The Kansas City Chiefs' Monday night matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nearly turned catastrophic. This was after two-time All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes was forced to exit the game in the fourth quarter following a non-contact ankle injury.
Thankfully, Mahomes turned out to be okay. He returned to the game after being checked by the medical staff to lead the two-time defending champs to their eighth straight victory, 30-24.
After the game, Mahomes revealed that he had a very interesting conversation with head coach Andy Reid amid his injury scare. The Chiefs star was pretty much left in disbelief after Reid told him that he was going to be taken out of the game. "I thought he was joking," Mahomes said.
New footage has now been released by the Chiefs wherein a mic'd up Mahomes is seen responding to his coach's demand. As it turns out, the three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback was having none of it.
"We're going to take you out," Reid is heard telling Mahomes on the sideline.
"No," Mahomes responded curtly.
Reid had to double-check if he heard his QB1 right, which resulted in Mahomes making his opinion on the matter abundantly clear.
"No," Mahomes said again. "C'mon, man."
The exchange between Mahomes and Reid can be seen in the video above, and based on Mahomes' defiant response, it was clear that he had no intention of sitting out the remainder of the game.
Reid's decision to let his star quarterback return to the game paid dividends for the Chiefs. Mahomes scored a touchdown pass shortly after checking back in, followed by a game-winning drive in overtime. More importantly, his ankle did not bother him the rest of the way, and there appeared to be no recurrence of the issue.
This exchange speaks volumes of the relationship between player and coach. Mahomes is clearly comfortable with speaking his mind when he knows he's in the right position to do so, while Reid has shown here how much trust he has in his star.
This is why, among other things, the Chiefs are now on track for an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.
