The Kansas City Chiefs had a scary moment in their Week 9 win over the New York Jets when quarterback Patrick Mahomes went down with an apparent elbow injury late in the first half. After taking a sack, Mahomes was helped to the sideline, where the training staff attended to him.

He returned to the game much faster than anyone would have expected based on how the play looked. Mahomes didn’t miss a single snap. He finished the game outside of garbage time, when backup quarterback Justin Fields replaced him.

Patrick Mahomes puts his toughness on display after elbow injury vs. Jets

Speaking to the media after the game, Mahomes showed the toughness Chiefs fans have come to expect. He won’t sit on the sideline for anything short of a serious injury. Mahomes said his elbow didn’t feel great, but he did his job and finished the game against New York.

“Yeah, I mean, if I’m able to play, I’m going to play. That’s part of the game. That’s part of playing. You know, it scares you in moments when you get some pain in certain areas of your body. And so, obviously, didn’t feel great, but I was able to kind of get it worked on a little bit, especially at halftime, and then I was able to go out there and play the rest of the game.”

More than anything, Mahomes said the moment carried mental strain. You simply don’t know what the results of an injury will be when it happens. He experienced that a season ago with his knee injury. Mahomes felt he could walk to the sideline and ultimately returned to the game, but he later found out that he had suffered a significant knee injury.

“Yeah, I mean, you just never know, you know. I mean, obviously had the knee injury last year. You never know what’s going to be the final result or outcome of an injury, but at the same time, you just try to let the doctors and trainers do their work, and so definitely something that scares you more than anything. But we were able to get out there and give it a go.”

His takeaway from those scenarios is that you have to trust the doctors and training staff who prepare you to play. Now, Mahomes will have to show that faith and trust again.

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes still awaits further testing on his elbow

Mahomes told reporters that he will receive additional tests despite finishing the game against the Jets on Sunday. Asked whether this injury felt any different from others he has dealt with, he said it did not. However, he acknowledged that you don’t know until you know.

“Well, I haven’t got that yet,” Mahomes said. “So, we’re gonna go do some testing here whenever I get done with this media stuff right here, and we’ll get a better understanding of it. I’m sure Coach Reid will give you an update tomorrow.”

The tests will determine whether there is any ligament damage. For his part, Mahomes believes it is more of a muscle-type injury that he’ll have to manage.

“It didn’t feel different,” Mahomes said. “But anytime it’s elbows and knees, it’s always scary, just because you just don’t know. You know, I mean, like even my knee last year, after we were doing the initial test, I thought I could walk off the field. I thought I was going to be good, and then all of a sudden, you do one test, and you’re just out, and that kind of stuff scares you. So I think that was more than anything. I felt like, once I could throw the football, from the stories you hear, whenever you can grab the ball and try to throw it, you can’t throw. And so once I threw the football, I knew it wasn’t— hopefully, I mean I haven’t done the test yet— it wasn’t ligament-type stuff. It was more muscle-type stuff. And so that’ll be important to kind of get worked out this week.”

Asked about his days pitching in baseball, Mahomes added some color to the conversation. He told reporters he didn’t even ice his elbow back then.

“No, I didn’t even ice when I used to pitch, so that probably wasn’t good for me,” Mahomes said. “But yeah, no, I never had any elbow issues. Thank God, knock on wood. But hopefully, we can stay away from those.”

How Mahomes felt during the second half and what comes next for Kansas City

Mahomes admitted that, coming out of halftime, he wasn’t throwing the ball the way he wanted to. That doesn’t necessarily mean the injury was affecting his throws. Instead, he had to work through a few things to feel right and get back into a comfortable rhythm.

“I felt like out of half, I wasn’t throwing the ball the way I wanted to,” Mahomes said. “But as the game went on, and we kind of continued to work through it, and kind of got warmed back up, I thought I kind of started throwing the ball better towards the end of the second half. And so that’ll be important this week, is kind of getting that the swelling and the fluid out of it, so I can be ready to go from the first snap next week.”

He expects swelling and fluid to come into play this week and said he’ll work with the training staff to manage the injury. At the podium after Sunday’s win, Mahomes still had adrenaline pumping, but he knows he’ll feel the elbow tomorrow.

“I feel good now,” Mahomes said. “I mean, obviously, get the win, and the adrenaline’s pumping. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow, but we’ll get right to it. You know, we’ll get to work on it. We get ourselves ready to go, and it’s great to get the win now. Now it’s about getting ourselves ready for next week.”

It’s a good sign that Mahomes finished the game and that his own read points to a muscle issue. Even so, the testing will provide the clearest picture. Mahomes insisted that the Chiefs will get him right and back on the field when Kansas City faces the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Those test results will be the storyline to watch as Kansas City begins preparations for Week 10.