In 2017, Travis Kelce needs to shut his mouth, stop worrying about the officiating and catch the damn ball.
Look Addicts, I love Travis Kelce as much as the next guy. He’s a dynamic threat at the TE position. He is fun to watch. He makes the Chiefs better. These are all good things.
But Kelce needs to grow up.
In case you haven’t heard, Kelce decided to go on a post-game rant after the Chiefs’ 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in last night’s playoff game.
Dude, just shut up. You sound like a fan having a Twitter meltdown, not a professional football player. You’re an adult, start acting like one.
Kelce says some ridiculous things in his rant. My favorite is when he says “you try to play the game with intergrity.” Really Travis? Is that what you were doing when you threw a Steelers player to the ground well after the whistle?
Let’s get a couple of things out of the way right off the bat.
Eric Fisher was holding James Harrison on the two-point conversion attempt. Was it the most egregious hold of all time? No. Was it bad enough to get the flag? Absolutely.
The fact of the matter is, the Chiefs should have never been in the position where they needed a two-point conversion to tie the game in the first place. If Travis Kelce wants to place the blame on someone for this loss, he need only look in the mirror.
Long before Fisher’s holding penalty, Alex Smith threw the ball to Kelce late in the third quarter. It was a great throw that hit Kelce in the hands but Kelce dropped it. Had he not dropped it, the Chiefs would have been in business, in the red zone, trailing the Steelers 15-10. Two plays later, Kelce threw a tantrum and pushed a Steelers player to the ground after the whistle, landing the Chiefs a 15-yard penalty. The Chiefs ended up overcoming Kelce’s unconscionable penalty but were not able to find the endzone. Had Kelce not dropped that pass, however, there is a pretty good chance the Chiefs would have scored a touchdown on that drive, taking the lead 17-15.
It is great that Kelce plays the game with so much emotion and it can be fun to watch but I’d rather he focus on playing mistake-free football rather than practicing his touchdown celebrations. I’d rather he catch the ball instead of (wrongly) coming to the defense of his teammate after the clock has run out.
Kelce’s behavior yesterday made the Chiefs look dirty and it made them look like sore losers. Kelce’s play yesterday, did make the Chiefs losers.
The loss isn’t totally on Kelce. There is plenty of blame to go around for the Chiefs’ loss. Andy Reid has a young and talented team that should be able to continue making playoff appearances in the years to come. Heck, if they catch a few breaks or get a slightly better QB (but hey, that is a column for a different day) they might even win a Super Bowl.
If Travis Kelce wants to be a part of that journey and be one of the players responsible for it, he needs to stop running his mouth and start catching the ball.
There is a long list of people responsible for the Chiefs’ losing to Pittsburgh and I’ve got news for Travis Kelce; his name is near the top of that list and the official who called the holding penalty isn’t even on it.