Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II during the AFC Championship.
The Kansas City Chiefs are on to the Super Bowl, but Cincinnati Bengals fans — and apparently, NFL reporters — are still caught up on a clear late hit that put Harrison Butker and KC in field goal range last weekend.
It was deemed a “flop” by many, despite a 250-pound athlete (Joseph Ossai) shoving a person that is sprinting full-speed on a high-ankle sprain into the bench area, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes II was asked to give his take on the matter during his press conference on February 2. The actual question from the journalist, however, was as cringeworthy as it gets.
“On the run we’re talking [about] earlier at the end of the game,” the reporter began, “there’s plenty of photos — I’m not saying you weren’t hit illegally — there’s plenty of photos showing where you were, you were out of bounds when you were hit, but is there kind of an art form to maybe helping sell it? Was there a little [inaudible] acting that helped sell it? Because like you said you’re moving at a high rate of speed — that can be kind of dangerous if you throw yourself down like that.”
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Addresses ‘Flop’ Allegations
The question came in at the 20 minute and 30 second mark in the video above, and you really have to see Mahomes’ visual reaction to this borderline bush league question. His range of emotions appeared to change from annoyed, to pure astonishment at the outright gall of the question, to a chuckle of disbelief — and you can see it all right on his face.
Finally, the Chiefs superstar offered a response, voicing: “Yeah, I think it was more — the most pain I had was stopping — but once he pushed me it would have been hard to put my foot in the ground and try to stop. So, I kind of just, I rolled through it.”
Mahomes continued: “You get over there with the heaters and the benches and people, that’s where a lot of times people get hurt, and I think that’s the reason there’s a flag for getting pushed out of bounds like that late. And so, once I got pushed, I just tried to roll and try to not hurt people [on the sideline] and not hurt myself.”
The Chiefs QB added that he was “pretty far out of bounds,” and even noted with a smirk that it “was probably the furthest I’ve ever been out of bounds before I got hit.”
Mahomes concluded: “I rolled through it, the flag was thrown the right way, and it got us into field goal range.”
Couldn’t have said it better if we tried, but let’s show it one last time from the “best angle” a Bengals fan could find. Ironically enough, this perfect angle only further proves that Mahomes was well out of bounds when he was shoved.
Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes Has Perfect Response to Taking Over for Tom Brady as Face of NFL
Mahomes had another great response during this press conference, when asked if Tom Brady’s retirement adds an “extra responsibility” for him as the new face of the NFL.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s any extra responsibility,” Mahomes answered with a friendly chuckle. “I’m just trying to go out there and win football games, and win championships. This is the biggest game of them all, and so, it’s not about being the face of the league or anything like that, it’s about being the best team that you can possibly be and doing whatever you can to win football games.”
That in itself, explains why Mahomes the best quarterback in the game right now.
He concluded: “The other stuff kind of handles itself — and it’s obviously a good part of it if you’re winning Super Bowls… but at the end of the day I just want to get into this building and be with my teammates and go out there and win football games.”