have spent their entire lives dreaming of the opportunity to play on the big stage.When you consider the many years of hard work they’ve put in — not to mention the sacrifices they’ve made — it’s not hard to understand why they’d want to coast.Why not?They have arrived at their goal.Who wouldn’t want to enjoy the ride?But the greatest NFL players are the ones who understand that playing in the NFL is just one more step on the road to the real goal: to become a champion.The good life can wait until their playing days are over.Such a player is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY SportsSpeaking to the media on Wednesday De’Anthony Thomas Jersey , Mahomes kept returning to this theme.“When you are in this league, you have to do something every single day,” he said. “You have off days, but those off days are usually watching film. There’s really not time to go out and do stuff and really be out too late. I try to just focus in on being in the same routine every single day. I kind of do my certain things at the facility. I go home, and I do the same stuff there it seems like every single day.”He and his girlfriend Brittany Matthews rarely even go out to eat.“She doesn’t like that, but after I’m done with the day here, I don’t like leaving the house,” Mahomes explained. “I usually just try to order something to go. And then I have Fitstyle foods that provides me meals, and I usually eat that or to-go foods.”Even on his 23rd birthday — which was on Monday — the couple stayed in.“For my birthday, I came up here and got to watch some film,” he said. “When I went home, I didn’t want to go to dinner and my girlfriend had gotten me a cake, so I just ordered Rye to-go on Postmates.That was my birthday. That was what I wanted to do, and she said that was fine with her as long as that’s what I wanted to do.”You’ve probably already seen a lot about how much of Mahomes’ approach to being a professional athlete comes from his father — MLB pitcher Pat Mahomes, who played for half a dozen clubs from 1992 until 2003.Young Patrick spent a lot of time in major league clubhouses, and had the opportunity to learn at an early age how professional athletes hone their craft.But Mahomes said his most recent tutor — former Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith — had a lot of influence on him.“He watched these games on this day, watched these games on this day, focused on this, this day,” he said. “I have kind of taken stuff from that and made it my own. I make sure I am prepared for every single situation. That is something that he was great at — and still is. That has helped me a lot as you get on the field and you get an unscouted look, you are prepared for that unscouted look, and you can make the right protection call and get yourself into the right play.”Head coach Andy Reid agreed.“He saw how Alex prepared,” said Reid. “Alex made sure he covered every base, he was right there with him on all that and that’s the way he goes about his business. I don’t think he’s worried about this or that, it’s just getting ready for the team he’s playing and he’s going to try to exhaust that.“Chad Henne is that same kind of guy,” he continued. “He’s been around it a long time, he’s been a starter Laurent Duvernay-Tardif Jersey , he’s done the backup thing but, he prepares and prepares and prepares. He’s around that, and I think what it really comes down to is that’s how Patrick is. He wants to do well and do the right things and he’s willing to spend the time doing it. It’s important to him.”Reid was asked if he had seen the same kind of preparation from other quarterbacks he’s coached — like Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb.“Everybody is different just like everybody in this room is different,” he said. “All three were very unique, and those two [where] I came from, one is in the Hall of Fame and one should be in the Hall of Fame. They’re both top-notch, they both have already put their name on it.“Patrick’s just starting and it’s time now. It’s time that will determine what he is and all these challenges from these defensive coordinators and defensive personnel, the players, and how he handles all of that. We’re in the second week of hopefully a 15-year career.“When you’re in the grinder like he is, like I am and like the rest of the team is, you don’t worry about all that, you’re just trying to get ready for a good opponent coming in here.”Looking ahead to the home opener against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Mahomes said he’s already familiar with how the 49ers will likely defend against him, but he expressed respect for the upcoming opponent.Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports“It is the same type of scheme that the Chargers ran and originated in Seattle,” he said of the 49ers defense. “They have a lot of good players. They have Richard Sherman there now, he is a very instinctual player. They have a big defensive line. It is going to be a great challenge for us, especially being our first home game. We have to stay in process. Keep doing what we do well, keep getting better, fixing our mistakes and hopefully come out with the win.”And Mahomes said he’s really looking forward to this game — which will be his first regular season start at Arrowhead.“I am extremely excited. I have had this game circled for a long time. Just being able to play at home in front of these fans, it is going to be an amazing thing. I can’t wait for the moment when I get to run out on the field and hear those fans roar.”It’s probably fair to say that there are a great number of Chiefs fans who are looking forward to making that roar.Other notes from Wednesday’s media appearances:Andy Reid said the signing of Sammy Watkins was about maximizing return on a free-agent investment: “I am kind of speaking for Brett Veach on this, but he felt if we were going to spend money on a free agent, try to get the best one, it didn’t matter what side of the ball. These guys are free agents, you are paying them a lot of money, so we felt Sammy was a talented player out there and had an opportunity to go get him. I don’t think he was thinking the other way necessarily, putting him with Patrick or short-changing the defense or anything. You go after free agents, let’s try to get the best guy you possibly can if you are going to pay him the money. That’s how he went about it. Brett tried to help the defense out with Anthony Hitchens Ron Parker Jersey , who has done a tremendous job.”Reid spoke about his trust in the offensive line: “The offensive line is doing a nice job. They have worked very hard at coming together and working. We have a ton of things we can improve on. As defensive coordinators study and see these things, they will throw different wrinkles at you and you have to rise up every week. That’s not a simple part of this. In this business it’snot so much about what you did the week before, it’s about what you do today. We have to keep answering these different challenges. We did okay last week, now we will prepare ourselves for this week.”Reid also expressed confidence in offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy:“Just in general as a coordinator, when Eric brings it, he brings it. It’s every day. He doesn’t let one thing slide. He goes in the quarterback room and spends time in there. That’s good for Patrick, to see an ex-player and how he approaches the game and also how he approaches it as a coach. There’s no let off. I had Eric as a player and now I have him as a coach and they are the same thing. This is him. It’s attention to detail. I am going to make sure my closet is clean and yours is clean too. If not, I’m going to help you clean it. That’s how he goes about it. He also has that feel of when to back off a little bit and let Patrick do his thing. I have been impressed with that part of him.”The key to the relationship between Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes After Wednesday’s media appearances at Arrowhead Stadium, much was made about how certain players talk.But going into Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars — likely the most important test the Kansas City Chiefs have faced this season — a more important story was how players and coaches listen.That was what we heard from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who was asked about his sideline meetings with head coach Andy Reid.“First off, he always asks me what I am seeing out there and what is going on out there,” said Mahomes. “Then he asks what I am thinking and shows me what he is thinking, and we get on the same page. That goes with Coach Reid, Kafka, Bieniemy — and Chad Henne — all those guys are giving me what they are thinking. At the same time, we are all trying to get on the same page to go out there and run a tight unit.”Reid confirmed Mahomes’ side of the story.“I do a lot of listening when I’m over there, and just see where he is at, see what he is seeing, which is real important,” he said. “He’s got great vision, but just so we’re on the same page is important. He knows what I’m thinking, I know what he’s thinking, he’s got great feedback. Mike Kafka’s right there so he’ll talk with him — and Chad Henne is a big part of that too. I’m able to give him a little bit of a heads up on maybe what I’m thinking going forward. He gives me an idea of what he likes or sees and we’ve just got to put it together and go with that.”Photo by John Weast/Getty ImagesMahomes said that the group approach to the offense is not only different than what he experienced in college at Texas Tech, but also better.“I had Coach Kingsbury and we were always trying to be on the same page with what was going on, but I didn’t have the different voices of Coach Bieniemy,Kafka, Reid and Chad.You get different things from each person that you can build into one thing and get things going from there.” For Reid Allen Bailey Jersey , it’s much like the experience he’s had with other successful quarterbacks in his career.Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images“I did that with Donovan McNabb when he was young, early,” Reid said. “Really even Alex Smith when he first came here, because it was important — he was new to the offense.But Alex had the game experience.I enjoy that part. He gives you great feedback so if you’re going over there and it’s just, ‘Call what you want to call,’ then you don’t need to do that, but having that open communication I think is good.”Mahomes credited the exchange of ideas as being one of the contributing factors in the win against Denver on Monday night.“Just getting on the same page and figuring out what we can do that works. Coach Kafka, Bieniemy, Reid — all of us are giving ideas to each other and getting on the same page of what we all like against the defense they are showing out there. I feel like it paid off this last week in figuring out what we needed to do to go into the fourth quarter strong.”Speaking about their upcoming opponent, you could see that the head coach and his quarterback were on the same page days before the game is to begin.“We look forward to playing Jacksonville,” Reid said. “We know they are a good football team. They have done a heck of a job down there with the whole organization and with the team in particular.Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images“We have played some good defenses here and Jacksonville is a good defense and arguably the best in the NFL,” Reid continued. “That is why you do that. You love that challenge of playing against good players.”“[Jacksonville has] a great scheme,” said Mahomes. “They do a lot of things really well. They do a lot of the same stuff, but they do it to a very high pristine type of thing. They have a ton of talent over there.We have to utilize our offense and our weapons and try to do what we can to attack them.”Mahomes was then asked about making offensive adjustments — as the Chiefs were forced to do while playing Denver on Monday night.“I am still learning, but trying to make adjustments on the fly is something I didn’t have to do as much in college, and here you have to make them because defenses throw unscouted looks out there. Kind of like the first half of this last game, they threw us a lot of different blitzes and things we hadn’t seen before from that defense so far this year. For us, we just have to get on the same page and figure out those looks and make adjustments to make our plays work.”Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty ImagesBut Mahomes said that finding success against the Denver Broncos was a confidence-builder for him.“Being able to go up against stuff you are not necessarily sure of because it’s a blitz you haven’t seen before and you’re able to have success against it — that is how football works” he explained. “You are going to see unscouted stuff. You are going to have adverse situations in games and have to find ways to come out with wins in them.”Other notes from Wednesday’s media appearancesReid (unsurprisingly) said that Eric Berry is still being evaluated day to day. “One thing you know about Eric, you have no questions that he wants to be there and go. He is trying everything he can to get himself out there. We just take it day-by-day, and keep doing that.We have great communication with him and we know his desire is to be there. We want him to be smart, we want to be smart with it. It is a long season.”Reid also said the team isn’t putting pressure on Berry.“We would never put our guys in a spot like that. We have always been good with this part. We have always said, ‘If you are hurt, go get healed up. We are not going to sit there and pressure you to come back. That is not how we roll.’ But we expect the next guy to jump up and play and play well. That is how we have gone about it. And so that is what we are doing. Eric Murray is getting better every week and doing a nice job for us.”Mahomes spoke about his college teammate Keke Coutee, who had 11 catches in his rookie debut for the Houston Texans against the Indianapolis Colts.“I have known Keke was a special player since he was in ninth grade. I remember him being in Lufkin, which is East Texas, and playing against Robert E. Lee High School as a sophomore in high school and dominating. I remember I ended up going back to Texas Tech that year and I was talking to Coach Kingsbury about him and we ended up getting him there. He has always had a great feel for the game and knows how to find his way open. He has the athleticism to make a lot of plays.”