Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes might be limited in Saturday’s contest against the Houston Texans, but he won’t be inactive when kickoff comes around.
Mahomes, who suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 15’s win over the Cleveland Browns, hasn’t missed a beat since leading up to the showdown with the AFC South champions.
The three-time Super Bowl winner has been a full participant in practice on both days leading up to Saturday’s kickoff.
Mahomes admitted to reporters Tuesday that if his ankle is still bothering him come Saturday, he probably won’t try to push things since it’s not a playoff game.
“I wouldn’t say it’s dire that I play,” Mahomes said, via ESPN.com. “It’s not in the AFC Championship Game where we’re playing to get to the Super Bowl. We have a little bit of room to kind of spare, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to win.”
The current new G.O.A.T. of the league also said he won’t be in place to decide on his status for the game against the Texans until later in the week.
“I’ll push myself to get to the best place possible over these next few days and we’ll be able to make a decision then,” Mahomes said. “I’m not going to put our team in a bad position.”
Sitting at 13-1 with a two-game lead over the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City might be wise to rest Mahomes.
Even with an all-time 2-2 record without the two-time regular season MVP, the Chiefs still feel confident in backup Carson Wentz to take over with the first-team offense.
“If I feel like I can play and go out there and win a football game, I’ll play,” Mahomes said. “And if I don’t feel like that’s the best-case scenario, I’ll let guys like Carson play.”
Much like Houston, Kansas City returns on short rest Wednesday for a Christmas showdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. Mahomes admitted that the timing of the injury couldn’t come at the worst time since the Chiefs have three games in 11 days.
“You never want to play this many games in this short of time,” Mahomes said. “It’s just not great for your body. But at the end of the day, it’s your job, your profession. You have to come to work and do it.”
The Chiefs can clinch the No. 1 overall seed by going 2-1 in their final three games, so Saturday’s showdown isn’t a clinching scenario.
If Mahomes does have to sit this week, the Chiefs would still be in a spot to earn the top seed with wins over the Steelers and Denver Broncos.
Kickoff from Arrowhead is scheduled for noon CT. The game will be nationally televised on NBC.