Andy Reid on what he was thinking during Patrick Mahomes’ sideline tirade in playoffs
CBS Sports analyst Boomer Esiason was impressed when he saw Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes pleading with Andy Reid to stay in a playoff game in the Netflix docuseries “Quarterback.”
When Reid insisted Mahomes have the ankle checked out during an AFC Divisional playoff game against the Jaguars, Mahomes was furious about having to leave the game.
Esiason said Mahomes’ teammates had to have been impressed with his passion. This is the PG version of that, uh, discussion between Mahomes and Reid.
In an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King, Reid shared that he had seen the Netflix show and that there was a historical reason for not just letting Mahomes play.
“I saw that, and it kinda got cut weird,” Reid said of the episode. “Yeah, he was pissed. He was mad at the whole situation. I told everybody on the sideline, ‘Just leave him alone,’ and I walked away. I went down to the other end. Had him calm down a little bit. I came back to him and I said, ‘I’m not putting you back in until you go get the thing checked.’
“Remember, I had to live through Donovan McNabb playing on a broken leg in Philadelphia. I wasn’t gonna go through that again with this kid. I love him. But he was so pissed. He was still saying a bunch of F-words. And I said, ‘Okay, you’re not going to play then.’ And I left. The unique part of that, which I did not see, was when I left him he took his cape off and he sprinted up the tunnel to go get it checked. Anyway, he got it checked, he was good, and he went back in. But boy, he did not want to come out of that game.”
During the 2002 season, McNabb was injured on the Eagles’ first drive of a Week 11 game against the Cardinals. McNabb initially thought he had a strained ankle, per Bleacher Report. It turned out to be a broken fibula, and McNabb missed the rest of the season.
So, yeah, you can understand why Reid wanted to make sure history didn’t repeat itself with Mahomes.
In the Netflix docuseries, Mahomes mentioned that interaction with Reid, and how it was out of character for him.
“I said something to Coach Reid,” Mahomes said, “that’s how you could tell I was mad.”
