Patrick Mahomes. Photo: photosport
For an athlete setting Las Vegas abuzz in a high-octane Super Bowl week, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes cuts a pretty grounded figure.
In this city of hype and excess, the twice Super Bowl champion is chasing a third this weekend when the Chiefs face the San Francisco 49ers, and is not about to let the hype derail him.
The 28-year-old says one of the main benefits of experience is that he is better able to handle Super Bowl week.
"I think the biggest change is knowing what to expect of the week - I've obviously grown as a quarterback and as a leader and as a person, but being able to have a game plan for what the Super Bowl week entails, and prepare myself, and not play the Super Bowl before the Super Bowl game, that's something I can use to my advantage," he said.
Certainly Mahomes is handling his intense media commitments with aplomb, allowing himself a wry smile when asked about his chances of overhauling Tom Brady's record of seven Super Bowl victories.
"I'm not even close to half way, so I haven't put a lot of thought into it," he said, before going down the route of the athlete's one-game-at-a-time answer to such long-term questions.
"Your goal is to be the best player that you can be. And, I know I'm blessed to be around a lot of great players around me. And so right now, it's doing everything I can to beat a great 49ers team and try to get that third ring.
"If you ask me that question in like 15 years and I'll see if I can get close to seven, but seven seems like a long ways away still."
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Another 15 years in such a physically brutal sport would be a tall order, but Mahomes says he is doing all the right things to give him a best chance at a long career.
"It takes a lot of work looking after your body, it takes eating healthy, trying to get rid of the dad-bod that I've got, but just trying to do everything you can to be healthy and go out there and be the best player you can be," he said.
"Fifteen years seems like a long (time) but Brady did it and some other guys have done it so I am going to try to see if I can do it as well. I don't want to play until I am hurting the team, so if I can go out there and have some success and still love it every single day that's the biggest thing."
For now, though, everything is geared towards one blockbuster game on Sunday - and fear of defeat is proving a stronger motivation than the glory of winning.
If successful, the Chiefs would become the first team since the New England Patriots won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2004 and 2005, and the eighth team overall.
- Reuters