Travis Kelce: A Chiefs player’s feet were accidentally burned while trying to stay warm
The recent arctic blast that descended on Kansas City was so awful it has made people excited about a forecast high of 32 degrees on Wednesday.
Most people around Kansas City stayed in as much as possible over the weekend, with the exception of the Chiefs and their fans. They were out in the elements for Saturday’s AFC Wild Card game win over the Dolphins, despite a minus-27-degree wind chill.
Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce talked on his “New Heights” podcast about playing in what was the fourth-coldest game in NFL history.
“It was shocking how cold it was. You’re by the heaters, you’re in the locker room and then when you go out on the field it’s like the temperature drops right now,” Kelce said on Wednesday’s podcast episode. “And you feel it in your hands, you feel it in your toes, your face. Everyone saw coach (Andy) Reid’s ‘stache, like, I could feel my mustache hardening up.
“It was shocking how cold it was. And that was probably the first game I’d ever caught myself — like even during a drive, if I got taken out for a play, like running over to the heaters to like warm up my hands and my feet to try and get feeling back. Like, it was that frickin cold.”
Jason Kelce, the Eagles center, asked if anyone used hand or foot warmers during the game, and Travis Kelce shared a story about a teammate whose feet were burned.
“I‘m not gonna say who it was but one of the guys ... double-socked it up,” Travis Kelce said. “Foot warmer on top inside the shoe and then spatted his shoe. So you got pressure kind of pushing down on it. Ended up getting two golf-ball size blisters on top of his feet. Just like looking at it. I was like damn, dude, that had to hurt the entire ... game. Did you not feel it?”
Spatted means the shoe was taped down, so those foot warmers burned the player’s skin, resulting in the splinters.
Kelce said the sideline heaters were important because it helped him stay loose during the game.
The temperature was minus-4 at kickoff and Jason Kelce asked his brother how it felt when the wind blew.
“It was so cold you really didn’t even notice,” Travis Kelce said. “At that point, it’s just like, yeah, you’re frozen. It was almost like it was so cold the wind just like never touched you. It just slid right past your icy face. It was nuts, man.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 11:31 AM.
