Kansas City Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes battled back and gained some extra yards in the second half of Saturday's wild-card round playoff matchup against the Miami Dolphins.
Mahomes ended up taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Dolphins safety Deshon Elliott late in the run, which shattered the quarterback's VICIS-made helmet. On Wednesday, the manufacturer said the helmet “did its job” in protecting the two-time NFL MVP “during a head-to-head impact in unprecedentedly cold temperatures.”
The Chiefs-Dolphins game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City was one of the coldest games in league history. The temperature at the start was -4 degrees Fahrenheit and dropped significantly throughout the night.
The manufacturer of the VICIS ZERO2 helmet, Certor Sports, said the frigid temperatures directly affected the helmet.
“Extreme conditions like these are sure to test the limits of even the highest performance products,” Certor Sports said in a statement Wednesday.
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Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs heads to the sideline after his helmet broke during the third quarter of their wild card playoff game against the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 13, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri. (David Eulitt/Getty Images)
A piece of Mahomes' helmet came off just above the mask area.
“They're testing it right now,” Mahomes said Wednesday, “but I'm adamant about getting the helmet later. It's a cool thing, I'll be able to keep it for a long time. Like they said, it worked.” job. I was perfectly fine afterwards.”
PATRICK MAHOMES OF THE CHIEFS DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE THE GAME AFTER THE HELMET CRACK
The VICIS ZERO2 uses a patented multi-layer technology that creates a “deformable outer shell,” the company said, and which wraps around a more rigid inner shell. The design is similar to that of car bumpers, which at first glance may look like cheap plastic, but are actually designed to absorb and disperse energy at the point of impact.
The ZERO2 line, which includes specific models for linemen and quarterbacks, ranked in the top five in this season's testing by the NFL and NFLPA. The helmets also earned high marks in independent evaluations at Virginia Tech.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes says his broken helmet did its job. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
“It's unusual for a football helmet to break, but we've had incidents here at the lab and we generally perform tests at room temperature,” said Barry Miller, who helps direct the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. “If you ask the guy in charge from a football equipment room, you might find a different answer as you see tons of helmets with a lot of impacts.”
VICIS was founded in 2017 and quickly became a venture capital darling, raising more than $85 million from current and former NFL players, including Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Jerry Rice. And with a focus on innovation, the company produced helmets that ranked No. 1 in NFL and NFLPA testing from 2017 to 2019.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes carries the ball during the wild card playoff game against the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 13, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Mahomes said he had never had his helmet broken before: “It was a first for me.” He didn't immediately know that a fragment had broken off until he returned to the meeting and his teammates pointed it out to him.
The Chiefs star initially played with a broken helmet before officials intervened and made him get a backup from the bench. But the backup had been sitting in the bitter cold all night, and Mahomes found it difficult to get on his head. It took some work with equipment managers on the sidelines between series to finally make it comfortable for him.
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“We have to talk about where we keep the backup because it was frozen,” Mahomes said with a smile. “It didn't look very good. We were able to adjust it on the band, warm it up a little bit and go from there.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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