Travis Kelce had five words when his brother Jason suggested NFL officials take too much heat on the field: ‘They signed up for it’. The Kelce brothers were discussing the controversy surrounding Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and the Bills, which saw Kansas City denied a last-gasp touchdown due to an offensive offside call as they slumped to a 23-20 defeat.
Patrick Mahomes was left seething with the decision, slamming his helmet to the ground in fury and screaming at the referees as his teammates held him back on the sidelines, antics which have earned him widespread scrutiny in the sport. Yet after touching on the offside call and Mahomes’ meltdown, Travis couldn’t resist a throwaway dig aimed at NFL officials during the latest episode of his and Jason’s New Heights podcast.
Jason first said at the end of their post-game breakdown: ‘The officials take a lot of heat, I think they take too much.’ Before Travis then chipped in with: ‘They signed up for it.’ Jason concluded: ‘When your emotions are into it sometimes it comes out more aggressive than you intend, and then it leads to more people talking about it and more people getting divisive around it – and it just isn’t productive.’
While his comments may well have been tongue in cheek, Travis did leap to the defense of teammate Mahomes amid criticism of his furious reaction to the offside call which denied them a late victory. Despite replays confirming it was the correct decision, the NFL MVP saw red when Kadarius Toney was deemed to have been in the neutral zone before the ball was snapped, meaning his eventual touchdown after a magnificent pivot and backward pass from Kelce ultimately counted for nothing.Immediately after the game Mahomes doubled down on his criticism of the referees, accusing them of denying Kelce an all-time great piece of offensive play.
Though despite him later admitting his actions were out of line, Kelce has defended Mahomes’ post-game comments while appearing to justify his on-field meltdown as ‘putting our f****ng hearts in it’.
When told by Jason that his teammate claimed the offside call ‘took away from the legendary career of Travis Kelce’, Travis said: ‘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.’
