Kansas City Chiefs fans can breathe a major sigh of relief after the Week 9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Chiefs Kingdom experienced a scary moment during the game when Patrick Mahomes suffered what appeared to be a non-contact lower leg injury. Thankfully, the ankle injury was not serious and kept Mahomes sidelined for all of 90 seconds.
“As far as the injuries go, Mecole Hardman hurt his shoulder, he was able to come back in,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said following the game. “Likewise with Pat (Mahomes), he hurt his ankle and was able to continue to play. George (Karlaftis) hurt his hip area, and then he also came back and played there until that last series, and then (Tershawn) Wharton tweaked his right knee. So I think all in all, we came out relatively healthy.”
Specifically regarding Mahomes’ injury, Reid didn’t know whether his star quarterback was going to be able to continue playing, at least initially.
“I wasn’t sure exactly where he was going to be with it, but he might have the loosest angles in America,” Reid quipped. “I mean, it’s ridiculous how he comes back from those things, and then he’s mentally tough on top of that.”
Reid even told backup QB Carson Wentz to get ready to go into the game while Mahomes was in the blue injury tent on the Chiefs’ sideline.
“He’s competitor,” Reid said. “I told him I was going to take him out, and he probably wanted to fight me. So, he’s a tough kid.”
As for the expectations for Mahomes heading into Week 10 against the Denver Broncos, Reid expects his star QB’s ankle to be just a little bit tender tomorrow. He doesn’t, however, expect it to limit Mahomes in any way during the practice week.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes discusses his ankle injury
Mahomes told ESPN’s Lisa Salters about the ankle injury on the field directly after the game.
#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes on his ankle: “I rolled the ankle. I rolled it last week. When you roll it again, it never feels good.”
— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) November 5, 2024
He provided more details on the injury with reporters during his postgame media availability at the podium.
“I was obviously running for the goal line,” Mahomes explained. “I was kind of committed to running the football, and at the last second, saw Samaje (Perine), so I kind of awkwardly rolled the ankle a little bit. Definitely scary. I think it hurt more just because the same ankle I rolled last week, so it scared me a little bit. But once I kind of took my took my breath and kind of calmed down a little bit, ended up being not too bad. We were able to go in there, kind of get the re-spat, and go back on the football field.”
Mahomes had to be helped off the field after the injury, but he explained it wasn’t exactly by choice.
“Yeah, I was trying to run off the field, and they were telling me not to, and just kind of the football mentality is to get off the field, and we just scored a touchdown, and they told me to just, just take it slow. And that was sort of walking, and started feeling better. And obviously, after I got the re-spat, get that comfortability back, and then took a few drops and felt good.”
Chiefs HC Andy Reid told reporters that he told Mahomes that he was taking him out of the game.
“Yeah, I thought he was joking,” Mahomes said. “He said it and I was like, ‘Come on, we’re not doing this again.’ He trusts me. And once the doctors checked it out and I was able to get back and do the drops again, he let me get back on the field.”
Finally, Mahomes was asked whether this ankle injury was in any way similar to the one he suffered during the 2022-23 playoffs.
“No, I think just because the one in the playoffs a couple of years ago was a little bit how I got tackled, it got stuck, and it hurt a lot more,” Mahomes said. “I can move. I still have mobility in my ankle, and I still did after this game. And so obviously you’ll sleep, and probably get a little swelling tomorrow. It’s a short week, but you go in there and take care of it and be prepared to play next week.”
