Super Bowl LVII will represent the biggest game of several members of the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles’ lives. While that may not be true for Patrick Mahomes, as he’s already won a Super Bowl ring, the magnitude of the significance of the NFL championship is not lost on the newest NFL MVP.
While there’s a zero percent chance of Mahomes not being in the starting lineup on Sunday, there was almost a scenario that could have led to the quarterback being held out of action.
Mahomes initially suffered what was believed to be a high-ankle sprain on Jan. 21 in the Divisional Round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He left the game, leading to backup Chad Henne taking over, yet somehow Mahomes returned in the second half with a heavily-taped ankle. This in itself was a massive surprise, considering high-ankle sprains typically require multiple weeks to heal.
Yet, as soon as Mahomes returned, the idea of him missing the following matchup, the AFC Championship against the Cincinnati Bengals, seemed incredibly unlikely. While sometimes a player can manage to fight through the pain, letting the adrenaline of a competitive battle take over, only to have the ankle flare up later, that wasn’t the case with Mahomes.
While Mahomes may have been hobbled at times, he fought through and once again managed to lead his team to victory on Jan. 29. Now, with 21 days passing since he suffered a high-ankle sprain, Mahomes will be putting his ankle to the test once again.
Needless to say, people are curious as to how Mahomes’ ankle is progressing. Mahomes was able to get through a full team practice on Wednesday, suggesting he hasn’t suffered a setback in his downtime, but the health of his ankle is still a large concern heading into their matchup with the Eagles, who have recorded the third-most sacks in NFL history to this point.
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Clark Hunt hints that Patrick Mahomes won’t be 100%
With just hours to go until the Super Bowl LVII kicks off, Chiefs team owner Clark Hunt has been making the media rounds, and on Friday, during an appearance on Fox News, he had a chance to speak about Mahomes’ health.
“The great thing is Patrick’s a very fast healer, and he was able to get ready to play the AFC Championship game, you know, in a week on that high ankle sprain and did just an amazing job, including making the pivotal play at the end of the game that helped us win it on his legs. He’s doing great this week. I don’t know that he’ll be 100 percent, but he sure isn’t going to tell you otherwise.”
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt on Patrick Mahomes
As Hunt alluded to, good luck getting the team or Mahomes to admit he’s not quite at 100%. They don’t want the Eagles to have any kind of competitive advantage before the game gets underway. Yet, as soon as Philly’s pass rush manages to push Mahomes out of the pocket, everyone will get a good look at just how mobile the gunslinging QB is on Sunday.
Being that Mahomes is still just three weeks removed from spraining his ankle, chances are, he is not back to being himself quite yet. But he was still strong enough to lead his team to victory in the past two games. Will that be the case again on Sunday?
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