Marquez Valdes-Scantling played in the NFC championship game twice with Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Neither ended well for Valdes-Scantling.
But on Sunday, Valdes-Scantling’s fortunes changed as the Chiefs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the AFC championship game at Arrowhead Stadium to earn the franchise’s third trip to the Super Bowl in the last four years.
“This is my third championship game,” Valdes-Scantling said. “I was with the Packers for two of them. Got beat to sleep by the 49ers in the first one and then lost to Tampa in a heartbreaker. So being able to get to this one and win it is one of those moments you can’t really describe.”
The Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Ariz., but for a while against the Bengals things looked a little bleak as the Chiefs were down three receivers as JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney all went out with injuries. But Valdes-Scantling stepped up when the Chiefs needed him most.
Valdes-Scantling caught six passes for 116 yards and scored a crucial 19-yard touchdown in the third quarter on third down to put the Chiefs up 20-13. Valdes-Scantling wasn’t the first read on the play or even the second.
“I was the last read on that play,” Valdes-Scantling said. “And it was a zero coverage to me and the cornerback. I think they doubled Travis (Kelce). He was the first read, and once I saw that safety trigger on Travis, and the corner was outside leverage, I was like, ‘Yo Pat, throw me the ball.’ I threw my hand up, and he’s always finding a way to get people the ball. He has eyes all over his head and he made it happen.”
Mahomes certainly did. Despite playing on a high-ankle sprain he still threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, the latter coming on a zinger to Valdes-Scantling on a crossing route.
“The offensive line gave me a lot of time,” Mahomes said. “I wanted to look at Kelce first, and they did a double team on him, and I reached back to the deep cross that we had. The safety jumped that and so both those safeties doubling Travis and jumping that, I just tried to get back to it.
“I saw that hand go up. He’s like 6-5 and has long arms, so he threw that hand up. I couldn’t really see in front of him so I tried to throw a line drive to him, and he was able to make a big play for us in a big part of the game.”
Skyy Moore, who stepped in and returned punts, also caught three passes and Marcus Kemp caught a 13-yard pass to give the Chiefs a much-needed first down in the fourth quarter. And Valdes-Scantling said he enjoyed seeing his teammates have success just as much as he did his own.
“It was a little chaotic,” Valdes-Scantling said. “But we got a bunch of good guys from top to bottom, and I think that was able to showcase tonight. Obviously, you never want to see three guys go down at the same position. And being able to watch Skyy come in and Marcus Kemp come in and play and contribute that was huge because they were going down on special teams then having to go right back in on offense.
“It was just the three of us, and we had to make it work and we did. We had some huge plays by both of those guys. The punt return by Skyy and Marcus with the curl route on the backside to get the first down, I think that was big to see. How those guys prepare all week, all year. You never know when your number’s going to be called and lo and behold it got called tonight.”
