Is Patrick Mahomes going to play tonight? | NFL Conference Championships
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is active for the team's NFL Conference Championship weekend matchup against the Buffalo Bills. After being cleared from the NFL's concussion protocol and battling a turf toe injury, Mahomes will start for Kansas City at 6:40 pm EST.
Patrick Mahomes was cleared to participate in practice on Tuesday and was a limited participant in Kansas City's activities on Wednesday. He practiced again on Thursday which indicated he would likely be fine heading into this weekend's matchup.
After last weekend's matchup's the Bills opened as 1.5 point favorites due to the uncertainty surrounding Patrick Mahomes' status. Mahomes left last weekend's Kansas City win over the Cleveland Browns and backup Chad Henne had to finish the Chiefs victory. Since then, however, the line has moved over four points, swinging to a 2.5 to three point Chiefs lead. The total has also risen from 50.5 points to 54 due to Mahomes' healthy status.
Last week against the Browns, Patrick Mahomes (prior to injury) completed 21 of 30 passing attempts for a 70% completion percentage, for 255 passing yards and one touchdown. While he was staggering around with his still injured toe, he also added three rushes for fourteen yards and a rushing touchdown on the ground.
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NFL Conference Championships: Will Patrick Mahomes' turf toe slow him down?
According to NFL.com reports from Ian Rapoport, Patrick Mahomes' toe injury is "deemed a bigger issue," than his now cleared sting in concussion protocol. Mahomes said he'll "be out there and be myself," but it is unclear if the turf toe malady will affect this mobility in the pocket or opportunities to scramble.
According to NFL.com Mahomes has said he has had steady improvement with his toe injury since last week's game.
"The next day was very sore," Mahomes said. "And every single day since then it's gotten a lot better."
As reported by the Buffalo News, Bills safety Jordon Poyer said a challenge of playing the Chiefs is having to figure out who you are going to stop. With weapons such as Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce on top of Patrick Mahomes, a turf toe injury could enable the Bills to focus more on the passing attack than containing the QB.
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