Patrick Mahomes says he's 'feeling good,' injured ankle is 'great'

Martin Rogers

FOX Sports Insider

PHOENIX – Patrick Mahomes revealed Monday night that his injured right ankle won’t keep him out of Super Bowl LVII, which was neither a shock nor a surprise, but he can still claim to be the biggest news of the week.

“He’s great,” Mahomes said, in response to the inevitable first question of his opening night interview session. “Feeling well.”

Given the gravity of the contest, it would take something truly drastic to keep the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback from playing on Sunday. Still, his positive reaction to the inevitable line of inquiry will no doubt be a source of optimism for supporters of the AFC champions.

Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain during the Chiefs’ divisional-round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Jan. 21, a condition that typically has a full recovery window of up to eight weeks.

He played hurt against the Cincinnati Bengals a week later and was clearly restricted, but had enough willpower and pain tolerance to make the last fight that set up Harrison Butker’s game-winning field goal.

“The motivating factor is to be the best,” added Mahomes. “You’re in the biggest game of your life. You want to go out and make memories with your teammates.”

The Chiefs have remained tight-lipped about the rehab process Mahomes has been and will continue to experience heading into the weekend, but suffice it to say the franchise will do everything they can to improve his mobility and comfort before ‘take on the fearsome defense of the Eagles. .

“I’m giving it everything I’ve got and I think if I do that the rest of this week and going into this game, we’re going to come away with a win,” Mahomes said. “And if we don’t know, I know I gave everything I had, and I can live with that.”

Patrick Mahomes on preparing for the Super Bowl, the impact of winning another title and more

Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes addressed a variety of topics, including the importance of this Super Bowl and the impact of playing with two black starting QBs.

With so much of a double-option threat from Mahomes based on his footwork and speed, nervousness is rampant in the Chiefs fan base, even after his performance against Cincinnati.

There were times against the Bengals when he looked severely hampered. Will two weeks of extra recovery, plus his fierce desire to win, be enough to allow him to operate at near full capacity?

“You never know if you’re going to get that chance again, so I don’t want to have any regrets,” Mahomes said, adding that he learned a lot more from his lone Super Bowl loss against Tampa Bay than his win over San Francis. in early 2020.

“Loss for sure,” he said. “Winning is amazing. That loss stings, that motivates you for years. That’s what motivated me to come back to this game. I want to make sure I get that feeling of winning, not losing.”

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX i subscribe to the daily newsletter.

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