The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t draft Patrick Mahomes mer

KANSAS CITY Patrick Mahomes Jersey , Mo. (AP) —ely to make the playoffs.Matt Cassel accomplished that, and quarterbacks Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac, Trent Green and Alex Smith went one better by making it to the divisional round. Smith even won a wild-card game, the first playoff victory by the long-suffering Chiefs since Joe Montana led them to the AFC title game in the 1993 season.No, the Chiefs didn’t trade up to select Mahomes just to make the playoffs.They did it to win in the playoffs.Now, Mahomes gets his first chance when the first-year starter leads the AFC West champions against the Colts — their longtime playoff nemesis — on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.Win and the young All-Pro quarterback has the Chiefs one game away from playing in the Super Bowl, lose and Mahomes has to wait a full year to get another crack at wiping away the stink of all those playoff failures.“A playoff run in general would mean a ton to everyone in this community, including us. I know the history,” Mahomes said, “but at the same time, we are a different generation.”That may be true, but he was on the sideline last season for the latest postseason letdown.Mahomes was given his freshman season to learn the ropes under Smith Travis Kelce Jersey , who ended a streak of eight straight playoff defeats by beating Houston in the wild-card round in January 2016. But they lost the following week at New England to end their playoff run, then lost at home to the Steelers in the divisional round in 2017 and blew a big lead against the Titans in the wild-card round a year ago.Three defeats after that rarest of playoff wins.The sting has been even more brutal at home, where the Colts have won just as many playoff games as the Chiefs (two apiece) over the years. Both of the Chiefs’ wins were in the wild-card round.They’ve never won a home playoff game in the divisional round or beyond.Yet if there’s any reason to believe that stretch of futility will end Saturday, it just may be the optimistic kid with the big arm and curly Mohawk. Bono, Grbac and the rest never put up the kind of numbers that Mahomes has this season, nor did they engender the same kind of confidence in their teams.Mahomes exudes poise. And the rest of the Chiefs can feel it.“It’s the way he plays,” Chiefs center Mitch Morse said recently. “Not only his talent, which is uncanny, but the way he prepares, the way he conducts himself in the huddle, and then the guy has got a swagger about him that’s infectious.”There is no denying this is a new experience, though. Mahomes only played in one bowl game in three seasons at Texas Tech, much less an NFL playoff game with the entire football world watching.“So far I haven’t seen anything that’s too big for Pat. I’m not even worried about that Tyreek Hill Jersey ,” coach Andy Reid said Monday, just before the Chiefs resumed practicing following a well-earned week off.“He’s going to get himself ready, just like he does every week, to play against a good football team,” Reid said. “But I don’t think he’s wired the other way. I’m not predicting anything, I’m just telling you, matter of fact, how he’s wired, how he goes about his business.”That doesn’t mean Reid hasn’t pulled him aside for a few extra chats.“Everything is a little faster in the playoffs. That’s how things go,” Reid said. “At the same time, he has to be himself and continue to lead and play like he has been doing. I don’t think he will have a problem with that. I think he understands that. He is wired the right way to handle all of it.”Mahomes said he’s chatted with Smith about his postseason experience, and he’s soaked up what he can from the veterans in his locker room. Defensive back Ron Parker, linebacker Justin Houston and fullback Anthony Sherman are among those who have been part of several postseason letdowns.As they take the field with Mahomes on Saturday Carlos Hyde Jersey , they have a chance to scribble over that history.“I mean, we are definitely ready. We know what it’s going to take,” Mahomes said. “It’s going to take a full effort from everyone, every single day, to the game and hopefully on. We know that you have to capitalize on every single play. You can’t let one play get you down for the next. The next play is the most important play. We are excited we get the chance to do that.” KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes struggled in the first half and dazzled in the second Sunday night.Nobody knows how he might have fared in overtime.The Chiefs‘ young All-Pro threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns against New England, almost all of it after the break, only to watch the extra session from the bench. The Patriots won the coin toss and never gave him a chance, scoring on the only possession they needed to escape with a 37-31 victory in the first AFC championship game ever played at Arrowhead Stadium.“I thought if we got the chance we’d score,” said Mahomes, who instead praised the Patriots’ Tom Brady for converting a trio of third-and-10s to give Rex Burkhead a chance to score the winning TD.“He had a great drive,” Mahomes said. “Big moments, guys made big catches for him.”Mahomes had plenty of big moments in his own right.After a dismal first half in which he was 4 of 8 for 65 yards and three sacks Juan Thornhill white jersey , Mahomes caught fire in the third quarter. He needed just four plays to find Travis Kelce for a touchdown that trimmed a 14-0 deficit in half, then kept slinging the ball in what became a back-and-forth fourth quarter.The Patriots scored two touchdowns. The Chiefs managed three.Mahomes was behind it all, shredding a Patriots defense that had played reasonably well down the stretch this season. He hit Damien Williams with a short TD flip to get within 17-14 early in the fourth quarter, then found his elusive running back again with a 23-yard completion that gave Kansas City its first lead at 21-17 with 7:45 remaining in the game.“They blitzed about every down, played man coverage, and they were able to get home a little bit on some of their games,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “We made a few adjustments at halftime, should have done that earlier — that’s my responsibility. But I’m proud of the way the guys battled back.”But the Patriots kept battling, too.Brady led them the other way, and Sony Michel scored from 10 yards on fourth down, only for the Chiefs’ mop-haired QB to answer with a 38-yard pass to Sammy Watkins that set up Williams’ TD run.Back came the Patriots, who in their eighth consecutive conference championship game showed no sign of nerves. They caught a break when an interception was wiped out by an offside call, and Burkhead’s TD run with 39 seconds left appeared to have given New England a 31-28 victory.Then again Juan Thornhill Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys , Mahomes long ago proved that 39 seconds can last an eternity.He immediately found running back Spencer Ware for 21 yards, the only meaningful play the backup running back made all game. Then, Mahomes hit Demarcus Robinson for 39 yards to the Patriots 21 with 16 seconds left, giving the Chiefs — without any timeouts — one shot at the end zone.Mahomes wound up throwing it away, and Harrison Butker‘s 39-yard field goal forced overtime.By that point the Patriots knew full well the best way to stop Mahomes was to keep him on the bench. So their confidence no doubt soared when they won the coin toss for overtime, and Brady took advantage of the opportunity by finding Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski on their march downfield.Mahomes could only look on as the Patriots ended his dream season.“They challenged us,” he said. “They came up and played man defense. Not a lot of teams did that this year. The first half we struggled, we couldn’t make much happen. The second half we were up to the challenge, we found ways to win one-on-one matchups.“We gave everything we had,” Mahomes said. “They ended up making more plays at the end.”