

Mahomes has a chance to be remembered as the greatest quarterback of all-time. And efforts to crunch him and his body of work into some sort of limited box smacks of an attempt to be controversial for controversy's sake ... which is of course the national TV "debate shows'' stock in trade.