Kansas City, Mo. — If in doubt about his availability for Sunday’s AFC Championship game, Patrick Mahomes game over.
“AFC Championship Week,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said of Sunday’s conference title game against the Cincinnati Bengals. “It’s ready to go.”
Mahomes suffered a sprained ankle in the first quarter of a 27-20 divisional playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He came back into the game in the second half.
Coach Andy Reid said he expects Mahomes to participate in a full practice Wednesday. Mahomes sprained his ankle in the game against the Jaguars.
“He’s doing great,” he said. “I’ve had a few days of treatment, a few days of rehab. I’m excited to get on the practice field and test it and see where I’m at. But so far it’s feeling good.
“After the game I felt better than I thought I would. It definitely hurt to move around on it during the game. But after the game, I was able to rest and ice and do different things. I felt a little better and the next morning I felt a little better, and then I continued to improve throughout the week, so we’ll see how I feel today in practice.”
Mahomes’ style of play has changed since returning to the game with the Jaguars. He led the league in sacks outside the pocket during the regular season, but didn’t do so in the second half.
It was the second half of the season where he didn’t make any throws outside of the pocket. Mahomes figured he’d have to work around the injuries against the Bengals.
“I have to find ways to push and still make the throw the right way,” he said. “I’m going to push it a little bit today and then the next day and then the next day. Another day and then see what I can do. Not to aggravate the injury, obviously, but push it to see what I can do on Sunday.”