Mahomes overcomes 'scary' injury in key KC win, awaits game against Denver

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For a moment Monday night, Patrick Mahomes said he feared the worst. After injuring his left ankle in the fourth quarter, he had to be helped to his feet and spent a few seconds wondering if he would be able to finish the Kansas City Chiefs' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Definitely scary,” Mahomes said later. “I think it hurt more just because it was the same ankle I rolled last week, so it scared me a little bit.”

“When you don’t know exactly what’s happening and you feel a lot of pain, you’re always afraid of the worst.”

Everything worked out for Mahomes, who was able to stay in the game and throw another touchdown pass to give the Chiefs the lead. After the Bucs scored to send the game to overtime, Mahomes engineered a 10-play drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by Kareem Hunt, giving the Chiefs a 30-24 victory gave us an 8-0 record.

Mahomes injured his right ankle in a 2022 playoff win against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coach Andy Reid withdrew him from that contest due to Mahomes' protests and did not allow him to return until he underwent an X-ray.

This time, Reid again told Mahomes that he was getting out of the game.

“I thought he was joking,” Mahomes said. “I thought, 'Come on, let's not do this again.'”

Reid even went so far as to tell backup quarterback Carson Wentz to get ready.

“He’s a competitor,” Reid said of Mahomes. “I told him I was going to take him out and he probably wanted to fight me, so he’s a tough kid.”

Reid relented after Mahomes said the injury was not as serious as the one suffered in the 2022 postseason. Mahomes was also examined by doctors and underwent some mobility tests along the way.

Mahomes said he is ready to play in Sunday's home game against the Denver Broncos.

Mahomes was injured on a non-contact play while throwing a touchdown pass to running back Samaje Perine.

“I was obviously running towards the goal line and was kind of determined to play the football at the last second.” [passed to] “Samaje, and so I kind of awkwardly rolled the ankle a little bit,” Mahomes said. “You feel the pain and it scares you. I had struggled with my ankles before, but I just laid there and over time the pain subsided.”

“I just got back into it, got moving again and felt good when I went out.”

“That one in the playoffs a few years ago was a little bit of how I approached it,” he explained. “It got stuck and it hurt even more. [This time] I could move, my ankle could still be mobile, and I still do after this game. I'll probably have a little swelling tomorrow. But with a short week, you go in there, take care of it and get ready to play next week.”