KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When he was growing up in Texas, Patrick Mahomes watched a lot of Tom Brady's game. One of his earlier Super Bowl memories, he said, is of Brady and the New England Patriots upsetting the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.
That doesn't mean Mahomes was a fan.
"Being from Texas, I was a Cowboys fan when I was younger," Mahomes said. "I wasn't necessarily a fan of him winning all the time. You definitely respected his game and how he played. When you have that much success, it takes a lot of hard work, so you respect that.”
Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will get a chance to deprive Brady and the Patriots of another Super Bowl on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium at 6:40 p.m. ET (CBS).
Brady, 41, and Mahomes, 23, are separated by many years on a calendar and many seasons in experience, but they are connected in the passing record book. They are two of the three quarterbacks to throw 50 touchdown passes in a season, Brady in 2007 and Mahomes this season.
They are two of the seven quarterbacks to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season, Brady in 2011 and Mahomes this season.
Mahomes, in fact, watched a lot of Brady video while in college at Texas Tech at the request of coach Kliff Kingsbury, who was briefly a teammate of Brady in New England.
"He liked to show me some things that he did where he was in the pocket, his pocket movements and things like that," Mahomes said. "I have definitely taken some things from him. He does it at such a high level. It's something you have to strive to be like.”
If this contest is anything like the Week 6 meeting between the Chiefs and Patriots in New England, a classic AFC title game is ahead. Brady threw for 340 yards and a touchdown, Mahomes for 352 and four.
The teams combined for 946 yards, and scored 30 points between them in the fourth quarter. The Patriots won 43-40 on a walk-off, 28-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski.
"I have the ultimate respect for Tom and everything that he did this game and his whole entire career," Mahomes said afterward. "He's had success in this league because he's won games with last-minute drives like that. For us, you just have to find a way to win games like this. If you want to get to where you want to get to, you have to win games that are going to be tight and they're going to be against really good opponents.
"He gave me congrats on playing a good game and ... of course I did the same to him. I just kind of told him good luck for the rest of the season and we're going to go out there and hopefully we can keep playing and hopefully we might get to see him again."