Playoff Travis Kelce is the undisputed GOAT
Some things really never change.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
In a playoff game where the Chiefs offense was struggling to get much going, Patrick Mahomes turned to Travis Kelce to carry the passing game… and Kelce came through when it mattered the most.
This graphic came before Kelce’s final two catches of the game, but it told the story of how heavy a burden the Chiefs legend (“star” just doesn’t do it justice at a certain point) was asked to carry on Saturday night.
With a physical Texans defense dominating the line of scrimmage, Kansas City was having a tough time moving the ball through the air or on the ground for much of the game. DeAndre Hopkins got shut out (1 target, no catches). Same with Hollywood Brown (2 targets, no catches). Rookie Xavier Worthy had a stronger evening, but every yard against a tough opponent felt like a struggle.
And so Mahomes went to the same well he’s gone to every time the offense has struggled for the last half-dozen years. And just like he has in every other playoffs, Kelce answered the call. Following a season in which his yards-per-target numbers dropped and his ability to gain yards after the catch seemed to vanish, Kelce cranked back the clock and demonstrated why he is the best pass catcher in NFL playoff history.
This play is the quintessential Travis Kelce touchdown. It just looks so… easy. By the time the ball arrives he’s holding almost perfectly still. It’s almost peaceful the way he gathers the ball and is completely unflummoxed by the desperate diving defender. He seems totally unphased by the frigid temperatures, the gravity of the moment (we’ll circle back to that), the psychotic throw his QB just made (seriously, what a ball from Mahomes as he’s being tripped up), or anything else going on around him. It’s just Travis and Patrick, a couple of buddies, playing pitch and catch.
Of course, making a catch that appears so easy doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from being a jazz player among the symphony, a guy who understands better than anyone else on the field (other than perhaps Mahomes) where to be in order to get open. And once again, in the playoffs, under the brightest lights, after all these years, Travis Kelce is still always open.
There’s a LOT to cover this week from KC/HOU. I want to talk about Spags going full Spags. I want to talk about Joe Thuney having his toughest outing and the left side of the OL. I want to talk about Furious George Karlaftis, future Hall of Famer Chris Jones, and Charles Omenihu terrorizing CJ Stroud. I want to talk about why Kareem Hunt should be RB1 the remainder of the playoffs. I want to talk about Trent McDuffie, once again, being incredible. And of course, there’s the ever-present Patrick Mahomes film review.
But right now, today, I want to talk again about Playoff Trav. Because when you’re watching historic greatness in real time, you gotta talk about it. Let’s start with how Kelce made a hard TD look easy, on a drive where he’d come through multiple times when the team needed him most.