Touchdowns and taunts: The good and bad of Travis Kelce

Does his antics outweigh his production? Britt Zank gives his take on the joys and frustrations of following Travis Kelce as a fan.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on Sunday, his second such penalty is as many games. This is nothing new for Kelce and once again sparked the seemingly weekly debate of does his talent outweigh his headache.

There is no doubt that the bonehead plays and penalties he gets are frustrating for fans and teammates alike. A prime example came Sunday after Kareem Hunt took off on a 53-yard touchdown run. Arrowhead was rocking and then everyone saw the yellow flag on the field. The celebration stopped as everyone waited to see if the touchdown would stand. It did stand, but a little air had been let out of the crowd following the penalty and the subsequent kickoff allowed the Eagles to take the field at the 40-yard line.

Head coach Andy Reid was seen on the sidelines yelling at Kelce like a dad yelling at his son for the 10th time to clean his room. I still have not heard exactly what he did to get the penalty, but with the big target on his back for his history, it wouldn’t have taken much. I’m sure whatever it was, even he would say it wasn’t worth the penalty. Lucky for kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs the penalty didn’t affect the outcome of the game.

Kelce’s four year career is marked by plenty of needless antics, some worse than others. Most of them have been taunting penalties like what happened Sunday, which had no real effect on the outcome of the game. Others have come at bad times that either did or could have hurt the Chiefs. Everyone remembers last season’s blow up during a close game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kelce argued a call and got an unsportsmanlike penalty, and then he proceeded to throw his towel in the referee’s direction like it was a flag. This move was rewarded with a second unsportsmanlike penalty and ejection from the game. The Chiefs had to play the rest of the game without their main offensive weapon and barely won 19-14.

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In 2014, Kelce fumbled late in a game against the Arizona Cardinals that cost the Chiefs a chance to tie or take the lead. Down three points late in the fourth quarter, Kelce hauled in a 19 yard reception when he got tackled and, as he rolled over, the ball flew out. Kelce proceeded to strut and do a first down gesture as a Cardinals player picked up the ball. Watching it live, most fans and the refs didn’t think twice about it as Kelce was called down, but Cards’ coach Bruce Arians saw something fishy and threw the challenge flag. Sure enough the replay showed Kelce clearly fumbled. Rather than go and recover the ball, he chose to celebrate. The Chiefs never got another chance and they lost the game 17-14. A lot of things went bad that day, so the loss wasn’t squarely on Kelce for his late fumble, but it was a big change in the game.

That is the headache that Kelce causes fans as they pull their hair out wondering how this guy can keep doing it this. Then less than a quarter later he takes a 15-yard shovel pass and flies over five yards in through the air. Just before his bonehead penalty, he made the block that opened the hole for Hunt to run through untouched. That’s the positive that ultimately overshadows the negative.

By any ranking or list, he is at worst the second best tight end in the NFL, and many have a good argument that Kelce is the best overall, given the dependability issues with Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. Last season he finished with 1,125 yards on 85 catches and four touchdowns. He led all tight ends with 634 of those yards coming after the catch. These are stats that cannot be ignored.

Yes he’s immature and by his fifth year in the league he should know better than to punch a guy in the crotch or hold up a touchdown signal in an opposing players face. He’s on the radar of every official in the league and, if he does something, he will get caught. It’s a weakness that smart teams like the Patriots and Steelers will try to exploit in order to gain an advantage. This is an advantage the Chiefs can’t afford to give to teams like that.

But the Chiefs also can’t afford to not have one of the best tight ends in the league on the field with Andy’s offense. He has far more touchdowns and 100 yard games than idiotic mistakes. He has gained more money from publicity than he’s lost in fines. As a parent, I can’t help but think of Kelce like I think of one of my kids. He frustrates the heck of out of me and sometimes I think I’m going to lose my mind over repeating myself. I may even lose my voice permanently from yelling at them to stop doing that for the 100th time. But at the end of the day, they get an A in math or do something else to make me so proud that every bad thing they’ve done goes right out the window.

Kelce is that kid. I want to wring his neck but in the end of the day I want him out there and I want him to be him. He’s an All-Pro tight end and to try to take away parts of him would mess with the overall formula. Who knows what we’d be left with? The good Kelce brings to the team far outweighs the headaches he causes. Like my kids, he may not be perfect and he may be a bonehead sometimes, but he’s our bonehead. Chiefs Kingdom will be there to support him during the bad so we can be there with him to celebrate the good. And this season is looking really good!

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