LAS VEGAS — Mecole Hardman didn’t know he made the Super Bowl-winning catch at first.
Hardman, who began the season as a Jet, said he blacked out after catching the 3-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes that decided Super Bowl LVIII. Kansas City won, 25-22, on Sunday night with three seconds left in overtime on Hardman’s grab.
“I caught the football and I blacked out, I’m not going to lie,” Hardman said. “I blacked out. I seen Pat coming toward me and I said, ‘Oh we just won.’ The rest is history.”
Wait. What?
“When you black out, and then you come back to reality,” Hardman said. “It was one of those moments where I blinked and it snapped and I’m like, ‘Oh we won it.’ ”
It was a similar play that Kansas City ran — twice — in last year’s Super Bowl victory over Philadelphia. Both of them resulted in touchdowns.
Hardman lined up on the right, motioned to the left, then stopped and went right again. Mahomes rolled to the right. San Francisco’s defenders on that side were chasing Mahomes and Hardman was wide open. After the score, Mahomes ran into the end zone and hugged Hardman.
“The motion is the exact same motion that we ran in the Super Bowl last year,” Mahomes said.
“It’s called Tom and Jerry,” Hardman said. “When I seen the cornerback up, I knew I was going to get the ball.”
Hardman, who also caught a 52-yard pass earlier in the game, called this season “a roller coaster.”
The Jets signed him away from Kansas City last offseason, believing he would be a versatile weapon for Aaron Rodgers. Hardman wasn’t entirely healthy in camp and was eventually beaten out by undrafted rookie free agent Xavier Gipson.
Hardman played in five games for the Jets, was targeted three times and caught one pass for 6 yards. The Jets traded him back to Kansas City in October and he was a difference-maker in capturing his third Super Bowl with this Mahomes-led team.
“I couldn’t be happier for my guy,” Travis Kelce said….
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