Getty Image / Kevin C. Cox
The Cincinnati Bengals waged a war of words with the Kansas City Chiefs ahead of the AFC Championship. Trash talk was rampant and Patrick Mahomes took notice.
In this post-game press conference, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked about the Bengals’ trash talk.
Mahomes revealed how his teammates responded, saying it was probably the ‘most pumped up’ he’d seen his teammates going into a game. Mahomes then commented on how the Chiefs felt like underdogs in this game because ‘nobody picked them’ to win.
Patrick Mahomes Asked About Bengals Trash Talk
"I mean, the mayor came at me man"
Patrick Mahomes discussing the trash talk (my personal favorite moment from tonight's press conference). pic.twitter.com/U4xKnW1ZuD
— Katie Maher (@wibwKatie) January 30, 2023
When asked about the trash talk, Patrick Mahomes said “I think guys were probably the most pumped up I’ve seen them going into a football game. (There) was a lot of trash talk coming from a lot of different places.”
On being underdogs, Mahomes said “I think no one picked us to win. (I) saw that it was like 5% of people. And we think we’ve built up enough respect to have a chance to go out and win every game.”
Patrick Mahomes went on to say “whenever you feel like you’re the underdog playing at Arrowhead Stadium it gets guys ready to go.”
Mahomes joked about how “the Mayor came at me. I understand he’s the Mayor of Cincinnati so he has to think about something. But you just gotta play the football game and let your play to the talking.”
Chiefs players heard all of the ‘Burrowhead’ chatter. DT Chris Jones joked about it in a press conference last week:
#Chiefs superstar DT Chris Jones at the end of his press conference: “Take care. See you all at Burrowhead Stadium.”
Oh it’s getting feisty, and you gotta LOVE IT! pic.twitter.com/B3UiqOoOzC
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 27, 2023
The sportsbooks, meanwhile, were bullish on Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs after they beat the Bengals. This wasn’t true for the public.
A sportsbook operator in Las Vegas revealed how quickly the lines changed after it opened at -2.5 Chiefs. The betting public quickly pushed it in the opposite direction:
Super Bowl opener at @CircaSports was Kansas City Chiefs -2.5 with a total of 51. The market disagreed and said our opener was garbage. It will be interesting to see where this number goes in the next two weeks! #SuperBowlLVII pic.twitter.com/61TEytQQf0
— Jeffrey Benson (@JeffreyBenson12) January 30, 2023