Patrick Mahomes was cleared to start against the Atlanta Falcons after being removed from the Kansas City Chiefs’ Friday injury report with no designation. Kick-off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is at 1pm local time on Sunday, 15 November.
Kansas City arrives at 6-2 and top of the AFC West. Atlanta sits at 3-6.
A day earlier, Brittany Mahomes had offered fans a quiet look inside the rehab week. On her Instagram Stories she shared a short video of her husband colouring a cardboard house with their three children, Sterling, Bronze and Golden, a black compression sleeve visible on his right arm.
“Our afternoon activity. Everyone is working so hard,” she wrote.
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The hit against the Jets
The injury came with 1:33 left in the second quarter of Kansas City’s 35-12 win over the New York Jets on 8 November. Jets rookie edge rusher David Bailey came around the pocket on a strip-sack and struck Mahomes’ right arm, with Will McDonald IV and Darrell Jackson Jr. also drawn into the play, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Mahomes stayed in. He finished with 242 passing yards and two touchdowns as the Chiefs leaned on the run in the second half.
The MRI the next morning gave the team room to breathe: no major damage, a sprain, day-to-day.
“Elbows and knees, it’s always scary”
Mahomes did not sugar-coat how it felt.
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“I wasn’t feeling exactly how I usually feel when I throw it,” he told reporters this week.
“Anytime it’s elbows and knees, it’s always scary just because you just don’t know,” he said.
The week’s job, as he described it, was to get “the swelling, the fluid out of it so I can be ready to get over to the first snap next week.” Mahomes also credited offseason work with longtime trainer Bobby Stroupe for building tissue strong enough to absorb the hit without ligament damage.
Reid’s Monday update
Head coach Andy Reid gave the first official read at his Monday news conference. His assessment of the MRI was reassuring.
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“More positive news than negative news. It looks like it’s just a matter of rehabbing and getting rid of some of the soreness,” he told reporters.
By Friday the injury page had the line Kansas City had been waiting for. Mahomes was off the report, no designation, cleared to face the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
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