Will Patrick Mahomes’ ankle be ready for the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game? | You Pod to Win the Game
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab discuss Patrick Mahomes’ ankle injury against the Jaguars, including whether or not the Chiefs' star QB will be ready for the Bengals in the AFC title game.
Video transcript
FRANK SCHWAB: Chiefs win 27-20. The story out of this, obviously, is Patrick Mahomes. Like, this is a high-ankle sprain, and I know people know by now that low-ankle sprain, high-ankle sprain is not the same injury at all. High-ankle sprain usually is weeks. Like, this is something Patrick Mahomes even if they make a Super Bowl is going to be affected by, but he gutted it out. I thought it was-- but you could see, Patrick Mahomes is not the same player. Like, after injury, first quarter he's throwing jump passes.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Oh, yeah.
FRANK SCHWAB: He's throwing it sidearm. He's doing the Patrick Mahomes things, and after that, he's really inaccurate on some plays. I mean, he gutted it out. They had the big drive where they really, really needed it. And he threw the jump pass touchdown, and that was huge. All respect to Patrick Mahomes, who is easily the MVP this year, in my mind. But we'll see how this injury affects him. That's a big, big deal this week as we go on.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, there's no question. I mean, it was-- the offense looked amazing until Arden Key, obviously, falls on Patrick Mahomes. I know there was some talk on is it dirty? I will say this, when I saw the play initially, I think slow mo makes it a lot-- it looks a lot worse in slow mo. I don't think it's great either way, but I think when you watch it in real time, I don't know. You know, I don't know if it was-- I don't know if he-- you can't necessarily aim for a guy's ankle like that.
The whole thing was-- It was just one of the greatest play on Earth, and I know Chiefs fans are really pissed about it. And I get it. I completely understand that. I thought the way Patrick Mahomes reacted to it-- I don't know, it makes you love the guy. He was pissed. Like, he just-- he was like, I'll do that-- He wanted to do the X-rays at halftime. I thought it was good that Andy was like--
FRANK SCHWAB: But I guess they told him-- I'm you heard this that the Chiefs were like, well, you don't have to get X-Rays, but you're not going back in the game until you do.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, Andy was.
FRANK SCHWAB: And then he throws down the coat.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Throws the coat. Yeah. Oh, yeah, you could see the interaction, and Andy said afterward that he had told him, like, I'm not putting you in until we know you're OK and can protect yourself. And I love the reaction of both guys. I think Andy did the right thing. I think it was awesome to see him do that because the reality is, in most situations when-- especially a player of that caliber says I'm good. The coach is like, OK, like, just go--
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah, right.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Like we're--
FRANK SCHWAB: See no evil, hear no evil. OK, you said you're good. Let's go. Yeah.
CHARLES ROBINSON: We're fighting for our playoff life. Yeah.
FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah. Yeah, let's real quick, though, we need to throw some flowers at Chad Henne. I mean, like I thought that was a turning point in the game. After Mahomes back in the locker room getting x-rays, the Jaguars down a punt at the 2-yard line. I'm, like, OK, this is where the Jags-- like, because I had said last week, I thought the Jaguars had a shot to win. And I-- look, they didn't end up playing up to that, but I thought that was a moment of, you've got to back up at there 2. Chad Henne's in the game, and Chad Henne, he wasn't spectacular on that drive or anything. It was mostly the running game, but he made the plays he had to make, man.
I don't know that they necessarily win that game without Chad Henne driving them 98 yards right there for the score. It was a huge, huge drive in that game. Chad Henne, that's why you have a backup quarterback. That's why you have a good, veteran backup even if you have a Patrick Mahomes, because when they-- even Patrick Mahomes is back on the sideline before it was over. He's behind Andrew Reid, but Chad Henne's finishing that drive. It's a touchdown to Travis Kelce. Just a great moment for Chad Henne, who's been I think, 15 years in the league or something.
That's probably his best moment as a pro. Good for him. He helps them win that game. You know, I mean, just a good team effort by the Chiefs, who are going to have to have a good team effort to keep this going because I don't know-- like, how much are you worried about Patrick Mahomes' ankle because-- I don't know. It's hard to say without knowing whether he practiced Wednesday. We're going to hear from him on Wednesday or Thursday or whenever, but it's concerning because this Bengals team is not going to let up.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He's going to be booted up, probably over the course of a week. I'd be surprised if he practiced much. They're going to do everything. He's probably be in treatment nonstop until they play. They'll wrap it. They'll wrap the living hell out of it. He'll be probably gimpy. It won't be nearly what it was, I think during the course of that game. I think it was a lot worse because it just happened, but I think when he gets out there initially against the Bengals, it'll probably be stiff.
Once the adrenaline gets going, I don't-- he's not going to be, again, what he was pre injury against the Jaguars. Like you said, when you watched it move around, the jump pass, all that stuff. That's not going to be this guy, but I don't know. Like, to me, in a weird way, it's sort of like, hey, this is how your legend gets written. These are moments where we end up remembering what kind of a player shows up when everything doesn't go your way, and, clearly, this is not going his way right now.
This is a difficult injury and a lot of pain to deal with. There's going to be a shot, I'm sure to make sure that he's not feeling the amount of pain that he would. That's a reality in the NFL. It's how it works. People just need to understand that.
