Patrick Mahomes left Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Browns with a right ankle injury, but it’s not out, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid confirmed after the game — a sigh of relief for fans after the starting quarterback’s troubling exit in the fourth quarter.
“It’s not broken, but it’s sore,” Reid, 66, said of Mahomes, 29. “He’s going to start the rehab part, and then we’ll just have to see how he does from there.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs improved to 13-1 — the best record in the NFL — but a fourth-quarter injury sent fear into the Kansas City fan base as their star running back limped off the field.
“I was trying to get out of the pocket, obviously, on fourth down, trying to make a play. And as I was throwing the ball, I kind of got hit, and I didn’t see it, but somebody probably hit me from behind,” Mahomes explained. “I kind of just got wrapped up. It kind of happens in football, so trying to recover and obviously a little sore, but now we’re just going to finish the rehabilitation part and try to be ready for next week.”
Pregnant Brittany Mahomes Skips Chiefs Red in Favor of Cream Puffer Coat and $975 Prada Earmuffs for New Game Day Look
Patrick Mahomes.
Nick Cammett/Getty
Mahomes said it was “hard to say” how he felt right after Sunday’s win because he still had “adrenaline” from the game. “Usually it’s the day after, you kind of feel it well. But I feel I could have finished the game under different circumstances.”
Reid said Mahomes “wanted to fight” to return to the game and “probably could have come back” but “there was no need to.”
“He’s a tough kid,” Reid added.
The Chiefs have already clinched a playoff spot but are vying for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, which would give them a first-round playoff berth and an extra week off before they go for their third straight Super Bowl in February.
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Patrick Mahomes.
Nick Cammett/Getty
Despite the injury, Mahomes stayed on the sideline with his team for the rest of the game as the Chiefs cruised to a 21-7 victory over the Browns.
Mahomes’ wife Brittany Mahomes was also on the sidelines with her husband before the Chiefs took the field, sharing a pregame kiss with her husband and the father of their two children: daughter Sterling Skye, 3, and son Patrick “Bronze” Lavon Mahomes III, 2. The couple is expecting a third child, a girl, they announced in July.
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