Current:Home > Scams'I blacked out': Even Mecole Hardman couldn't believe he won Super Bowl for Chiefs-LoTradeCoin
'I blacked out': Even Mecole Hardman couldn't believe he won Super Bowl for Chiefs
View Date:2024-12-23 19:29:05
LAS VEGAS – Mecole Hardman scored the game-winning touchdown of Super Bowl 58. It took some time before that registered.
On the game’s final play, the fifth-year receiver of the Kansas City Chiefs motioned toward the offensive line before pirouetting back to the right, looking back at quarterback Patrick Mahomes at the snap. The three-time Super Bowl MVP delivered a quick pass to the receiver, Hardman gathering the ball in and heading toward the pylon for a short 3-yard score that will be long remembered as the play that cemented K.C. as the NFL’s newest dynasty.
Not that Hardman knew.
“I knew I was going to get the ball, caught the football, and I blacked out,” said Hardman after the game. “I’m not going to lie, I blacked out. I (saw) Pat running towards me, and I'm thinking, ‘We just won.’ I understand now and after that.
“The rest is history.”
SUPER BOWL CENTRAL: Latest Super Bowl 58 news, stats, odds, matchups and more.
Hardman can be forgiven for the lapse after a season that must have seemed like a fever dream.
After spending his first four seasons in Kansas City, he signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets last March. He appeared on “Hard Knocks,” fawning over new teammate Aaron Rodgers and giddy at the prospect of playing with the legendary quarterback. Yet Hardman’s impact with the Jets turned out to be on par with injured Rodgers, the wideout catching one pass in six games before being traded back to the Chiefs in October. Yet even reunited with his former team and an even better QB1, injuries kept Hardman off the field for much of the season.
“This was a roller coaster,” he said. “It was a lot of ups and downs. I was going through a lot, especially with the injury, trying to start over with a new team and didn't really play. Kansas City welcomed me back with open arms.”
Did they ever.
When healthy, Hardman adds speed to the passing game – an attribute that both makes him a deep threat and opens up room for players like tight end Travis Kelce to operate underneath the coverage. Hardman’s 52-yard catch in the second quarter seemed destined to set up Kansas City’s first touchdown, but a fumble on the next play nullified that opportunity.
Still, it’s not how you start.
“Man, I couldn’t be happier for my guy,” Kelce said of Hardman after the game. “It brought me to tears seeing that he was the man that got us there.
“Mecole, he’s one of my favorite teammates ever, because he just keeps showing up. … Found a way to win the game for us – when everybody counted him out, even the Jets counted him out. Man, we were so excited when we got him back in the building, because he’s the kind of guy that brings everybody together.”
Said Mahomes: “I've played with Mecole for a long time. He's always ready for the moment … and he was he was ready for that moment in a couple (of) big plays.”
Even if Hardman didn’t necessarily process those moments in the moments, he was fully self-aware by night’s end.
“(T)o get here to the Super Bowl, and the end, and got to end how it ended," he ended. "I don’t think I want it any other way.”
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Tennessee suspect in dozens of rapes is convicted of producing images of child sex abuse
- Bling Empire Stars Pay Tribute to “Mesmerizing” Anna Shay Following Her Death
- Megan Fox Shares Steamy Bikini Photo Weeks After Body Image Comments
- Can Massachusetts Democrats Overcome the Power of Business Lobbyists and Pass Climate Legislation?
- Does your dog have arthritis? A lot of them do. But treatment can be tricky
- This $20 Amazon Top Is the Perfect Addition to Any Wardrobe, According to Reviewers
- Court Strikes Down Trump Rollback of Climate Regulations for Coal-Fired Power Plants
- Christine King Farris, sister of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at age 95
- Bowl projections: SEC teams joins College Football Playoff field
- See pictures and videos of the Canadian wildfires and their impact across the planet
Ranking
- New Pentagon report on UFOs includes hundreds of new incidents but no evidence of aliens
- 10 Brands That Support LGBTQIA+ Efforts Now & Always: Savage X Fenty, Abercrombie, TomboyX & More
- Could Climate Change Spark a Financial Crisis? Candidates Warn Fed It’s a Risk
- Overdose deaths from fentanyl combined with xylazine surge in some states, CDC reports
- Trump hammered Democrats on transgender issues. Now the party is at odds on a response
- RHOC's Shannon Beador Reveals the Real Reason for Her and Tamra Judge's Falling Out
- Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, now 92, not competent to stand trial in sex abuse case, expert says
- See pictures and videos of the Canadian wildfires and their impact across the planet
Recommendation
-
Sports are a must-have for many girls who grow up to be leaders
-
Bling Empire Stars Pay Tribute to “Mesmerizing” Anna Shay Following Her Death
-
Is Cheryl Burke Dating After Matthew Lawrence Divorce? She Says…
-
USPS is hiking the price of a stamp to 66 cents in July — a 32% increase since 2019
-
All Social Security retirees should do this by Nov. 20
-
Alan Arkin, Oscar-winning actor and Little Miss Sunshine star, dies at 89
-
Kim Cattrall Talked About Moving On Before Confirming She'll Appear on And Just Like That...
-
‘We Need to Be Bold,’ Biden Says, Taking the First Steps in a Major Shift in Climate Policy