KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If there was ever any doubt about his availability for Sunday’s AFC championship game, Patrick Mahomes has put an end to it.
“AFC championship week,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said of Sunday’s conference title game against the Cincinnati Bengals. “Ready to go.”
Mahomes suffered a severe sprained ankle in the first quarter of Saturday’s 27-20 divisional round playoff win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He returned to the game in the second half.
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Trainer Andy Reid said he expects Mahomes to be a full training participant on Wednesday. Mahomes said the ankle has evolved since the game against the Jaguars.
“It feels good,” he said. “I did a few days of treatment, a few days of rehab. Excited to get down to the practice field and try it out and see where I stand. But so far it feels good.
“I felt better than I expected after the game. Carrying on during the game definitely hurt. I felt in a little bit better position and the next morning I obviously felt a little bit better and then I got better and better throughout the week so we’ll see how I feel in training today feel.
Mahome’s style of play changed after he returned to the game against the Jaguars. He led the league in the regular season with out-of-the-pocket passes but made no such throws in the second half.
It was only his second half of the season where he wasn’t shooting outside the pocket. Mahomes said he expected to work around the injury against the Bengals.
“I have to find ways to push off and still get the shots right,” he said again the day after and see what I can do about it. Not making the injury worse of course but pushing it to see what I can do on Sunday.