The Kansas City Chiefs will be playing for a trip to the Super Bowl on Sunday, but questions remain as to whether star quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be healthy enough to join his teammates after he suffered a high ankle sprain in Saturday’s Divisional Round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Mahomes suffered the injury late in the first quarter and missed almost all of the second quarter while being evaluated by team trainers before returning to the game after half time. You can take a closer look at the mechanism of injury in the video below.
Better angle of Patrick Mahomes injury. Concern would be
— Right knee MCL sprain
—Right High ankle sprain pic.twitter.com/TL1iKdohQ2— Dr. Evan Jeffries, DPT (@GameInjuryDoc) January 21, 2023
Dr. Silverman Comments
This is a classic eversion ankle sprain that involves damage to the syndesmosis (the ligaments that connect the tibia and fibula) just above the ankle. High ankle sprains are less common than a standard inversion ankle sprain, but they tend to be more severe in nature. Oftentimes they are classified based on their severity.
Grade 1 – The syndesmosis is stretched but not torn.
Grade 2 – The syndesmosis is partially torn.
Grade 3 – The syndesmosis is completely torn.
The fact that Mahomes returned to the contest suggests that he did not suffer a Grade 3 sprain, but a Grade 1 sprain is still enough to severely hobble him if he only has a week to heal. The biggest issue he’ll face is stability in the injured ankle.
During normal movement, the shin bone advances over the main ankle bone (the talus) to help move the body forward. However, if the supportive ligaments are injured, the foot will become unstable. An athlete won’t be able to put their full body weight on their ankle, and rotational movements will become an even greater issue due to the ankle’s instability. The injury is to Mahomes’ right foot, which is his plant leg and the one that he’ll hope to drive off of when throwing a pass. This injury will not only severely limit his mobility, but it will also affect his ability to throw the ball as hard because he won’t be able to push off his back foot as easily.
Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid said that the ankle injury was not as serious as the one Mahomes suffered in Week 1 of 2019 against the same opponent. Mahomes finished that game and put up a great performance in Week 2, but this injury is to his plant foot, whereas that injury occurred on his left foot. Stability problems in an ankle will be more problematic for a right handed quarterback’s right foot (plant foot) than their landing foot (left foot).
High ankle sprains typically take weeks to fully heal, but the Chiefs only have until Sunday. Mahomes has the benefit of having one of the best medical teams by his side, and he’ll get a healthy course of rest, ice and elevation, but there’s only so much that can be done in this short of a time period.
It seems likely that Mahomes will not practice all week and that the team will significantly tape the ankle to provide some extra support on Sunday, but he certainly won’t be 100 percent. His mobility will be affected. Not just when he’s trying to move around in the pocket, but when he drops back to pass or maneuvers to hand off in a stretch run play. The team will likely have him work out of the shotgun to limit stress on the ankle that would occur during a normal 5-step or 7-step drop back, and Mahomes may not have the same arm strength as normal, but his mobility will be more affected than his arm.
Knowing the competitor that he is, it seems all but certain that he’ll play on Sunday, but how effective he’ll be is still up in the air. The likely MVP certainly gives the Chiefs the best chance to win, but the Bengals will have an advantage knowing that they’ll be able to rush without the fear of Mahomes scrambling for a big gain. It’s going to be a chess match, and we’re excited to watch it. Here’s hoping Mahomes can make a decent recovery in the next few days and that he doesn’t cause more damage to the ankle by trying to play through the pain.
