When his Kansas City Chiefs took the field last Saturday, Patrick Mahomes looked just fine running around on his injured ankle. Despite suffering a high ankle sprain just days earlier, Mahomes showed early and often that he was no worse for the wear, including when he scrambled twice on the Chiefs' opening possession for the game, with the latter of those two scrambles accounting for the game's first touchdown.
PATRICK DOES IT HIMSELF.@PatrickMahomes + #ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/XmaWNwfCgL
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 21, 2024
Heading into Kansas City's Christmas Day clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mahomes said his ankle is feeling even better.
"We haven't done a ton as far as getting out there on the practice field," Mahomes said, via ESPN. "We've done a walkthrough, actually two walkthroughs now, and I feel like I can move around and do what I need to do and now we'll get to get to a little bit faster-paced practice and see where I'm truly at. But I thought, all in all, I came out pretty well.
"Obviously, the body's going to be sore just with a short week and everything like that, but I think the ankle should be in a better place. We'll see in practice [Monday], but as far as how I felt after this game compared to the one before, I'm definitely in a lot better place."
Somehow, Mahomes appears able to play through things like this and operate at the peak of his powers. If you didn't know going into the game last week that his ankle was injured, you almost surely would not have been able to tell from watching it. We saw something similar in last year's playoffs.
Pittsburgh's defense is one of the best in the NFL, so perhaps he could be tested in a way he wasn't against Houston (which also has a good defense); but we also just saw Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry tear that defense apart. I wouldn't put it past Mahomes to come out and put on yet another show -- especially as his pass-catching corps gets healthier with the return of Hollywood Brown.
