The Kansas City Chiefs’ 34-20 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night came with plenty of dramatic moments, including one in the fourth quarter when Patrick Mahomes appeared to injure himself on a touchdown drive.
Arrowhead Stadium fell silent as Mahomes took an awkward step on his touchdown pass to Samaje Perine and had to be helped off the field, making sure to not put any weight on his left ankle.
Mahomes discussed what was going through his mind during that play in a postgame presser.
“I was obviously running for the goal line, was committed to running the football, and at the last second saw Samaje and so kind of awkwardly rolled the ankle a little bit,” Mahomes said. “Definitely scary, I think it hurt more just ‘cause it was the same ankle I rolled last week, so it scared me a little bit but once I took my breath and calmed down it ended up being not too bad.”
“Whenever you do something, and it’s non-contact, you don’t know exactly what happens and you get that sharp pain, you always fear the worst,” continued Mahomes. “You feel the pain, and that scares you ‘cause obviously I’ve dealt with ankles before, but (I) just laid there, and as time went on the pain subsided… I just got back to it and got back moving again and felt comfortable going out there.”
That should be a huge relief to Chiefs fans.
Mahomes was able to return to the field on the Chiefs’ next possession and appeared unhampered by the injury for the rest of the game. Following Monday’s win, Kansas City is now 8-0 and will face the Denver Broncos next Sunday.
