Frustrated Patrick Mahomes’ Strong Message to Travis Kelce & Teammates as Andy Reid Confirms Injury Update After Chiefs vs Panthers

It’s like a Hollywood movie every time the Kansas City Chiefs take on the gridiron this season. Until the final whistle, you cannot guess who would come out on top. After winning so many close encounters this season, the Chiefs did it again against the Panthers. After blowing up a double-digit lead late into the fourth quarter, the Chiefs had to rely upon their backup kicker, Spencer Shrader. His 31-yard field goal helped the Chiefs get back in the winning column after the Bills heartbreak.

The Chiefs were leading by 11 points going into halftime, and all they had to do was maintain their momentum. However, they were unable to do so.

Trailing by eight, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young got the ball back with 3:21 left at Kansas City’s 49-yard line. He then engineered a game-tying drive capped off by running back Chuba Hubbard’s 1-yard touchdown run that cut Panthers’ deficit by just 2 points. They even capitalized on the Chiefs’ defensive pass interference that helped them get a massive two-point conversion. Well, the game was now tied with 1:46 minutes remaining.

Ten yards into a scramble, Mahomes could have easily slid for a first down or simply ducked out of bounds and moved on to the next play. But the three-time Super Bowl MVP cut back inside and raced another 23 yards up the field, helping to set up Spencer Schrader’s 31-yard field goal. “At that point, yards are more important than getting out of bounds. With three timeouts, I just tried to just cut through and Justin Watson had a great block and was able to get down the field and get out of bounds,” Mahomes said later.

Shrader took care of the rest, helping the Chiefs come out from the jaws of embarrassment in Carolina. This was the Chiefs’ fifth win in the dying moments while their eighth by just a one-point margin. This led to Mahomes coming out with a strong message to his teammates.

“We gotta be better finishing in the fourth quarter,” Mahomes said, through Evan Washburn of CBS Sports. Well, the Chiefs do have some work to do in closing moments. “You always want to have some blowouts and be a little calmer in the fourth quarter. But I’ve always said it could be a good thing when you get to the playoffs later in the season knowing that you have been in those moments, and knowing how to attack it play by play, not making too big of a moment.”

He went on to finish his take by expressing his wishes for the next game, “But I would say this more than anybody. I would love to win a game not by the very last play.” Amid Mahomes’s final drive, the Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid, also shared an update on their TE Peyton Hendershot whose injury during the Panthers game came as a concern ahead of their Black Friday game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 13.

Third-string TE Hendershot felt a right calf cramp At some point during the third quarter. He was ruled questionable to return to the game just ahead of the fourth quarter, but he was never ruled out of the game. Reid, after the game, confirmed that the injury situation was bright. “There are no injuries. Peyton Hendershot had a right calf cramp up on him, but other than that (no injuries). He came back in and did a nice job there,” Reid said.

It’s good news for the Chiefs whose backup tight end position has been marred by injuries this season. First Jody Fortson suffered a serious knee injury during an onside kick in the Chiefs’ Week 8 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Then rookie TE Jared Wiley suffered a season-ending ACL injury during practice. Had this injury turned out worse for Kansas City, the team currently has veteran TE Anthony Firksey on the practice squad. But Hendershot has shown his prospects.

Even as the team’s third-string tight end, he has recently become a reliable target for Patrick Mahomes. Hendershot had three receptions on three targets in four games this season, including a key first-down reception. To be precise, he is making the most of his opportunities.

But, if not for Mahomes’s heroics late into the fourth quarter, who knows whether the Chiefs could have made it 10-1 for the season. But seeing their champion QB step up again when the Chiefs needed him the most must have been a relief for their fans. They were quick to express their thoughts on Patrick Mahomes’s final quarter 33-yard clutch scramble.

Seeing him pull off a sensational run led fans to compare him to Death and Taxes that none of us can evade, “Death, taxes, Mahomes sneaking down the sideline for a long run on a potential game-winning drive.” Someone out there also compared Mahomes’s final run to the devil’s magic. The comment read like, “Mahomes’ devil magic run down the sideline, a tale as old as time.” As for Mahomes, he completed his afternoon with 27-of-37 passes for 269 yards and three TDs.

He even had support from all around the offense. Noah Gray caught four passes for 66 yards while adding 2 TDs to his name. Even DeAndre Hopkins chipped in with a TD on Sunday. With that, the Chiefs leave the game with some hope but not without some signs of concern.

A new star is on the horizon for Patrick Mahomes & co., but loose ends remain.

The Chiefs’ defensive line must be a reason to worry for Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs’ longtime defensive coordinator. Spagnuolo once again had to blitz Young out of necessity because the Chiefs’ defensive line was not dominant in clear pass-rushing situations. Chiefs still didn’t do enough to rattle Carolina’s quarterback even after a number of blitzes in the second half.

The Panthers recognized the blitzes and Young consistently got the ball out to one of his receivers in a one-on-one matchup. Either Young’s pass was completed or one of the Chiefs’ defensive backs, nickel defender Chamarri Conner or cornerbacks Nazeeh Johnson or Trent McDuffie picked a pass interference penalty to continue the Panthers’ drive. That eventually tied the game with less than two minutes left. The Chiefs exited the game at the Bank of America Stadium, sacking Young only twice. However, they surely have an emerging hand for Patrick Mahomes.

Just before the season started, the Chiefs signed tight end Noah Gray, a fourth-year tight end, to a three-year, $18 million extension, signaling that Gray would be a target for Mahomes after Kelce. Since then, Gray has taken up this responsibility fairly well behind Kelce.

Gray led the Chiefs against the Panthers with two touchdown receptions, after his impressive performance with two touchdown receptions in the previous week against the Buffalo Bills. Including Sunday’s game, Gray has 27 receptions on 30 targets for a career-high 315 yards and a career-high four touchdowns this season. This development at the back of Kelce is definitely good news for the Chiefs, and Gray is aligned to Mahomes.

On his second TD, Gray said Mahomes “gave me the answer to the test there” before the play. “He told me what coverage it was pre-snap. That’s just the blessing you have of playing with a quarterback like that. Offensive line did a great job blocking that up and the receivers did a great job running their routes to pop me open. Really just a group effort right there on that touchdown,” Gray said. But at the end of the day, the Chiefs need to buckle up. They know it better than anyone that they were almost staring at a loss in all those close wins.