Patrick Mahomes shades Justin Tucker for warmup controversy: ‘Under our skin’

Patrick Mahomes is now telling his side of the AFC Championship Game warmup story.

On Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium as the Chiefs and Mahomes got ready in one of the end zones, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker was seen near the Kansas City players with a helmet, warmup balls and a kicking tee.

Tight end Travis Kelce took exception to Tucker’s proximity to the Chiefs, so he kicked the ball and kicking tee before flinging the helmet to the side.

While Tucker has denied any wrongdoing and said it’s nothing different than what he’s normally done before NFL games, Mahomes said in a radio interview Tuesday that the only incidents he’s had like this one have occurred against this same opponent.

“I’ve had like seven years of kind of doing that same warmup routine and there’s only been like three occasions where there’s been a kicker that wasn’t … necessarily moving out of the way or you weren’t sharing the field in the right way,” Mahomes said Tuesday on 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City. “It was in Baltimore all three times.”

Mahomes added that he was just going to let things play out, but Kelce then stepped in to move the gear out of the way.

“[Tucker] does that little stuff, I think to try to get under our skin,” Mahomes added. “I asked him to move his stuff. He got up and moved it, I think, two inches but didn’t move it out of the way. I was gonna let it slide, but Travis got in and moved it for me. And after that, I wasn’t gonna let him put it back down.”

But Mahomes did add he has “a lot of respect” for Tucker, who has five All-Pro nods to his name and a 90.2 percent field goal percentage.

He went 1-for-1 on field goals in the Ravens’ loss to the Chiefs on Sunday and is now 18-for-22 in the postseason in his career.

“I have a lot of respect for him as a player, one of the best kickers of all time, probably the best kicker of all time,” he added. “But at the same time, you’ve got to have respect for each team, and we all share the field, and we try to do that in a respectful way.”

Tucker said Monday that he was not trying to stir the pot with his warmump up routine.

“I’m totally willing to let it all go,” the seven-time Pro Bowler told reporters. “But that’s just what I’ve done for 12 years and it’s not like I’m out there trying to be problematic. I’m just trying to get ready for the football game, just like they are, and that’s all I really gotta say about it, just to be clear.”