Chiefs’ Travis Kelce opens up about his sideline outburst and struggles this season
Emotions ran high during the Chiefs’ 20-14 loss to the Raiders on Christmas Day with Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid all expressing their displeasure at some point during the game.
Kelce slammed his helmet to the ground on the sideline, then was unable to get back in the game when Reid stopped Kelce from getting his helmet back.
“Yeah, listen, I mean he went back in and did a nice job,” Reid told reporters after the game when asked about Kelce. “So things happen — emotional game. Trav’s emotions and sometimes my red hair gets to me a little bit, but it all works out.”
Kelce offered a mea culpa on the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast while also praising Reid.
“He’s looking out for me and I love him for it,” Kelce said of Reid. “I didn’t go back out there and play good. He wanted to see the fire in me and I reacted in a bad way. He wanted to just get the best out of me.“
Kelce had five receptions for 44 yards in the loss, and he has 90 catches and 968 receiving yards this season. But he expects more out of himself.
“Right now I’m just not playing my best football and I gotta ... lock (it) in and be more accountable for him, be more accountable for my teammates,” Kelce said. “I gotta keep my ... cool, man, because as a leader on this team, that’s not how you switch the momentum.”
‘Take ownership’
Kelce also spoke about how the Chiefs’ offense has looked good at times this season. But they haven’t been consistent.
“Everybody’s just got to ... do their job,” Kelce said. “Every single play it’s somebody not doing their job, and it’s me. One by one, it’s everybody on the team. And whether that’s prep, whether that’s having the confidence and understanding of what the defense is in, their coverages, their gaps in the run game. How we’re picking up blitzes, how we’re running routes versus certain coverages. All of the above, man.
“We show signs of, sparks of what kind of offense we can be. Like I believe we did maybe right out of halftime (against Las Vegas). ... Throughout the season we’ve shown during drives that we can be a high-powered offense if we don’t hurt ourselves with penalties, if we’re not playing first-and-20 every other drive or every other set of first downs.”
Kelce believes the Chiefs players need to buckle down and take ownership for the issues that have plagued the offense.
“It just hasn’t been a well-oiled machine like we’ve been in the past,” he said. “And we’ve just got to get everybody on the same ... page. And maybe that’s just getting into the facility and just talking things out together. Maybe that’s getting a few reps after practice. Maybe that’s getting a few more mental reps with each other in the film room.
“Whatever it is, we’ve got to do something else because it’s been pretty consistent that we haven’t been on the same page. We’ve just got to take a little bit more ownership in what we’re doing, and I’m not saying that I’m out of this. I’m the main part of this and I’ve got to try and find a way to clean this ... up.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2023 at 9:26 AM.
