Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes exits the field on January 23, 2022.
If only for a moment, an eerie silence crushed supporters at Arrowhead Stadium as Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen zipped a touchdown strike to Gabriel Davis with 13 seconds remaining.
But then we were all reminded — this is Patrick Mahomes. These are the Kansas City Chiefs.
After an improbable 13-second field goal drive and an overtime touchdown to follow, that uncertain silence quickly turned to pure pandemonium. The Chiefs are heading back to the AFC championship for the fourth straight season.
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‘Josh Played His A** Off’
Mahomes joined Tracy Wolfson after the unbelievable victory over Buffalo and he was quick to tip his cap to his opponent.
“Yeah it was a heck of a game, I mean, 17 — Josh [Allen] played his a** off,” Mahomes began. “It was a great game between two great football teams and at the end of the day, guys like Tyreek [Hill] and Travis [Kelce] made the plays that won us the game.”
Although the quarterback is being modest, he’s also being accurate. Fellow Chiefs’ superstars Hill and Kelce each came through with ridiculously clutch moments down the stretch.
Whether that was “the Cheetah’s” 64-yard run-after-catch to take the lead with a minute to go or Kelce’s toe-tap on the final touchdown grab — not to mention the two catches that set up the game-tying field goal in regulation and countless others.
KELCE FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!
The pair finished with a combined 19 receptions for 246 yards and two touchdowns. Mahomes — who was pretty good too — went 33 for 44 with 378 passing yards and three touchdowns.
The Chiefs QB continued: “We’re going to play this team a lot of times in games like this. With that quarterback, with that coaching staff and the players they have, it’s going to be a lot of battles. I’m glad we got this one, we’re going to try and keep it rolling. We got a good team coming in next week [and] we get to be at Arrowhead for the AFC championship.”
To show his respect after a duel for the ages, Mahomes “stopped celebrating and ran the entire length of the field to find Josh Allen,” per Bleacher Report. Game recognize game.
Mahomes stopped celebrating and ran the entire length of the field just to find Josh Allen ❤️💪 @brgridiron
(via @NFL)
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Postgame Thoughts From Patrick
After taking it all in on the field at Arrowhead, Mahomes addressed the media after the game, per KCTV5 News.
“It’s actually funny,” he told reporters, “a couple [of] weeks ago or maybe last week, I was talking to Mike Remmers [because] he was in the Minnesota Miracle and the final play, scoring the touchdown, winning the game at home — he was talking about how awesome the environment was. I was talking about how we had the play with Travis [Kelce] in the Chargers [game] where he scored but we weren’t at Arrowhead. To be in this moment, in this game against that team, and to make a play to walk-off the game at Arrowhead, I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
The final line of that quote caught fire quickly on Twitter, as beat reporter Nate Taylor shared it with fans.
Patrick Mahomes: “I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
In terms of the 13-second game-tying drive, Mahomes had a simple answer for how his team kept their nerve. “We believe,” he replied, “I think that’s the biggest thing on this team is we believe no matter what.”
Although the signal-caller admitted that the Super Bowl victory is still “probably the number one” rank on his list of all-time greatest wins, he added that “this one’s right up there.”
To Chiefs Kingdom, Mahomes stated: “We love the support that they show us. We have such a home-field advantage because of them and them bringing that energy week-in [and] week-out, especially in the playoffs — Continue to be out here. Be the best fanbase in the entire country and Arrowhead is going to be rocking.”
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Patrick Mahomes Shares First Reaction to Jaw-Dropping Win Over Bills