An MRI on Sunday confirmed that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes sustained a high ankle sprain during the team’s AFC divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, ESPN reported Sunday.
Mahomes, a former NFL MVP and two-time All-Pro, said he intends to play in next Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against either the Cincinnati Bengals or Buffalo Bills. The third-seeded Bengals and second-seeded Bills meet on Sunday in Buffalo.
“It feels better than I thought it was going to be now,” Mahomes said Saturday after the 27-20 victory sent the top-seeded Chiefs into AFC title game for the fifth straight season.
“Obviously, I have a lot of adrenaline going right now, so we’ll see how it feels. But I’ll hop right in the treatment and try to do whatever I can to be as close to 100 percent by next week. Luckily for us, we played the early game on Saturday, so we get an extra almost half a day that I can let that ankle rest.”
Mahomes, 27, sustained the injury to his right ankle in the first quarter after he was tackled by Jacksonville’s Arden Key and Corey Peters. Key fell on Mahomes’ right lower leg as the quarterback fell awkwardly to the ground.
Backup Chad Henne entered the game with 9:59 left in the second quarter, shortly after Mahomes was told by coach Andy Reid to go back to the locker room for an examination.
Mahomes, who said X-rays on his ankle were negative, returned to the Kansas City bench during the possession, but he remained on the sideline in his jacket. Instead, he watched Henne drive the Chiefs 98 yards on 12 plays for a touchdown.
Upon his second-half return to the field, Mahomes went 4 of 7 for 50 yards in the third quarter and was 6 of 8 for 61 yards in the fourth with a touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 27-17 lead with 7:08 remaining. He even added 3 rushing yards after halftime.
Should the Bengals win on Sunday, the Chiefs will host next week’s game in Kansas City, Mo.
If the Bills emerge victorious on Sunday, the AFC title game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta after NFL owners approved a resolution earlier this month to adjust the playoffs in order to address the competitive inequities created by the cancellation of the Buffalo-Cincinnati game in Week 17. That game was postponed on Jan. 2 after Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field.
–Field Level Media
