Patrick Mahomes spoke to reporters after the Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Indianapolis Colts about his sore ankle and moving forward.
Patrick Mahomes is clearly not himself these days, but don’t think about removing him from the game.
The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback first rolled an ankle that’s remained tender over the last several weeks in Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mahomes’s talent level (and the level of overall talent on this Chiefs team) had carried them to a 4-0 record through the first month of the season, despite the sore ankle, but in Week 5, the problem was made worse than ever.
When backed up against his own end zone in the second half of the team’s most recent loss to the Indianapolis Colts, left tackle Cam Erving was backed into Mahomes and stepped on his foot, re-injuring the ankle that had already been so tender. Suddenly Mahomes was seen limping toward the sidelines, worse than ever before.
“I just re-aggravated it a little bit there in the first half and then it got stepped on in the second half,” said Mahomes after the game to reporters. “Obviously it’s going to be a little sore tomorow. For me, it’s going into treatment and getting it better so I can be prepared for next week.”
When asked about the injury, Mahomes didn’t sound willing to budge an inch as to whether or not he would play. He was hurt, yes, but there was no consideration, at least on his part, as to whether he needed to rest. At that point, the game was still within reach (e.g. a one possession game) at 16-10. Mahomes was going to stay in and do whatever he could to help his team win the game.
“I was going to battle through it regardless,” said Mahomes. “I mean, we were in a hard fought game. For us, it wasn’t going our way, but I felt like we still had a chance so I was going to find a way to get through the rest of the game.”
Despite the pain, Mahomes threw for 321 passing yards and 1 touchdown although his completion rate was a season-low at 56 percent. On the year, Mahomes has 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also leads the league with 1,851 passing yards.
Here’s hoping Mahomes’ ankle heals up enough to handle facing the Houston Texans defense this coming Sunday in Week 6.