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Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For a moment Monday night, Patrick Mahomes said he feared the worst. He had to be helped to his feet after injuring his left ankle in the fourth quarter and for a few seconds wondered whether he would be able to finish the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Definitely scary,” Mahomes said later. “I think it hurt more just because it’s the same ankle I rolled last week, so it scared me a little bit.
“When you don’t know exactly what happens and you get that sharp pain, you always fear the worst.”
Everything worked out for Mahomes, who was able to stay in the game and threw another touchdown pass to put the Chiefs ahead. After the Bucs scored to send the game into overtime, Mahomes engineered a 10-play drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run from Kareem Hunt to give the Chiefs a 30-24 win and an 8-0 record.
Mahomes injured his right ankle in a 2022 playoff victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coach Andy Reid pulled him from that contest over protests from Mahomes and wouldn’t allow him to return until he had gone for an X-ray.
This time, Reid again told Mahomes he was coming out of the game.
“I thought he was joking,” Mahomes said. “I was like, ‘Come on, we’re not doing this again.'”
Reid went as far as telling backup quarterback Carson Wentz to get ready.
“He’s a competitor,” Reid said of Mahomes. “I told him I was going to take him out, and he probably wanted to fight me, so he’s a tough kid.”
Reid relented after Mahomes said the injury wasn’t as serious as the one from the 2022 postseason. Mahomes also was examined by doctors and did some mobility tests on the sideline.
Mahomes said he would be ready to play in Sunday’s home game against the Denver Broncos.
Mahomes was injured on a noncontact play when throwing a touchdown pass to running back Samaje Perine.
“I was obviously running for the goal line and was kind of committed to running the football and at the last second [passed to] Samaje, and so I kind of awkwardly rolled the ankle a little bit,” Mahomes said. “You feel the pain, and that scares you. I’ve dealt with ankles before, but I just kind of laid there, and as time went on, the pain subsided.
“I just kind of got back to it and got back moving again and felt comfortable going out there.”
“The one in the playoffs a couple of years ago was a little bit of how I got tackled,” he explained. “It got stuck, and it hurt a lot more. [This time] I could move, I could still have mobility in my ankle, and I still do after this game. I’ll probably get a little swelling tomorrow. But with a short week, you go in there and take care of it and be prepared to play next week.”