A one-legged Patrick Mahomes ended the debate about the NFL’s best quarterback

It was essentially the most pivotal of moments. Tied sport. Seventeen seconds left. The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs with a 3^rd and 4 on the Cincinnati Bengals’ 47 within the AFC title sport. In preordained trend, it was Patrick Mahomes who willed his injured leg to hitch his wholesome one and acquire simply sufficient yardage to eke out a primary down. After which Mahomes was hit out of bounds by Bengals defensive finish Joseph Ossai who, up till that gaffe, had performed an amazing sport. The additional 15 yards given for the pointless roughness penalty was simply sufficient for Harrison Butker to nail the 45-yard discipline aim and ship the Chiefs to their third Tremendous Bowl in 4 years and additional cement Mahomes’s legend.

Had this been a regular-season sport, Mahomes most likely would have sat it out. Or perhaps not. Possibly he actually is superhuman, as we’ve got suspected for a lot of his profession. When an precise human suffers a excessive ankle sprain – as Mahomes did lower than 10 days in the past towards Jacksonville – they’re usually sidelined for at the least three weeks. However Mahomes is a distinct breed: there wasn’t a scintilla of doubt he would play towards the Bengals.

This one was private. No manner was Mahomes going to let his backup, Chad Henne, be tasked with eradicating the seemingly superglued monkey that’s the Bengals off the Chiefs’ backs. If the time period Burrowhead, a reference to the Bengals’ beautiful win in final 12 months’s AFC Championship Sport in Kansas Metropolis, was going to die, Mahomes was going to be the one to kill it. He did simply that.

Mahomes put in one of many gutsiest, most inspiring performances we’ve ever seen from an NFL quarterback. Greater than 300 passing yards, a few touchdowns and a game-winning drive is nothing new for Mahomes. However doing it on one leg is exceptional. And doing it on one leg and persevering with to carry out as three of his receivers went down injured is on one other stage.

However Mahomes went into this matchup with immeasurable dedication. He proved what many people already knew – that Mahomes at 80% or 60% continues to be higher than everybody else within the NFL.

He linked with Travis Kelce for a landing on a 4^th and 1 within the second quarter on a throw he made look easy however was dripping with problem. And Marquez Valdes-Scantling made catch after catch for 116 yards. He was the recipient of a superbly exact landing throw, wherein Mahomes needed to push exhausting off his injured proper ankle.

As with all Bengals-Chiefs matchups over the previous couple of years, this one was filled with intrigue. There was the Bengals creeping again into the competition in an eerily comparable method to final 12 months’s Championship Sport. There was Zac Taylor with the ballsiest play name you’ll see on 4^th and 6 that resulted in Joe Burrow’s deep completion to a double-covered Ja’Marr Chase. There have been every kind of officiating controversies that infuriated each sidelines. And, sure, maybe there ought to have been a holding penalty on the Chiefs in the course of the Mahomes run that arrange the successful discipline aim.

None of that takes away from the show of grit and sheer excellence we noticed from Mahomes. Any debate about id of the most effective quarterback within the NFL has been put firmly to mattress.

A joyous Kelce interrupted Mahomes’ postgame interview for a fast announcement: “Burrowhead, my ass. That is Mahomes’ home.”

I’d take it a step additional. That is Mahomes’ league.

MVP of the week

Chris Jones, defensive deal with, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. Add Jones to the listing of Chiefs gamers who have been bothered by the Burrowhead moniker. Jones had his personal itch to scratch, getting into the AFC Championship and not using a postgame sack in his total profession. Jones promptly delivered two sacks, three tackles for loss and 5 quarterback hits in probably the most dominating performances by a defensive lineman in postseason historical past. Mahomes will rightly be praised for his efficiency on Sunday, however I implore followers to look at this sport again with a lens on Jones to see a masterclass in dominant line play. Each males have been answerable for the Chiefs’ victory.

Video of the week

Myriad substances merge to kind an NFL outcome – together with accidents and officiating. Although each have been related within the NFC Championship Sport, it was DeVonta Smith’s “catch” on 4^th and three that set the tone for Philly’s 31-7 mauling of San Francisco. It was the opening drive of the sport; the Eagles have been on the 49ers’ 35 and Nick Sirianni had a selection. Go for it on fourth down or play it protected and try the sector aim. He selected the previous, and Jalen Hurts rolled to his left below strain and heaved it to Smith, who made an insane one-handed 29-yard catch. As a substitute of celebrating, Smith yelled: “Go, go, go” – a sign for his crew to rapidly get the following play off. It labored and two performs later Miles Sanders waltzed into the endzone for the Eagles’ first rating. However quickly it turned evident that Smith by no means had management of the soccer and – had the catch been challenged – it might have been dominated incomplete and a primary down for the 49ers.

Not like many performs that are actually rapidly reviewed in New York and sometimes end in a modified name earlier than coaches throw the problem flag, this one was not for some purpose. Nonetheless, Kyle Shanahan missed a serious alternative to throw the flag and alter the course of the sport. Smith, alternatively, needs to be recommended on his heads-up response since he knew it wasn’t really a catch. The entire sequence was a killer for San Francisco.

Quote of the week

“Know your position and shut your mouth, ya jabroni” – Travis Kelce to Cincinnati mayor Aftab Pureval.

Kelce’s fiery remark is available in response to Pureval posting a video that got here throughout as a lame try at trash speaking, moderately than the sensible social media second he most likely had hoped for. Within the video, Pureval made an “official proclamation” requesting that Burrow take a paternity take a look at to see if he’s Mahomes’s daddy. It’s exhausting to disagree with Kelce.

Stat of the week

One NFC championship run. 4 quarterbacks. Issues went south rapidly for San Francisco towards Philadelphia when Brock Purdy left the sport within the first quarter with an elbow damage. Enter journeyman extraordinaire Josh Johnson, the 49ers’ fourth quarterback to line up below middle this season. To name Johnson ill-prepared for the second could be an understatement. The poor man was pressured left and proper and struggled to generate optimistic momentum, save for a second-quarter landing – San Francisco’s solely rating of the sport – that was all about Christian McCaffrey’s imaginative and prescient and reducing. The 49ers might have turned to a fifth passer, emergency quarterback McCaffrey when, extremely, Johnson needed to depart the sport injured. However Shanahan deemed Purdy, barely capable of throw the ball additional than 5 yards, the higher possibility.

There will likely be lots of disappointment for San Francisco after this loss, wherein foolish penalties harm them along with their quarterbacks’ accidents. However the emergence of Mr Irrelevant Purdy, after accidents to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, is without doubt one of the extra unbelievable storylines in latest reminiscence. Confidence and killer intuition can take you locations within the NFL. However Purdy’s success earlier within the season can be a testomony to Shanahan’s playcalling and talent to disguise and regulate – few coaches would have been capable of drag their crew this far with so many accidents at quarterback.