‘Baller move’: Patrick Mahomes respects Trevor Lawrence’s Waffle House victory celebration

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Out with Disney World trips to celebrate big wins and in with the tall stacks of hash browns and waffles.

With one viral postgame trip to Waffle House to celebrate a classic playoff victory, Trevor Lawrence related to the common person and proudly elbowed himself in to the Florida man hall of fame conversation. How do franchise quarterbacks in Jacksonville celebrate one of the biggest wins in franchise history? They skip Disney — it’s gotten too expensive now anyways — and head to Waffle House!

Eat your hearts out, Village Inn and Huddle House and Denny’s and Cracker Barrel.

Lawrence engineered a historic comeback win over the Chargers last Saturday night in the AFC playoffs, a 31-30 rally that ranks as the third largest in playoff history. One could have only assumed a raging house party and champagne toasts that lasted until the morning. Well, the only toast from the Lawrence group (party of probably 40!) came on white bread served up by the wait staff at the Waffle House.

“That night I got the Texas bacon cheese steak with hash browns with cheese and a pecan waffle,” Lawrence said. “Sometimes I get the all-star you know, depends how I feel.”

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes certainly had respect for Lawrence’s victory celebration. Talking to reporters Tuesday, Mahomes said he wasn’t sure where he went after his first playoff win, but respected the move.

“I can’t remember exactly, but I’m sure there were a couple of Coors Light that were drank,” he said. “I didn’t get Waffle House, that’s a baller move, man. So, maybe If we win this one I’ll have to think of somewhere to go that can match that.”

Lawrence was feeling like a champion after shaking off four first-half interceptions and firing four touchdowns after going into a 27-0 hole to slay the Chargers. That called for the pinnacle of postgame eats.

Lawrence celebrated like most college frat boys would have — by partying through the night with plates of hash browns and all-star breakfasts and bacon and cheese-smothered omelets. That delivered classic memes like the one below as the internet remained unbeaten in producing gems.

Photos of videos of the fine dining experience went viral early Sunday morning. If Waffle House was a publicly-traded company (it is a privately owned company so the general public can’t invest in it), its stocks would have been through the roof on Tuesday morning!

So, how did that trip come to fruition? Was it planned or impromptu? Is Lawrence considering in adding a Waffle House location (or 50!) to his vast portfolio? Or, did he just have a burning desire to end up in the Florida man hall of fame?

OK, that last part sounds weird, but who came up with the idea to go to Waffle House to celebrate such a colossal win?

“Well, I was talking to Brandon [Scherff] … and maybe EJ [Perry] hadn’t ever been to Waffle House in their life. So that was like, a week or two ago, and I was saying, we got to go one day after the game. And then last week, I told them once we win on Sunday, we’re going to Waffle House,” Lawrence said.

Wait, what? There are professional athletes who have never been to a Waffle House? I think current public school curriculum mandates students have to eat at a Waffle House to get a high school diploma.

I digress.

“So, [his wife] Marissa actually called and talked to Waffle House about like, reserving part of it. And they were like, ‘Well, if you give us a heads up, we can kind of like, clear some people out of one area, and have you guys some spots saved.’ So they did that, and it was great. We had like 20 guys there,” Lawrence said.

Waffle House takes reservations? No, it doesn’t — unless your name is Trevor Lawrence. Talk about another boss move. And in case you’re wondering, yes, there are Waffle Houses in Kansas City.