Chiefs tight end delivers historic performance
After scoring three majors against Texans, Kelce says he’s fit and ready for AFC final
Early Sunday evening, Travis Kelce hobbled through the Chiefs’ locker-room on his way to the post-game podium, where he was scheduled to answer questions about the first time in NFL playoff history a team had erased a deficit of at least 20 points en route to a victory by at least 20 points — otherwise known as one of the greatest comebacks ever produced in the league.
Perhaps noticing his limp, a PR guy asked him if he just wanted to hold the scrum at his stall, saving a few steps.
“Yes,” said the hulking, sixfoot-five, 260-pounder. “That would be great.”
The Chiefs had two instrumental players listed as “questionable” heading into their divisional round meeting with the Houston Texans. Outstanding rush end Chris Jones (calf ) was unable to answer the bell because he couldn’t push off during pregame warm-up. Coach Andy Reid said on Monday that Jones is “day-to-day” for next Sunday’s AFC championship showdown with the Tennessee Titans. Having him available would be huge for Kansas City.
Kelce landed on the injury report midway through last week with a knee problem.
Not only did he make it through the warm-up, he simply proved to be too much for Houston to handle. The Chiefs should have cut the game ball in half, giving one piece to Patrick Mahomes and the other to Kelce.
For what Kelce did was deliver one of, if not the greatest, playoff performances by a tight end of all-time.
Some facts to consider with his 10 catches (on 12 targets) for 134 yards and three touchdowns, mind-boggling stats that don’t even include the 28-yard pass-interference call he drew to set up the Chiefs on the five-yard line:
The effort marked the best day of Kelce’s six-year career, which was previously highlighted by a Week 12, 2018 eruption in which he had 12 catches (on 13 targets) for 168 yards and two touchdowns, helping K.C. to a 40-33 win over the Oakland Raiders. That performance came one week after he had 10 catches (on 15 targets) for 127 yards and one TD in a 54-51 loss to the L.A. Rams, giving him perhaps the best two weeks a player at his position has ever enjoyed.
But because this was the playoffs, this was bigger.
The effort also marked his biggest day since Week 15, on Dec. 15, when he caught 11 of 13 targets for 142 yards, although somehow the Broncos kept him out of the end zone.
The only other time he had 100 yards this season was Week 2, when he had 107 on seven catches and one TD.
But, again, this one was with all the chips on the line.
Entering the day, Kelce had six games of post-season experience, and only two other post-season touchdowns: one in a Jan. 6, 2018, loss to Tennessee, when he had four catches for 66 yards; and the other in last year’s heartbreaking 37-31 AFC championship game loss to the New England Patriots in overtime, when he caught three passes for 23 yards.
Kelce’s previous best post-season game was his first, Jan. 9, 2015, when he caught eight of 10 targets for 128 yards in a 30-0 win over Houston.
His career playoff numbers: 43 catches on 57 targets for 559 yards, 13 yards-per-grab average, five touchdowns.
In 96 career regular-season games, Kelce has 507 catches for 6,465 yards (12.75 yards/reception average). He has scored 37 touchdowns but never three in one game. Five times he had two.
He has reached triple digits in receiving yards 19 times in his career, including a stretch of 2017 where he did it five times in six weeks. Only four other games has he reached double digits in catches.
Now, consider where Sunday’s performance ranks among the greatest of all tight ends.
Generally regarded as the best to ever play the position is Tony Gonzales, who spent 12 seasons with the Chiefs and five with the Falcons. In all those seasons, Gonzales played only seven playoff games. He had a total of 30 catches for 286 yards, and as many as two TDs in one of them, his last, with the Falcons.
Kelce made it to the locker-room under his own steam Sunday, then he answered the question of the day: Is there any doubt he’ll play against Tennessee?
“No,” he said. “No doubt. No doubt in my mind.”
How anxious are he and his teammates to redeem themselves after losing last year’s AFC title match in overtime?
“I’m just happy we get to play it here, in front of this unbelievable city,” Kelce said.
“This stadium is like nothing else in the world. If you come and experience it, you’ll leave here saying the same thing.”
People who were there Sunday left saying that game was like nothing they’d ever seen.
That comeback, that performance by Mahomes, and that effort by Kelce — perhaps the greatest game ever played by a tight end.