After watching their star quarterback go down late in Week 15 with an ankle injury that forced their backup into the starting lineup, the Kansas City Chiefs came into Week 16's prep worried about whether or not Patrick Mahomes would be ready to take the field going forward. They were also facing the complexity of scheduling concerns giving the NFL's willingness to trade player safety for broadcast dollars.
In the end, the drama was all for show: Patrick Mahomes will play on Saturday.
The Houston Texans are visiting the Chiefs this week on a bit of short rest for all parties involved, being forced to play on a Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday, which meant all injured players enjoy one day less of rest and recuperation.
From there, the Chiefs also know they have to turn around in four more days and visit the Pittsburgh Steelers in a play for pleasing Netflix, the league's latest broadcast partner. Netflix paid $150 million for the rights to broadcast games on Christmas Day and The Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers were pulled into the vortex.
Mahomes was originally taken out of the game due to an obvious leg injury, and subsequent tests confirmed that he'd broken no bones but had a mild high-ankle sprain. Carson Wentz is on deck in case of any concerns with Mahomes, but he didn't even get a real chance to practice. Mahomes took those reps as well this week, leaving little doubt about his ultimate availability despite the team's insistence he was "day to day."
That doesn't mean, however, that Mahomes' injury is much ado about nothing. The Chiefs are desperately hoping to avoid any further aggravation of that injury, while opposing teams coming up quickly on the schedule know that it will be a primary weakness. Mahomes' ankle and his ongoing condition will remain a primary plot to watch during the game.
The Chiefs and Texans are scheduled to take the field at Arrowhead at noon C.T.