KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If there was ever a doubt about his availability for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, Patrick Mahomes put an end to it.
“AFC championship week,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said about Sunday’s conference title game against the Cincinnati Bengals. “Ready to go.”
Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain in the first quarter of Saturday’s 27-20 divisional round playoff victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He returned to the game in the second half.
Mahomes was listed as a full participant at Wednesday’s practice. Mahomes said the ankle has progressed since the game against the Jaguars.
“It’s doing good,” he said. “I’ve done a few days of treatment, a few days of rehab. Excited to get on the practice field and kind of test it out and see where I’m at. But it’s feeling good so far.
“I felt better than I thought I was going to be after the game. Moving on it during the game definitely hurt. But after the game, I was able to rest it and kind of ice it up and do different stuff like that. I felt in a little bit better position, and obviously the next morning felt a little bit better, and then I’ve continued to get better throughout the week, so we’ll see how I feel today at practice.”
Mahomes’ style of play changed after he returned to the game against the Jaguars. He led the league in passes from outside the pocket in the regular season but made no such throws in the second half.
It was only his second half this season in which he made no throws outside the pocket. Mahomes said he anticipated he would have to work around the injury against the Bengals.
“I’ll have to find ways to be able to push off and be able to still make the throws the right way,” he said. “I’ll push it a little bit today and then the next day and then the next day again and see what I can do then. Not reaggravate the injury, obviously, but push it to see what I’ll be able to do on Sunday.”