Chiefs' Reid Renamed 'Corn Dog' Play to 'Tom and Jerry' on Mahomes' Super Bowl Winner

The infamous "Corn Dog" presnap motion that led to a pair of touchdowns in the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory last year appeared again this year when Patrick Mahomes found Mecole Hardman for the game-winning score in the Chiefs' 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers to close Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.

This time around, though, Corn Dog goes by a new name—Tom and Jerry. Peter King of NBC Sports provided the scoop.

"So here came Mecole Hardman—whose KC career ended when he wasn't re-signed last year, and whose Jets career ended when he was traded back to Kansas City for a bag of footballs in October. Reid called the play into Mahomes' helmet and Mahomes said to the huddle: "Tiger 12, Tom & Jerry right, Gun trips, right bunch, F shuttle." That last part was the Corn Dog motion from last Super Bowl—speed in, speed out. Hardman ran the precise jet motion, right to left, into the formation, and then quickly turned around to catch the game-winner. This year, instead of calling the play Corn Dog, Reid called it Tom and Jerry. (Reasons unknown and unexplained.) "We built Corn Dog saying, 'Well for sure they'll cover Corn Dog because we called it twice. They've seen it.'" Nope. Hardman wasn't wide open, but he was open. Really open. And KC had its third Super Bowl in five years."

The Corn Dog/Tom and Jerry motion essentially involves a player running hard in pre-snap motion towards the line of scrimmage before sprinting straight out toward the sideline. The quarterback delivers a quick pass, and the receiver makes the play. It led to the Chiefs' final two touchdowns (Mahomes to Kadarius Toney and then Skyy Moore) in their 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.

Now it was Hardman's turn, albeit with a new name.

One can surmise that Reid conflated his love of corn dogs and this presnap motion en route last year's name, per a conversation with King last year post-Super Bowl.

As King noted, it's not entirely clear why the presnap motion is called Tom and Jerry, but one can posit a guess.

Tom and Jerry the name of an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon, in which a cat (Tom) fruitlessly fails to catch an arch-nemesis mouse (Jerry).

On Sunday, Hardman was Jerry, the 49ers defense was Tom, and the Reid-led Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in five years.