PHOENIX — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he will push himself in practice over the next few days to see where his injured right ankle is before Sunday’s game.
“I don’t know if I’ll necessarily test it, test it but I’m going to try to have no restrictions,” Mahomes said Tuesday. “Even in the AFC Championship game, I was trying to test it in and practice on it and do different kind of stuff, but if there would be a play maybe if I was rolling out where I would kind of ease up on it. Whereas this week I’m going to try to push it and try to be as close to 100 percent. Obviously, I’m not trying to tweak it or anything like that.”
Mahomes suffered a high-ankle sprain in the Chiefs’ AFC divisional round win over the Jaguars. The injury usually takes weeks to come back from but Mahomes played in the AFC title game win and has the Chiefs in their third Super Bowl in four years. It affected him a bit in that win, but Mahomes said it feels better now.
Advertisement
“We’ve done a great job in this last week and a half of letting it rest when we need to but still pushing it and being in the right spot,” he said. “It’s definitely in a way better position than it was before this last game.”
Before he became the Giants offensive coordinator, Mike Kafka was a player and an assistant under Andy Reid. The Eagles drafted Kafka in 2010 when Reid was the head coach and then Kafka coached under Reid with the Chiefs from 2017-21, helping develop Mahomes. Kafka is now one of two known finalists, along with Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, to become the head coach of the Cardinals, which has drawn some questions about him from the local media here. Reid backed Kafka on Tuesday.
Advertisement
“I actually told [Cardinals owner Michael] Bidwell this, too. He’s a very intelligent, great human being,” Reid said. “The quarterback will love him. He’ll challenge him to be better than he even is now. But he’ll do a great job. He’ll challenge the team. I think the guys will respond. He played in the National Football League. I had a chance to draft him out of Northwestern. I think he would be tremendous for the city, for the Bidwell family and for you all.”
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said his peace as the work week starts up, keeping the team focused on sticking to what got them here.
“Just being locked into the situation that we’re in and going through the same routine we have to go through,’’ Sirianni said. “That was a big part of it, talking about the distractions that are here, how it’s a little bit different, how we need to go about our business like we have been for the past 20 weeks.’’
This is not lip service from Sirianni. He said his wife and three children were set to arrive in town on Tuesday but, in keeping with the normal in-season schedule, he was not going to see much of them.
“I don’t usually see them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,’’ Sirianni said. “I see them on Thursdays and I’ll do my best to be a really good dad on Thursday, but Tuesday and Wednesday I’m gonna do what I normally do, I’m gonna be in the office late, continuing to work through the plan, continuing to iron out the details of the plan.’’
Fox analyst Rob Gronkowski reacted to his longtime teammate Tom Brady joining him in retirement.
“I was definitely shocked,” Gronkowski said. “He still has something left in the tank, no doubt about that. I felt like Tom could play until 50 years old. It’s up to him when he calls it quits … but I’m proud of everything he has accomplished.”
Gronkowski said his advice to Brady is “take it slow” and “be able to say no” in retirement. They eventually will team up again for NFL on Fox broadcasts, with Brady in the booth and Gronkowski in the studio.
“If you ever need some pointers,” Gronkowski said, “give me a call.”
