Patrick Mahomes on whether he’ll play through ankle injury: ‘You don’t want to get yourself hurt’

Patrick Mahomes practiced Tuesday despite dealing with an apparent spike Ankle sprain.

Mahomes is listed as a full participant in the A.J Short training week Ahead of a high-stakes showdown against the Houston Texans. He exited Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns after suffering the injury. He said he doesn’t know if he will be able to play Saturday, but he knows what he will have to do if he does play.

“I want to be able to move. I want to be able to get out of the way,” Mahomes said, adding that the Texans boast a dangerous pass rush. The Texans have the second-most sacks in the NFL this season with 45, just four behind the Denver Broncos for the league lead.

“You don’t want to go out there and get yourself hurt. It’s football. You’re going to take hits, but you want to be able to protect yourself,” Mahomes said.

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If Mahomes can’t leave, the Chiefs will have to rely on Carson Wentz, the former Philadelphia Eagle. Wentz last started in the final week of last season with the Los Angeles Rams, leading the team to a 21-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

Mahomes will play if he doesn’t limit the offense.

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“I don’t want to limit the game plan,” Mahomes said. “That’s another thing for me. I want to be able to move around the pocket so we’re not sitting in one place the whole game and driving the D-line to go after him. So, it’s about finding that balance and seeing where I’m at, and like I said, I won’t know until the end of this week.”

The leaders are competing to maintain their grip on the first seed in the AFC. At 13-1, they have the best record in the league and are two games ahead of the Buffalo Bills in the first round. But the Bills will hold the tie over the Chiefs if they finish with the same record because Buffalo beat Kansas City, 30-21, Nov. 17.

So, the leaders need just one win to secure top spot. Their final three games against the Texans, Steelers and Broncos will pit Mahomes and company against three playoff teams. The Steelers and Broncos have two of the best defenses in the league.

The game against the Texans is poorly timed because Mahomes suffered the injury on Sunday, just six days before the Texans were set to face the Texans.

The Chiefs will also have to turn around and play just three nights later in a Christmas Day game on Wednesday at Pittsburgh.

Mahomes had previously complained about the schedule in a press conference last week.

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“It doesn’t feel good,” Mahomes told reporters. “You would never want to play that many games in that short a time. It’s not good 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.”

Mahomes was asked if he had played three games in such a short period.

He replied: “I didn’t do that in football.”

“All you can do is focus on the game. The practice you’re going to have that day,” Mahomes added. “I try to prepare my body all year long for this stretch. That’s the design of my workouts, the design of how you train and prepare.

“And the coaches do a great job of taking care of us on the practice field. We train as hard as everyone else, but they know how to do it when needed.”

Facing injury, dangerous defenses and a grueling offseason schedule, Mahomes will have to play on Christmas for the second straight season.

He will deal with all of this while facing the stress of caring for his pregnant wife. Brittany Mahomes is reportedly in her third trimester of pregnancy, according to her coach, Christy Ray.

“Third trimester is my favorite stage of pregnancy when it comes to training,” Ray wrote in a recent Instagram video about Brittany’s workouts. “There are studies that show that your body basically goes into superhuman mode to prepare for the birth of the baby.”

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