Massive Collision In The Bitter Kansas City Cold Took A Chunk Out Of Patrick Mahomes’ Helmet

Matt Fitzgerald·
CULTURE
·
Pat Mahomes
David Eulitt/Getty Images

The Kansas City Chiefs obliterated the Miami Dolphins 26-7 in Saturday’s Wild Card Round matchup, but the biggest gridiron explosion of the day came when Patrick Mahomes’ helmet got crushed on one of his patented scrambles.

What ensued was one of the more confusing sequences I’ve ever seen in my time as a football watcher.

For some reason, the most valuable quarterback in the world was left in the game for the next play before being removed from the field on an official timeout. No, despite the massive blow to the head, Mahomes ran another play, only exited briefly to get a replacement helmet, and didn’t miss a single down.

I love how Mike Tirico talked about how the refs stopped the game once they realized Mahomes’ helmet was out of piece. That’s intentionally written, by the way. Out of piece. Just roll with it.

Anyway, what were the refs looking at? Mahomes had a chunk of helmet missing. Which other dude on the field out of 22 are you most likely to have eyes on? The quarterback. How’d it take a whole play to realize something was amiss? Did they not see that big piece go flying off?

These old heads. YOUNGER. OFFICIALS. IN THE NFL. PLEASE. YESTERDAY. NAY, EONS AGO.

Then, the helmet that Mahomes got as the replacement didn’t appear to be a snug fit. You could see his teammates helping him tinker with it in the huddle. KC settled for a field goal on the drive amid all the nonsense.

Some context from some nerd former offensive lineman who played center at Stanford back in the day with Andrew Luck and works for TNF Prime Vision now:

I’m just having a bit of fun. Sam Schwartzstein is definitely cooler than me. He added important context here, too. May lead to equipment improvements to those types of helmets and make the game safer for players.

Seems like Mahomes turned out OK. He stayed in, played reasonably well in borderline stupid-to-play-football-in conditions, and did what he always does in the playoffs: WIN. It helped that the Dolphins’ defense dragged guys off the couch to play this week and that their whole team in general is more or less wiped out by injury.

Whatever. Bring on another Bills-Chiefs matchup next week, assuming Buffalo beats the Steelers at home on Monday. I don’t envy the Bills. It looks like the Chiefs have their mojo back thanks to Taylor Swift rocking a sick Travis Kelce custom jacket. That’s going to be the good luck charm that eradicates the alleged T-Swift curse. I’m convinced.

Please also enjoy some of the better reactions I saw to Mahomes Helmet Gate.

A beer bottle on a dock

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