Travis Kelce has heaped praise on Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes for ‘having our backs’ after their controversial defeat by the Bills on Sunday.
Mahomes is under the spotlight this week for reacting furiously to a late offside call which denied Kansas City a potential game-winning touchdown against Buffalo at Arrowhead. Despite replays confirming the decision was correct, the NFL MVP lost his cool when a magnificent piece of play by Kelce which ended with Kadarius Toney running through to the end zone ultimately counted for nothing. Before the ball was snapped, Toney had lined up on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage in the neutral zone, meaning an offensive offside was called as the Bills held on for a 23-20 victory.
Mahomes was left furious with the call, with teammates forced to hold him back after he slammed his helmet to the ground and let rip at the officials. The NFL is now set to review his meltdown and decide whether it warrants any form of penalty.
Immediately after the game the Chiefs quarterback doubled down on his criticism of the referees, accusing them of denying Kelce an all-time great piece of offensive play. Though despite Mahomes later admitting his actions were out of line, Kelce has defended his teammate’s post-game comments while appearing to justify his on-field meltdown as ‘putting our f****ng hearts in it’.
When told by brother Jason that Mahomes claimed the offside call ‘took away from the legendary career of Travis Kelce’, Kelce said on their New Heights podcast: ‘I love Pat for that man, everybody’s just sticking up for each other man and that is all I give a damn about. ‘If they get fined for what they said, ok. But at least the guys in this locker room know that we got their back, and we’re all in this together and that we’re f****ng moving forward.
‘We put our f****ng hearts in it man, you’re not just seeing guys clocking in and out for a paycheck man. You’ve got guys who actually give a damn, not only about the wins and losses but the livelihoods of each individual in that building man – another reason why I f****ng love coming into work every single day. ‘This is only going to make us want to player harder that much more for each other. I appreciate Pat saying that, I love coach Reid, I love the ability to have our guys’ backs.’
Mahomes drew widespread criticism for his antics at Arrowhead on Sunday, with FOX Sports’ Skip Bayless branding it ‘spoiled brat behavior’. The two-time Super Bowl champion was quick to own up to his mistakes, admitting that he deserves any ‘consequences’ that now come his way.
When asked if he expects to be fined, he told 610 Sports: ‘Honestly, I don’t know. I know usually, when you talk about referees, saying stuff towards referees, it’s not a good thing. Their job is hard, they are trying to dot heir best as well. Whatever happens, happens. You’ve got to accept the consequence of your actions, that’s something that I’ve always stood by. ‘I didn’t act in the way I usually act and if there’s consequences, I have to accept those.’
While the offside call has dominated headlines since, the Chiefs are still reeling from their second consecutive NFL defeat and must now regroup ahead of a crucial outing against the New England Patriots on Sunday. Kelce says he was more frustrated with what went down after Sunday’s offside call, adding: ‘But at the same time man, we’ve been in a lot of f*****g close games and we have to find ways to win no matter what.
‘I’m more p***ed off at how I ran my route after that, on the fourth and 15. I was more p***ed that we still had two timeouts after that play. That is a lot of time to put up a field goal, that is a lot of time to get on a red zone. ‘That is what we harp on when we re-watch film or we’re looking at it. What’s real? What’s real is we still had a chance, and I didn’t play my best after those two plays and I wish I would’ve played better. ‘From that point you go to work today, tomorrow, the rest of this week to try to fix it.’
