Patrick Mahomes ‘doing great’
The Kansas City Chiefs were cruising in the AFC Championship game on Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium against the Cleveland Browns when star quarterback Patrick Mahomes was forced to leave the game with a concussion. Panic started to set in as Cleveland mounted a comeback, but the league’s best team during the regular season ultimately prevailed thanks in large part to the stellar play of backup quarterback Chad Henne.
Henne threw for a massive fourth down completion in the fourth quarter to seal the 22-17 victory for the Chiefs as they booked their place in the AFC Championship on Sunday evening against the Buffalo Bills. While Henne managed to save his team’s season against the Browns, Cheifs’ fans and players are hoping Mahomes will be able to return to the field to start next weekend.
His head coach Andy Reid was quite optimistic about the whole situation in the postgame press conference, telling reporters his quarterback is “doing great”.
“He’s doing great right now, which is a real positive as we look at this. He passed all the deals he needed to pass and we’ll see where it goes from here,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game, via Sportsnet. “I just talked to him and he’s doing good. We’ll see how he is tomorrow, but right now he’s feeling good.”
Mahomes left the game in the third quarter with his side up 19-10, after managing to throw for 255 yards with a rushing and passing touchdown. While the team was concerned when they saw their superstar go down, they weren’t ready to give up just yet.
“I think when anybody goes down the team tries their best to rally around that particular player,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “Today was Patrick Mahomes. I think the whole stadium knew he was out of the game. But definitely, it was all about team. Any time you get some motivation to pull it through, you have to take advantage of those moments.”
The Chiefs had clinched first place in the AFC and a first-round bye in week 16 as a result and had the luxury of starting Henne over Mahomes in the final game of the season to give the 35-year-old some more in-game experience while providing the starter with some additional rest. Henne’s experience in the meaningless game proved to be invaluable against the Browns.
“I felt confident,” Henne told members of the media following the victory, via Sportsnet. “There’s a lot of playmakers out there and just a great opportunity for me to make plays.”
The defending Super Bowl champions now get ready to host their third AFC Championship game in a row, losing in 2018 but winning in 2019. They are the first franchise in NFL history to host the AFC Championship game for three consecutive seasons. The game kicks off on Sunday evening at 6:40 pm ET from Arrowhead Stadium, with the opening line favoring the home team by three points.
The Cleveland Browns will be disappointed with their exit from the playoffs, but considering it was the first time they reached the postseason in 17 years they will be happy with that they made over the past year.
