Nothing seemed too out of step for Patrick Mahomes on Wednesday. As the Kansas City Chiefs returned to practice for Sunday’s AFC championship game against the Bengals, Mahomes said his high-ankle sprain wasn’t going to keep him out.
“I’m doing good,” Mahomes said. “AFC championship week. I’m ready to go.”
Mahomes was injured in the first quarter of last week’s divisional round against Jacksonville and eventually had to leave the game to get X-rays in the locker room. Mahomes, however, returned and played the entire second half, albeit on one leg.
Mahomes has undergone rigorous treatment, beginning immediately after the Jacksonville game. He said the high-ankle sprain was similar to the one he sustained in Week 1 of the 2019 season, which he played through. Mahomes said the toughest injury he has had to overcome was the turf toe injury he suffered late in the 2020 season.
“I remember when I had the toe, I had to curl my toes when I walked,” Mahomes said. “So I’ve dealt with a lot of them, and you just have to get yourself mentally focused on what needs to be focused on and that’s the team that you’re playing and prepare your body all week. And when you get to Sunday, you’re focused on playing the football game and that’s what I’m going to try to do this week.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said that since his quarterback has played through injuries before that experience should help him this week. He also said there probably wouldn’t be too many restrictions on Mahomes in practice.
“He’ll do fine,” Reid said. “It’s just a matter of making sure he’s safe. Safe as you can be out there on a football field.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs have lost to the Bengals three straight times, including in last year’s AFC title game at Arrowhead. The Chiefs are an underdog for Sunday’s game, but don’t tell that to Mahomes.
“Every time I walk out onto that field, I don’t think I’m an underdog, especially when I walk on Arrowhead’s field,” he said. “So I just go in with the same mindset of we’re going to have to play our best football to win.
“We know we’re playing a great football team that’s beat us the last three times. And so we have to learn from our mistakes in the past and be better in order to win against a great football team.”
While it’s unknown how the ankle sprain will affect Mahomes’ mobility, he said his offensive line is looking forward to keeping him clean against the Bengals’ talented front seven.
“You saw in the second half of this last game, they did a great job stepping up and protecting me,” Mahomes said. “And I was able to throw the ball from within the pocket, and I’m sure they’ll be ready to go. Like I said, it’s a great defensive line. So it’ll be a great challenge for them, but I’m excited for those guys to go out there and accept the challenge.”
HARDMAN PRACTICES
Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman (abdominal/stomach) returned to practice Wednesday. The Chiefs kept Hardman out of practice last week in hopes he could finally return to game action this week.
Hardman hasn’t played since early November against Tennessee, but Reid seemed hopeful Hardman could play Sunday.
“He feels better than he did the last couple of weeks,” Reid said. “So that move, it looks like it worked to this point. Again, we’ll just see how he does every day here, and he seems to be in a good place.”
Reid said it’s also possible running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (ankle) and tight end Jody Fortson (elbow) both could play Sunday as well, but said Fortson had the better chance to do so.
