Travis Kelce is keeping his head in the game after his team’s first loss of the NFL season.
Kelce, 35, and the Kansas City Chiefs were defeated by the Buffalo Bills 21-30 on the Bills’ home turf on Sunday, November 17. During the latest installment of his “New Heights” podcast with brother Jason Kelce, Travis weighed in on what the Chiefs are taking away from the disappointing result.
“The Bills played a great four-quarter football game. … It was all over the board,” the tight end said on Wednesday, November 20. “[We’re going] back to the drawing board, for sure. I think it was a nice — I don’t want to call it a wake-up call because we went into that game knowing the Bills were one of the top teams in the NFL. Sometimes you just need a different perspective on things.”
He continued, “Watching this game back, you kind of see a trend happening over the past three to four weeks. You just gotta fine tune things. Get back to the basics, get back to the fundamentals. And really just get back to going to work throughout the week. I have all the confidence in the world [that] we’ll be better because of this game, but at the same time, hats off to the Bills for showing up.”
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Prior to Sunday’s loss, the Chiefs were undefeated throughout the season with nine wins under their belt. Jason, 37, acknowledged that the Chiefs defense “didn’t play bad,” but the Bills were able to make “plays at the right time” to secure the win.
“[Quarterback] Josh [Allen] played great,” Jason said. “This was two really good teams going up against each other.”
Jason went on to praise Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid for how they approached questions about the team no longer being undefeated following Sunday’s game. Both noted in postgame press conferences that staying undefeated wasn’t the team’s end goal, and Travis agreed.
“You don’t think, ‘Oh, I really want to win this game so I can remain undefeated,’” he explained. “No, we want to win this game because we have a lot of really close football games against the Buffalo Bills and we love f—ing competing against them because they’re one of the best teams in the league. … I get fired up playing against the best teams in the National Football League, and I was fired up for this one and I didn’t play my best. And that s— pisses me off.”
Losing to the Bills made Travis want to “go right back into work on Monday after the game and get after it.” He promised Chiefs fans that the team will try to turn things around before facing off against the Carolina Panthers this week.
“I think this is something that you won’t see out of us in the future,” he said. “I think we’re very confident that we’ll get the things fixed. We have all the talent that we need to go and win another Super Bowl. … And I think everybody knows that. All we gotta do is just be at our best. And that’s what we were not for four quarters.”
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Travis conceded that the Bills were “fundamentally more sound in a lot of different areas” than his own team. “You know, I put that on myself to harp on the fundamentals throughout practice, make sure I’m getting out there and I’m running around, I’m not just going through the plays,” he added. “Make sure I’m focused, make sure I get the timing down with the quarterback … you know, a lot of this s— is very fixable.”
Despite not being 10-0 for the season, Travis insisted he has “all the faith in the world” in his teammates. “I don’t give a f— how your body’s feeling, I don’t give a f— where your mentality is off the field,” he continued. “When you step in that building, we are here to figure s— out. And we are here to get better as football players for the football team. … And I think myself included, I’ve gotta be the leader that I’ve been in the past and hold myself accountable so that everybody sees how it’s done.”
The Chiefs travel to North Carolina to play the Panthers on Sunday, November 24, and have a quick turnaround for their next home game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday, November 29. (TBD on whether Travis’ girlfriend and Chiefs good luck charm Taylor Swift will attend either game amid her Eras Tour schedule.)
