Quarterback Patrick Mahomes expects Chiefs to be in a dogfight for AFC’s top seed
A day after throwing a franchise-record 68 passes Sunday in the Chiefs’ 20-17 overtime win over the Titans, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked how his arm was feeling.
“My shoulder is fine,” Mahomes said during his weekly interview on KCSP (610 AM). “I played a lot of baseball growing up and I played at Texas Tech, so I’ve thrown a couple of passes in my lifetime.”
Indeed, Mahomes threw a lot of passes during his time at Texas Tech. In fact, he attempted 88 in an epic 2016 game against Oklahoma, as KCSP’s Carrington Harrison reminded Mahomes. Not that he needed his memory jogged.
“Yeah, I know, 88 is a lot,” Mahomes said before shifting the talk back to Sunday night’s game. “Obviously, we had a lot last night and hopefully we can kind of get more balanced as the season goes on. But if we need it, I’m willing to do it.”
Mahomes said his body was exhausted but his mind was active after leading the 10th fourth-quarter comeback of his career.
Mahomes stayed up until after 1:30 a.m. before conking out.
That victory gave the Chiefs a 6-2 record, and they’re currently second in the AFC conference standings. The Bills, who also have a 6-2 record, are first overall. Baltimore, which beat the Saints on Monday, has a 6-3 record and is third in the race.
The Titans, 5-3, are atop the AFC South and hold the No. 4 spot. The Jets, 6-3, are fifth, just ahead of the Dolphins, 6-3. The Chargers, 5-3, are seventh in the conference.
Sunday was a great day for the Chiefs because they won and saw the Bills lose to the Jets. KC nearly opened up more space in the AFC West, but the Chargers recovered a fumble by a Falcons player who was returning a fumble and beat Atlanta on a late field goal.
Mahomes expects things to be tight the rest of the season.
“You just see that everybody can beat anybody on any single week and when you have a lot of great teams in that (conference), you’re gonna have battles every week,” he said. “And I mean, you saw that throughout the whole entire league this week. You’ve seen it all season and there’s going to be battles week in and week out.
“You can’t take anybody for granted. They can beat you. And so we’ve got to just continue to improve as a team and try to put ourselves in position to do whatever we can to make those playoffs run through Arrowhead.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 8:46 AM.
