Earlier this week, Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase took a good-natured shot at Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, after Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow conceded that Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL.
“Pat who?” Chase told reporters.
Chase knows who Mahomes is. Chase was just being funny. If you don’t know who Pat is, you don’t know a damn thing about the current American sports scene.
But Mahomes, as the great ones often do, took it personally. He tweeted last night a photo of himself wearing his two Super Bowl rings with this declaration: “That’s who.”
Mahomes can get away with a periodic diss; he has a natural charm that makes it likable, even when he’s being a little petty. (Indeed, “Petty Mahomes” was trending on Twitter on Friday morning.)
Petty is fine. Petty, for some, is necessary. How else can NFL players who have climbed to the top of the mountain muster the will to try to climb the same damn mountain, over and over and over again/
For Petty Mahomes, the goal is obvious. Seven. That’s what Tom Petty has. And that will give Mahomes an extra motivation to get to No. 3. Then No. 4. Then No. 5.
And on those days when Mahomes might not be feeling like doing whatever he needs to do to continue to strive for what Brady always described as his favorite ring (“the next one”), Mahomes can remind himself that Chase said “Pat who?” -- and Mahomes can convince himself that Chase wasn’t just kidding around when he said it.
