Henry McKenna
NFL Reporter
Travis Kelce’s opening catch towards the Houston Texans on Saturday will inform you a large number about what the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs have executed with their offense over the previous few weeks.
It isn’t that Andy Reid is doing one thing unrecognizable, precisely. He is doing a lot of what he is at all times executed. To some extent, the important thing gamers are much less recognizable.
Reid and Patrick Mahomes have discovered manufacturing with rookie receiver Xavier Worthy and even tight finish Noah Grey. However it’s not like Kelce has altogether disappeared. That is what made the divisional spherical so unusual. Houston typically misplaced observe of the best pass-catching tight finish in NFL historical past. You understand: the man courting Taylor Swift. And the man who’s among the many most prolific pass-catchers within the historical past of the postseason? Everyone knows him.
“It is Playoff Trav,” Mahomes mentioned after the sport.
However it was just like the Texans forgot who he was.
That was on show from Kelce’s first catch. He was vast open to catch and run for 23 yards. All yr, the Chiefs have complained that Kelce has been double-teamed. (These claims weren’t completely correct, however that is a complete totally different argument.) On this play, it was Worthy who bought the double workforce. He was streaking downfield and the safeties bracketed him to stop a giant play. As Mahomes rolled out to his proper, the QB appeared to do one thing along with his eyes to make it look like he would goal Grey. So two Texans linebackers stepped up directly (away from Kelce). Mahomes simply floated the ball to his favourite goal for a giant acquire.
Six weeks in the past, Kelce would not have been that open.
Not earlier than Worthy legitimized himself. Not earlier than Grey legitimized himself.
“I simply assume that you’ve got a wide range of guys that we have been in a position to make use of round [Kelce],” Reid mentioned Monday. “And once we did not, groups have been ganging up on him. It is a good drawback now as a result of guys are wholesome, and we now have decisions on the market and so they cannot actually simply deal with him.”
Hollywood Brown is wholesome. Isiah Pacheco is wholesome. JuJu Smith-Schuster is wholesome. DeAndre Hopkins joined the workforce in a commerce at midseason. The offense has dependable choices all over the place. However that wasn’t true for a lot of the season when, for weeks at a time, Kelce was the very best and solely possibility. That is when all the eye was on him.
“The alternatives that he is had, he is executed nicely with,” Reid mentioned. “And I do not assume it is his play that has been diminished when all people asks about age or bodily potential.”
Reid was referring to the season-long narrative that, maybe, Kelce’s play was declining. He is 35 years previous, an age when Father Time eats away at agility and prime pace. Plus, with all of the jet-setting final offseason, Kelce was dwelling a special life-style than in earlier years. Which may have impacted his readiness for the season, nevertheless it does not sound prefer it has impacted his mentality in-season.
“I additionally respect that, at his age, he goes on the market every single day and practices onerous,” Reid mentioned. “And in case you attempt to take him out, he will get mad at you. I might say that is a particular factor for an older participant.”
Whereas it is nonetheless truthful to wonder if Kelce remains to be at his peak, there is no doubt that he’ll punish defenses that neglect who he’s. There was a main instance towards the Texans the place Kelce bought the Chiefs into the pink zone. Houston was in man protection and it left slot defender Myles Bryant to care for Kelce. When you’re questioning: Who’s Myles Bryant? Properly, that is the purpose. He was finest identified for being the largest legal responsibility on the New England Patriots protection for just a few years. It isn’t just like the Chiefs recast him — PFF graded Bryant because the 108th-best cornerback in 2024.
Suffice it to say: That is not the man you need in one-on-one towards Kelce.
Kelce took Bryant’s lunch cash — together with an 18-yard reception that helped arrange the tight finish’s landing reception on the following third down.
There have been lengthy stretches the place Kelce has been unable to seek out the top zone. He simply had three within the common season. On his podcast “New Heights,” Kelce mentioned it is “f—ing irritating” that he and Mahomes are “not on the identical web page” when it got here to scoring. Which may have been the workforce’s greatest difficulty in a season the place the offense badly wanted Kelce’s assist and he wasn’t capable of totally present the star energy that we might beforehand seen from him.
That is what made Kelce’s landing on Saturday essentially the most encouraging play for the Chiefs. This Sunday within the AFC Championship Recreation, the Payments possible will not fail to account for Kelce just like the Texans did on that first reception. And I doubt that they’re going to be foolish sufficient to match him up one-on-one with a participant of Bryant’s caliber close to the pink space. The diploma of problem was astoundingly low for Kelce — till the landing. That is when issues bought fascinating.
Kansas Metropolis designed the play for that actual situation. Third-and-long. Zone protection. (That tells you one thing concerning the Chiefs’ degree of preparation.) Mahomes knew he wished Kelce from the leap, however the QB advised reporters that the play took longer to develop, which meant persistence and — with luck — a longer-than-normal clear pocket. When the strain arrived, Mahomes stepped ahead and, as he was falling to the bottom, zipped a ball into the world the place he knew Kelce would get open: simply behind the linebacker.
“It is big-time gamers make big-time performs in big-time video games and that is simply how easy it’s,” Mahomes mentioned. “He is a kind of guys.”
The Chiefs have spent weeks exhibiting off their depth of pass-catchers. Hey, have a look at D-Hop! However do not forget about Worthy’s pace as a runner and pass-catcher! Hollywood can run each route, too! And in case you assume you’ve got bought us found out with these guys, we’ll run it down your throat with Pacheco and Kareem Hunt!
Final weekend, the Texans had all that on their minds. And Kelce beat them.
Nobody envies Payments coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich. They may spend the AFC Championship Recreation juggling flaming daggers, which is simply how Reid deliberate it. He excels at making opponents’ lives difficult on the worst doable second.
Previous to becoming a member of FOX Sports activities as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years masking the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Observe him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
Need nice tales delivered proper to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports activities account, and observe leagues, groups and gamers to obtain a customized publication day by day!
Get extra from Nationwide Soccer League Observe your favorites to get details about video games, information and extra