As the old adage reminds us, players can become best friends when they’re off the football field — but the moment they step between those lines, they become enemies.
That’s the perfect way to describe the relationship between the Kansas City Chiefs’ MVP front-runner Patrick Mahomes and the Las Vegas Raiders’ star pass rusher Maxx Crosby.
Any time these two modern greats face off, it’s sure to be a fun matchup — and one that is steeped in mutual respect, too. Crosby calls it “ultimate respect.”
“I know greatness when I see it — and I’ve been around a lot of greats,” Crosby said of Mahomes on this week’s edition of his SiriusXM show. “I’ve been around some of the best athletes and players to ever play the game — and I know he’s that. And every time I get to go out there, just the energy is different. I don’t know how to exactly explain it, but it’s been like that for a long time now. And so he knows what type of time I’m on, and I know what type of time he’s on.”
Mahomes has just as much admiration for the player who will be trying to put him on the ground during Sunday afternoon’s division matchup on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“It’s like, when I talk to him outside of football, you wouldn’t even see what happens on the football field,” the quarterback told reporters on Wednesday. “But he’s a type of competitor like me. When you go on that football field, it’s whatever it takes to win; you’re going to leave everything on the football field. I have a ton of respect for that. I mean, those are the guys that you want on your team — because they play with that mentality.”
Mahomes has long spoken of his friend’s relentless effort. , he had nearly identical praise for the Raiders’ sack artist:
“You have to know where he’s at on every single snap,” he offered ahead of last October’s Chiefs-Raiders matchup, “because he plays extremely hard every single snap — and he’s extremely talented. To have a guy be that talented — and to have that high of a motor? That’s special.”
Even more impressive to Mahomes, Crosby is rarely affected by the usual tactics used to neutralize elite pass rushers.
“If he gets chipped — or whatever it is — he doesn’t let that bother him,” he added. “He doesn’t let that affect him. He just keeps playing extremely hard every single snap. It’s a great challenge for us to go up against him and that defense.”
On Wednesday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid also acknowledged the friendly — and unmistakably intense — rivalry between the two players.
“He is 100 miles an hour every play,” marveled Reid of the Las Vegas pass rusher. “He and Patrick? I think they’re friends, actually. They compete against each other — and that’s the beauty of the sport.”
Yes… that’s the beauty of sports — and life, too.
We should all be so lucky to find like-minded individuals who share our passions and push us beyond our limits whenever we’re around them.
Whatever you call them — frenemies, rivals, or pals — one thing is certain: Mahomes and Crosby make each other better.
See More:
