Travis Kelce opened up about his irritable mood during Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons, leading some to speculate that it had something to do with his relationship with Taylor Swift. Despite the Chiefs' 22-17 victory over the Falcons, their third straight victory, many felt the 34-year-old star tight end wasn't playing with his usual fervor.
After all, Kelce has managed 69 yards and zero touchdowns on just eight receptions through the first three games of the season. And during his dismal appearance on Sunday, he recorded 30 yards on just four receptions, prompting a viral tweet that said, “Release Travis Kelce.”
travis kelce free the man picture.twitter.com/HTDNthIvdz
— mikaela (@tayviswarrior) September 23, 2024
However, in the last part New Heights Travis tied it all to football during a podcast he hosts with his brother, retired NFL star Jason Kelce, on Wednesday.
“We’re finding ways to win games and we’re not playing our best football,” Kelce admitted in terms of his thoughts on the game. “I think everybody saw my drop in the fourth quarter and the third down, trying to do too much before we took the ball out of play. And probably the biggest thing for me is making the play in big moments like that. The way defenses are playing against us right now, I’m not getting a lot of opportunities to make plays on the field, but I’m not using that as an excuse.”
“As we move forward, I'm just trying to make sure I can help the team with that, knowing that I've been that weapon for us in the past. As we move forward, just—everyone's adjusting their game in the right direction,” he continued. “We know what we need to do to get better this week, we're going to go out west and play the Chargers, and I'm excited about that challenge, baby.”
When Jason pointed out that his brother was being actively targeted by opposing teams, Travis was similarly unperturbed.
“Whatever it is, it's football, baby. I'm not into getting goals and all that,” Kelce responded. “I just want a successful offense and Pat [Mahomes] “He's doing a great job of finding the open man and making the right decisions right now, and we've got to continue to do so. It's a new offense, new players, new pieces, and we're trying to figure out how to be successful throughout the season.”
“As an offense, you’re going to have ups and downs throughout the season, and you just want to make sure that you’re cleaning up all the mistakes, that you’re communicating in a way that makes sure that everybody understands exactly where we’re going,” he explained. “And nobody does that better than coach [Andy] I want to thank Reid and Pat Mahomes for that.”
Jason noted that this wasn't the first time the Chiefs had fallen into a slump like they did midway through last season, but it was their third Super Bowl title in five years. “So you're running the ball like crazy,” he said, adding that he understood his brother's frustrations.
“I’ve made a lot of catches in this league, man, I don’t worry about catches and yards and all that, I have the most fun when the ball is thrown to me, I mean, who doesn’t have fun?” Kelce predicted. “It’s all about execution and just making sure we’re doing everything we can to win these football games, man, that’s always going to be the goal.”
It will be interesting to see how the Chiefs perform against Los Angeles next Sunday and whether Swift will be at the game to give her beau some much-needed moral support.