As the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs got to rest up during their bye week.
Now that they’re back to work, there’s urgent business at hand as they prepare for a divisional round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
“You build up for this all season long,” Mahomes said Tuesday. “In the regular season you take it week by week. But you want to be here in the playoffs, and you know you’re going to play the best football teams in the league. And that’s what you want to do as a competitor. So I’m excited to get to go up against a great football team at Arrowhead and that’s always a good time.”
The Chiefs and Jaguars met back in November at Arrowhead, and the Chiefs won 27-17. Mahomes threw for 331 yards and four touchdowns that game, while Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
Lawrence had a disastrous start to his playoff career last week, throwing four first-half interceptions against the Chargers in the wild card round. But the former top pick rallied his team to victory with four touchdowns in the second half to set up a rematch with the Chiefs.
“He battled through and that’s the true test of a competitor,” Mahomes said of Lawrence. “Whenever stuff’s not going your way, to still pull your team and find a way to win, and he’s done it at every level. He’s talented, and that team, they’ve turned it around fast. He’s a great competitor.
“They’ve been playing playoff football for over a month now. So they understand what it takes to win, and we have to go out there and do whatever we can to win.”
A victory would put the Chiefs in the AFC championship game for the fifth year in a row. At the beginning of the season, many thought the Chiefs would have trouble winning the AFC West let alone earn the No. 1 seed as Mahomes saw most of his receiving corps leave in free agency.
Mahomes, though, led the NFL with 5,250 yards passing and 41 touchdowns and likely is the favorite to win league MVP. And Chiefs coach Andy Reid said this might be Mahomes’ best season yet.
“I think he’s done a great job of working with change,” Reid said. “That was something he didn’t have to worry about for a few years and all of the sudden his position coach leaves, new one comes in and he works with that.
“All the sudden his receiving corps for the most part — with the exception of Mecole (Hardman) — leave and a new group comes, and he didn’t flinch on it. He didn’t complain. He didn’t run up to (Brett) Veach and go, ‘What are we doing?’ That’s not what he did. He just said I understand and let’s go. And my hat goes off to him for doing that. And playing the level he’s playing at, and those guys are playing at, it’s tremendous.”
And while Mahomes said the Chiefs have Super Bowl aspirations, they aren’t looking that far ahead just yet. They’re only focused on the Jaguars.
“I think we’ve built all year with the mindset that we want to win the Super Bowl,” Mahomes said. “But we can’t do it every single day. You have to continue to get better and better until you get to that point. But you can’t look ahead.
“We have a great team that we’re playing this week that’s playing great football. So how can we get better at practice today so that we’re better by the end of the week? I think you have to have that mindset, and I think the guys do. And I think we’re in a good spot.”
EDWARDS-HELAIRE, FORTSON RETURN
Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and tight end Jody Fortson returned to practice Tuesday. The Chiefs now have 21 days to activate them or leave them on injured reserve. Reid, however, wasn’t sure if they would be able to play Saturday.
“We’re going to ease them back in and see how they do and try and get them back in the swing of things,” Reid said.
