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I don't think he marred anything. Go back to mid-season, and he was pretty much all-Pro level (Hurts, of course, has been at MVP level all season long, so that was out of reach) - just one interception in his first nine games.
I still suspect some sort of arm or shoulder injury in that he rarely attempted to throw downfield, especially the second half of the season. Combine that with major losses on the offensive line, and you can see why there was plenty of speculation that he could play next year.
He completed 66.8% of his passes, and broke the all-time NFL records for passing attempts with 733 (a little bit behind, per-game, Matthew Stafford's 16-game mark from 2012) and completions with 490 (same, Drew Brees, 2016). That's hardly tainting a legacy - more a guy keeping his team competitive and winning the closest division race in NFL history.
And all that, when just being on the field as a non-kicker at age 45 was unprecedented in NFL history.
You look at Patrick Mahomes and you wonder if he can do even better, because he's on track. But will Mahomes still be playing in 2040?
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