Patrick Mahomes breaks silence on ankle sprain and reveals what’s next after limping off late in Chiefs game

Patrick Mahomes remained optimistic after walking away from the Kansas City Chiefs’ 21-7 win over the Cleveland Browns with a sprained ankle on Sunday.

The three-time Super Bowl champion rolled his ankle while being tackled by Dalvin Tomlinson on an incompletion on fourth down. Carson Wentz replaced him for the final 5:23. Mahomes finished 19 of 38 for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’re in the pocket, clearly on fourth down, trying to make a play as I threw the ball [I got] It was kind of like a punch and it felt like someone hit me from behind, so I just got rolled up, which happens in football,” Mahomes said. “I tried to get back up and obviously it hurt a little bit, but now we’re just going to get through the rehab part and try to get ready for next week.”

After the game, Mahomes said the X-rays came back negative. He said he would have lobbied harder to stay in if the Browns had gotten within one score.

The 13-1 Chiefs will host the Houston Texans on Saturday as Kansas City tries to lock in home field advantage for the upcoming playoffs.

“You know what you have to do to get back and I think that’s the most important thing,” he said. “Now we just go back to the rehab part, the treatment part and try to get ourselves ready in a short week against a good football team.”

Before Wentz went in, Mahomes had his left ankle re-taped while sitting on the bench. He walked gingerly off the field, but didn’t feel comfortable being in the locker room or going to his post-match press conference. He was wheeled on a cart to the Chiefs buses.

Coach Andy Reid was relieved Mahomes wasn’t hurt more seriously.

“It’s not broken, that’s all I can tell you,” Reid said. “We’ll have to see how things go.”

Xavier Worthy ran for a score and Kansas City ended up with a relatively easy victory, 21-7 over the error-prone Browns.

Mahomes connected for touchdowns with Juju Smith-Schuster and Noah Gray in the first half as the Chiefs built a 21-0 lead and then battled their way through an ugly second half.

The defending Super Bowl champions have 10 wins by seven points or less, six of which have come on the final play of the game.

The Chiefs’ second TD — Mahomes’ 6-yard pass to Gray with 4:46 left in the first half — came on the same play. Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett left the field in extreme pain with an apparent eye injury.

Garrett rushed Mahomes and was blocked by Chiefs, who left Joe Thuney when he suddenly stopped. The league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year immediately grabbed his face mask, removed his helmet and threw it away before falling to the turf.

He lay face down for several minutes before being helped. As Garrett walked to the locker room with a towel on his face, Thuney came over and patted him on the back. Garrett was only gone for a short period before running back onto the field and finishing the game.

“Thank God everything’s OK,” Stefanski said.

The Chiefs took a 21-0 lead early in the third, capitalizing on a Winston pick that went off Chubb’s hands. Four plays later, Worthy took a deep throw from Mahomes, turned the corner and scored.

Kansas City’s first score was set up by Cleveland’s first turnover.

After the Browns forced a three-and-out on Kansas City’s first possession, Cleveland’s James Proche II fumbled on a punt return and the Chiefs recovered on the 21st.

Mahomes then connected with Schuster for a 7-yard touchdown with 12:12 left in the first quarter.

Taylor Swift ended her world tour. She decided not to hit the road in the NFL yet.

The pop superstar was expected to attend the game to cheer on friend Travis Kelce, the Chiefs tight end who grew up in Cleveland. But Swift, who turned 35 on Friday, did not attend despite rumors she would appear.

Taylor has attended several Chiefs games in Kansas City over the past two seasons since she started dating Kelce.