Kansas City, Missouri – If there was any doubt about his readiness for Sunday’s AFC Championship game, it’s Patrick Mahomes put an end to it.
“AFC Championship week, ready to go,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said of Sunday’s conference title game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mahomes suffered a sprained ankle in the first quarter of Saturday’s 27-20 round-robin playoff win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He returned to the game in the second half.
Coach Andy Reid said he expects Mahomes to be a full coaching participant on Wednesday. Mahomes said the ankle has progressed since the game against the Jaguars.
He said: “It’s working well. I’ve had therapy for a few days, a few days of rehab. Excited to get on the field, test it out and see where I stand. But so far it feels good.”
“I felt better than I thought I would be after the game. Going through the game definitely hurt. But after the game I was able to let it rest and just kind of calm down and do different things like that. I felt a little bit better and obviously the next morning I felt A little bit better, and then I kept getting better all week, so we’ll see how I feel today in training.
Mahomes’ playing style changed after he returned to the game against the Jaguars. He led the league in out-of-pocket passes in the regular season but did not make those throws in the second half.
It was only his second half of the season that he didn’t throw out of the pocket. Mahomes said he expects he’ll have to work to avoid injury against the Bengals.
He said, “I’ve got to find ways to be able to push and be able to keep hitting throws the right way. I’ll push it a little bit today and then the next day and then the next day again and see what I can do after that. Not to aggravate the injury, of course.” But push it and see what I do on Sunday.”
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