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A16 SPORTS
Thursday 18 January 2024

Helmet manufacturer: Mahomes’ shattered lid in playoff game

‘did its job’

By DAVE SKRETTA “Extreme conditions like
AP Sports Writer those are bound to test the
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — limits of even the highest-
The manufacturer of the performing products,” Cer-
helmet that Chiefs quar- tor Sports, which makes
terback Patrick Mahomes the VICIS ZERO2 helmet
shattered during their AFC that Mahomes was wear-
wild-card game with Mi- ing, said in a statement
ami says it “did its job” by Wednesday.
protecting the league MVP Mahomes was scrambling
“during a head-to-head toward the end zone in the
impact in unprecedented second half of the Chiefs’
cold temperatures.” 26-7 victory when he was
The game Saturday night hit by Dolphins safety De-
was the fourth-coldest in Shon Elliott. Their helmets
NFL history. The tempera- clashed and, likely be-
ture at kickoff was minus-4 cause of the extreme cold
degrees Fahrenheit, and that made the outer shell
winds gusting to more than brittle, a fist-sized chunk
25 mph made the wind Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) celebrates after throwing a touchdown went flying from Mahomes’
chill approach minus-30 pass during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Miami Dolphins helmet just above the
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.
during the game. Associated Press facemask covering his left
eye.
“They’re testing it right
now,” Mahomes said
Wednesday, “but I’m ada-
mant on getting the hel-
met after. It’s something
that’s cool, I’ll be able to
keep for a long time. Like
they said, it did its job. I was
perfectly fine after.”
The VICIS ZERO2 uses a
proprietary multilayer tech-
nology that creates a “de-
formable outer shell,” the
company said, and that is
wrapped around a stiffer
inner shell. The design is
similar to that of car bum-
pers, which might appear
to be inexpensive plastic
at first glance but are in
fact engineered to absorb
and disperse energy at the
point of impact. The ZERO2
line, which includes specif-
ic models for linemen and
quarterbacks, held the top
five spots in testing this sea-
son by the NFL and NFLPA.
The helmets also ranked
highly in independent eval-
uations at Virginia Tech.
“It is unusual for a football
helmet to crack a shell, but
we’ve had occurrences
here in the lab and we
generally test at ambient
temperature,” said Barry
Miller, who helps direct the
Virginia Tech Helmet Lab.
“If you asked a football
equipment room manag-
er, you may find a different
answer, as they see tons
of helmets with plenty of
impacts.”q