Travis Kelce says he regrets throwing his helmet in anger during Chiefs’ win Sunday
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce had an eventful night Sunday in KC’s 20-17 overtime win against the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kelce was targeted 17 times, catching 10 passes for 106 yards. That included one of the best receptions of his career and one pass that went off his hands and was intercepted. He also fired his helmet to the sideline at one point after failing to make a catch and removed a Titans defender’s helmet on a two-point conversion try.
In the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast, Kelce talked about all of those things.
Helmet toss
Kelce said he shouldn’t have lost his cool.
“ It was uncalled for, one thousand percent and I shouldn’t ever do that, let alone in a moment like that where I’ve already shown that I screwed the team over,” he said. “And then to show even more frustration, all that does is just negative energy on negative energy, and then you become a meme.”
It may appear that Kelce completely flipped out, but he had the presence of mind to throw the helmet instead of spiking it.
“I’ve broken my helmet before I know how not to break it,” Kelce said. “And you have to be very specific because if you throw the helmet down too hard, now you’re risking injuries to yourself when you put the helmet back on and go back out there, so I knew not to throw it on the ground.”
Kelce’s brother, Jason, who is the podcast co-host, noted the helmet fling took place on the field, which should have been a penalty.
“You can only take off your helmet when you’re frustrated. If you do it in a celebratory manner: Flag. All day, throwing the flag,” joked the Chiefs’ Kelce.
Physical play
Jason Kelce said the Titans followed the Patriots’ script of grabbing Kelce at every opportunity. Is that frustrating for the Chiefs star?
“Well, that’s why they’re doing it,” Travis said. “They see me throw my helmet after I drop a pass. They see that I get frustrated and it takes my game to another level. Sometimes it takes it to a level to where I become better of a player. You know, I focus more, I play with a little more aggression. And then other times, I let it frustrate me and I’ve just got to find that that happy medium, that groove that I can always go into the mode of it making me a better player.
“But I love that challenge. Man. I love that challenge every single time because now it becomes a different game. It’s not a game of faster feet, faster leverage in terms of routes and things. I’m talking specifically routes. When I’m playing someone man to man and they’re very big on within those 5 yards trying to control my tempo ... flat out just hold me for the first 5 yards.”
Kelce said he used to rely on the officials to call holding but now he simply tries to match that physicality.
“In the past I’ve put a lot of trust in the refs throwing flags whenever I’m getting held,” he noted. “And midway through my career — and this came with playing the New England-style defense — I have a mentality more so now that when I’m playing a team that I know is going to be very physical at the line, is going to try and put their hands on me and grab and control me, I have to be the aggressor. I cannot let this guy hold me, as well as put it in the ref’s hands to throw the flag.
“So I’m going to be the more aggressive one and try and get somebody off me, whether it’s trying to yank them, whether it’s trying to push them whether it’s trying to use the leverage on the shoulders, do whatever I can to get this guy off me so that I can still have a chance to make the play instead of on the other side of things. Not play as physical, show that they’re holding me or show that they’re restricting me in some manner and put it on the ref to throw the flag.
“Instead of that, no, you can’t hold me. You can try it out with me but I’m going to be more of an aggressive player to where now the ref is going to see both of us just playing physical instead of me just trying to get open and a defender holding and trying to put it in the ref’s hands. I just feel like that that mentality has changed everything.”
And that brings us to the other helmet moment from Sunday’s game. Titans defensive back Joshua Kalu grabbed Kelce in the end zone and he tried to break free. In doing so, he dislodged Kalu’s helmet.
“That play was specifically just that,” Kelce said. “I came off the ball, picked the outside half of him. You have to pick a side. If I would have went straight down his midline, I probably would have got called with it, but the fact that I went outside first, he grabbed me you could see his hands around my back and his right hand holding my right shoulder like we were just talking about. (It’s) that lobster technique.”
On the next attempt for the conversion, which quarterback Patrick Mahomes ran in, Kelce was knocked to the ground in the end zone on a hit by Tennessee’s David Long Jr.
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 12:32 PM.
