KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was tended to after going down with a lower-body injury in the fourth quarter of Monday night’s game.
Mahomes stepped awkwardly and needed assistance from trainers to get off the field after completing a touchdown pass to running back Samaje Perine in the fourth quarter of Kansas City’s Week 9 contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Definitely scary,” Mahomes said of the injury. “I think it hurt more just because it was the same one I hurt last week. Once I took my breath and calmed down a little bit, it ended up being not too bad. We were able to go into the tent, get the re-spat and go back on the football field.”
The touchdown pass tied the game at 17-17 and was Mahomes’ second of the night. He exited the game with a stat line of 23-for-29 for 189 yards and two touchdowns and returned to the game without missing any time to finish 34-for-44 for 291 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kansas City went on to win 30-24 with an overtime victory, improving to 8-0 on the season.
“I kind of laid there and as time went on the pain subsided,” Mahomes said. “It did, I got back to it, got back moving again and felt comfortable going out there.”
There was no contact between Mahomes and any Tampa Bay defender on the play. Asked to describe how the pain felt, Mahomes did it simply.
“Not good,” he said.
After exiting the blue medical tent, Mahomes then jogged down the sideline, igniting a roar from fans at Arrowhead Stadium. Chiefs trainers told ESPN’s Lisa Salters it was an ankle injury that caused Mahomes pain, something he and head coach Andy Reid confirmed postgame.
Mahomes did not miss any offensive snaps and returned to the game for the Chiefs’ next offensive series.
The 29-year-old Chiefs star said the injury wasn’t as bad from a pain management standpoint as when he got rolled up on and suffered a high ankle sprain in the AFC Divisional playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in January 2023. That day, Reid forced Mahomes to return to the locker room for X-rays. When he told Mahomes he was going to be out of the game again Monday night, the quarterback was defiant again.
“I thought he was joking,” Mahomes said of Reid’s comment. “He said it and I was like, ‘Come on. We’re not doing this again.’ He trusts me and once the doctors checked me out and I was able to do the drops again I was able to get back on the football field.”
Mahomes ankle injury didn’t change his performance level. He continued his mastery of the Buccaneers defense en route to another dominant performance.
“I know in a sense it hurts you,” Mahomes said, “obviously it hurts — the ankle injury, but sometimes it almost settles me down, especially in the pocket when I can’t use my mobility. I feel like early in the game I was running into sacks because they were doing good in their pass rush lanes and (the injury) kind of settled me in the pocket and when our offensive line is blocking like that I can sit in the pocket and go through my reads and get to the right guy.”
