Chiefs news: Travis Kelce explains lateral attempts against Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce spoke with his brother on their podcast about his early lateral attempts in the AFC title game.

From the moment the Kansas City Chiefs took the field on offense in the AFC Championship game last Sunday, there were jaw-dropping moments for fans on both sides. Many of those in the early going came from tight end Travis Kelce, and not for the productive reasons you might expect.

When preparing to face the Cincinnati Bengals, it’s understandable that Kelce and company were ready to go all out knowing their season would be over with a loss at Arrowhead. But we’re pretty sure Kelce might have taken things too far with his love for laterals early in the game.

On the Chiefs’ second drive, Kelce caught a pass as the Chiefs inched toward the red zone. Instead of going down with the first-down catch, however, Kelce decided to pitch it to his teammate Jerick McKinnon in hopes that the lateral would extend the play and perhaps allow the running back to score the game’s first touchdown.

Instead, the Chiefs fumbled the ball.

McKinnon got the ball back, but the potential turnover and sloppy nature of the play had everyone talking. That buzz only grew when, on the next drive, Kelce looked like he was ready to lateral it again to his fellow tight end Noah Gray when the Chiefs were facing a long third down with the goal line to go.

On Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, which he hosts with his brother, Jason, center for the Philadelphia Eagles, Travis elaborated on his thought process when it came to the lateral plays on such a big stage.  “You gotta keep the defense honest, man,” he says to his brother’s initial query.

As Jason pressed his brother for an answer about what Andy Reid said to him, Travis finally answered, “I can’t disclose that information. I can’t tell you. Just know that when I had that talk with him, I didn’t do it again.” He also clarified, “We had the talk after the second time.”

Finally, Travis decided to completely explain himself and what he saw in the play(s) in order to think that pitching the ball was the right thing to do.

“The thing is, the second time I should have done it. The first time, I should have just threw it higher. The second time I should have done it because he would have scored. Noah [Gray] would have scored. Jody [Fortson] was right there to give him a screen block to spring him into the end zone.

“It’s third-and-19, I should have just caught it and fired it as hard as I could at Noah. He either catches it or it’s going out of bounds. See, what happened with Jet [McKinnon] was it was too soft and it was a windy day and it got caught in the wind a little bit and nosedived.”

We’re pretty sure, no matter the conditions, that thought has been shelved for Super Bowl LVII.

Here’s what’s trending in Chiefs news

Five reasons why the Chiefs will win Super Bowl LVII (Athlon Sports)

This list is mostly about the Chiefs star power and a lot of optimism about the team’s injury list. We’re convinced of the former and unsure about the latter. There are a lot of players who need a lot of treatment between now and the Super Bowl and we’re not talking about a group of backups or special teams role players. But yes, we think the Chiefs will still win.

The Chiefs are planning at $750K parade (KCTV-5)

We realize that event planners and politicians and other folks have to get the wheels moving for any sort of parade to happen well in advance of the game, but this is also the sort of thing that feels wrong to put out there to the world—as if you’re tempting fate. As Michael Scott might say, “We’re not superstitious but we are a little stitous.”