NEW ORLEANS — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked Wednesday about his college playing days, specifically about the tradition at Texas Tech of fans throwing tortillas onto the field to celebrate good plays.

Wisely, Mahomes suggested it would be a mistake to try to eat one of those tortillas, saying that he had never done so.

Mahomes’ mental acumen clearly isn’t limited to the football field.

It was that aspect to his game that his head coach, Andy Reid, shouted out at his Super Bowl LIX press conference Wednesday.

“Patrick’s a real sharp guy, very smart, spends a lot of time at the game making sure that all these crazy formations that we have, he can digest them first and then be able to spit them out,” Reid said.

“He can see and anticipate what the defense is going to do. You’ve gotta know where your guys are and you gotta know where their guys are, and be able to digest all that, too.”

–Two years ago in this spot, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had to deal with the unusual circumstance of facing off against his brother, Jason, who was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The two are close, hosting a podcast together, so the challenge of trying to win at the other’s expense was difficult. This time around, the Eagles are once again the opponent, but with Jason having retired, the emotions about the game for Travis are a little clearer.

“It’s going to be a little more comfortable for me,” Kelce said. “I love cheering for the Birds whenever I’m not in a Chiefs uniform. It’s mixed emotions of a lot of love that I have for the city of Philadelphia and a lot of the people in that organization, and I don’t wish any bad on them, but man, I want this thing more than ever, man.”

–As the Chiefs have won more and more, they have had to take on the role of being the bad guy, and defensive end Chris Jones had an interesting take on what it means to be hated.

“Every good story has to have a villain,” the three-time Super Bowl champion said. “It’s OK. People love something new. Anything in life, once you get a surplus of it, you start to want to change.”

Jones likened that desire to someone wanting a new car once the dashboard lights start flashing or wanting new shoes even though the old shoes still fit.

“People hate repetition. I get it,” Jones added. “If I was on the outside looking in, I would be saying the same thing, ‘I’m sick of the Chiefs.'”

–Carson Wentz, the Chiefs’ backup option at quarterback, has seen a lot of ups and downs in his career, and he’ll be facing the team that drafted him Sunday. Wentz was injured during the Eagles’ run to a Super Bowl title in 2017, so he couldn’t participate. It’s now a slightly different experience, as the likeliest way he’ll be playing Sunday is via injury.

“(Being out hurt last time) fueled me to come back,” Wentz said.

Wentz, 32, admits to still being competitive, but he has also embraced a backup mentality.

“No one comes into this league getting drafted where I was drafted (No. 2 overall in 2016) looking for that. But at the same time, it’s the hand I’ve been dealt,” Wentz said. “I’m still grateful to be playing it at my age. Still loving it and having a good time with it. This has been a fun year.”

–David Gladow, Field Level Media