Travis Kelce on a change teams have made in defending Chiefs in the red zone
Not including the final kneel downs at the end of their 25-17 win over the Bengals on Sunday, the Chiefs had nine possessions.
The Chiefs punted once, lost a fumble and scored seven times (one touchdown and six Harrison Butker field goals). The Chiefs moved the ball inside Cincinnati’s 31-yard line six times, got to the red zone three times and the reached end zone once.
In 2022, the Chiefs had the second-best red zone efficiency in the NFL. But this season, they rank a middle-of-the-pack 15th in that category. They’ve scored a touchdown on 55% of their trips inside the 20-yard line (33 out of 60). Only three teams have reached the red zone more often this season than the Chiefs: the Ravens, 49ers and Cowboys.
On the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast, tight end Travis Kelce explained how opposing defenses have changed their plan in trying to stop the Chiefs in the red zone.
“A lot of teams are really playing this goal-line style defense once you get inside the 15, where it’s basically keep it all in front of you, don’t give up a touchdown, hold it,” Kelce said. “And when teams are doing that, you’ve got to be able to run the ball. You have the safeties and DBs who are playing on the goal line kind of sitting there waiting on everything and passing guys off in zones, and it’s a prime position to be able to run the ball.”
The Chiefs ran for 132 yards against the Bengals and had 373 yards of total offense, and Kelce was pleased with how the offense played on New Year’s Eve.
“When we really started to get going we got the ball down, I think, to the 10 and the 5, on almost all of those drives, I feel like,” he said. “The 54-yarder (field goal) obviously being the exception there. But needless to say, we’ve got to be able to punch that thing in no matter what defense they’re running, find ways to put up seven points, man, because against a better offense or against an offense that’s clicking a little bit more over the course of the game, those field goals turning into touchdowns. I mean, those are daggers, absolute daggers.”
Kelce’s brother and podcast co-host, Eagles center Jason Kelce said it’s been a defensive trend this season. He estimated that teams across the league have been playing a goal-line defense this season starting when the ball get to roughly the 12-yard line instead of around the 6-yard line.
“It’s been successful. It’s really stalled a lot of people out in those areas of the field,” Jason Kelce said. “Is that new this year? Is that just me?”
Travis Kelce agreed with his brother’s thought that a change has come about this season.
They then talked about Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco’s big game Sunday as he rushed for 130 yards.
“When you’ve got Isaiah running the ball like this, and I think the offensive line wanted to kind of make a statement,” Travis Kelce said. “And really just the collective group of everybody, we wanted to make a statement to come out, be physical, play with energy and be on the attack and what way to be on the attack better than running right at you?”
