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The Patriots led 14-0 on the half and 17-7 late within the third quarter. Mahomes hadn’t discovered a rhythm towards that Brian Flores-coached protection. However true to type, the then-23-year-old caught fireplace, main TD drives on three of 4 possessions, vaulting Okay.C. into the lead, 28-24, with only a hair over two minutes to play within the sport. It appeared Mahomes was about to make the primary of many Tremendous Bowl journeys.
However Brady and the Pats answered, marching 65 yards for a landing in a minute and 24 seconds, pushing the Pats again in entrance, 31-28. Sure, they bought some assist — Dee Ford lining up offsides negated a game-clinching interception — however then Brady discovered Rob Gronkowski for 25 yards to arrange the go-ahead TD, leaving Arrowhead in a daze.
How might this be? How might Brady and this erratic offense — useless and buried after back-to-back losses in December for the primary time in eons — be headed again to the Tremendous Bowl?
Mahomes, in fact, nonetheless had some magic left in him. He uncorked 21- and 27-yard completions to arrange a Harrison Butker subject purpose within the closing seconds and drive extra time. However the Pats gained the coin toss and gained the sport, with Brady changing three third-and-10s alongside the best way to a game-ending landing run by Rex Burkhead.
“I felt fairly good about our probabilities,” Patriots particular groups maven Matthew Slater informed reporters after the sport. “As a result of we now have Tom Brady as a teammate. I at all times be ok with my probabilities.”
“I assumed if we bought the prospect,” Mahomes stated following the crushing loss, “we would rating.”
However Brady and the Patriots would not permit it, with the QB incomes a ninth journey to the Tremendous Bowl (the place the Pats would go on to beat the Rams).
Greatness, although, acknowledges its personal sort. Which is why Brady made his solution to Kansas Metropolis’s locker room after that 2018 AFC Championship Sport to share some phrases of recommendation and encouragement for Mahomes. And one yr later, following the Chiefs’ AFC title sport win over the Titans, Mahomes recalled what Brady had informed him within the dropping locker room on that frigid Kansas Metropolis night time.
“The most important factor that Tom stated to me was simply to stick with the method and hold being who I’m,” Mahomes stated after punching his ticket to his first Tremendous Bowl, the place the Chiefs would defeat the 49ers to safe the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy in a half-century. “That is one thing that is vital, as a man who’s had a lot success each single yr he is been within the NFL, is that he goes on the market each single day and he treats it prefer it’s an important day. And in order that’s one thing that I will attempt to do for my whole profession.”
Quick-forward to the right here and now, the place — as soon as once more — Mahomes is on the precipice of one thing nice: a second straight Tremendous Bowl title. However there is a 43-year-old on the alternative sidelines, one who will not want a scuba go well with to maintain heat Sunday in Tampa, and one who merely refuses to relinquish the crown.
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