Joe Burrow Wiki, Biography
Patrick Mahomes scrambled for a first down with his badly sprained right ankle, then was pushed out of bounds by Joseph Ossai, giving Harrison Butker a chance to kick a 45-yard field goal with just seconds remaining and give the Kansas City Chiefs a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC title game on Sunday night.
The Chiefs finally beat the Bengals after three straight losses, including a three-point overtime loss in last year’s title game, and will play the Philadelphia Eagles, the former team of coach Andy Reid, in their third Super Bowl in four years.
“I’ve seen them all year, great quarterback, great all-around team,” Mahomes said of the Eagles. “It’s going to be a big challenge for us, but I’m going to celebrate this one first. I don’t think we’ll have cigarettes, but we’ll be ready for the Super Bowl.”
Mahomes, who hurt his ankle against Jacksonville in the divisional round, threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns, despite ultimately losing three of his wide receivers to injuries. Márquez Valdés-Scantling led the way with 116 yards and a touchdown, while Travis Kelce, back trouble and all, had seven receptions for 78 yards and a score.
However, it was Mahomes on his injured right ankle, rather than his strong right arm, who saved the Chiefs.
“At some points in games, you have to put everything on the line,” Mahomes said. “The defense gave us a couple of chances to get into field goal range, we didn’t get there. The defense got another stop for us and I knew I was going to get there somehow. So I put everything on the line and we got in field goal range, and now we’re at Arrowhead and we’re in.”
The Chiefs got a crucial sack from Chris Jones to force a punt with 39 seconds remaining, and returner Skyy Moore scrambled for 29 yards on the return. On 3 and 4 at the Bengals 47-yard line, Mahomes dodged the pressure and ran to the Bengals sideline, barely getting the first down before Ossai gave him a push from behind.
The penalty flags flew, the ball came 15 meters closer, and Butker’s shot was good.
“We are not going to make it a play. There were a lot of plays we left on the field today that could have put us in a better position,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “The character of this football team, that will never change. We have the right people in the locker room, the right men leading this team and this organization.”
Joe Burrow, who was sacked five times and reeling late, finished with 270 passing yards to finish with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Bengals. Tee Higgins had six catches for 83 yards and the score.
The Chiefs were able to do early what the Buffalo Bills couldn’t in last week’s divisional round: They stomped on an ailing Bengals offensive line that lost two starters to injury and another was bothered by a sore knee.
Burrow was sacked three times in the first quarter alone, and the Bengals’ offense didn’t gain a single yard.
Mahomes, whose ankle had been the subject of speculation all week, led Kansas City to a field goal on their opening possession. And when the Chiefs got the ball back, Mahomes did it again, but only after Kadarius Toney failed to make a nifty throw for a potential touchdown — the incompletion upheld on review.
Cincinnati finally moved the ball in the second quarter, but they also had to settle for Evan McPherson’s field goal.
The Chiefs finally got to the end zone late in the second quarter, moving quickly downfield behind a couple of good Valdes-Scantling holds. The Bengals held at 3 and 1 at their 14-yard line, but the Chiefs tried and Mahomes hit Kelce loosely covered by Jessie Bates III for the touchdown.
The Bengals ran for 90 yards in the final minutes, but only added a field goal to pull within 13-6 at halftime.
But their offense was barely hitting its stride, and another classic was in the making.
After the Chiefs went three-and-out to start the second half, Burrow led the Bengals downfield, punching through a big hole in the defense for a third-down conversion before hitting Higgins from 27 yards to tie it up game 13. -13.
Mahomes, suddenly without three wide receivers because of injuries and starting to limp, pushed valiantly. He answered Burrow with a touchdown pass of his own, capped by a third-down pass to Valdes-Scantling to regain the lead.
The Chiefs had a chance to gain some breathing room later in the third quarter, but Mahomes somehow lost control of the ball before he could throw a pass and the Bengals pounced on the fumble. Six plays later – including an audacious fourth-down throw from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase – Samaje Perine ran into the end zone to tie it at 20.
Burrow gave the Chiefs a chance when his deep throw to Higgins on third down was batted into the air and picked by rookie cornerback Josh Williams. Mahomes managed to move the Chiefs past midfield, but two runs went nowhere and his third-down throw to Jerick McKinnon was well short, forcing them to punt in Bengals territory.
Read Also: Josh Johnson Wiki, Biography, Age, Family, Height, Net Worth, Fast Facts