Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a scary injury in the third quarter of the AFC Divisional postseason matchup with the Cleveland Browns on Sunday evening.
On a play that appeared to be a read option, Mahomes took it himself and turned upfield to get some extra yards. At the end of the play, Cleveland linebacker Mack Wilson tackled the quarterback from behind. As the two players were coming to the ground, the momentum of the tackle caused Wilson’s forearm to awkwardly wrap around Mahomes’ neck.
Following the play, Mahomes was slow to get up and was clearly in some discomfort. When the Chiefs star QB struggled to stand up on his own, nearly stumbling over, all indications pointed that Mahomes had been concussed on the play.
Team trainers immediately helped Mahomes off the field and took him to the locker room for evaluation per the NFL’s concussion protocol. Mahomes did not return to the field for the rest of the game, and back-up quarterback Chad Henne helped close out the victory to send Kansas City on a third consecutive AFC Championship.
Following the game, Head Coach Andy Reid was instantly asked about the well-being of his starting quarterback.
“He got hit in the back of the head and kind of knocked the wind out of him,” he explained. “He’s doing great right now, which is a real positive, he passed the deals that he needed to pass and so we’ll see where it goes from here,” he said.
Up to that point, all signs indicated that Mahomes had suffered a concussion and would need to pass the league’s five-step concussion protocol in order to play against the Buffalo Bills next week.
Although Mahomes will still be under the NFL’s observation for a concussion, a source close to the team’s QB told 610 Sports KC’s Carrington Harrison on Monday that Mahomes never actually suffered a blow to the head.
“Patrick [Mahomes] passed all of his tests last night. He didn’t actually hit his head, there was a nerve in his neck that got tweaked that made him out of it. He’s getting testing done on his neck/nerve today but did clear all tests last night,” Harrison said via Twitter.
This, of course, is excellent news regarding the health of Patrick Mahomes and is definitely a major step in the right direction if he’s going to start in the AFC Championship.
Due to the nature of the injury, Mahomes still falls under the NFL’s concussion protocol. On Monday, Andy Reid gave an update on Mahomes and what steps the Chiefs will follow in order to make he’s ready to go against the Bills.
“He’s in the protocol there, so we’ll just follow that and see how he does here the next couple of days,” Reid said.
Reid was also asked about his optimism for Mahomes’ ability to starter next Sunday but only said he’s leaving that decision for the doctors to decide.
“I just leave that with Rick [Burkholder] and the docs,” Reid said. “And, because of the protocol, it’s a no-brainer from the coach’s standpoint, you don’t have to think about it, you just have to go forward and make sure you have an answer if he’s there and an answer if he’s not there. I can’t tell you from a medical standpoint where he’s at. I mean, I don’t know that. That’s their decision and we’ll just follow it,” he explained.
Reid was also asked if Mahomes had suffered a concussion or not but he neither confirmed nor denied his QB’s head/neck injury to be labeled a concussion.
“Yeah he passed,” Reid continued. “But you still have to go through all the protocol. There’s a day-to-day on that and how they go about it. Especially if a player staggers right there, they’ve got to go through some things,” he explained. “That ends up being important.”
This will obviously be a major story throughout the week, and there will be updates leading up to the AFC Championship. Team doctors and training staff will be watching Mahomes closely to make sure he continues to trend upwards leading up to next weekend.
