Chasing stats in the Chiefs’ regular-season finale “never felt right” to Travis Kelce.
When discussing the team’s decision to keep him out of last Sunday’s game against the Chargers, thus ending his streak of 1,000-yard seasons, Kelce said Wednesday on the “New Heights” podcast how entering the game for extra yardage didn’t sit well with him.
“It never felt right to go out there chasing stats,” said Kelce, who finished the regular season with 984 receiving yards.
“I was kind of in and out of practice all week, for me to just jump in on game day and try to get 15, 16 yards, whatever it was — which is a lot harder than what you guys think it is. Even though I had a 100-something against the Chargers earlier that year, it’s hard to do that twice against a team. Yeah, it never felt right.”
The Super Bowl-winning tight end, 34, had eclipsed 1,000 yards in seven consecutive seasons, including a career-high of 1,416 yards in 2020.
With a wild-card matchup against the Dolphins looming, Kelce added he’s keeping his focus on the playoffs.
“It had nothing to really do with my health, it had nothing to really do with whether or not I was going to get injured, it was more so it just didn’t feel right and in my gut, just didn’t feel like I should be playing the game that way,” he said.
“If I could get some rest going into next week, staying off the turf out there in L.A. and avoid some hits, man, I was all for that to gear up for the playoffs.”
In addition to Kelce, starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes sat out for Week 18, with backup Blaine Gabbert leading the Chiefs to a 13-12 win.
“It just didn’t feel right to try to go out there for 16 yards, just thought I’d just bring the energy on the sideline, let my guys go out there and rock and sure enough they did, baby,” Kelce said.
Though it “wasn’t an easy decision” for Kelce to sit out, he quipped to his older brother and podcast co-host, Eagles center Jason Kelce, that a monetary incentive could have persuaded him otherwise.
“If you had $1.25 million incentive, if you got 1,000 yards,” Jason began, to which Kelce replied, “I’d been out drooling, sweating my ass off, out there every single play. You couldn’t take me off the field.”
Kelce and the Chiefs will return to action on Saturday when they host the Dolphins on Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium in a game televised on Peacock.
Kansas City is the No. 3 seed in the AFC.
Credit: Source link
