Kansas City Chiefs avoid a Patrick Mahomes nightmare, yet the road ahead is more complicated than the early good news suggests

Patrick Mahomes took a hard hit late in the second quarter of Sunday’s 35-12 win over the Jets, and Arrowhead went silent. Defensive end David Bailey caught him mid-throw, forcing a sack-fumble. Mahomes grabbed at his right arm and needed help getting to the sideline. He still returned for the next series and played most of the second half. Andy Reid called it an injury to the “elbow region,” and Mahomes said more testing is coming. Kansas City got the win and some early good news. The full diagnosis is still unknown.Chiefs wait on test results after Mahomes’ arm injuryThe play looked ugly in real time. Patrick Mahomes was winding up on second-and-10 when Bailey got to him. The ball came out, and Jets edge rusher Will McDonald fell on it in Kansas City territory. Mahomes stayed down for a moment, then reached for his right arm.Nobody at Arrowhead needed a reminder of last year. Mahomes tore his ACL less than a year ago, on that same field. A quarterback clutching a limb carries a different weight there, even when the damage turns out small.He came back anyway.Mahomes said he did not feel like he was throwing “the way” he wanted after halftime, though that improved with reps. Justin Fields only entered to kneel out the final minutes. That means Mahomes worked through it for most of the second half. He also admitted the exact spot on his arm is still unclear. Testing will answer that.His stance was simple. “If I’m able to play, I’m going to play,” Mahomes said. “That’s part of the game, that’s part of playing. It scares you in moments where you get some pains in certain areas of your body.”Reid points to Mahomes’ toughness as a team-wide liftReid said his mind went straight to the backup. “Get Justin ready,” Reid said. “Quickly. That’s kind of where you’re at on the field.”Reid said he did not know Mahomes would return until the series was about to start. “But he’s a tough kid. If there’s any way he can come back from something, he’s coming back.”Mahomes has played through plenty over the years, and sometimes he has healed faster than expected. His biggest hurdle so far was that ACL tear.“When you have a quarterback that’s tough, it affects everybody,” Reid said. “Nobody does it better than he does it.”The scoreboard made it easy to forget the scare. Kansas City won 35-12 and barely sweated the second half. But Week 10 is next, and Mahomes said his attention is on the test results and getting ready for it.He expects to wake up sore. “I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow, but we’ll get right to it,” Mahomes said. The tests will say whether soreness is all it is.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.