Tom Brady has time for his vanquished foes.
The New England Patriots quarterback had a one-on-one chat with his Kansas City Chiefs counterpart Patrick Mahomes last January at Arrowhead Stadium following the Patriots’ overtime win in the AFC Championship game. Mahomes discussed his personal brush with Brady on Monday night during his appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” telling the host the words of encouragement Brady offered him in the aftermath of the epic game.
“During all the excitement, they won the game and we were just walking off the field after that heartbreaking loss at home,” Mahomes said. “I didn’t talk to him after the game, and so when I was in the locker room about to walk out, actually, he came in. He got the security to let him in and he said, ‘Man, you had a heck of a season.’
“He knows what it’s like to win a lot of big games. He knows what it’s like to lose some big games—not many, but a few. And so he just said, ‘You have to keep grinding.’ He loved the way that I played. It was awesome for him to do that and show that class at such an exciting moment.”
This is isn’t the first time Mahomes has spoken about his postgame talk with Brady. The Pro Bowl QB told ESPN’s “NFL Live” on Jan. 25 Brady praised him for his dedication to the sport.
“… He understands that it flies by, just make sure to put in the work. I think he saw that I’ve put in the work to be in those situations,” Mahomes said.
Mahomes, 23, led the NFL with 50 regular-season touchdown passes and took his team to the brink of the Super Bowl in his first season as a starter. Those achievements impress even someone with a resume as glittering as Brady’s as well as mortals like Fallon.
